The Houston Cougars take on Duke Saturday night. Here’s how fans are trying to keep Sen. Ted Cruz away from the action.
HOUSTON — A petition on Change.org is urging Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to challenge the Senate filibuster record that was just set by Sen. Cory Booker earlier this week – but not for political reasons.
“The Junior US Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, has an unfortunate habit of affecting major Texas sporting events negatively,” the petition, started by Lloyd Jacobson, reads. “As passionate sports fans of the University of Houston and Texas constituents, we have no other option than to redirect his energies somewhere more effective during the upcoming Final Four in San Antonio, April 5-7.”
It’s a running joke on the internet that Cruz is a bad omen for the teams he publicly roots for. That was true for the Cotton Bowl back in January when he made a bet with now-Vice President J.D. Vance that the University of Texas Longhorns would beat out the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Longhorns lost that matchup by two touchdowns.
The petition challenges Cruz to filibuster for more than 25 hours, which is how long Booker’s record Senate speech lasted, starting on March 31 and ending on April 1. The timeframe the petition asks him to filibuster for lines up with the Houston Cougar’s Final Four matchup against Duke on Saturday.
“We firmly believe that Senator Cruz’s ego is clearly enormous, and if applied in an alternate time and place, it could make a significant impact on our state and University of Houston’s athletic prospects,” the petition said. “By advocating for this cause, we’re not just encouraging Senator Cruz to make history but, more importantly, we’re giving him a chance to use his oratory skills far from San Antonio and the Final Four.”
The petition cites Cruz’s 2013 speech that lasted 21 hours protesting the Affordable Care Act as proof that he is up for the challenge.
Tipoff for the Houston-Duke game is scheduled for 7:49 p.m. on Saturday in San Antonio. You can watch the game on KHOU 11. KHOU 11 is also hosting a watch party in downtown Houston at Avenida Plaza in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.