When someone ended up getting what they deserved, folks down south where I was raised would say, "Well, he got his comeuppance." More frequently, I hear getting what you deserve called just desserts. If you had it coming, and you got it, consider yourself served with a healthy dose of comeuppance. And do we enjoy seeing that happen? Oh, yeah. Were that not the case, we wouldn't still have the death penalty. Society demands it, and that's about the only excuse for having it. If you take a life, give up your own. An eye for an eye, and that's the just desserts folks scream for. At a much less significant level, we even enjoy seeing a bully get punched in the nose. That guy who just ran a redlight? Yeah, seeing him get a ticket makes you feel good . . . and it should.
Like most other people, I enjoy seeing just deserts served to those who deserve it. Down here in Texas, UT longhorn football fans wanted the old coach out . . . and they got him out. And they had plans to bring in a bigger name, someone befitting the job as head coach of one of America's premier football programs. But the big boys they went after didn't want the job, and they ended up hiring a new coach with a history in coaching that doesn't come close to matching what they just lost. So, they name the new coach, and my first impression was . . . who? From where? Never heard of he dude. He's sure no Nick Saban, that's for sure.
So, why didn't the big boys want the job? Texas has deep pockets, could make them rich beyond their dreams, but they didn't want it . . . and maybe that was partly out of respect for the guy they just ran off. Maybe they didn't want the pressure they'd get at Texas to win, a place where going 10-2 won't cut it. Will the new guy win at Texas? Yes. Will he win enough to please the football fanatics down here? No. Will he be here as long as the old coach they pushed out? No. Just desserts, that's the word for it . . . and nobody deserves it more.
Everyone enjoys winning. That's a given in the society we live in, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to come out on top. Nobody, on the other hand, should expect to win all the time. And college sports are really the least important thing about an institution of higher learning . . . or it should be. The people who rank colleges according to academics, the most important thing, leave Texas off most of their lists. The second largest state in the union (population and size), and we don't have a single uinversity ranked in the top fifty among colleges and universities. Oh, wait, there's one
little college down here that gets ranked high. Trinity University in San Antonio, and they also play football . . . but few people outside the state have ever heard of it. And if you chose to go there, you go for an education. Sometimes just desserts doesn't mean bad desserts . . . it just means you get what you've got coming to you.
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