I just emailed Richard Justice about his most recent article about the rivalry ended. Thought you guys might appreciate it. "I ran the UT television station (TSTV). It's a FCC licensed station which has an hour of programming on cable a night. We have a Live Sports department which broadcasts volleyball and softball games every year. I can tell you that those athletes are good people who are very humble in comparison to the Football and Mens Basketball programs. 95% of the Longhorn network will be broadcasting the olympic sports. It will give the students who bust their butts every week some exposure. It will allow their peers and families to see what they are capable of. How do you and so many other members of the media and other college programs ignore that facet? If you firmly believe in your criticism of the Longhorn network, why not acknowledge the good? You point out the greed of Deloss Dodds but you don't mention that 5 million dollars of that ESPN money will go to the University. This is in addition to the money the program already gives the university. Compare that to the money that the A&M sports program had to borrow from the university. A few years ago, we had to buy a UT game on pay per view to see it. I think it was against Rice. That was not unprecedented. Those are the games that will be on the LN. Is that really that bad? Texas is the most profitable program in the country. That's the case because they do have so many fans across the U.S. that support the team. I can tell you definitively that ESPN does not regret the deal. After they strong-arm their way into the basic packages of television providers, the network will be a landmark success. After OU and Ok St. and Notre Dame announce similar deals, will they be vilified? I find it VERY INTERESTING you put no blame on A&M leaving. You say they did what's in their best interested. Then you vilify Dodds for doing the same thing. That is a clear double standard. A&M left Texas behind but they also left Baylor and Tech. They chose to leave. UT only has 3 non conference games. Now that they play a round robin, they have 1 extra conference game. That really limits their options. It also means it doesn't take much to fill their schedule. They have their schedule booked for years. That is something every program does. Critics will point to the future schedule page on the UT website as PROOF that Dodds is lying. As if paper contracts have an auto feed to the website. It assumes that all universities announce deals as soon as they happen. I agree though that their is bad blood. A&Ms departure overshadowed the leverage that the longhorn network had in negotiations with TV providers. Why would those companies make concessions if the LN was cancelled because the conference collapsed? That cost ESPN and the university millions. That is a selfish perspective for UT to have but you have already pointed at that you can't blame a university for doing what is in their self interest. I'm not saying that the network doesn't deserve blame. I think if you guys really believe that you would mention the good and explain how that still doesn't outweigh the bad."
Dirty little secret which will help explain the way people in Bristol CT think: Nobody outside Texas really cares or understands or gives a ******* crap about A&M. Seriously. I was shocked when I went out into the wider world as a teeenager and figured this out. And very amused. But bascially, other than a few spots in the south, for folks outside Texas....Texas A&M = Texas Tech = Texas Junior = Texas Lite, etc.
Yankees, Red Sox, Cowboys, Lakers, Favre. It's the need to shove it down my throat. I'm hoping NBC Sports will do a decent job of rivaling ESPN.
The only reason people outside of Texas know anything about ATM is because they play Texas on Thanksgiving weekend.
I really detest A&M, but the arrogance of many of the Longhorns fans is just gross. I completely understand why the Aggies are going to the SEC.
The Longhorns band was pretty classy in the way they said goodbye to the Aggies, can't say the same for the Aggies.
wow. I think your recent use of the word classy in the current context insults its meaning. Just look at what you've been doing. Tonight wasn't about trolling after which team won, we don't play for another 8 yrs, when i won't give a **** anyways. Its about the end of an annual tradition and it truly is sad. We like playing like the longhorns, and it doesn't always have to do with winning. They are exciting games to watch.
Thanks for the diagnosis. The next time I want the opinion of a semi-literate piss-ant I will look you up.
Another disappointing game where we were down to our 4th string RB in a power running offense. Having Brown or Bergeron suit up for this game would've put less focus on Case throwing the ball. Way too many penalties killing our drives and putting us in bad positions for Case to throw. Defense didn't play so well, either. Why wasn't Byndom on Wright? I know Byndom is more of a corner, but he's our best cover guy and Wright got open way too much. You could hardly even tell Byndom was playing because his man never got the ball. I'm glad Gideon is graduating, too. Horrible angles and horrible tackling. Did I mention that Gideon is horrible? It's almost as if Mack threw this year away, expecting to weather the storm until next year. The QB debacle. Holding out on playing our feature RBs. Definitely a growing year for the team with the new coaching staff and all. It's good that our young defense got plenty of experience. So who are we bowling against?
