I was going to try to remain above the fray on this one, but as I've been reading forum after forum related to the (admittedly) reprehensible Vick 'Em T-shirts being printed in advance of the A&M grudgematch, I see that the uptight Aggies have once again taken up their incredibly witty cry of "Classless Clowns" over the reference. As if they're any better.
I'll start by saying that I hate the T-shirts. I hate that students will buy and ultimately wear them. They are not something that is sanctioned by the university and should not be misconstrued as representing Texas Tech's student body. Sometimes kids with no taste let things get out of hand. In fact, I put up a picture of a banner created by A&M students as an example of how ugly these kinds of things get. The pleasant little bit of artwork pictured above was waving over the A&M campus. Nice.
I also hate that this game (rivalry, A&M can't seem to admit it, but they can't seem to win it either, so maybe it, after all, isn't) has digressed to the point where we have had riots in our stands. Of course this type of stuff makes us look bad. And I really hope our new spirit campaign takes root and gets us to the point where we are as classy as Nebraska.
But I must say, A&M brings much of this upon itself. For one thing, Aggies can't take a joke; the ones I know bristle with wounded dignity at any reference to their school that is nothing less than unquestioning diefication. So of course it's fun to taunt them. They make it fun. And it's not like they don't return the favor.
In fact, here's a bunch of Aggies plotting out a spam and prank call campaign against the student who produced the T-shirts:
