Mothers of local Longhorns prepared for Sugar Bowl, potential 'home' game

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (KTRK) -- In sports, it's common to throw a parade after a championship. However, in New Orleans, they throw a parade before the Sugar Bowl is even played. It doesn't make much sense, but it does make for a whole lot of fun.

Bands, beads, and Bevo take over the streets as the Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year's Eve Parade, a Mardi Gras-style celebration, rolls through the French Quarter. Our ABC13 cameras find not only Texas fans but also Texas parents during the parade. Lashunda Ross, mother of Huntsville High School alumnus T'Vondre Sweat, is not shy about her burnt orange beads bias.

"They tried to give me some purple beads, and I told them I couldn't take them," she told ABC13.

Yolanda Wells-Broughton, mom to University of Texas linebacker Vernon Broughton and a Cy-Ridge high school product, understood the assignment. But she tells ABC13 her custom umbrella will not be the only thing shielding her from whatever New Orleans throws at her.

"Just being excited about the opportunity," Yolanda noted. "Not to mention, it's New Year's Eve. We're going to have a curfew, too, the parents, us parents."

While the parade went up Decatur Street along the Mississippi River, these Houston UT Mommas tell ABC13 there is only one route for their sons and the Longhorns: home to H-town to play for the National Championship after a Sugar Bowl victory.

"Let me tell you something: in Sark's words, it's all gas and no brakes," Yolanda said. "We're getting off the bus that way. It's a one-way trip here!"

"It's gonna feel good, he's at home," Lashunda said of her son T'Vondre. "He wants to get to the Natty. We're gonna win this game tomorrow. Come tomorrow, we're going to win."

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