The Doctor

TEXAS football soon = SMU football. But the traditions and songs will be awesomely great at Rugby games.

When players' parents and recruits parents start talking and feeling shaded... This is the development I am most concerned about. If you lose mama, you usually lose the recruit. It's not just the kids; it's whole families you have to consider.

OK this one and ONLY this one...is kinda funny. LOL

I was thinking the same thing yesterday. The Wyoming documentary...

YEAH. What they said.

It doesn't matter what effect it has??!?!?!? What?! Do you even read what you type?! Of course the EFFECT matters. What the hell?1

BurntOrange&White, You're kinda the extreme opposite of smart. Anything that resembles "forced" should horrify you as a UT fan. This is not a good development. It's a possible match to a powder keg if one group of vocal players decide not to fall in line. Herman, CDC and even Hartzell are all walking a very fine line and they know it. Notice they never get close to using any words that sound like coercion (expectation is what CDC said) of the players. With more details being discussed behind the scenes as we speak. Because they are smart people in the middle of a really tough spot with a fragile team/program. I don't envy the position they are in. This could go South very fast and have wide ranging repercussions. The guy who posted the video about culture is right. It's a program that is not in a position to absorb trauma and quickly emerge in a good place. Darrell Royal and Mack Brown was also so very right about the challenge of getting all the the BB's back in the box. What a total cluster. I don't know about you but I don't want more Texas HS players opting to go to OU, the SEC and Big 10. Enough of that crap.

No he isn't. Come off that B.S. Don't call this man a bigot over this topic because you disagree with him. Debate with some dignity.

Maybe. I haven't (don't care to do it) done the math but all the billionaire donors in the world can't really prevent a program from slipping into irrelevance or the Big 12 from becoming the AAC or the Mountain West Conference. For decades it killed me to watch our best players leave the state and have to listen to how great USC, Alabama, Miami, FSU and LSU were, when I knew Texas High Schools produced the best players and Texas programs could be great if they could keep them home. For one brief moment Vince & Co. proved me right and Tx College football was fun. Billionaires didn't get any natty rings because they didn't make it happen. It's all about the 18-22 year old Jimmies and Joes. Recognize.

What's truly disgusting is to stereotype and make generalizations to suit the silly point that young people don't possess the capacity to lead a meaningful and significant change initiative. They do and they are. And thank goodness they took the lead at UT and around this country. Give them some credit. Apex73, it took me some time to respond to you because I was waiting for "Francis" to respond first. Additionally, I was looking around to see if you had said anything on this topic that isn't myopic and regressive. But since I had a few extra minutes, I went ahead and responded anyway. Maybe Francis, will eventually get back to you also.

Cool.

So you're saying some ex-players are trash, exploited UT and do not care about UT, and that UT and its fans are totally awesome, altruistic, don't exploit players and care so much for all of the players and ex-players? And the players are clueless about their own interests and never have a clue about anything because they are 18-22? Got it. Well researched, fact based POV. We learned a lot here. One question - How many of these players that you speak about, do you actually know?

Well done. Good points.

Yes, yes.

Well if no one watches then that's problem solved, right? You won't have a team and the SEC and Big 10 will happily take all of our Texas homegrown kids. Simple calculus - which these young athletes understand now. These kids didn't wake up one morning looking to fracture the fan base, but the fan base needs to realize the kids are not robots and you have to deal with them on new terms or it will cost you. It will cost everyone who loves college football. They don't have to go to Texas. They choose to go to Texas IF it makes sense to them. If it feels like a real home to them.

aggie08...Uuuh I don't want to. Bigger fish to fry. LOL!

52-80 ... LOL! I love it. Do you own this board chump? You can't take a little disagreement? I never posted here in the past but this particular thread intrigued me because it feel like a betrayal of the players. At first, when UT made some concessions to the players I was both stunned and proud of the players and UT. So I was shocked at any talk of possibly pushing back against the players on the whole "Eyes of Texas" issue. But rest easy, I'll get busy again and be bored with you guys' nonsense soon enough.

Apex73..."You clearly don't understand how hierarchies work." Come on dude, slow your roll and stay in your narrow lane. I've been in the Fortune 500 for over 25 years and an Executive managing large teams for 10 of those years, so spare me the lecture about hierarchy and policy making. Perhaps what you don't understand is that BLM and other social justice movements that are playing out as we speak are about upsetting, disrupting shifting and even toppling hierachies and institutions that don't work for or fully serve certain groups of people. Which is a good thing considering the status quo. Change isn't always evil, fella.

3shot ...I can see you have a lot going for yourself. Keep up the sub-par work.

bad_teammate...Spot on. Right On!

3shot..."Obvious aggy troll"? Nah kid, not even close. Can't stand the Ags (long story). Just want UT to live up to who it says it is. Support these kids. Simple.

Skipper...Moral high ground?? That quite a claim. Prove it. Just prove it. Prove it to your players.

TwiceHorn... Your argument kinda sounds solid on its face. Essentially - all good football schools probably have racist pasts too. OK, but UT is the easy target because they are the only ones fighting with their players about a song, while still struggling for relevance among all of the other allegedly racist Top 10 programs. Do most of the SEC programs have sordid racial histories? Most likely but 75% are also NFL filling factories and their players are not asking them to stand with us, be better, and do not force this offensive song on us. So there is really no equivalence.

Apex73... I'm not sure where to begin with you. BLM is not deciding anything. The players and other African Americans have decided what they want on their own. Of course they think for themselves, but sometimes, like RIGHT NOW we (African-Americans and their allies) all have a few common or shared interests. Do you think the UT players put their careers on the line because BLM told them to? No, it's because they have their own convictions. CONVICTIONS. And YES, I do believe 1000% that if UT takes a hard stance against these players, your profile and recruitment of top black players with take a devastating hit. The war for talent between the top football programs is already vicious. Imagine if other schools and elite players begin a whisper campaign that says UT doesn't empathize with or stand with the Black athlete. Add that narrative to UT's mediocre reputation for player development and NFL preparedness. And you will see very fast how far UT football will sink, if even 6 or 7, four and five star players drop UT from consideration every cycle. Get real. UT like every other top program needs every positive narrative it can get with African American players. What alternate (FOX News?) recruiting universe do you live in?

MirrOlure..."The recipe for success is recruiting ATHLETES who care about playing fucking football first, and everything else second." I can see by your responses that you are a true crafty genius type so I guess I need to carefully reach deep into my bag of trucks for a rebuttal. First off, it sounds like you're telling to players to shut up and play or to just be dumb athletes like the good ole days. Well good luck with that. That horse has left the barn. It will never be that way again. Thankfully. These kids want their cake and eat it too. And why shouldn't they? The networks pay the Conferences billions $$ to see them play, not the Alums and not you or me. THE ATHLETES ONLY. Moreover, if you want them just to be athletes, which is idiotic BS on its face, then why attempt to force them to sing a song they find offensive? If sports and just being an athlete is all that matters, then they don't need to sing anything. Just play, leave the field and live. BE AN ATHLETE! But look around. Being an athlete these days is more than that fella. Deal with it and work with the kids. The clock is not turning back to 1945.