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


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23 hours ago, Brisketexan said:


It’s par for the course, man.

Black people only get to think something is racist if we agree with them and give them our blessing. So really, WE (mostly white guys) get to decide what’s racist. Black people don’t get a say.

Who said only black people thought The Eyes was racist? You?

It appears both black and white people are actually on both sides of this issue. But now , of course , we who disagree with you need to be lectured on what to think and say, and are obviously racist. Stop creating false narratives and inciting hate just because other people have a different viewpoint.

Thats weak and pathetic.

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18 minutes ago, Bruno Sardine said:

There. That wasn't so hard, was it? Songs aren't written by proxy. Therefore the song wasn't inspired by Lee. 

The Declaration isn't racist even if authored by TJ. So...are we at a crossroads where this unnecessary appendage is negatively affecting our degrees because of The Woke Left?  After knowing Sam was at The Eyes alone, I'm OK seeing the whole thing burn down for good. The new generation doesn't want to win. At anything. So let it  and ALL athletic programs  burn to the ground. It would free up my Saturdays. We are done here. It was a glorious run. 

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11 hours ago, JimmyJames said:

Upon further reflection and thinking about this more today and listening to the Horn on radio I have come to the conclusion this Eyes shitshow is 100 percent Tom Herman’s fault.
 

First of all if he wasn’t such a shitty coach and we won a game OU and the football gods were desperately trying to give us almost nobody would give a shit.

Putting that fact aside, as Rod B said on the radio, how can you as the head coach not have a plan as to how to address this? It’s important to the alumni, it’s important to the fans, the players don’t like it, and you just fucking Let it Ride? Hope it all works out?

Its actually a pretty good microcosm of the entire program. No attention to details unless it’s the color of your piss. Multiple penalties. Bonehead coaching decisions. Binders calling plays. Bonehead on the field decisions. Time for a change.

How can a football player leave their fucking team leader out there alone? It's not just the black players leaving either. It's the whole team leaves Sam out there alone.

 

Holy crap, TH is a horrendous leader.

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Many have noted that players stayed on the field to sing/stand for The Eyes after the win at Tech. Does that action indicate a heartfelt belief that the song is a holdover symbol of a racist past and that being asked to honor it is an act of oppression?

Or does that action viewed in contrast with walking off after losses indicate individuals who don’t want to be bothered with what they perceive to be an annoying obligation when they are frustrated?

IMO this team’s problems are far more about leadership and culture (or lack thereof) created by the head coach  

$10 says Urban Meyer has them standing for The Eyes on his first game as head coach. 

 

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MirrOlure..."The recipe for success is recruiting ATHLETES who care about playing fucking football first, and everything else second."

 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.                 

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31 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Let's get real here.

There is a shit ton of evidence that the University of Texas was conceived in an era of racism and Jim Crow, by racists, and maintained racist policies for more than half of its existence.  And continued to "worship" racists by statuary, dorm names, and other on-campus "memorabilia."

This is true of about 100% of the universities south of the Mason-Dixon line, and a good number of them to the north.

None of this is in the least ambiguous or ambivalent as is the history and racist significance of The Eyes of Texas.

If someone wants to negative recruit UT based on racism, there's a lot more fertile ground than EoT.  A whole lot of it would be pot-kettle-black.

you forgot "last all white National Champion!"

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11 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

It has been well documented, for the uninitiated, that the original version was penned as comic relief, hence the performance became known as the “Prexy joke”.  Minstrel shows, which no one here supports, were performed in three acts.  The chief point being that the final act was called a send-up which is a parody also known as a spoof of an original work!  In other words, the ditty, now being called racist was written to mock Lee’s influence upon Prather to the tune of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.

Again, what is it you think is meant by "mock". You're acting like the song was written to be critical of Lee or Prather and there is ZERO evidence for it. In fact, Prather himself enjoyed the song as it was obviously a ribbing. The athletes don't dress up like their coach at a pep rally because they're satirically eviscerating the coach's principles, they're having fun in camaraderie, which is what was happening to Prather at the minstrel show.

Was Weird Al doing biting commentary on Michael Jackson when he wrote and sang "Fat"?

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The balls on the kid to do that, in that era, is the opposite of racist.

Complete historical revisionism with zero evidence.

IT WAS PLAYED AT PRATHER'S FUNERAL.

Stop acting like it was a takedown. It was a good-humored slap on the back.

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The second was not intended as a joke but no one can deny its source was the Prexy joke.  So, from there forward the song was used to aid the president in his message(s) to his students that they should consider more than just themselves because Texas is counting on you and Texas is watching you.  Hence the phrase the Eyes of Texas Are Upon You. 

So what you're actually doing here is making the argument that the song we sing isn't the fun minstrel jab, but actually a 100% serious Texas-specific translation of the Lee quote. Good job.

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14 hours ago, The Doctor said:

The whole Eyes of Texas debate is tired and should be settled. Try no blue chip Black athletes ever wanting to play for UT if you roll back what you settled on - they should not have to sing a song they find offensive. Then the Alums can spend their $$ and time figuring how keep from becoming SMU circa 1980s, 1990's, 2000's. The BLM movement is bigger than a song and these kids didn't demand as much as they could have. Come to think of why did they even have to? Be better.         

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  You really think even if we made players sing it (which I'm not advocating for), that their would never bee any blue chip prospects that come to Texas?  You are not living in reality.  This relies on the theory that all black people think the same way.  They demanded quite a lot and some of it rightfully so but the University was more than fair to them.  The BLM movement has no place deciding whether or not the eyes of Texas are to be abolished or not. Simple as that.

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8 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

Again, what is it you think is meant by "mock". You're acting like the song was written to be critical of Lee or Prather and there is ZERO evidence for it. In fact, Prather himself enjoyed the song as it was obviously a ribbing. The athletes don't dress up like their coach at a pep rally because they're satirically eviscerating the coach's principles, they're having fun in camaraderie, which is what was happening to Prather at the minstrel show.

Was Weird Al doing biting commentary on Michael Jackson when he wrote and sang "Fat"?

Complete historical revisionism with zero evidence.

IT WAS PLAYED AT PRATHER'S FUNERAL.

Stop acting like it was a takedown. It was a good-humored slap on the back.

So what you're actually doing here is making the argument that the song we sing isn't the fun minstrel jab, but actually a 100% serious Texas-specific translation of the Lee quote. Good job.

You are trying way too hard to defend nonsense.  

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12 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

If you think so, surly is equivalent to the social media echo chamber of UT fandom.

Considering generations of students have sung it and never once taken the history or the lyrics as racist until some of the players in the summer of 2020 got it put into their heads by agenda peddlers I'm pretty sure you're very much in the minority.

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50 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

Again, what is it you think is meant by "mock". You're acting like the song was written to be critical of Lee or Prather and there is ZERO evidence for it. ...

Complete historical revisionism with zero evidence.

IT WAS PLAYED AT PRATHER'S FUNERAL.

So what you're actually doing here is making the argument that the song we sing isn't the fun minstrel jab, but actually a 100% serious Texas-specific translation of the Lee quote. Good job.

Except there is you halfwit.  Read the actual words to the second stanza which is the version song sung at the show.  Also re-read the part of what constitutes a Minstrel show.  Damn those pesky FACTS. 

If there were NO evidence you wouldn't be arguing from one side of your mouth, there was, only it was a "gentle ribbing" and out of the other there wasn't.  Make up your mind.  It can't be both when you argue ZERO evidence.     

The only person with zero evidence is you and your version of the events.

No shit it was played at his funeral.  Reading comprehension evades you because  there were TWO VERSIONS.  One for the show that popularized the song and the one not intended as a joke that became the school song, the president used.  Hence it was sung at his funeral by the very students whom his eyes were upon.  

Edited by RollLeft
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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?                 

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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.                 

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29 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

Read the actual words to the second stanza which is the version song sung at the show.

 

I have, let's do it together.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Stanza 1:
I once did know a President, a way down South, in Texas.
And, always, everywhere he went, he saw the Eyes of Texas.

Chorus:
The Eyes of Texas are upon you, all the livelong day.

The Eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them, at night or early in the morn –
The Eyes of Texas are upon you, ’til Gabriel blows his horn.

Stanza 2:

Sing me a song of Prexy, of days long since gone by.
Again I seek to greet him, and hear his kind reply.
Smiles of gracious welcome, before my memory rise,
Again I hear him say to me, “Remember Texas’ Eyes.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------

What am I supposed to be seeing?

Again, this is a gentle ribbing and an affectionate send-up that Prather himself loved. The song was not intended to "mock" Prather's use of Lee's phrase, it was just an acknowledgment of a common trait and done so in a positive light. If the head coach walks with a limp guess what his players are going to do at the pep rally? They're going to walk with a big exaggerated limp so everyone laughs. And they aren't doing it as a middle finger to the head coach.

I don't even think the damned song itself is racist, but this horseshit about "Well, actually, The Eyes was brave and subversive at the minstrel show!" makes no sense and doesn't fit any facts. Prather loved a saying from Lee so he said it all the time. Students wrote a song about him saying it, and the song was affectionate to Prather. Prather liked it. A more serious version was drawn up to become a school song instead of just a fun diddy about one guy (Prather).

This isn't complicated.

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16 hours ago, Apex73 said:

It's also just hilarious that anytime you criticize this nonsense it automatically makes you a racist in a lot of people's eyes on here.  Don't have many thinkers on here I can tell.  To the people doing this (you know who you are), why do you insist on acting like children?

 

Probably because certain posters insist on using terms like "blackthlete" while implying that student athletes who have a problem with the Eyes lack the critical thinking skills and "brains" necessary to find success outside of playing sports for the University of Texas.

 

 

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18 hours ago, CastHorn said:

Those same people will label you “white washed”  if your Spanish is weak or if you culturally align with more American traditions. They ignore the legendary past of the natives of that region & glorify their connection to the homicidal diseased rapists who forced their language and religion on their ancestors.   

The ironic thing, that I never see mentioned, is that as recently as 100 years ago maybe only half the people in Mexico really spoke Spanish all the time. This is my wild-ass guess based on reading old books and facts like Zapata's rallying the troops in Nahuatl. As late as the 40s, there were towns barely over the hill from Mexico City where if you only spoke Spanish, probably people would be asking their kids to translate. Even in Mexico City, "immigrants" from the outlying towns would settle together and speak their old languages, the same as you'd get Polish or Italian neighborhoods in US cities.

Going back further, when the Spanish took over Mexico, they didn't really force people to learn Spanish. The Spanish themselves learned Nahuatl so they could administer the old Aztec territories, where people already understood it even if it wasn't their first language. The Church would learn local languages and preach in them, and actually tried to keep it that way so the secular authorities would have less influence.

I think it was in the 1700s before the Spaniards started pushing the Spanish language as the official one to use, and that might have been under the French-ass Bourbon dynasty who came in and made everything efficient and ended up getting everybody to revolt.

tldr: fuck it, it's not that long, if you aren't interested in it, just skip it.

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1 hour ago, The Doctor said:

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?                 

Obvious aggy troll is obvious.  

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1 hour ago, The Doctor said:

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. 

JFC Dude.  Our natural recruiting rival has a statue of a confederate general that fucking murdered recently freed slaves they they adamantly refuse to take down.  If you don't think the University of Texas, the most fucking liberal public university south of the Mason Dixon line, has the fucking high ground if any school wants to honestly debate these issues, I don't know what to tell you.

Edited by Skipper
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I think all of these issues can be approached an solved in a pretty systematic way:
1. What is the current problem to be solved?
2. How will the proposed actions solve this problem?
3. What is the expected result of the proposed actions?
4. How will we quantify success?
5. When will we know we have solved the problem?

If we cannot answer those, it is just emotional hysteria designed for another purpose. 

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1 hour ago, bad_teammate said:

 

I don't even think the damned song itself is racist, but this horseshit about "Well, actually, The Eyes was brave and subversive at the minstrel show!" makes no sense and doesn't fit any facts. Prather loved a saying from Lee so he said it all the time. Students wrote a song about him saying it, and the song was affectionate to Prather. Prather liked it. A more serious version was drawn up to become a school song instead of just a fun diddy about one guy (Prather).

This isn't complicated.

Yet you support those who call it racist and want it banned.  

No one argued brave or subversive.  Those are your words.  My words were spoof, play on, balls enough to spoof a president.  Akin to present day skits that satirizes someone in power.   All documented FACTS that leave you with arguing the mere extent of satire, "gentle ribbing".  Or are you so bold as to state as fact the intent of the writer?

It no longer matters to me, you said it best when you stated the song is not racist.  Any point after that is moot, as far as i am concerned.

Edited by RollLeft
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2 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

Yet you support those who call it racist and want it banned.  

Yes. I am capable of supporting people who have a different perspective than me. I can have beliefs and don't need them validated by everyone else. I'm a grown man who is secure in himself and his values/beliefs/experiences. Shocking.

I am a white man with white man experiences. I didn't know about the song's history until I was an old man whose heart was already set regarding the tune. But intellectually I can acknowledge that I am not the center of all existence and that my personal connection to the song clouds my vision on it.

There's not a chance in hell I'm going to hear a black man say to me, "I don't want to sing a song whose history is connected to Lee and minstrelsy" and think anything but "Cool, makes sense. You've got your perspective and I'm 100% cool with it."

And there's not a chance in hell I'm going to go out now, after learning what I have learned, and go sing it at some black men who feel that way but are obligated to stand there and take it because super rich fellow white men are forcing them to. Some of you guys are getting off on the idea of these unruly black kids being brought to heel by powerful white wealth, but I'm not one of them.

I'll sing it WITH people who want to sing it with me, but I'll be damned if I sing it AT a fellow Longhorn that I know doesn't want to hear it. That's really all there is to it on a personal level. The history doesn't even matter at the end of the day.

Quote

No one argued brave or subversive.

"The balls on the kid to do that, in that era, is the opposite of racist.  It is akin to Baldwin playing Trump on SNL or any variety show."

This is idiotic.

Quote

Or are you so bold as to state as fact the intent of the writer?

I can read the words of the song, which are openly affectionate and loving of Prather. The polar opposite of Baldwin playing Trump with the completely inverse purpose.

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2 hours ago, bad_teammate said:

BLM? Where is BLM?

You literally just rejected the idea that all black people think the same.

It was in response to a post that said BLM is more important than the school song.  Not everyone feels that way.  You don't get it.  And yes, the players did demand money be given to BLM.  I don't think that's the issue but it is a thing.

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1 hour ago, David Dennison said:

Probably because certain posters insist on using terms like "blackthlete" while implying that student athletes who have a problem with the Eyes lack the critical thinking skills and "brains" necessary to find success outside of playing sports for the University of Texas.

 

 

Who has said that?  And also even if some people have, that doesn't mean that you assume anyone who disagrees with this nonsense is racist.  That's just having tunnel vision completely.  You are such a political hack.

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2 hours ago, The Doctor said:

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?                 

Once again it was in response to a post that said the BLM movement is more important than the song.  That implies it has influence.  I don't understand how saying that we have rules as a University, the same you would have at a company is taking a hard stance against the players.  You clearly don't understand how hierarchies work.  It's the administrations responsibility to make known the rules and they have failed to do so and it looks bad.  There will always be someone ready to take their spot.  Doesn't matter the race.  

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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.          

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