knoxtom said:

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Stupidest thing to me is those who think the $20 million has anything to do with NIL money. The colleges seem to be among thee idiots.

Now every teams will be spending $20 million PLUS whatever they spend on NIL. The smart teams will be hiring cap managers real quickly because that $20 million won't be split evenly and each individual player will be getting their share of the $20 PLUS whatever they can negotiate with the school/NIL guy.

Talk about a cluster F. These schools took a disaster and made it worse.

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Luckily A&M has people and an entire system with leadership already in place with NIL payroll and how it is divided up amongst players. It wont be difficult to get the "above" board $20 million managed.

I still care but don't let it dominate the Saturdays in the fall anymore. Record it and do something else and check the half time score to see if worth watching it or not.

Hulla-va-lotta, Cash Caneck! Caneck!
Hulla-va-lotta, Cash Caneck! Caneck!

Good Buy for Texas University
Some Millions of Large Scratch for the Orange and the Whiiiite
Gobs of Loot for the Dear Bond Maturing Texas Aggies
They are the bankers that show the old rate hike

"The eyes of Texas giving lots green more than you..."
That is the dong they sling with oil wells
So good-buy for Texas University
We aren't going to beat you to the
Ash-Coin Gouda-Gwala Shekels-Guap

Oh cmon now, how are you gonna get your fill of crap DJ music and hundreds of bozos throwing horns down while we're playing LaTech or Sam Houston?

7-5

No

We either pay NIL or should get used to losing more than we do. We've been #5 in SEC wins since joining. That will drop off without buying recruits when everyone else is.

OP just doesn't "get it" and has a hard on for NIL.*


*What I was told a few months back.

Ag1188 said:

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We either pay NIL or should get used to losing more than we do. We've been #5 in SEC wins since joining. That will drop off without buying recruits when everyone else is.

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We were buying recruits long before NIL, as was everyone else.

It changes nothing, other than the fact that nobody has to hide it anymore.

4 said:

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Ag1188 said:

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We either pay NIL or should get used to losing more than we do. We've been #5 in SEC wins since joining. That will drop off without buying recruits when everyone else is.

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We were buying recruits long before NIL, as was everyone else.

It changes nothing, other than the fact that nobody has to hide it anymore.

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Then we weren't very good at it.

Maybe let others give it a try.

Anybody who truly 'doesn't care' isn't posting any more on this football board. All the folks who starred your OP still care enough to waste their time on TexAgs

Pumpkinhead said:

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Anybody who truly 'doesn't care' isn't posting any more on this football board. All the folks who starred your OP still care enough to waste their time on TexAgs

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I could care less.

OP, on the original question. I don't care as much as I used to, but I'll still be watching every game this year. I suspect that every poster on this board will be, unless they have an unavoidable conflict.

It bothers me, to be sure. But it's like I told someone over the weekend, "If I didn't like it so much, I'd stop watching".

What WOULD do me in permanently would be a removal of the "student" requirement. If the players become mere employees and no longer students, that's the end of it for me (and I suspect a lot of other fans).

My care level if they are winning will still be great.
However, if the results go Jimboish, my care level will be much less than in the past.

Still care, just not as much.

The athletes on the field have little in common with the students they (purportedly) represent. It's rare that they major in anything substantive, and most are looking to leave as quickly as the NFL will allow.

That's fine. They're taking care of their own business interests. But their interests are not mine.

College football is now a game of big business. It's played by present and future pros, controlled by sales and marketing, and sustained by big donors in luxury boxes.

I'm saddened that it's changed so much. However, change is a fact of life. We'll adjust to the new landscape, but not all of us have to embrace it.

CB, '67

greg.w.h said:

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Apathy and complaining is easy.

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Just like your mom.

Hey, we're on year 85 of mediocrity....... what in the world makes you think that's going to change ? We haven't changed how/when/who we select our coaches, or the selection process. We have all the BMAs chiming in when they obviously don't know crap about SEC, much less NATTY-quality teams and coaches.

Yada, yada, yada...... No, I can't get excited about our quest for the 85th, 86th, ad infinitum years of mediocrity......

Apathy is a lot easier when we haven't been consistently good in decades. If we were where Texas is positioned right now, a lot more people would be excited, NIL aside.

We have been arguably the single most underperforming program in the nation since the start of the millennium. We have more money than God and frankly, the results are and have been embarrassing given the input. That's just facts.

We clearly have a fundamental culture problem at the very heart of our program that has transcended coaching regimes, recruiting classes, etc. Until the right coach and our administration figures out how to truly change the root of whatever that problem is and change it for good, apathy will only continue to slowly grow. All you can do is hope Elko is that guy.

Mark Stoops said:

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Apathy is a lot easier when we haven't been consistently good in decades. If we were where Texas is positioned right now, a lot more people would be excited, NIL aside.

We have been arguably the single most underperforming program in the nation since the start of the millennium. We have more money than God and frankly, the results are and have been embarrassing given the input. That's just facts.

We clearly have a fundamental culture problem at the very heart of our program that has transcended coaching regimes, recruiting classes, etc. Until the right coach and our administration figures out how to truly change the root of whatever that problem is and change it for good, apathy will only continue to slowly grow. All you can do is hope Elko is that guy.

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We were there going into the 2021 season.

And in the 10-ish seasons before 2023, the sips were not positioned well. At all.

That's fine. Texas has been much more adapt and being able to sustain success, that's the difference. Not in the recent past but over the long-term. Certainly at least compared to us. We have a tremendous problem handling the slightest amount of success. It always just ends up being a blip on the radar, like 2012 or 2020. It just reverts right back to 8-4 or worse. And a good segment of our fan base will continue to jerk themselves for the next 4-5 years over that one good season that didn't even result in a championship of any kind, rather than asking why the hell can't we produce results that are even in the same ballpark of the combined investment, recruiting, and support.

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Have they?

Since the 80s, I see a bunch of middling years for those clowns. Take out the 00s and they are no more impressive than an average team. If that. Their 00s balance against A&M's mid-80s to mid-90s run. A&M has had roughly the same W/L record as the sips since about 1975 or so, I believe. We don't have a national title (but I'll put a bunch of ******* next to theirs since Vince Young's knee was so clearly down on a play that would have been overturned in today's replay game.)

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You're focusing too much on Texas, it was just an in state example. And throwing away an entire decade is…. convenient.

Use any example you'd like, there are a ton of programs to pick from that have a better track record over the last quarter century that don't have our resources or recruits, many of them them not even close to it. Take your pick.

Mark Stoops said:

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That's fine. Texas has been much more adapt and being able to sustain success, that's the difference. Not in the recent past but over the long-term. Certainly at least compared to us. We have a tremendous problem handling the slightest amount of success. It always just ends up being a blip on the radar, like 2012 or 2020. It just reverts right back to 8-4 or worse.

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Have they?

Since the 80s, I see a bunch of middling years for those clowns. Take out the 00s and they are no more impressive than an average team. If that. Their 00s balance against A&M's mid-80s to mid-90s run. A&M has had roughly the same W/L record as the sips since about 1975 or so, I believe. We don't have a national title (but I'll put a bunch of ******* next to theirs since Vince Young's knee was so clearly down on a play that would have been overturned in today's replay game.)

I'm not sure why NIL would affect someone that is a college football fan. Players have always been paid. It's just more out in the open. Heck we gave Dickerson a trans am to play for SMU.

With the playoff going to 12 teams I'm actually more excited.

We are 0.500 Vs the sips in the last 50 years. They got their lead during the wars and prior to us being Co-Ed. They have no advantage now and we are totally different program than when we left the Big 12. That should be easy for anyone to see.

I lived for Aggie football....up at 4 am stoking the firebox on the smoker, open a fresh bottle of jim beam at 4:30.....loved 6 pm games because I could anticipate all day. Whenever we lost I was in mourning for a good solid 3 days before the excitement of the next game took over and pulled me out of it.

Now, I'm so jaded by blown leads and bed sh.tt.ng I dgaf any more. A good, hard, well-played game that resulted in a loss is a hell of a lot more easy to handle than sh.tty play calling and lack of execution on the field.

I get what you're saying, but thankfully in each class there will be a handful of true Aggies who come for the right reasons, fall in love with the place, and rep us for life. Those will be the ones we remember. And it's the same for students -- some choose A&M because they love it, they get into the traditions and become true Aggies, but at least half the student population are 2%ers -- they earn their degree, never partake in campus life, move on and never revisit campus because it was just a means to an end.

CoolAggie said:

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I still care but two decades of mediocrity have beaten me down. Don't have a problem with NIL but the portal is out of control and makes it difficult to root for individual players or care at all about recruiting.

I don't think I will step inside Kyle Field again for a long time. The game atmosphere has become too much like a pro sport event. I'll watch the games on tv and just expect 8-4 seasons til kingdom come.

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Agreed. I don't get to go often because we have 3 little kids and are 3 hours away but when I do go it feels like a production.

Not much, no.

Update-

I care more today than yesterday.

Seamaster said:

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Finding it hard to get excited and care very much about Aggie football. Its not just BAS. Its the NIL and the portal and the whole jaded memory of the 'student athlete.'

You see, back in the old days players, except in rare occasions, stuck around for at least 3 years, usually 4, and in that time they gave it all to the maroon and white. So you could cheer for them and see them grow and develop.

Watching the Ja'Mar Toombs video the other day about him earning his degree is case and point. He is an Aggie through and through. Nowadays, can you count the mercenaries who come in for one season? Its just not the same....

Finding it hard to care.

Now get off my lawn.

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I don't care anymore. It's a pro sport now. For the smart mouth posters who like to say "of course you care if you're still posting here derp derp," (1) it doesn't actually take any effort to post here, and (2) I'm posting here for the Aggie community, which I do somewhat care about. I will post about football too while I'm here just because it's the only sport Ive ever paid attention to, but I don't care about it anymore. I would prefer A&M to win when it is playing another team, just like I'd prefer to eat sushi tonight instead of pizza. Thats the extent of my feelings about it.

If we make it to the national championship game, I will probably start to care a little bit.

When I got ****ed over on the reseating process is when I pretty much stopped caring.

I think people dont care because its been decades of garbage.

This would be an interesting thread to bookmark if we start off strong and see who is right back in it if we do well.

Ya, I'm over it as well.

This is the least engaged I've been in an off season in the last 15 years. Jimbo jacked me up. And then all the nonsense with the hire and AD leaving stuff just makes me feel like it's as bad the booster dumpster fire going on in Austin.

I watched Elko some at Duke, and we're definitely going to have our frustrating moments with some of his coaching decisions. However, if we can just get back to being a disciplined and focused team with top 15 talent, then I'll probably start having some real "belief" again.

As a Mavs fan as well, it helps to have a real stud player too.

I'm rapidly moving through stages. I've gone from super fan to "Some of these kids are *******s" (Mond era); to "They're going to F up my favorite sport and favorite time of year" (NIL & free transfer rule) to "Now we're going to give these kids a scholarship AND pay them to play? What?"

I don't like where it's heading and I'm worried that my level of interest is dropping like a stone. I just recently renewed my Champions Council donation which, I guess, ties me in for 5 years. I guess I'll keep buying my tickets for the next 5 years (which isn't near as much of a certainty as it was just a few years ago). But if they don't get it fixed and preserve the traditional spirit of the game I'll drift away from donations and ticket purchases.

TLDR? So, do I care? Sure. But not as much as I used to and I'm not guaranteed to care for ever if they don't fix it quickly.

I grew up a Cowboys fan. What was the question again?