I'm an Arkansas fan, from back in the SWC days.
I've been to two games at Kyle Field as a member of the Marching Razorback band. I was a student at the U of A when Arkansas switched to the SEC.
I know, firsthand, about how things will change for the Aggies if y'all switch conferences. I saw and lived through a conference switch myself.
First, Aggies will have to get over your weird disdain for so-called "t-shirt" fans. Your universe will have to get a lot bigger than just folks who went to A&M if you ever want to compete in the SEC.
Arkansas never had this contempt for "t-shirt fans." A huge segment of Hog fans never went to the University of Arkansas as students. But they are passionate fans of the Hogs because the Hogs are from Arkansas. Plenty of "t-shirt fans" buy tickets and donate money to the Razorback Foundation.
Thousands upon thousands of people who attended smaller colleges in Arkansas, like UCA and Arkansas Tech also consider themselves Razorbacks, not anything else. Being a Razorback fan in Arkansas is cultural. It has nothing to do with where you went to school. It doesn't even matter if you didn't got to school at all.
Have y'all noticed that lots of the schools in the SEC are typically referred to using just the name of the state in which they are located?
If you come to the SEC, you are about to be swamped by legions of people you discount as "t-shirt fans." Hundreds of thousands of Volunteer fans didn't go to the U of Tenn. Hundreds of thousands of Crimson Tide fans didn't go to Alabama. Same for Florida and Georgia. You think those folks aren't passionate and won't show up to jack your jaws ever Saturday because they're just "t-shirt fans?"
Again, in SEC country, being a Georgia fan or an Ole Miss fan is more a cultural thing, not an allegiance to a specific school. It's in the blood. It's a tribal identification based on geography and family.
I'll bet that a lot of Aggie disdain against "t-shirt fans" is just a reaction against Texas Longhorn fans, because people just say the name of the state to indicate the Longhorns.
You'll have to let go of your irrational hatred of Texas, at least some of it.
C'mon, the line "Goodbye to Texas University" is in the Aggie War Hymn. Y'all cannot tell me that you don't have an irrational, deep-seated hatred for Texas. You cannot tell me "Oh, they're just our biggest rival."
You express your hatred for exactly one school in the Aggie War Hymn. Texas University.
But I understand more than fans of most schools would, because Arkansas held a deep-seated irrational hatred for Texas, too. I grew up hating the Whorns because they were the burnt-orange villains of my childhood. They were (and still are) evil, in my worldview. Burn, Texas, Burn is all I have to say about the Whorns.
We still do hate Texas. But not nearly like we used to. It's just mostly the folks old enough to remember when we were in the SWC with Texas. Hardly anyone younger than 25 remembers it. Not one single person playing football for Arkansas was even born the last time the Hogs played the Whorns in a conference football game.
That's what would happen with your rivalry with Texas. It would slowly erode away. Twenty years after switching to the SEC, no Aggies actually at the school would really know why you have "Goodbye to Texas University" in your Aggie War Hymn.
Here's something else you would have to contend with that I don't think Aggies are really used to seeing, not on a regular basis.
SEC fans travel in very large packs. If you join the SEC, your campus will be routinely invaded by thousands of Alabama Crimson Tide fans, and thousands of UT Volunteer fans, and Ole Miss Rebel fans, and Georgia Bulldog fans, LSU fans, etc. etc.
I'll bet y'all have never been invaded by thousands upon thousands of Baylor fans, or Iowa State fans, or Kansas fans.
In the SEC, it will be a weekly invasion. And you will not like what you see. I'd pay $20 to watch some cadet yell at a group of drunken Crimson Tide fans to "get off the grass" on campus. You'll think "t-shirt fan" when Bubba and Jethro and his six cousins from near Birmingham who never went to the University of Alabama get done with you.
And that's another thing. Y'all call Texas the "sips" or "t-sips" to make fun of their effete superiority complex. I get it. I've seen it and experienced burnt orange arrogance first hand, remember?
In the SEC, there ain't nobody sipping no tea, got it? The SEC is a six-pack of Budweiser conference and maybe some shots of Jack Daniels conference.
Oh sure, SEC fans will talk about themselves as being "classy" and I know one family friend (an LSU fan) who keeps telling me that the SEC plays by "gentlemen's rules."
Yeah. Check. Got it. Gentlemen's Rules. Gentlemen like Travis and Rezin Bowie. Look up the particulars of the "Sandbar Fight" involving Mr. Bowie for a look at "gentlemen's rules" in SEC land.
But that's how y'all will have to change immediately. You will have to get over hating Texas so much. You will have to realize that you'll be up against programs that all have hundreds of thousands of so-called "t-shirt fans," only SEC "t-shirt fans" are the kind of folks who will knock your teeth out for making fun of their colors. You will have to get used to the idea of thousands upon thousands of these "t-shirt fans" showing up on your campus, ready to rumble.
Y'all heard about the Alabama guy who poisoned Auburn's ancient oak trees at Toomer's Corner, right? And then called an Alabama radio sports show and bragged about doing it?
What they'll do on Reveille's grave won't pass for flowers, either.
Welcome to the SEC, baby.
I've been to two games at Kyle Field as a member of the Marching Razorback band. I was a student at the U of A when Arkansas switched to the SEC.
I know, firsthand, about how things will change for the Aggies if y'all switch conferences. I saw and lived through a conference switch myself.
First, Aggies will have to get over your weird disdain for so-called "t-shirt" fans. Your universe will have to get a lot bigger than just folks who went to A&M if you ever want to compete in the SEC.
Arkansas never had this contempt for "t-shirt fans." A huge segment of Hog fans never went to the University of Arkansas as students. But they are passionate fans of the Hogs because the Hogs are from Arkansas. Plenty of "t-shirt fans" buy tickets and donate money to the Razorback Foundation.
Thousands upon thousands of people who attended smaller colleges in Arkansas, like UCA and Arkansas Tech also consider themselves Razorbacks, not anything else. Being a Razorback fan in Arkansas is cultural. It has nothing to do with where you went to school. It doesn't even matter if you didn't got to school at all.
Have y'all noticed that lots of the schools in the SEC are typically referred to using just the name of the state in which they are located?
If you come to the SEC, you are about to be swamped by legions of people you discount as "t-shirt fans." Hundreds of thousands of Volunteer fans didn't go to the U of Tenn. Hundreds of thousands of Crimson Tide fans didn't go to Alabama. Same for Florida and Georgia. You think those folks aren't passionate and won't show up to jack your jaws ever Saturday because they're just "t-shirt fans?"
Again, in SEC country, being a Georgia fan or an Ole Miss fan is more a cultural thing, not an allegiance to a specific school. It's in the blood. It's a tribal identification based on geography and family.
I'll bet that a lot of Aggie disdain against "t-shirt fans" is just a reaction against Texas Longhorn fans, because people just say the name of the state to indicate the Longhorns.
You'll have to let go of your irrational hatred of Texas, at least some of it.
C'mon, the line "Goodbye to Texas University" is in the Aggie War Hymn. Y'all cannot tell me that you don't have an irrational, deep-seated hatred for Texas. You cannot tell me "Oh, they're just our biggest rival."
You express your hatred for exactly one school in the Aggie War Hymn. Texas University.
But I understand more than fans of most schools would, because Arkansas held a deep-seated irrational hatred for Texas, too. I grew up hating the Whorns because they were the burnt-orange villains of my childhood. They were (and still are) evil, in my worldview. Burn, Texas, Burn is all I have to say about the Whorns.
We still do hate Texas. But not nearly like we used to. It's just mostly the folks old enough to remember when we were in the SWC with Texas. Hardly anyone younger than 25 remembers it. Not one single person playing football for Arkansas was even born the last time the Hogs played the Whorns in a conference football game.
That's what would happen with your rivalry with Texas. It would slowly erode away. Twenty years after switching to the SEC, no Aggies actually at the school would really know why you have "Goodbye to Texas University" in your Aggie War Hymn.
Here's something else you would have to contend with that I don't think Aggies are really used to seeing, not on a regular basis.
SEC fans travel in very large packs. If you join the SEC, your campus will be routinely invaded by thousands of Alabama Crimson Tide fans, and thousands of UT Volunteer fans, and Ole Miss Rebel fans, and Georgia Bulldog fans, LSU fans, etc. etc.
I'll bet y'all have never been invaded by thousands upon thousands of Baylor fans, or Iowa State fans, or Kansas fans.
In the SEC, it will be a weekly invasion. And you will not like what you see. I'd pay $20 to watch some cadet yell at a group of drunken Crimson Tide fans to "get off the grass" on campus. You'll think "t-shirt fan" when Bubba and Jethro and his six cousins from near Birmingham who never went to the University of Alabama get done with you.
And that's another thing. Y'all call Texas the "sips" or "t-sips" to make fun of their effete superiority complex. I get it. I've seen it and experienced burnt orange arrogance first hand, remember?
In the SEC, there ain't nobody sipping no tea, got it? The SEC is a six-pack of Budweiser conference and maybe some shots of Jack Daniels conference.
Oh sure, SEC fans will talk about themselves as being "classy" and I know one family friend (an LSU fan) who keeps telling me that the SEC plays by "gentlemen's rules."
Yeah. Check. Got it. Gentlemen's Rules. Gentlemen like Travis and Rezin Bowie. Look up the particulars of the "Sandbar Fight" involving Mr. Bowie for a look at "gentlemen's rules" in SEC land.
But that's how y'all will have to change immediately. You will have to get over hating Texas so much. You will have to realize that you'll be up against programs that all have hundreds of thousands of so-called "t-shirt fans," only SEC "t-shirt fans" are the kind of folks who will knock your teeth out for making fun of their colors. You will have to get used to the idea of thousands upon thousands of these "t-shirt fans" showing up on your campus, ready to rumble.
Y'all heard about the Alabama guy who poisoned Auburn's ancient oak trees at Toomer's Corner, right? And then called an Alabama radio sports show and bragged about doing it?
What they'll do on Reveille's grave won't pass for flowers, either.
Welcome to the SEC, baby.
