Goodbye to Texas University...

On October 19, 1894 the Texas A&M Aggies came to Austin for the very first football game with the University of Texas.  The two schools have played 116 times since then, but now we sit on the brink of what may be their last meeting for quite some time.

As the Aggies prepare to embark on this new voyage to the SEC, most of what I hear from College Station is excitement about joining this "superior" conference mixed with a little Longhorn Network sour grapes... and that's fine, I suppose.  The thing is - my Aggie friends have told me for years that what I "don't understand" about A&M is that it's a culture based on tradition and it's that tradition that makes the Aggie experience so rich.

Why, then, is so much of that tradition being cast aside so casually by my friends from College Station?

It's no secret that the Longhorn fan base dismisses much of the "Aggie Spirit" as some sort of cult-like fanaticism.  Especially when you consider paragraphs like this one from an online explanation of Aggie traditions:

Vocabulary is also restricted by class. Freshmen may not say the word "Pisshead", a nickname for sophomores.  Juniors are known as "Serge Butts", so neither freshmen nor sophomores can say any form of either word. Juniors are also the first class to be allowed to say "Whoop!" Seniors, known as "Zips" for the black and gold braid on their garrison caps, which resembles a zipper, have reserved the word "elephant" and all forms of the words "death," "dying," "shoot," or "reload" in reference to the traditions surrounding Elephant Walk.  However, saying the phrases "pass away," "decease," "fire," "load again," etc., are all acceptable substitutes.

Man, and I was REALLY hoping to say "elephant, whoop" a lot this semester. I know.  It staggers the imagination.

But there's so much more than just words, and a striking amount revolves around the game over Thanksgiving with the school's biggest rival.

We hear a fight song that's all about Texas.  We hear tales of their biggest community event of the year - a bonfire built every year for a century - representing their "burning desire to beat the hell outta'" our team.  Seniors perform the "elephant walk" every year as a farewell to their college days... always taking place the week of the game with the University of Texas.  Hell, they won't even SAY "the University of Texas."  They refer to the school in Austin as "t.u." as some sort of insult, claiming that it's not THE Univesity of Texas... it's just some texas university.  In so many ways it's a part of their very identity.  Football season in College Station exists primarily for the pursuit of beating Texas.

But now, all that goes away.  UT has their Longhorn Network and the Aggies are picking up their toys and going to a new home.  Forget for a moment that Texas offered A&M a partnership in the Longhorn Network.  Forget that there's more than a century of history and cooperation between the two schools in the classrooms and state legislature.  No, the Aggies would rather leave Austin, Lubbock and Waco behind in favor of places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Oxford, Mississippi just so they can put an end to playing second fiddle in their own back yard.

But in the end this is really just a "biting your nose to spite your face" move.  I wish this rivalry would continue, but it's hardly devastating to the Texas football program.  Ask any Longhorn fan and they'll tell you that it's been at least a decade since this was the biggest game on the Texas schedule.  Look at the all-time record and it's clear that Texas/Oklahoma is a much better rivalry than Texas/Texas A&M.  But not in College Station.  In College Station there's only one game a year that really matters.  I've heard Aggie friends say "I don't care if we go 1-11 this year as long as we beat t.u."  That's really saying something.  And what it says the most is this:  the Aggies need this game a LOT more than Texas does.

What happens when the Longhorns are nowhere on the A&M schedule?  When the Aggies are playing a game against Vanderbilt next year will they still fire up their fight song with "Goodbye to texas university... so long to the orange and the white?"  Will they call Tennessee "t.u." or is it ok that the folks in Knoxville name their own institution?  Will they still sing the part where they quote OUR fight song when they make a big play against Kentucky?  "The eyes of Texas are upon you."  They ACTUALLY sing that.  And perhaps the most important question: where will all that hatred go?    There are an awful lot of Pissheads and Serge Butts who need to direct their insecurities at someone.  Get ready Arkansas - I bet they're looking at you.

No matter how Thursday's game turns out, the Longhorns will walk away having won twice as often over the history of the series... and next year will roll around with the OU game still circled on everyone's calendars.  And don't cry for us on Thanksgiving.  Texas Tech is frothing at the mouth to jump into that spot on our schedule.  We've played them for more than 80 years, too.  Don't get me wrong - I am actually sad to see the Texas/Texas A&M tradition go.  There's a lot of history there, and it seems like it was thrown away far too easily by the folks in College Station... especially considering that I'm constantly told that history and tradition mean so much more to Aggies than they do to the rest of us.

So cherish this last installment... because one of the great rivalries in college football is being cast aside simply because the largest inferiority complex in the history of sports has finally bubbled over.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

I know how I'm supposed to feel.

You tell me that there was a child molestation sex scandal involving a college football program and I immediately want everyone who in any way had any involvement or information about it to be gone.

Black and white.  Plain and simple.

But what if one of those people is Joe Paterno?  What if one of those people is that lovable grandpa of college football - a guy who for over 60 years embodied all that was right about a game that occasionally went so wrong?

Penn State University is one of only four schools in the major conferences that has never had a major NCAA violation.  Never.  In a world where linebackers drive Escalades, safeties are dealing drugs and quarterbacks are "making it rain," Joe Paterno's program shined as an exception to the rule.  When they are finished playing football, Penn State kids are ready for the world, posting graduation rates around 90% when some programs hover in the 20's - and they didn't sacrifice relevance to do so.  Penn State is one of the elite programs in the sport.  800 wins, two national championships (both under Paterno) proving that "win" and "clean" are two words that actually CAN go together. 

But now, all that has changed.  If it's true that one bad apple can spoil the bunch, then Jerry Sandusky just took down the entire North American crop.

I have no confusion about what should happen to Sandusky if these allegations prove to be true.  The man is a monster.  The rest of his life should be spent in a cell.

But what about Paterno?  At best, Joe Paterno is guilty of not doing enough to put an end to Sandusky's behavior.  At worst he is complicit in a coverup that directly led to the rape of dozens of children.  We don't know what he knew and when he knew it.  We DO know that he knew enough to have done more.

One mistake doesn't erase 60 years of good works... but 60 years of good works don't allow you to look past a mistake like this.  Joe Paterno dedicated his life to doing things the right way - a longtime motto of his teams is "success with honor."  He helped mold thousands of young men, teaching them to win with integrity... but when that moment came for Joe - that "practice what you preach" decision that would mean so much to so many - Joe did the minimum.  Joe dropped the ball.  Maybe it was to help a friend who he thought would change his ways - maybe it was to protect a program and a legacy that suddenly seemed so fragile.  It doesn't matter.  It was just plain wrong.

So this is how Joe Paterno goes out?  Fired in an horrific scandal - one small piece of controllable justice while we wait for the real hammer to fall.  So why does my heart break a little to see him go?

I know how I'm supposed to feel.  I'm supposed to be glad he's gone.  But I've spent my entire life being SO glad that he was there.