Big games. That's it and the money. OU, Aggy, Piggy. When I was a student, those were the big games. We only have one currently and it's always in Dallas. We have no good home games with traditional rivals. It's all about drawing interest.
I like TCU. I grew up in Ft. Worth. I would love for TCU to go to the B1G. I know the ESPN talking heads love Sundance Square. I think Gameday is there at least once every year. Getting Michigan and some Big 10 teams in Ft Worth would be fun.
I used to party with Sonny on the Double T at PK. Hope he does well. TCU has always been his dream job btw.
OU used to have a rivalry game every year, too: OU-Nebraska. That went the way of the Dodo. Yes, there used to be a lot of good rivalry games. They were all killed off by greed.
I have probably bored everyone here with Tales From My Youth already, but, patience, gentle reader, as I recount Days Gone Past. My Father played for the Longhorns back in the 50s. One of my earliest memories was being hoisted up on his shoulder one brisk November afternoon to walk with the other ex-Letterman around old Memorial Stadium to the Visitors section, where the Letterman serenaded the depressed Aggie faithful with a dirige-like "Poooor Aggies... Poooor Aggies..." The tree where they liked to hang out and drink beer was still there at Sholtz' last time (2007) I visited. The ghosts of the past still haunt the older of us, for we remember...
It was the avarice of DeLoss Dodds that killed the Old SWC, and his arrogance which wounded the early BIGXII. Many here would salute the man, because it was his nod that brought us into the BIGXII. I remember that it was his machinations that excluded us in the first place. But, like him or hate him, he
made the BIGXII, and UT commanded it from a position of unquestioned strength. It was that dick-swinging that drove off Nebraska, and A&M. Nebraska used to be a force in the old Big 8, but with their new affiliation, they had no stroke whatsoever. A&M has always had Little Brother Syndrome, and it is a special kind of pathetic that they keep their old songs that illustrate this even after they have moved on. Now, I guess those old tunes will mean something again. We'll see...
No one knows what the structure of the New and Improved SEC will look like. With that many members, there may not be those cherished Rivalry Games every year, but perhaps every three or four years. They may not happen
that often. We simply don't know. ESPN is in charge of SEC scheduling, and what they say will be what goes. And what they say will have to do with what
they consider compelling games, which may not be at all compelling to You The Fans. ESPN doesn't care. Buy your tickets and shut up. You had a good gig with the Longhorn Network, but that's gone now. You're just one of a bunch of programs, and not a particularly special one given the rest of the SEC roster. It will be a wrenching shock for some years to come.
I mourn for what was, in the simpler times gone past. When we could pile in the car and drive to just about any away game. The proximity made each game a rivalry game. Now, with multiple shuffles of the Conference deck, there is no continuity, no structure. It has all been swept away and replaced by a New Order, which really has no order at all, save for one that constantly shifts around. We the Fans are supposed to just sit back and accept it enthusiastically, and pay money to see more of it.
I remember Dad in his last days. We had rigged a TV in his room so he could watch either old Westerns or the Longhorn Network. His mind was going, and though he knew that the Longhorns were playing, he couldn't remember the outcomes of the games even though we were in attendance at a couple of them. Each one was a new experience for him, all over again...
