An Aggie buddy of mine is really taking this angle of things hard. He was very confident that we'd come into the SEC and be taught a rough lesson and humbled. Crowed about Georgia beating us the first time and was generally insufferable. He let it go for a while when the inevitable A&M collapse/Texas resurgence happened and he's kind of reduced to angrily whining about conference drama.
- Very upset with me and others in the group chat for laughing at the SEC's bowl woes, admonishing us to have conference pride
- Seems brainlocked at the concept of viewing Ohio St/Texas through his promoted prism of conference pride when confronted by Florida buddy (never me, picking on Aggies isn't even really fun for me in real life unless they start it, and even then kind of boring).
The Big 10 call from within Aggie fandom is just a re-manifestation of the same sad, pathetic impulse that led them out of the Big 12. There is no faith within them that they will ever be anything worth attention, so they think they need coattails to ride or to be in near proximity to a shinier object to get its reflected light. It's not even in their heads that they could either (a) be the leader or (b) be focused on themselves and their own achievements/failures outside of regularly comparing against others.
And really, a lot of this is our fault. If you make fun of little brother enough, he believes it and it becomes his personality if he isn't mentally and emotionally strong. Aggies are neither. I'd like to respect them, but they have to make themselves respectable (win) and then act respectably (stop fucking whining all the time and seeking Good Boy points and praise and validation from others) over a consistent period of time.
If not winning -> shut up
If winning -> act like its expected and be outwardly non-plussed and gracious
repeat for 20 years and maybe, MAYBE we can start to look at you like you're a Big Boy