Randolph Duke

I’m still not sure if my favorite “visiting fan” letter was the Auburn fan (2013?) who parked his car to go to the game and got lost seven separate times while trying to find where the largest building within a 100 mile radius was located, or the Florida fan (2019) who was such a Gator fan he travelled 1,500 miles to see his team play but after an instant within the confines of Kyle field dropped his allegiance to his team and started cheering for A&M because “A&M deserved the win more than UF.” Only the childlike aggy mentality could fabricate such utter bullshit. I’m sure it is only a matter of time until they christen their sacred monument honoring the aggys of the A&M vaccine facility that was the only facility in the world to manufacture the vaccine that saved mankind from Covid. If you see an aggy today, remember to thank them for all they have selflessly done for you.

Stupid sip, Every young athlete dreaming of going to the NBA knows he can go to A&M, instantly get playing time, and become a national sensation not just playing on the biggest stage in all of college basketball, but by awakening the sleeping giant. Shaka still has to worry about one (or more) of his players suffering a career-ending injury playing tournament games this spring. Advantage aggy.

Can you let them have at least a day or two to begin after receiving the report to begin the process of updating that various websites, or do you think this is so critical to the continued existence of the university they need to drop everything and immediately update the websites? If you think updating the websites is absolutely critical, I’m sure your writing a big enough check to the university to cover the costs will certainly speed up the process.

The aggy vaccine facility is as impressive (and productive) as their “Hall of Champions.”

(Yet) another example of how aggys see Texas A&M vs reality. This time, it involves facilities. A&M has a new track stadium. As aggys explain: "The $39.8 million, 90,500-square foot E.B. Cushing Stadium opened on Texas A&M’s west campus on April 6, 2019, giving the Aggie track and field program one of the nation’s finest collegiate facilities to call home. Cushing Stadium has an initial seating capacity of 2,200 with ample room to expand for large meets or championships. The stadium features hospitality amenities, full broadcast capabilities and service areas, and a press box. It also has team meeting rooms, locker rooms, an athlete lounge, a training room, official’s quarters, equipment storage and a grand lobby highlighting the championship history of Aggie track and field." https://12thman.com/facilities/e-b-cushing-stadium/49 $39.8 million for a track facility that, at 2,200 capacity can't dream of hosting high school events such as the Texas state track & field championships which can bring in as many as 20,000 on a good day. (FYI, Arky paid $35 mil for their track stadium, but Arky's project was in 1998 dollars, so already you can tell A&M ran out of money when it came time to replacing their outdoor track facility that had been condemned by safety officials well over a decade ago.) Wonder what one of the nation’s finest (if not THE finest) collegiate facilities costs? "Then there is the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, a 100-year-old facility that will soon reopen after receiving a stunning, amenity-rich renovation. The overhaul, really a reconstruction, features a stone base that refers to the state’s Cascade mountain range and a curling, transparent overhang supported by timber beams meant to echo fir forests. It glistens with modern training facilities, a health clinic and even a barbershop. The official cost of the renovation: $270,047,937, according to an Oregon athletics financial report." https://www.wsj.com/articles/oregon-track-nike-phil-knight-hayward-field-11615169965 So when you find yourself "oh"ing and "ah"ing (or, possibly laughing) at "the $39.8 million, 90,500-square foot E.B. Cushing Stadium opened on Texas A&M’s west campus on April 6, 2019," remember it is nowhere close to being "one of the nation’s finest collegiate facilities." But when you spend far too much to rebuild your football stadium, you run out of money. Which is what happened at Texas A&M. Which is why they have a track stadium too small to host high school events. The people of Texas deserve better than Texas A&M.

What's the difference of Prather saying "the eyes of Texas are you" and Dwight Eisenhower saying "The eyes of the world are upon you?" Or is Eisenhower another figure that must be erased from history in the name of racial sensitivity? I'm comfortable waiting for the committee report and going from there.

I think the plan is to release the committee report next week, have a discussion based on the contents of that report, and then decide where we go from there. The "wokesters" have had many motives and opinions ascribed to them. I'm wanting to hear from some of them directly and to read the report. After that, we will see what is the best course of action. I still think the article Texas tribune published was an embarrassment to journalism. I'm on record of wanting UT to pull the majority of its $2mil annual payment to Texas Tribune and to instead direct that money to minority-owned publications. We need the "fourth estate" to inform and promote thoughtful discussion, not to inflame or publish articles that fail to meet reasonable journalistic standards. $2 mil/yr to support "fluff" is a waste of public funds.

Yes. UT has always been held to a higher standard than A&M simply because UT is "of, by, and for the people of Texas" and TAMU has always been just "A&M." (A&M was a federal construct and a vestige of the 1870s Reconstruction "occupation" government of Texas. Not being "of, by, and for the people of Texas" is the exact reason Texas A&M was looked down upon by Texans in 1876. They have never been able to wash off that stench.) "From the earliest times" state's namesake university has been "the cherished design of the people of the republic and the state of Texas." It's the other edge of the sword. There are Aggies, and then there are aggys. The Aggies are the "2%ers" who represent intelligent thought and actually contribute to the betterment of Texas. aggys go to A&M for a racist, redneck cultural indoctrination. And to try to learn farming. And to play Army. The racist aggy faction in Texas is alive and well, as evidenced by the shrine to white supremacy at the center of the A&M campus. Remember that during King Gill's time at A&M they were promoting local Klan rallies over the PA system during home football games. After Brown v Board they held a campus referendum to assert they would never abide by the decision. The racist roots of A&M run very deep. Jefferson Davis, Sul Ross, King Gill, John Sharp. The list of racist pieces of shit within the aggy culture is long. Today it numbers over 500,000. A&M exists to represent the racist element in the state and in the state legislature. And to perpetuate racism in Texas. UT has always been held to a higher standard. Fighting racism at UT leads to change at least somewhere in Texas. Fighting racism within the culture of Texas A&M is a losing battle. aggys will never reform. "Tradition" at A&M is just aggy code for what we call racism. It's just the way it is. And always will be.

I'm sorry, I thought the subject was racism, not "America." How granular are you ok with when it comes to when being accepting of racism? Better yet, how is it that you are indifferent to racism in any form? Show me racism on Pluto and I will say it is wrong. Show me racism outside America and I will say it is wrong. Show me racism inside America and I will say its wrong. I don't see EOT as being racist. I see this whole controversy as an exercise of re-examining the past through a lens of modern culture, not accounting for the distortions of that lens. Our national anthem was set to the tune of a somewhat bawdy drinking song of an English gentlemen's club circa 1775. If I choose to sing the original words to the original tune, am I being anti-American because I'm desecrating our sacred national anthem? No. I don't see EOT as having deep racist overtones in the 1920s or today. Nor do I find Black men wearing white face celebrating minstrel culture today as having deeply racist overtones. Based upon the cultural context. I encourage those who do see a racist connection to EOT to travel to this year's Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town in June to learn more about cultural context. Cultures change. I don't believe any racist overtones or undertones connected with EOT today. I'm open to discussing the subject. I hope the commission's report helps advance the discussion. We will see.

He is working off of 2018 numbers, but is not far off. For FY 2019, donations were $48.3 mil, for FY 2020 they were $49.4. What he is ignoring is that expenses at UT are far higher than other schools, for a variety of reasons. For example, the Nike contract includes "$22.5 million over the life of the contract for “financial support of UT Austin university initiatives (outside Intercollegiate Athletics) subject to UT Austin President’s approval" and well as four paid annual internships funded by Nike for two student-athletes and two (non-student-athlete) undergraduate UT Austin students."* There are a lot of opportunities given to students by Bellmont. And jobs, to both members of the community as well as to students wanting to pursue careers in live sports entertainment. Yes, Texas could start refusing to accept donor contributions. To do so would necessitate a massive restructuring of the entire athletics department. It would necessitate eliminating the millions given annually by the athletics department to the academic side, something only very few schools in the nation do (LSU is the only other school in the nation that comes to mind at the moment). Simply claiming "everything would be ok" is very simplistic. * Source: https://www.hookem.com/uncategorized/20151030/details-of-utnike-250-million-contract-include-cash-up-front-kevin-durant-line-of-apparel/

When the importance of cultural context is brought up, all you could think of was a carbon monoxide leak. We thank you for your insightful contribution. Cultural context. Ignoring it only shows your ignorance. The argument that EOT is racist because it is attached to minstrel culture and of Robert E. Lee's alleged statement is an argument based on ignorance. Hopefully, the commission's report will add the required cultural context and we can finally move this discussion forward.

How about "racism anywhere, in any form, must be challenged." If minstrel roots are the definition of blatant racism, shouldn't we be sending enlightened Americans to Cape Town to tell them to end their racist ways? Or are you one of those who willingly ignores racism out of personal convenience. Chuckie Finster insisting that racism be ignored because he finds doing so more aligned with his "true beliefs." (See how easy it is to ignore someone's message and instead fly off on some meaningless tangent?) The subject is much more complex than minstrel=blatant racism. Start trying to look at the subject less superficially. Slavery today is extremely prevalent around the world. Most people, black or white, don't care about slavery. If they did, they would try to make the world a better place and so something about the problem. Minstrel culture is accepted as a part of life in South Africa today because of its cultural context. Cultural context. Blacks in South Africa wearing white face can sing EOT, because minstrel celebrations are accepted there, but whites singing EOT in Texas is racist. Think about that. Yes, you can have minstrel celebrations that are not racist. Depending on the cultural context. Think about that. Now, help me understand the cultural context of how EOT was developed. And please site sources. I'll hang up and take my answer off line.

It's "ties to the confederacy" are because Robert E. Lee allegedly once said "the eyes of the south are upon you." Do you really believe that makes it "tied to the confederacy?" If so, we need to remove more than EOT from our nation's history. https://buckleyschool.com/magazine/articles/the-eyes-of-the-world-are-upon-you-eisenhowers-d-day-speech/

The people who find EOT racist because of its "minstrel roots" would be blown away to learn that to this very day there is a Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town where Blacks wear white face and dress in striped jackets. I guess its time we send enlightened Americans over to South Africa to tell Blacks to quit venerating their white privilege and stop acting like racists. This year's Minstrel Carnival will be in June. Plenty of time to book plane tickets. Blacks can dress in white face and celebrate minstrel traditions. Insisting they stop would be racist. Meanwhile, whites can't sing EOT because its minstrel roots makes it blatantly racist. Welcome to 2021.

Expecting Evan Smith to include the fact that a committee report will be released next week would be asking him to exceed his professional abilities. Instead, he simply publishes a story that adds nothing to the discussion. The people of Texas deserve more for the money we pay Evan than a muckraker. The $2 million UT pays to support The Texas Tribune should be redirected to a Black owned publication to support both diversity and journalism. Both are lacking at Texas Tribune.

And transfer where, to the school whose system chancellor has insisted their on-campus shrine to "the gallant Negro killer of Texas" will stand today, tomorrow, and forever? Possibly to the school whose basketball coach tried to cover up a murder of a player and then whose football coach was let go for perpetuating a culture of rape within the program? Possibly to the school that defined corruption and still hasn't ever recovered from the death penalty for their football program. Point me to where your ethical compass says is clean and pure. Point out to me exactly which university in Texas is exempt from scorn for good reason. Hell, even Trinity in San Antonio and St Ed's in Houston are at least tangentially tied to the multi-generational Catholic Church child rape atrocity. So, transfer to exactly where? You name a school, and I will help point out their brutally offensive past. It is disingenuous to select one element of the state's past without openly discussing the entire state's past. I wholeheartedly support an open and wide ranging discussion of the state's racist past as long as it is comprehensive and supported by the historical record. This selective picking and choosing of what we will acknowledge and what we will choose to completely ignore isn't constructive. No remembrance of any other aspect of the school's past? "The eyes of the south are upon you" - R.E. Lee "The eyes of Texas are upon you" - UT Austin "The eyes of the world are upon you" - Gen. Dwight Eisenhower For the record, I am an ardent supporter for re-opening the racial scars of the past. This isn't a discussion we should run from or be afraid of. But let's make this intellectually honest and be done with the sniping and selective historical recollection that only serves the interests of the truly culpable.

Exactly. The story generates questions instead of offering newsworthy information. At least give an update on what the committee has been doing and when we can expect some work product. Nothing happened in the story arc of the EOT controversy that necessitated the publication of this story at this time? This isn't newsworthy. It's stale information that leaves us with no more knowledge of the subject than the last time the internal emails were published. If the Texas Tribune had an ombudsman this would be a perfect time to ask that person Even's rationale for publishing this story today. Doing so would certainly give the reader a better understanding of the underlying editorial thought process. But unfortunately the Texas Tribune doesn't work that way. And therein is the problem.

I'm not sure where your "McDonalds" comment came from. I'm certainly not a conspiracy nut. I've spoken with Evan personally. I've talked about Evan with people he has worked with at other points in his career. I'm comfortable with my assessment of Evan, and his publication. I'm not saying Evan is conspiring in any way. I am sure Evan is doing his professional best. And therein lies the problem.

We each have our opinions. He consistently fails to get to the core issue of many subjects, especially when it comes to his contributors and he's extremely thin skinned. It astounds me how many times he fails to ensure the questions needing to be asked are asked when dealing with subjects of importance. I've spoken with Evan personally. I've talked about Evan with people he has worked with at other points in his career. I'm comfortable with my assessment of Evan, and his publication. To sum up the standard of journalism he promotes in one word, I would offer "superficial." But some people like superficial journalism. I can understand how opinions can differ.

Evan Smith is the editor of the Texas Trib. Those who don't know Evan are missing nothing. Back when the Trib was publishing incorrect stories about aggy's "revenue" during their capital campaign to pay their initial $140 mil stadium payment (the rest was financed with debt, making A&M one of the most deeply indebted schools in the nation) I reached out to Evan to point out how Matt Watkins, the writer, conflated operating revenue with capital contributions Evan was predictably an asshole and saw absolutely nothing wrong with assigning an aggy to write a story about A&M with said aggy getting it all wrong. Take what the Texas Tribune publishes with a grain of salt. Evan depends greatly on donor money. He pumps sunshine when the option presents itself. He also knows that certain donors can't politically pull any funding until and unless he crosses some very well defined lines. He gets about $2 mil/yr from UT and about $1 mil/yr from aggy. One thing you can count on Evan never doing is speaking very uncomfortable truths about donors. The EOT thing is a sideshow compared to other issues on the 40 acres. He can pretty much publish what he wants about that subject and get no reaction from UT, as long as he doesn't cross any lines. He will poke Ut Austin with a stick because it keeps John Sharp and his aggy donors happy. I would be shocked to see him ever ask serious questions about A&M's "Sul Ross problem" or point out that Ross' own daughter pains him as a dedicated white supremacist. Never. Gonna. Happen. Evan's donor list is available here: https://www.texastribune.org/support-us/corporate-sponsors/

Technically, it was a non-conference game. So even when they win when they lose, they still lose. Only aggy could fuck up a moral victory.

The aggys never fail to deliver. This idiot is covering baseball for texags (see attached). The ags start the weekend with a win over a bumbling Baylor squad that decided they would rather sleepwalk rather than play baseball. The writer's opening line for his story on the game: "Just like old times, eh?" As if Texas A&M owned Baylor (or any team) in baseball (or any other sport) during their SWC or B12 years. Remember, A&M has two CWS game wins in school history, the first in the 1960s, their most recent in 1993. Not CWS championships, CWS wins. Thirty years without winning a single CWS game. Fast forward to his article on aggy's Sunday loss to close out the Round Rock Classic: "Offensive futility and bullpen instability." Oh, how the mighty have fallen so quickly. Lol. Yea, just like old times.

Jimbo and Nick Saban are both from WVa. That's not Nick Saban in the picture with Jimbo. It's Jimbo's mom in front of Jimbo's boyhood home. I love the landscaping. The telephone pole in the front yard adds a lot. I'm thinking Jimbo had the aggys re-landscape his mom's property. It looks like it was landscaped by an aggy. And yes, the whole Fisher family is shorter than 4 feet tall and they only shop for clothes at Walmart.

I haven't looked into it to figure out the whole story, but the ags are bleating something about one of the new UT football coaches, a pole dancer and a monkey. Whatever. I saw a picture of said monkey that some aggy posted and realized (yet again) the rednecks are utterly clueless. That's no monkey. That's Johnny Manziel.

Yet again, the aggy jokes write themselves. Texas A&M is probably the only place on the planet where "diversity" is assumed to mean "exclusively white people." Student body president candidates talk importance of diversity at A&M http://www.thebatt.com/news/student-body-president-candidates-talk-importance-of-diversity-at-a-m/article_77cb507e-766c-11eb-bc5a-6fd4ee3b3e0e.html