After watching a game like the NFC Championship, I cannot help but think back just 10 years ago. In 2000 I had grown up a Saints fan and a huge Nolan Ryan/Texas Rangers fan, and suddenly found myself attending TCU. I was following teams that seemed destined for .500 records or worse. Success was always measured and each team had more skeletons in the closet than banners on the wall. To say these teams were underdogs would be an understatement.

But here we are just 10 years later and the team that is generally considered the epitome of losing is going to a Super Bowl. Saints fan or not, it gives hope to teams like the one Jim Christian is trying to revive because with the right chemistry between players and coaches, anything is possible. And a little luck along the way never hurts.

I will admit, I have never cheered for a front-runner. My teams have always been underdogs because I did not grow up in a place like Dallas with their Cowboys or Houston and San Antonio with their basketball franchises or Austin with their Longhorns. My teams lacked great players and were mediocre at best. And when I came to college at TCU, I arrived at a time where TCU had been saddled with a lesser status, which only added to the uphill battle.

Yet here we are 10 years later and these squads have totally different looks to them. It is amazing how 2 made field goals can alter the destiny of 2 teams. For the Saints, the field goal went in and allowed them to play for an NFL championship. For the Frogs, Texas made theirs sending Frog fans everywhere to bitter sadness. I still wonder sometimes, which stings worse, seeing Texas make that kick or losing to Boise State? They both hurt so much and in such different ways as well.

There was a basketball game the day before TCU beat USC in the Sun Bowl in 1998 where Gonzaga played the Frogs at the DMC. Something about Gonzaga struck me that day and I became a huge fan of theirs for the years to come much the same way I admittedly am a fan of Boise State. They represent the good guys-the guys that are not entitled and are often overlooked, but still scrap and compete with the best teams. They were teams without the financial resources of programs from larger cities and states, but still find a way to overcome the obstacles and win- teams like the New Orleans Saints.

But those same things describe TCU and what they have become. Here we are a small private institution that was one field goal away from a BCS Championship and one game away from a College World Series. This is not to take away the accomplishments of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees or Texas Longhorns, but with the kind of resources they have, the challenge is far less demanding than what the underdogs have to deal with. And what the underdogs lack in talent and resources, they make up for in effort and heart. It is the combination of effort and heart to overcome these challenges that makes the underdog so lovable and easy to root for.

It is crazy to think that in just 10 years, these teams have become the envy of most because they have been able to meet these obstacles head on and break right through them. Yes, I am a Saints fan and am very proud of them, but I am also proud to be a Horned Frog. Seeing the Saints make the Super Bowl on a night like last night makes me believe that the Frogs are not a flash in the pan and that good things will happen to those who wait and work hard for their opportunity. I just cannot wait to be there when our night as Frog fans arrives!