Zach Collier teaches in the Dallas area and only sings the national anthem on the side, but it’s apparently a growth industry. Or it used to be, anyway. On average, he belts out “The Star-Spangled Banner” at sporting events once a month. Rangers games, Astros games, even a Dallas Wings game last Sunday. He’s got a couple anthems lined up at Lone Star Park over the next six weeks.
That is, unless a track official is a Longhorn, and then it might get iffy.
Maybe you heard that officials of the College World Series canceled Collier’s gig because he flashed the Horns Down after singing the anthem at the Women’s College World Series.
Three hours after he covered Francis Scott Key’s hit at the Oklahoma State-Texas semifinals in Oklahoma City, Collier received an email from a CWS official indicating his invitation to perform had been rescinded. The reason? NCAA officials contacted the CWS with “documented proof that he made offensive gestures and mockery of a participating team ... and we do not feel comfortable allowing him to perform.”
Contacted by ESPN, the NCAA issued a statement contending that Collier’s action violated a “solemn moment.” Furthermore, he “disrupted participating student-athletes and coaches by attempting to interact with them.”
Translation: He said hello to the Oklahoma State player standing next to him.
Before going further, let’s talk about why anyone should police Horns Down in the first place. I mean, doesn’t the NCAA have better things to do? We’ve got an LSU gymnast bagging $1 million, a coach accusing another coach of buying his roster, and a Texas quarterback tooling around in James Bond’s wheels. None of the above is necessarily wrong. College athletes deserve a cut. Just the same, there ought to be a discussion about parameters in college athletics before it gets so far out of hand that some poor Alabama quarterback challenges Nick Saban to compare pay stubs.
Instead of confronting the big issues in college athletics, the NCAA writes parking tickets.
For that matter, why does the Big 12 care about Horns Down? The league put in a rule against it last summer, with the caveat that it qualified as a penalty only if directed at another player, not toward fans. Not two weeks after the Big 12 kowtowed to Texas, news broke that the Longhorns and Sooners will defect to the SEC by 2025, if not sooner.
Now that Texas is on its way out the door, why should the Big 12 enforce the rule anymore? You can’t ask for a divorce, then expect your former beloved to play nice.
Given Bob Bowlsby’s comments about “betrayal,” I don’t know why the commissioner didn’t throw a two-fisted Horns Down at Texas-OU.
Besides, what’s worse: Getting a Horns Down from an opponent? Or getting the finger from a little old lady as the team bus pulls into the State Fair?
Look, you don’t have to like the inverted Hook ‘Em if you’re a Longhorn, but is it really so awful? Shouldn’t you take pride in the fact that nearly a dozen schools acknowledge you as their primary rival?
Considering that you’ve lived with Horns Down all these decades, do you really want to let them think they’re finally getting under your skin?
Zach Collier doesn’t understand all the fuss. Of course, it should be noted here that he’s an Aggie.
As the 27-year-old high school history teacher notes, Texas isn’t the only school in the state with a hand sign that gets turned upside down in derision.
“Any time I’ve seen the thumbs down,” he said, referencing the antidote to Gig ‘Em, “nobody gets in an uproar about it.”
Maybe not, but a cadet did, indeed, once pull a saber on an SMU cheerleader, so there’s that.
Collier’s intentions weren’t nearly so malevolent at the WCWS. He and his wife, Ashley, are expecting their first child, not spoiling for a fight. For the record, he doesn’t flash the Horns Down every time he sings the anthem. This was a first.
He insists he meant no harm but received a lesson in NCAA politics, nonetheless.
“The NCAA says it’s considered a mockery and offensive gesture,” he said. “That’s ridiculous. It’s not mockery, and it’s not an offensive gesture. I would never mock another team. Those Texas softball players are way more athletic than I am. Kudos to them for making the World Series.
“But as far as Texas is concerned, I’m gonna throw the Horns Down when we’re playing or no matter who they’re playing.”
Even if it cuts into his side gigs, apparently. He’d never worked as hard to earn an opportunity to sing the anthem as he did for the CWS. Beat out more than 100 applicants from across 17 states. A bitter pill for a guy who grew up in Saginaw singing in church musicals and in the choir at Boswell High before performing in an all-male acapella group at A&M.
Besides the occasional anthem, Collier gets his kicks these days singing karaoke at Big Al’s Down the Hatch in Waxahachie, though a happy ending may still be in the works. Because Collier’s story went viral, a friend is circulating a petition to let him sing the anthem at Kyle Field, no less. His biggest stage yet. Here’s betting Horns Down draws no objections there. He could even make it a double.
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