Texas athletes petitioning University to replace "The Eyes of Texas" and to no longer require athletes to sing it

[jimmyjazz 45,898]

2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

The actual donors who run the show aren't emailing the public email and calling the public phones.

You mean the pissed off dude who donated $1M isn't a big swinging dick?  

I would love to see CDC's face when that guy gets offended.  Take a number, asshole.

[UncleSonny 6,572]

2 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I think it's reasonable to tell them to stand on the sideline and behave with respect, but you can put your fist in the air or kneel or sit or whatever.  Groupthink is almost always a bad thing, anyway.

Agreed and this seems to be exactly how it played out after the OU game and the story mostly ran out of steam and this thread blessedly fell off the top of the page. Up until this week we seemed to be heading into next season with a new coach and the same expectation. 

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Maybe the right thing to do is to actually use this uproar to promote more and civil conversation between diverse university groups.  Crazy, I know.

From my perspective this is what was happening. As the thing played out you heard players acknowledging that they understand the importance of the song to people and how nobody today sings it with any racial intent. Many also said despite that they wouldn't be singing it and they have their reasons for it and we certainly weren't going to punish students for not singing a fucking song. Most of the outsized reactions and talking past each other is happening on this board and in the media. 

[PassiveAggressiveCoach 118]

11 minutes ago, UncleSonny said:

From my perspective this is what was happening. As the thing played out you heard players acknowledging that they understand the importance of the song to people and how nobody has ever sung it with any racial intent. Many also said despite that they wouldn't be singing it and they have their reasons for it and we certainly weren't going to punish students for not singing a fucking song. Most of the outsized reactions and talking past each other is happening on this board and in the media. 

FIFY

[UncleSonny 6,572]

I do not understand the impulse some of you have to talk about these things in absolutes. You can’t know that and it only makes it more difficult for this thing to play out like you are hoping. 

[Wally Pryor 5,261]

1 hour ago, Poe It Up said:

Money always wins out, the song isn’t going anywhere. 

Correct. 

[Johnny Sack 8,397]

1 hour ago, mchookem said:

yep. i'd bet even the most agitated of players will lose even more interest if/when they are basking in the glow of stomping OU, winning the Big12, etc. it takes effort to be outraged.

the racist BMDs can get fucked. their emails did way more damage than either the song or the objections to it. 

There were BMD emails in there, like Rowling.  And there were racist emailers. I am not certain from reading that article that any of the emailers who were saying racist shit were also BMDs.  That article is a piece of shit because it is so vague and insinuates it was our leadership type BMDs sending out racist emails.  I don't think that was the case.

I think a fair reading of those emails is that our BMDs objected to pulling the Eyes and threatened to pull donations, but I see no evidence any of the big money guys emailed anything that any reasonable person could call racist.

[D3zii 3,678]

To many cooks in the kitchen trying to throw their weight around 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,510]

47 minutes ago, Machinator said:

The University has made it quite clear that the players don't have to sing the song.

But it makes for an odd team moment that some players sing the song, and others don't. Or that some leave the field. Sam singing the EOT by himself is one of the worst team photos in the history of UT. 

[utee94 15,811]

3 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

There were BMD emails in there, like Rowling.  And there were racist emailers. I am not certain from reading that article that any of the emailers who were saying racist shit were also BMDs.  That article is a piece of shit because it is so vague and insinuates it was our leadership type BMDs sending out racist emails.  I don't think that was the case.

I think a fair reading of those emails is that our BMDs objected to pulling the Eyes and threatened to pull donations, but I see no evidence any of the big money guys emailed anything that any reasonable person could call racist.

As pointed out before, the actual big money guys are not ever emailing the AD's office with anything of import.  They all have CDC's phone number.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by utee94

[mchookem 16,327]

4 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

There were BMD emails in there, like Rowling.  And there were racist emailers. I am not certain from reading that article that any of the emailers who were saying racist shit were also BMDs.  That article is a piece of shit because it is so vague and insinuates it was our leadership type BMDs sending out racist emails.  I don't think that was the case.

I think a fair reading of those emails is that our BMDs objected to pulling the Eyes and threatened to pull donations, but I see no evidence any of the big money guys emailed anything that any reasonable person could call racist.

good point and probably accurate

[Johnny Sack 8,397]

44 minutes ago, PassiveAggressiveCoach said:

pay some Longhorn IG influencer then to talk to their hyper woke asses.

Earl, Ricky, Vince

 

2 minutes ago, utee94 said:

As pointed out before, the actual big money guys are not ever emailing the AD's office.  They all have CDC's phone number.

 

 

Even the medium money go who claimed he donated a million said nothing racist.  It was this:

"My wife and I have given an endowment in excess of $1 million to athletics. This could very easily be rescinded if things don’t drastically change around here," wrote one donor in October. 

 

The Cleti who said the racist shit, what level is he? Hartzell's email is public.  Any t-shirt fan or $200 a year donor can email the man.

[LonghornSean 3,994]

6 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

But it makes for an odd team moment that some players sing the song, and others don't. Or that some leave the field. Sam singing the EOT by himself is one of the worst team photos in the history of UT. 

And yet, Sam being alone in that photo has more to do with the circumstances of the game than it being a mass protest by the rest of the team.

4OT loss to bitter rival, limited attendance, no bands, and OU being the "home" team. Players just aren't going to stand around for 10 plus minutes on the field twiddling their thumbs until the school song is played over the PA system. Had we won the game, there is 0.0% chance that photo happens. Herman clearly shares some blame there.

Of course perception is reality so that photo caused and still causes a firestorm in social media.

Edited March 3, 2021 by LonghornSean

[utee94 15,811]

1 minute ago, Johnny Sack said:

Earl, Ricky, Vince

 

Even the medium money go who claimed he donated a million said nothing racist.  It was this:

"My wife and I have given an endowment in excess of $1 million to athletics. This could very easily be rescinded if things don’t drastically change around here," wrote one donor in October. 

 

The Cleti who said the racist shit, what level is he? Hartzell's email is public.  Any t-shirt fan or $200 a year donor can email the man.

Indeed.  The article was very vaguely written, either by incompetence or intent.

[maninblack 7,974]

3 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Indeed.  The article was very vaguely written, either by incompetence or intent.

Intent. All of these "journalists" putting out articles aren't concerned with the truth. Just fitting a story into their worldview. 

[David Dennison 18,853]

26 minutes ago, UncleSonny said:

I do not understand the impulse some of you have to talk about these things in absolutes. You can’t know that and it only makes it more difficult for this thing to play out like you are hoping. 

You can absolutely know how this will ultimately play out. The politics will shift irretrievably like they always do and change will happen. What you cannot know is when it will happen.

[Had Enough 2,081]

 
The Cleti who said the racist shit, what level is he? Hartzell's email is public.  Any t-shirt fan or $200 a year donor can email the man.

It would not surprise to find out that a non-fan or two jumped in the fray with an email submission that was less than flattering.

[UncleSonny 6,572]

17 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

You can absolutely know how this will ultimately play out. The politics will shift irretrievably like they always do and change will happen. What you cannot know is when it will happen.

Well I was actually talking about PassiveAggressive's pointless "FIFY" response but no I don't really understand the role you are trying to play in all of this either. Acting like it's a foregone conclusion that the EOT is finished at the University of Texas isn't true and just serves as red meat for the "cancel culture is an insatiable scourge on society" crowd.

[Trick Britches 40]

 

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

God, you are a beating.  Prather's intent matters.  The songwriter's intent matters.  What other songs were sung in blackface at those minstrel shows?  Do we even know if EOT was introduced in blackface?

You are just being petulant at this point.  I'm pretty much done.  You are a perfect example of why it is so fucking frustrating to identify as a progressive/liberal in modern America.  Facts don't matter, feelings matter, and the most offended wins.  Fuck.  That.

Wasn't David Dennison the poster vehemently opposed to football last season because of Covid, as well?  

The very wealthy alum want to keep singing the song and refuse to kowtow to the people seeking to stop the tradition, so I think it survives.  Texas has the reputation of letting the big donors have undue influence over the school and its admins, and in this case, I think that saves the song. 

Has Texas Tribune done the same search on the emails sent by the Texas A&M alums during the Sul Ross statue dust-up?  I'm sure there are some gems in there.  Seems like something a certain poster on this site would be very good at doing.  

[Scholz 11,941]

1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I just think it's really different than the Redskins nickname.

Yeah it's not like we're the Texas Black Face Minstrels.

[BurntOrange&White 39,931]

1 minute ago, Scholz said:

Yeah it's not like we're the Texas Black Face Minstrels.

Shit according to DD we're direct decedents of Robert E Lee himself. The Texas Robert E Lee Black Face Minstrels Working On The Railroads!

Edited March 3, 2021 by BurntOrange&White

[Pam Cummings 9,640]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

God, you are a beating.  Prather's intent matters.  The songwriter's intent matters.  What other songs were sung in blackface at those minstrel shows?  Do we even know if EOT was introduced in blackface?

You are just being petulant at this point.  I'm pretty much done.  You are a perfect example of why it is so fucking frustrating to identify as a progressive/liberal in modern America.  Facts don't matter, feelings matter, and the most offended wins.  Fuck.  That.

I don't know why yall respond to that guy. He's Mr Righteous about everything except when you tell him the Astros cheated. Then he's full of excuses and all about justifying questionable behavior.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Pam Cummings

[BurntOrange&White 39,931]

14 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said:

I don't know why yall respond to that guy. He's Mr Righteous about everything except when you tell him the Astros cheated. Then he's full of excuses and all about justifying questionable behavior.

He post on non political topics? that's the most shocking revalation

[randygilman 643]

Who ever the idiot is who keeps saying they're going to stop singing it after 1) they kept it the school song in the summer 2) they kept it the school song in the fall 3) they kept it the school song in the winter and 4)they kept it the school song after this most recent appearance in the news cycle is an idoit. 

[TrashMaster G 17,551]

2 hours ago, UncleSonny said:

I do not understand the impulse some of you have to talk about these things in absolutes. You can’t know that and it only makes it more difficult for this thing to play out like you are hoping. 

The demand, from the "woke" crowd, that we only associate with history that is reflective of absolute moral and racial purity, as judged by today's standards, is absurd.  But it is right in line with this view of things in terms of absolutes.

[David Dennison 18,853]

You guys are going to be soooooooo mad.

[BERT 4,358]

5 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

You guys are going to be soooooooo mad.

You and Futureman are brothers, aren't y'all? 

[David Dennison 18,853]

Just now, BERT said:

You and Futureman are brothers, aren't y'all? 

Internet is serious business.

[Machinator 32,099]

 

[Pope Joan 68]

It's important to remember that some things are True, even if they never happened.

[PassiveAggressiveCoach 118]

38 minutes ago, Machinator said:

 

I don't doubt those exact words came out to TH or CDCs mouth because they fucking suck. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by PassiveAggressiveCoach

[dec3169 501]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

But it makes for an odd team moment that some players sing the song, and others don't. Or that some leave the field. Sam singing the EOT by himself is one of the worst team photos in the history of UT. 

Might be awkward too if the LHB decides they won't play it.

[Viper 12,108]

38 minutes ago, Pope Joan said:

It's important to remember that some things are True, even if they never happened.

Username checks out

[utee94 15,811]

11 minutes ago, dec3169 said:

Might be awkward too if the LHB decides they won't play it.

Not really, they'll just cancel LHB and play it over the stadium speakers-- as they did the entire 2020 season.

 

 

[dec3169 501]

3 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Not really, they'll just cancel LHB and play it over the stadium speakers-- as they did the entire 2020 season.

 

 

I didn't get there the last few seasons (just moved back to TX last year) so I didn't get to see that.  I guess that's not too bad.

My first instinct was to compare the song being played over the speakers to what is happening with military funerals across the country.  There are so many old vets dying now from WWII and Korea that there aren't enough buglers to play at their funerals - even if you use the honor guards from the American Legion.   Now unless the funeral is somewhere like Arlington Cemetery the Honor Guard gets someone to hold the bugle with a speaker/mp3 player thing in the bell, and when they hit the button "Taps" plays.  I hate that with a passion.  I may actually borrow one of my local Legion's bugles and try to perfect Taps myself.

Then I realized they play over the speakers at halftime already, so it isn't a bad compromise. 

I do hope UT is careful with this whole process though.  Often times when a group of people protest and end up getting what they want (to whatever percentage they got) they may be quicker in the future to protest the latest thing that offends someone.  Who knows - in the future anti-gun groups could protest Smokey the Cannon, PETA could protest Bevo, and women from Tennessee could get pissed at the LHB for playing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" - lyrics: "... But the Yellow Rose of Texas Beats the belles of Tennessee." 

[Hookem2147 21,207]

2 hours ago, Machinator said:

 

Kate, that is not “new”. That is known and was reported on back in October. 
 

Also, the part about an “unnamed” player saying that CDC referenced donors in meeting with the team is absolute garbage and 100% not true.  The player inferred that. CDC would never say the word donors or boosters when meeting with the players about this subject.

“Journalism” is entering a dangerous zone

[Hookem2147 21,207]

How ironic that Kate McGee’s timeline is filled with two things: negative stories about Texas and *gasp* positive stories about Texas A&M

[Revolution512 1,487]

28 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

How ironic that Kate McGee’s timeline is filled with two things: negative stories about Texas and *gasp* positive stories about Texas A&M

Scroll back to January where she “reports” on A&M not addressing Sul Ross. Nobody cares about A&M

[USNALonghorn 5,078]

I fucking hate Twitter and the mindless excuse for "journalism" that is enabled by it.

[David Dennison 18,853]

 

It's going to suck when the players force this issue.

Edited March 4, 2021 by David Dennison

[Hookem2147 21,207]

3 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

It's going to suck when the players force this issue.

At this point, just keep the song but tell the players they don’t have to stay on the field for it at all. That’s the easiest resolution to make this thing go away. The donors can suck up their pride and be okay with still being able to sing it themselves.

This needs to be go away because it hasn’t affected recruiting/players leaving yet, but anyone with half a brain can see where it’s trending.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Hookem2147

[notre dame joe 187]

8 hours ago, Eskimohorn said:

Nationally, Eyes has been smeared and it will be an upheld battle to retain it as a tradition. The comp was in reply to the idea that Eyes will stay no matter what. Not that it was exact same situation.

The only national reaction has been people scratching their heads trying to figure out how it could be 'racist.'  Granted it's only being addressed in sports and related social media.  Biased population but it's hard to find anyone saying that a song that doesn't mention race is somehow racist. 

 

If you really want to make a statement UT could add a very black song to the tradition.  But I doubt you need to as it's at most a test your institution. 

[mdmost 43,001]

No, notre dame joe. I don't "know" what you mean. 

[Texas Jeff 1,945]

On 3/1/2021 at 11:21 PM, ztejas said:

I just looked it up to listen. It sucks. I don't think there'd be more than a blurb in the campus newspaper if a group of students claimed it was racist. Then again I'm not sure anyone af SMU has participated in sports traditions for like 35 years. Besides the basketball and golf staffs tacking on more major NCAA violations which is our best running tradition. 

I guess what I'm getting at is that the eyes really is a great school song and tradition, but I can also understand the "it's just a song" argument. 

The "there are only seven notes in this song" is what Longhorn Band and many other SWC bands sang in the stands when SMU played their fight song.  Ah, the SWC, where did it go?

Sing along the next time you hear SMU play their fight song....

[David Dennison 18,853]

51 minutes ago, notre dame joe said:

The only national reaction has been people scratching their heads trying to figure out how it could be 'racist.'  Granted it's only being addressed in sports and related social media.  Biased population but it's hard to find anyone saying that a song that doesn't mention race is somehow racist. 

 

If you really want to make a statement UT could add a very black song to the tradition.  But I doubt you need to as it's at most a test your institution. 

Then there's this.

[mdmost 43,001]

You've now officially lost it, David. The Daily Kos?

[David Dennison 18,853]

1 minute ago, mdmost said:

You've now officially lost it, David. The Daily Kos?

No such thing as bad publicity.

[texashorne 1,177]

I am curious.. what does an "offended" person do? Do they seek emotional support from counselors? Go to group meetings? It's a serious question. Is there a current plan of action for students who are struggling emotionally because of the song? Is there any data on students receiving services from the university stemming from this?

 

[hornyjay 10]

Haven't posted here in years........didn't read most of the thread.

But I'll add this.........pretty much every school in the nation, or at least all PWIs, have a racist tradition, or building, or famous alum with a statue, or SOMETHING on campus.

How the University and coaches deal with this is the key.  I would suggest it's a mistake for Sark to side with donors over players, and that should be fairly obvious.  What's not so obvious is that time changes everything........including beloved songs.  On the scale of racial issues that have an easy fix, this one is pretty damned simple to resolve.

One thing about America....... every time we are on the precipice of positive change, a certain segment of the population recoils and reasserts the fundamental lie of this nation.

As a fan, I certainly hope they make the right decision.  Boosters come and go.  If the team wins and nobody ever sings EOT again they'll be back.

[ChickenSandwich 9,832]

23 hours ago, mininghorn88 said:

I receive calls from current UT students asking me to donate to the school.  I am going to start my own poll on what they think of the song as that will be my leading comment after they ask me for more money.

“Good bye and good luck!”

[po elvis 2,070]

52 minutes ago, hornyjay said:

One thing about America....... every time we are on the precipice of positive change, a certain segment of the population recoils and reasserts the fundamental lie of this nation.

when people are making up stuff like this to be upset and offended by, I think we are doing pretty damn well as a country. the truly oppressed around the world are shaking their heads.