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Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (Let's just talk about it 2.0...)

It’s telling that the “demands” letter does not include any mention by the athletes that they love UT, that they are proud of UT or that they respect UT. This is just a place of business to them. Sad. Not the best negotiation strategy, whatever a person’s stance on the issues.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that. It's pretty telling and eye-opening. If the players don't love the school like we do, the whole foundation for fandom comes crashing down.
 
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Who are you trying to kid? The current cancel culture absolutely dictates no players will ever participate in a 'voluntary' singing of the Eyes. If any were to do so, that would rip the team apart internally, so that just won't happen. This movement tolerates no dissent.

The Eyes have been branded with the stigma of racism, which in today's political climate is sufficient to taint it forever in the eyes of young black athletes regardless of any facts to the contrary or how incredibly tenuous the links are. The majority of fans (of all races) have seen the Eyes as a unifying expression of what it means to be Texas alumni, and they will - at the very least - balk at the elimination of something that represents cherished memories and emotional highs.

The Catch-22 is this: By the athletes making this a front page issue, we can't keep the song at all due to political and societal pressures, not to mention the impact on recruiting of young black athletes due to negative recruiting by other institutions. We also cannot eliminate the Eyes without removing large amounts of alumni support, starting with a significant chunk of the oldest and wealthiest. And while the Texas athletic department prides itself on being the richest, a lot of their revenues ($100M+) come from annual donations and ticket sales which could mean significant budget shortfalls near-term.

IMO, these young men with all of their understandable naivete and probably not truly understanding what they did, have significantly injured (if not crippled) Texas athletics for a decade or more, either from a recruiting or a monetary perspective.
@Ketchum Care to rethink your answer now?
 
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