Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (I have something to say about The Eyes of Texas...)
- Thread starter Ketchum
- Start date
It feels like we're pretending that the school didn't literally announce a huge initiative plan because we don't want to admit that it would mean they negotiated.
Now, they negotiated poorly, but they did negotiate.
I hate most of the food that is ever cooked for me.
But, I fake it real good in the name of showing respect for the cook that made it.
This is about anything more than showing an ounce of respect. Just one ounce.
Sure, they have and are receiving a lot of respect in that there have absolutely been attempts to reach across the aisle and listen to all concerns and considerations.
However, how much respect does one expect when they choose a 2020 way of spitting in family's face?
They are intentionally leaving the field during the middle of the song. That's so insulting that those who actually protesting things on a national stage have never done such a thing. Go over and wave to family. Stand still. Chat with your opponents.
Don't leave the ****ing field, though, and then have the audacity to ask for respect on Monday.
@Ketchum - Fantastic article.
My only concern right now is that the Eyes issue has potentially created a "treat the symptom" approach and is providing Herman and CDC with a bandaid solution for the bullet-hole that is our football team as a whole.
The Eyes has a tremendously special place in my heart. I don't want it, or its associated tradition(s), going away.
At the same time, every facet of this football team shows a lack of leadership from the top. The people in the know seem to think that BMDs are content to use their leverage at a time when the AD really needs them.
Are the players in the game (CDC and BMDs) content with a wait and see approach to retaining Herman?
I scrolled down and posted this after reading #1. I should have read it all! Great, great, great piece from beginning to end!
Not saying I agree but if you thought the song was racist wouldn’t you leave the field as well? I hold my horns up for the song but in 2020 I realize others don’t and shouldn’t have to do the same.
Great write up. I was there for The Eyes on that day with My dad and Uncle. My uncle is no longer with us either. I felt exactly the same about top days in my life. I also love the value in singing in the losses. As respect to the fans that stay. No matter how bad. We sing it. We move on. We get better. We.
if any of the players read this and don’t understand what you are saying.... then they aren’t the type of people and human beings that need to be playing for this school. It’s not one sided. It is being rational enough to see the reality of what is happening. Weighing the truth of now and being willing to back off something you may have overreacted to.
if any of the players read this and don’t understand what you are saying.... then they aren’t the type of people and human beings that need to be playing for this school. It’s not one sided. It is being rational enough to see the reality of what is happening. Weighing the truth of now and being willing to back off something you may have overreacted to.
My parents both graduated from UT and I also did in 1973. My room was painted orange and white as a child and I have been a die hard fan since the age of four. I was also at the 2006 national championship game (as well as in 2009). UT football has been a major part of my life. Sadly, I no longer even care about watching the games. I donate a large amount every year to the Foundation and am ready to discontinue doing that unless big changes are made soon. You hit the nail on the head with this article. Let us hope that CDC hears you. Hook Em.
I’m chiming in late but I have to compliment on this well stated article. I was the first in my family to attend college and the education I received changed my life. The Eyes of Texas are upon me and I have spent my life trying to make them proud. As much as I love Horns football, I’m prepared to give it up. It is not as important as tradition.
That's a BS comparison and you know it. The students are not in uniform representing the University. They can sing or not sing. But if you are in a uniform - player, cheerleader, band, whatever - you have chosen to represent the University in an official capacity. This comes with perks but it also comes with duties. You don't want to fulfill your obligations? Fine. Walk.
I would rather lose all of the protesting players than to lose The Eyes of Texas. Furthermore, if Sam Ehlinger and a kicker from Australia are the ONLY guys on field after the game, then I read that as Sam does not have the complete respect of the team. As a supposed leader, he should have far more support.
Sorry Texas players. You can not suck and and then make demands. Winning is the ultimate leverage you can have on a fan base. The eyes have had a huge spot in the fans of Texas's heart for longer than these kids have been born. You come in drop a shit like performance the past few years and then make demands like you own the place. Not how that shit works. You make yourself relevant by winning then you have the leverage to make changes. Because from the outside looking in. You are getting a grade A education at a very good school for playing a sport. (And not very well might I add.) Then you want to come in and make demands to the school? Common fans who could care less about the political BS and just wants to cheer for their school and watch football are the ones that suffer. Not how that works. You expect to fan to put up with this BS and still watch crappy football? Nope not going to happen. Sam you give your all and we love you for it but this school is going to enjoy the fruits of what the NBA is tasting if they do not get it together. There is racial unrest in this country right now. But using a platform that normally brings all racist together and talk about how bad race is, is not how you do it. I have not decided how I am going to go with watching football moving forward but this shit has definitely taking my some of my love for this team away.
I really think Herman is living day to day because emotions and opinions are pretty fluid.
Great post. It actually helped me walk back from the ledge.
The next head coach needs to have a talk with the team. If you cannot stay for the song, you need to find another school. If it is not Urban, or someone of his stature, we are in the wilderness for years.
That pretty much has to happen.
It's now a free story if you want to share it.
texas.rivals.com
Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (On The Eyes of Texas)
In this week's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend, the focus is on the thing that matters most - The Eyes of Texas.
Great article @Ketchum, you've been in peak form this week.
I think this post is a good effort at burying the hatchet from this summer considering it basically comes full circle on the whole topic of The Eyes, Sam and the rest of the team. While everyone is falling over themselves to email this article to Bellmont 600 times (I'm up to a dozen myself), I'd hope that some of the posters who know the guys that left in June might do the same and send this their way. I don't know if we can fix the program this fall but we can damn sure fix the board.
I think this post is a good effort at burying the hatchet from this summer considering it basically comes full circle on the whole topic of The Eyes, Sam and the rest of the team. While everyone is falling over themselves to email this article to Bellmont 600 times (I'm up to a dozen myself), I'd hope that some of the posters who know the guys that left in June might do the same and send this their way. I don't know if we can fix the program this fall but we can damn sure fix the board.
I have to wonder if the players are just doing what their coach has asked them to do regarding the eyes.
Yes, the players brought it to attention, but Herman gave direction that if you aren’t going to sing then leave the field after the game. If so, just another failed leadership decision on his part.
Also, if Herman and those in leadership positions at Texas really do read these articles, what do you think their reactions are to this story? I could see Herman shaking his head in disagreement and continuing down the road to complete failure.
When Herman sees the pic of Ehlinger all alone, what are his thoughts? He had to have seen it coming and did nothing to correct it. Totally abandoned.
Nice work Ketchum
Good write up Ketch, you may be a closet conservative after all, LOL. 
I'm still waiting for a response from CDC regarding my email, we'll see, I bet he's a little busy.
I'm still waiting for a response from CDC regarding my email, we'll see, I bet he's a little busy.
I just made my call to the foundation asking for my donation to be refunded. Sounds like they are getting lots of requests and are turning it over to Del Conte.Good write up Ketch, you may be a closet conservative after all, LOL.
I'm still waiting for a response from CDC regarding my email, we'll see, I bet he's a little busy.
I told the poor girl how I felt and asked her to notate why I don’t feel like supporting this regime.
Wonder if I will get a call from CDC
I'll NEVER consider our supposedly BMDs the elite of college football as far as boosters who make things happen. Not want to pay more than 5!?!? If this is true than I am another step closer to disconnecting (as they say in the scientology world) from this team than ever before. The days of the elite coaches getting less than 7 or 8 are over. Now I know we are not in the same class as the Bamas', Buckeyes and Clemson football programs. Texas is now 2nd tier. And the recruits will act accordingly. We are stuck in the past as far as winning tradition. A coach like an Urban Meyer is the most effective remedy to our stagnation and that means spending big bucks. Heck even the idoits in college station apparently are more dedicated to get a winning coach than our people seem to. Never, ever thought I'd believe that. I sure as heck hope the fella who said our people will not pay more than Tom was paid is full of it.
Open the vault, clear a financial path to Meyer and get him in Austin yesterday. That or we'll be lost in the dimension of the Twilight Zone of futility in college football.
Some of your best work dude. Live long and prosper.
Somehow Sean Adams and I ended up inside the seats of the Texas band.
Honestly, I can't even remember how it happened, other than we had seats separated from each other and as the second half of the national championship game between Texas and USC was set to begin, we both decided that it didn't matter where we sat, as long as we watched the game together.
Part of me wants to say that a member of the band was a member of Orangebloods and welcomed us into some open seats, but that might be making things up 14-plus years after the fact. What matters is that on the most important night in the modern era of the Texas football program, we had a chance to watch the second half together within a section of current (at the time) university students.
Outside of standing on the sideline, it felt like the closest thing to being involved in the game as one could feel. On a night when there were so many ebbs and flows within the game, being inside the band meant that you were inside the pulse of an entire fan base every time one of the ebbs and flows went a certain kind of way.
When it was over ... after the defense makes the stop ... after VY scores on 4th and 5 ... after the clock finally expired ... I witnessed something even more impactful than any play that occurred.
As the players walked over to the band and the school song started to play in their direction, emotion took control of the moment. I turned around to Sean to say something to him and I noticed that tears were in his eyes. Oh, he was smiling like his life depended on it, but something about the moment flat out got him.
At that exact moment, someone in the band (who wasn't playing their instrument) jumped into the arms of a friend and they screamed at each other in a way that suggested that they should have been sitting together for the duration of the second half like Sean and I had decided to do. Everywhere I turned was beautiful raw emotion. Some tears. Lots of smiles. Plenty of screams. Everyone united in one of the greatest moments of everyone's lives through the playing of one song.
The Eyes of Texas.
Black, white, brown, pink, green, male, female, gay, straight, religious, atheist ... together. The rest of the world didn't exist, except for all of the people back home that you wondered about, wishing they could share this moment. Honest to God, if we take away the moments in my life involving my wife and kids, it probably ranks as a top-five all-time life moment.
This boy from Waco, who grew up rooting against Texas as a Baylor fan until fate stepped in and switched his future, looked directly into the eyes of a former kid from Oakland, who had adopted The University of Texas as the home school he always wanted and never knew existed until he arrived in Austin to work as a grown-up in the real world. Both of us were bastard burnt orange children to some degree and yet the reality of neither of us having a degree from the school simply didn't matter in the moment.
It was just beautiful and I might live another 200 years and will never live it again, partly because Sean isn't with us anymore, which means I won't ever have that moment with HIM because it's an impossibility (I hated typing that sentence).
What it means is that when I think of Sean, I always think about this moment. When I think about the moment, I think of Sean. The thing that tied it all together was The Eyes of Texas.
The song is the ultimate connector to literally millions of people and it's the following truth that makes what's happening with the song a mixture of anger, depression, dismay ... did I mention anger?
For countless Longhorns, you simply cannot tell the story of their lives without including moments where the song was at the forefront of them, whether we're talking about a wedding reception or graduation or a trip to an out of town piano bar or to a funeral.
Full confession - I've been to multiple funerals where "The Eyes of Texas" is the final sound before a person says goodbye to his or her loved ones forever in the physical form. When you think it about it for a while, the weight of its importance is incredibly heavy.
All of this brings us to this moment in time when the song seems to hang in peril with the realization that its origins are less than ideal to say the least.
Now, before I go any further, let's acknowledge an elephant in the room, which is that I'm pretty much viewed as the resident snowflake liberal trouble-maker on the board. I've taken time to try and explain the player's feelings, in part because I acknowledge that I'm in no way, shape or fashion in a place where I can tell a black person how insulted they should feel about something born in a minstrel show. I've acknowledged the complexity of the issue countless times.
However, in acknowledging its complexity, I'm going to require everyone to use their brains a little and acknowledge the following ...
a. Meredes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen (Hitler's dream car) all have ties to Nazi Germany.
b. Hugo Boss literally designed shirts for the Nazis because he was an actual Nazi.
c. Old Disney movies are historically filled with racist imagery and stereotypes.
d. U.S.A. Today's parent company (E.W. Scripps and Gannett) was linked to the slave trade.
e. Aetna and New York Life Insurance insured the lives of slaves and reimbursed slave owners when their slaves died.
f. Henry Ford was a leading anti-Semite. Same with Coco Chanel.
g. Adidas, Nike, Gap, Urban Outfitters and Victoria's Secret all still use products made in sweatshops and with child labor.
I could go on and on and on and on and on, but if you need more examples, let google be your friend. The list of companies and institutions with non-ideal backgrounds is longer than America's history itself. Yet, Mercedes found a way to get over its Nazi ties. Disney is still Disney. Nike literally outfits the Texas football program.
As an American people, we universally forgive in the name of the Ford Expedition that I personally drive or the movie that I play on the Disney Channel for my kids or the newspaper that I buy when I'm in an airport (but only when I'm in an airport).
Every single one of us, including the young men and women that attend The University of Texas, make little concessions all the time when it comes to our moral compasses and when/where we decide to use them.
For some reason, this has become a line in the sand moment, but I have to ask why?
If I can acknowledge the existence of the song's beginnings and the wretched visual that is generated when it's discussed, then why can't they acknowledge the millions of people that have turned the song into something much more significant than a joke aimed at a school president?
Doesn't that history matter, too?
I'm all for these kids fighting the good fights ... all of them. I just don't view this situation as fighting the good fight as much as it’s applying misplaced pressure for sport. I don't believe these kids have been swayed by their college professors. Hell no, I give them way more credit than that. They haven't been hypnotized. Instead, these are frustrated young men and women that want to fight back ... against anything they can get their hands on. The Eyes has been sucked into the fray, perhaps even deservedly so.
Let's be clear - the history deserves to be discussed.
Yet, there's a difference between having a discussion and trying to render something so personal to so many as completely useless moving forward. There are people rolling over in their graves right now and not all of them were racist. Hell, there are people headed to their graves that are rolling over in them before they are even in them.
The students at The University of Texas, not just the football players, need to ask themselves a question of importance.
Is the mostly obscure history of the song more important than all of the good that the song has lived inside of over the last 100 years? Does a little bit of hate outweigh a hell of a lot of love? Are millions of past and future memories rendered completely moot because of one?
At the end of the day, if this is something a student can't get behind, why are they at The University of Texas?
Just go. You can't go inside any of the historic buildings without some sort of racist stink on them, so why give them the decency of acknowledgement when you won't do it for something others are begging you with their heart and souls to give the same consideration?
Understand, I don't want any of these kids to leave, but I don't want them to be unhappy, either. However, I also don't want to tell others that their own happiness is being cancelled out by young people that haven't lived long enough to know how precious the memories associated with this thing with an unfortunate origin truly are.
If love, acceptance and equality are the end goal, then it's time to get together and find a better answer because what's currently happening isn't it.
No. 2 - Calling out the grown-ups at Bellmont ...
Shame on the Texas administration for dropping the ball on this in such an embarrassing way.
I'm going to do two things ... I'm going to tell you what happened and then I'm going to tell you what needs to happen
Let's start with what happened.
The players caught the athletic department as a whole completely off-guard with their initial set of demands listed in the released statement that they put out, especially Tom Herman and Chris Del Conte, and every reaction that both men took afterwards was designed with the hope that this would apparently disappear into thin air once the season started.
Understand that this whole thing started with the threat of not playing the season being in full play before that threat was walked off the table. So, "The Eyes" became a huge political piece of the puzzle because it was the only real leverage the players had to force some change and from a third-party perspective, I totally understand it.
The players entered "negotiations" with literally one card in play.
Therefore, it boggles my mind that the university somehow came out of a meeting of the minds, offered a ton of ideas and proposals, yet somehow came away from the proceedings without asking if all of the effort was going to accomplish the two damn things that mattered most - are you going to play and are you going to recognize the school song?
That's literally the only thing from their perspective they NEEDED to find out.
Can you imagine calling your ex-wife and asking for a personal item AFTER the divorce?
"Hey, thanks for wishing me happy birthday last week. I know we had lawyers get together and we signed a settlement three years ago, but I was thinking I want your car," said no one ever (other than a few crazy ex-spouses).
Can you imagine making a fantasy football trade and agreeing to deal your best player without having an idea of what you're receiving?
"Sure, you can have Alvin Kamara. We'll figure out what I get at some point," said no one that has any ambition.
This isn't rocket science.
Here's how the conversation should have done in July:
Chris Del Conte: "Guys, we're going to make a multimillion-dollar investment from the athletic department revenue, among other things, to programs that work to recruit, attract, retain and support black students, and it will expand UT's presence and outreach in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and elsewhere. It's going to be pretty exciting."
Player Leader: "That sounds awesome."
Chris Del Conte: "I know we have a lot of work to do, but this is a huge step forward in making good on our promises. We'd like to know from the players that you'll make the same good faith investment into us by taking the school song issue off the table and joining us in trying to rebuild this bridge of our tradition."
At this point, the player leader or leaders could have agreed and conditions to keep the agreement on both sides could have been made. Unless he said the following.
Player Leader: "We're actually not going to stand for the Eyes or give in.”
At that point, Del Conte should have said.
"Well, there's no deal. If you want to be the known as the players that brought change to the campus, the city and communities around the state, you have to give a little. Negotiations don't work if only one side of the table gives something."
You can't release the press release announcing all of the changes without knowing. Instead, Del Conte met with player leadership and merely hoped that when the meeting ended, none of the players went to Twitter to set him on fire. Getting out of July without burn marks was apparently the goal because we somehow got to September without anyone in the Texas administration actually having an answer for what would happen when the games began.
Frankly, I can make a case that Del Conte's handling of this situation and the Mickey Mouse attention to details that are so poor that even his head football coach is blushing upon inspection is a fireable offense, especially when coupled with the lingering stink from the needless extension he gave out when he was frightened that he might have to get into a bidding war with himself.
The moment called for a true leader and not someone that would wait until the end of the first week in October to outline what his expectations were for HIS OWN COACHES!!!!!!!
You know how all of this happened? Chris Del Conte let it happen. He literally thought it was ok to never seek clarification from the players about their intentions, never told his coaches what he wanted until last week and generally let this spin out of control under his watch.
Period.
No. 3 - What has to happen next ...
Del Conte needs to meet with Texas athletics leadership this week and not come out of the room until the situation is resolved in a way that preserves the school song.
While he's doing that, new Texas president Jay Hartzell needs to meet with leadership from the band, cheerleaders and other key organizational groups affiliated with the school, and not come out until the same thing is accomplished.
If Del Conte has to give a little, so be it. If Hartzell has to do the same, I don't give a damn.
Solve the problem now. It's not show friends, it's show business. Their jobs are to get this resolved in a way that everyone can view as a win.
If they can't pull that off, it means they failed at the most important task they'll ever be given in their jobs. Simple as that.
Time to get this done.
p.s. - When you go to the negotiation table this time, don't forget to ask for something.
No. 4 - What I'm hearing about Herman ...
A few really important notes.
a. The situation with the school song has decision-makers on DEFCON 1. I don't know yet what's going to happen, but I was told by one senior official that Saturday was a tipping point. A tipping point to what? That was not outlined.
b. Herman is more in trouble for this situation with the school song than actually losing the game. The sight of Sam Ehlinger by himself after the game was monumental.
c. The buyout to Herman is still really expensive and all the problematic issues in front of buying him out still exist.
d. If Texas really wanted Urban Meyer, he'll be there for the taking at an incredible cost. One person I spoke with on Sunday believed Texas would have to make Meyer the highest-paid coach in the country.
"Dabo makes 9 (million per year) and Urban will want 10," the source texted me. "We've never wanted to pay more than what we're already paying Tom."
No. 5 - To be completely clear ...
If Tom Herman isn't coaching at Texas in 2021, this will be as much of a reason as actually losing.
View attachment 119
No. 6 - One last thing for the Texas football players to think about ...
If the players are unwilling to give a little on the school song issue, maybe they can explain why they'd still want to commit so much of themselves to create an NFL career when the league is guilty of far worse things with regards to awful racial connotations and you don't have to go back 100 years to find them.
You can't stand by your fans and show the same kind of respect you'd show if the PA system played another nation's national anthem, but you can accept the NFL's blood money?
Oh, and one more thing to keep in mind.
Leaving before or in the middle of the song is actually a tactic that no one protesting the national anthem has taken because as pissed off as people are about players kneeling during the song, walking out of the stadium while it's played would be viewed as an entirely new form of potential insult for those that feel insulted.
Come on, fellas. Read the room for goodness sakes.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) You're asking me to give this place benefit of the doubt in areas it has not proven it deserves to receive the benefit of the doubt in.
(Buy) Lowest moment in program history in my estimation.
(Sell) But, if you add all the messages that Anwar, Jason and Dustin received? Maybe.
(Buy) Ironically, it might need this.
(Buy) The bread for the first half of this decade is already in the oven.
(Buy) Yeah.
(Buy) Yeah.
(Buy) Yeah.
(Buy) Yeah.
(Buy) Yeah.
(Buy/Sell/Sell) I expect to hear from a lot of players in the next two weeks before the next home game. Mack's new FSU beast to conquer is called Clemson and I'm not sure UNC is ready for that. I'd argue that the all-night chats lose their appeal when they happen all the time, but this weekend was definitely a reminder we need to do more.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on the world of sports ...
... Jimbo Fisher stopped stealing money this weekend from Texas A&M. Is he about to steal LJ Johnson next week? Looking that way ...
... OU beat Texas in a game that saw its starting quarterback get benched? Good grief. That happened.
... Is Iowa State the favorite in the Big 12? Or Kansas State? Or Oklahoma State?
... It kind of feels like Travis Etienne doesn't get nearly the pub that he deserves.
... Gif of the Year?
... Don't even ask me about the Dak injury or the Dallas game. I need time to sort through my feelings.
... Congrats, Texans fans.
... LeBron James is at No.4. What an all-time great.
... The Rays/Astros series has my attention.
... Go Dodgers.
... Rafa. Freaking. Nadal. I almost can't wrap my head around him winning 13 French Open titles and 20 overall. As far as I'm concerned, he's the GOAT.
... I watched more MLS when it was in the bubble by a mile than I do when it's not. Just a random thought.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 Eddie Van Halen Solos ...
One of the all-time greats left us this week when Eddie Van Halen died at the age of 65.
It goes without saying that he's one of the giants of modern music. Rather than focus on my favorite Van Halen songs, I thought I'd rank my top 10 Eddie Van Halen solos.
Enjoy.
10. Atomic Punk
9. Poundcake
8. Mean Street
7. Girl Gone Bad
6. I'm The One
5. So This Is Love?
4. Everybody Wants Some
3. Hot For Teacher
2. Eruption
1. Beat It
No.10 - And finally...
A section needs to be devoted to our new goddess queen. Your Orangebloods subscription is forever comped when you want to claim it.
I'm just thinking about how people lose their mind seeing Kapernick and others kneeling during the anthem - is the same crowd that does that, also view that sort of statement during the Eyes as an improvement? I honestly thought this summer that a reasonable outcome to all of this would be that we continue with the Eyes and the players aren't forced to stay around and participate in the singing (something that wasn't required pre-Mack).
It seems to me like the root of the issue is the fact that this is just a poorly coached football team that isn't getting it done on the field and we're trying to use the Eyes participation as a larger statement on this fact. Do we think the outrage is the same if Sam stands alone following a comeback win?
It seems to me like the root of the issue is the fact that this is just a poorly coached football team that isn't getting it done on the field and we're trying to use the Eyes participation as a larger statement on this fact. Do we think the outrage is the same if Sam stands alone following a comeback win?
4-0 would lessen it some, but make no mistake, people would be pissed no matter what. No amount of winning would completely erase the fact that the team is more or less giving double birds to the fans and alumni.
