For more photos from Saturday's game, see our slideshow here.
Saturday was a difficult day for Aftermath on a number of levels. Not only did we have to watch our soon-to-be alma mater get its tail kicked by our crosstown rival, we were also forced to sit through what we expected to Rice's Marching Owl Band's halftime protest against the sale of KTRU, which turned into a slap in the face for UH students.
Because, you know, it was UH that tore KTRU from Rice's cold, dead fingers as the Owls fought tirelessly to ward off the Cougars' advances.
There are Rice graduates who have never listened to KTRU and don't know anyone at Rice who listens to KTRU. Do their opinions matter, or are we forced to only write about and air the opinions of the minority over and over and over? Apparently, if you've kept up with the news, it's the latter.
Isn't anyone going to say what most of Houston is thinking: Who cares?
The idea behind KTRU was all well and good, but it wasn't working, and Rice wasn't happy with it anymore, so the station was sold. Although Rice had been looking for a buyer for KTRU for some time before KUHF entered the picture, it wasn't until the UH regents voted to purchase the station's frequency, signal tower and FCC license that people began to jump on the bandwagon and show support.
KTRU's Web site will continue to run its current programming, so what's all the fuss about UH putting the 50,000 watts to good use? Haven't college students learned that moaning and griping doesn't always get you what you want? The KTRU faithful should have put a plan into effect to save the station long ago, stuck to it and made a deal with the university - which did own it, after all.
Up until a few weeks ago, after the sale was announced, some Rice students still insisted that the students, not Rice, owned KTRU. And although KTRU DJs have talked about receiving phone calls from oil workers on drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico with music requests, there has never been any plan for how to capitalize on such a powerful signal to benefit Rice and its students.
But none of that mattered to the Marching Owl Band, which began its performance on Saturday with a voiceover that echoed through Rice Stadium. Parodying products like Old Spice and Enzyte, the MOB heckled UH students to look at their school, then at Rice, then back at their school, then back at Rice.
