My dislike of Texas A&M has been pretty well documented throughout this blog. Sure, I’ll hate on UT sometimes, but, at the end of the day, I like most of the people who go there. Even for how annoying and pretentious SMU fans are, their dad has at least earned that. But, there is no fan base more stuck inside their own ass than Texas A&M.
(Author’s Note: To all my A&M friends that I actually talk to, I’m not speaking about you. I’m speaking of your Red Ass counterparts whose biggest accomplishment in life is the fact they introduce themselves as a member of “Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ‘xx”. The ones who are convinced that A&M is the best university in the world and refuse to accept any flaws while trying to bring down every other university).
I wrote a couple of weeks ago, after the UH vs. Texas A&M Round of 32 game, that I thought A&M was perpetually guilty of Little Brother Syndrome. For all the gifts bestowed upon that university by being an early addition to the Texas higher education system, they always have this annoying chirp to them. And it comes out quite frequently in relation to UT.
So that’s why, when I saw Paul Finebaum talking about UT’s addition to the SEC, I felt compelled to throw my voice in. (Aggie: Wow we don’t care you went to UH, you’re irrelevant). A&M was promised that UT would never join the SEC. They could stay in the remnants of the Southwestern Conference. Even though it made sense for the SEC, it was always abundantly clear that A&M was running away.
Because, realistically, UT was always the better pick for the SEC. They had the tradition, the success, and the history that coincides and meshes well with the SEC football tradition. But UT was fully entrenched in the Big 12; in many ways, it was the Big 12 (along with OU).
A&M, realizing its little brother status, a hate of the Longhorn Network, and the prospect of a football revolution called them. To be fair to A&M, they did have the history and tradition that the SEC loves. Just not the football success. I have a pretty fine line that you don’t get to claim national championships televised in black and white.
And for 2 seasons the Aggies found that success, on the backs of Manziel. I still contend Kevin Sumlin owes a lot of money to Case Keenum and Johnny Manziel. But that was the beginning, and this is now. The SEC hasn’t been kind to A&M, finding middling seasons. They had to sell their nuclear plant in Qatar to get rid of Jimbo. And now, they’ve been betrayed.
This ends up leading to the crux of why I called it unserious. To paraphrase the Barbie movie: UT has a good day every day; A&M only has a good day if UT mentions it. They still do Horns Down. (Note: Next season if members of the Big 12 do Horns Down I will hold the same energy and call it lame. They’re gone, why talk about them?). A&M’s song perpetually mentions the Longhorns. They’re UT’s biggest rival. Right now, UT’s biggest rival is OU and television rights (or ESPN payments).
And that’s why A&M is definitely going to run away to the Big 10 within the next couple of seasons. That report came out either earlier this year or last year (I can’t remember fully). They will pull the guise of better completion or TV rights or whatever excuse they can pull up that doesn’t implicate UT’s arrival. It’s unserious because it can’t move on from the fact it is a little brother. Maybe, you say, I don’t get the ability to talk as a UH fan. Sure, we hate UT. But whenever there’s a systematic issue benefitting UT (and A&M), UH does something about it.
This probably was a mean blog that’ll irk some A&M fans. But it’s annoying watching a school that is so boisterous in its own greatness crumble at the thought of a rival down the road. A rival that has effectively moved on. A rival that has found success in a post-A&M era. And now, a rival that will cause them to run away again.
But, to be fair to A&M, if in January there’s an announcement A&M is joining the Big 10, it’ll be the funniest thing. Until they have to play in Wisconsin. Then it’ll be funnier.
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