This isn't the first cycle of the discussion of this idea but there's no way to keep up with them all.

Houstonag said:

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For those who want to use a student poll to determine a tu game they are wrong. Students do not count. They have no personal history even if they are offspring of AGs. Students never had to pay for anything and until they get out in the world earning their own way for about 20 years then they will have the right to vote on this matter.

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I get your point but it sounds like your college experience was much different than mine. I worked the entire time and remember when I got my first real job it was a huge relief that I didn't have to work in the day and study at night.

RAB83 said:

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Leave aside the manipulative, underhanded nature of the sips, playing them means giving up any other OOC P5 match ups, except for bowls.

We have four OOC games. One or two are a G5 team like SMU. One is an FCS team like Sam. The fourth is a marquee game against a P5 opponent. This year, it's Clemson. The next two years are Colorado, followed by Notre Dame for two years, then Miami. It's a lot more fun and a lot more exposure to play these games than to play in-state.

Yes, UF plays FSU, but that limits the ability for Florida to play UCLA, for example. And outside of the Sunshine State, who gives a rip about this game unless both are top five?

Yes, UGA plays GT, but that similarly limits UGA and who cares outside of Georgia. The same can be said for USCe vs Clemson.

If we played the sips next year, most people in the country would be interested, but if we played them every year, the novelty would fade.

The more distance we get from the BDF, the less most Ags care about the sips. If we start playing competitive with LSU, that will once again be a nasty rivalry and further lessen any desire to renew the game with the sips.

Nebraska vs Oklahoma used to be a great rivalry game. Both have moved on and no one seems to be pleading for it to be renewed. Throughout history, rivalries have come and gone. We should just let this one go.

The pleas to renew the rivalry seem to be coming from Austin, not College Station. It makes sense. We play Bama, Auburn, LSU, USCe, Arky, Ole Miss, Miss St, and a cross division opponent every year. At best, three of them may be somewhat down, but the caliber of somewhat down in the SEC is equivalent to the upper tier of BDF schools. That leaves us with five or more intense conference games. The sips have one. If they can get fired up and win a couple of challenging games, while cruising through the cupcakes, they can walk into the playoffs every year.

Ags, we should focus on the SEC West, a marquee OOC intersectional matchup, and the future. The sips are in the past and we should stop trying to live in the past when we have such a bright future ahead of us.

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If we really want to say "goodbye to texas university," then we should keep doing what we are doing. We play in the SEC West; don't give t.u. a foothold in it.

RAB83 said:

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Leave aside the manipulative, underhanded nature of the sips, playing them means giving up any other OOC P5 match ups, except for bowls.

We have four OOC games. One or two are a G5 team like SMU. One is an FCS team like Sam. The fourth is a marquee game against a P5 opponent. This year, it's Clemson. The next two years are Colorado, followed by Notre Dame for two years, then Miami. It's a lot more fun and a lot more exposure to play these games than to play in-state.

Yes, UF plays FSU, but that limits the ability for Florida to play UCLA, for example. And outside of the Sunshine State, who gives a rip about this game unless both are top five?

Yes, UGA plays GT, but that similarly limits UGA and who cares outside of Georgia. The same can be said for USCe vs Clemson.

If we played the sips next year, most people in the country would be interested, but if we played them every year, the novelty would fade.

The more distance we get from the BDF, the less most Ags care about the sips. If we start playing competitive with LSU, that will once again be a nasty rivalry and further lessen any desire to renew the game with the sips.

Nebraska vs Oklahoma used to be a great rivalry game. Both have moved on and no one seems to be pleading for it to be renewed. Throughout history, rivalries have come and gone. We should just let this one go.

The pleas to renew the rivalry seem to be coming from Austin, not College Station. It makes sense. We play Bama, Auburn, LSU, USCe, Arky, Ole Miss, Miss St, and a cross division opponent every year. At best, three of them may be somewhat down, but the caliber of somewhat down in the SEC is equivalent to the upper tier of BDF schools. That leaves us with five or more intense conference games. The sips have one. If they can get fired up and win a couple of challenging games, while cruising through the cupcakes, they can walk into the playoffs every year.

Ags, we should focus on the SEC West, a marquee OOC intersectional matchup, and the future. The sips are in the past and we should stop trying to live in the past when we have such a bright future ahead of us.

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Georgia plays Notre Dame. Clemson is playing us. So, how do their games against Georgia Tech and South Carolina limit them?

Quote:

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Georgia plays Notre Dame. Clemson is playing us. So, how do their games against Georgia Tech and South Carolina limit them?

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Okay, gotta admit this is a point. However, Clemson has an ACC conference schedule and UGA is SEC East. Are there any SEC West teams who tack on two upper tier P5 OOC games?

Two choices:
1. Play them again;
2. Put them fully in the rearview mirror removing them from ALL songs, traditions, yells, etc.

No middle ground! I choose option 2.

A tu/tex tribune poll suggests that more people in Texas frankly DON'T care...that seems more reasonable than "everyone wants it back!"

TexAgs is the safe space for people who don't want to play tu again.

Bryanisbest said:

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Two choices:
1. Play them again;
2. Put them fully in the rearview mirror removing them from ALL songs, traditions, yells, etc.

No middle ground! I choose option 2.

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There is always another option.

Because the tea sippers are a bunch of arrogant jerks. Plus the refs seem to be biased in their favor.

GarrettL_15 said:

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TexAgs is the safe space for people who don't want to play tu again.

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It is also a safe space for those whose entire identity as Aggies depends on those aholes! /HTH

shugag22 said:

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Let me preface this by saying I agree we should never play the sips again. However, I am a current student and I keep seeing comments like "current students don't understand what they did to us back in the day so we should never play them again".. can someone pls explain exactly what they did so us current students can learn and understand why the majority of yall dont want the game back?

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Too many replies on this thread to read them. But OP asks a good question. My take (class of 1993)...

It's not surprising the new generation of Aggies are confused by us "'Ol Army" Ags. Personally, I miss the rivalry when I think of its "history and nostalgia". It was a "storied rivalry" that many generations of Aggies remember sharing with their families, with the campus Bonfire, and look back not on the 'sips, but the Aggies with which they shared it. When Bonfire collapsed in 1999, even the Longhorns learned that Aggie traditions were not about them, but about us. It was evident they finally "got it" in the write ups and speeches their student leaders graciously gave that tragic week, some noting that the "Aggie Family" was much more eminently qualified to handle such a tragedy.

Compare that to the fact that for much of the two schools history they were extremely different. Texas A&M was simply different from its founding to around 1975. It's like saying West Point or the Citadel and any U of Anystate should be able to compete in athletics. Generations of Longhorns taunted Aggies holding the "all-time record" over our heads, sometimes referring to Corps uniforms as "Nazi-looking," and pretty much earned the right for Aggies to call them out as "teasips" (arrogant, uppity). Aggies, for our part, held dear our contributions to America's war efforts, traditions of family and responsibility to each other, etc. that naturally extended from military culture. (To explain further, I drew a line at 1975 since A&M was all-male and Corps membership was required until the mid-60s, and it took a while to become fully co-ed to around the mid-70s. So one can arguably say that A&M's disadvantages on the athletic fields were finally lessened around 1975.)

When I was at A&M, even as "late" as the 1990s, it was like the teasips were stuck in the past, and the arrogance was palpable. The "all time record" was amusingly referred to at every turn, despite that fact the series was even (or at times the Aggies led) since 1975. We both despised them and "pitied" them in a way, because they hadn't seen for two decades how "little brother" grew up 20 years prior.

Notice how I said "lessened by 1975" above. That was on purpose. Almost 100 years of history, branding, "general perceptions", business deals, etc. are hard to overcome. The Longhorns essentially ran the SWC, and it was the death of it. When it died, Texas A&M was forced to join the Big 12 by the Texas Legislature. Arkansas had bolted the SWC for the SEC years prior, and some at A&M wanted us to join the SEC rather than the Big 12. Underlying that idea was partly exhaustion about how the Longhorn administration had thrown it's weight around for decades in the SWC. I think our time in the Big 12 and the fact that it's well documented NU, CU and MU all left because of the U Tex administration's positions on what it meant to be a good conference partner proves my point on the SWC.

And there is exactly why Aggies don't care to play Texas again. They were too arrogant and blind for over 100 years as to how to deal with conference partners, and blind to what A&M had become for decades, that we older Aggies understand that they now need us more than we need them. MORESO, it's in our best interest to let them flounder around in their mediocrity for as long as it takes for them to deal with us honestly and fairly. It will take time.

In this case, the old adage that past performance is the best predictor of future results holds true. The evidence is too mountainous to conclude otherwise. Let their schedule and conference suck for 30 or so years. They need our brand and the excitement that would come from "rekindling the rivalry" more than we will need them for the next 20-30 years, or possibly ever again. Personally, I wouldn't be satisfied with rekindling it until the sound out of their administration was more humble and give some recognition to the fact we were right, yes, even eating crow. Only then will I even entertain the idea that things have finally changed with them AND that we would get treated fairly in any deal.

Bryanisbest said:

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Two choices:
1. Play them again;
2. Put them fully in the rearview mirror removing them from ALL songs, traditions, yells, etc.

No middle ground! I choose option 2.

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Disagree. I don't think we should play them anytime soon. But I also don't want to change the words to the Aggie War Hymn because it is a great homage to our past and tradition.

I wish we would sing the first and second verses of the War Hymn, not the second verse twice. But it's simply emblazoned on so many that it's hard to do when the person next to you isn't thinking about it and in unison. But despite that, I honestly have never really thought about the Longhorns singing the song except the week we played them. It's been about us, not them, in my mind. So much so that it, to me, is more like singing Auld Lang Syne around friends and thinking of those friendships and family than the words of that song (which no one really understands what they mean...).