SMU, SEC, and Other Ramblings.

Let me start by saying this one is absurdly long even by my own stupid standards. I wouldn't read it unless you just can't help it. ok. here it goes...

I’m not sure I really understand the basis for the theory that they world is going to end in 2012. Something about Aztecs or Mayans or Nostradomus or something. Whatever the reasons, I keep hearing that 2012 is the year, so we better win the football championship this year. The world is going to end. Admittedly, this is not the first time we thought the whole thing was going to end. I did a little internetting and found that this "end of days" thing has been predicted fairly regularly since the 1500's. Starting in the 20th century the predictions sometimes include aliens, which I think is a nice touch. Hell, based on what all my Republican friends were saying after the 2008 election, I thought we were going to be done in a couple of years ago. But here we stand.

For now.

You see, now the folks in Waco are predicting that the Ags leaving the Big 12 may just cause the end of the world in 2012. They could be right. And in spite of Governor Perry’s reassurances to the contrary, even I am finding it hard to completely dismiss the possibility of global warming since it’s a million degrees outside. Seems a little hellish. And tell me that someone named “Lady Gaga” wearing a dress made of raw meat, and getting accolades for it, isn't some kind of a sign. Even if it’s not the end of the world, these are strange times indeed. And yet, here we all are.

For now.

I have a theory (and why shouldn’t I). I really think God does plan to end things around here eventually, but not before he answers my third prayer of every night from the last several years. Here's my standard prayer list:

1. Dear God, please bless and protect my family, friends, people in the military, Christians everywhere, whoever you deem fit to enter your kingdom, and any of the Hippies in Austin willing to admit their mistake.
2. If it’s really not ok with you that I’m such a jack-ass, please help me change. However, I'll need some kind of a sign or I'm plowing ahead just like yesterday.
3. And for the love of God please, dear Lord, before the end of the world, let the Ags win a national championship in any of the varsity outdoor men’s contact sports involving the use of an oblong ball. Please. And I don't mean rugby. It's gotta be football to count.

The truth is that it’s been a long time since the Ags brought home that kind of hardware for football. The first, last and only national championship for football for the Ags was in 1939. As I understand it they didn’t even have a trophy back then. Each player was just given a pack of Lucky Strikes and a bus ticket home for the holidays.

It’s actually shaping up to be a heck of a season so far considering it hasn't even started. Heading into the first game we’re still undefeated and have had no season ending injuries to speak of. Most of the prognosticators have ranked A&M variously between #8 and #12 in the country. The schedule lines up favorably except for a road trip to Norman to play the #1 ranked Sooners and a potential trap game in Lubbock. Fans are feeling a wave of excitement about joining the SEC in 2012. And not coincidentally, for the first time at A&M we have sold out of season tickets. There is a lot of excitement in Aggieland.

And there’s that little matter of the team. I’ll try to be brief here so there’s more time for my meandering stream of consciousness ramblings.

Offense – I’m very comfortable saying we have the best overall collection of skill-position talent in the Big 12, and maybe the country. I believe every one of them will get drafted into the NFL. Senior WR Jeff Fuller will be an All-American and go in the top 10 in this spring's draft. Senior QB Ryan Tannehill is as good as anyone in the conference and has the size, skill and intelligence to play in the league. Both of our tailbacks are NFL type guys. Senior Cyrus Gray is blazing fast 6-0 205 lb shifty back and Junior RB Christine Michael is a 5-11, 221 lb can of whoopass just waiting to obliterate anyone in his way. The O-line is extremely talented and will be a tough match-up for everyone we play. And we have depth. When asked what his biggest concerns were on offense, Mike Sherman stated,”Well, we’re not sure who our #3 tailback is going to be yet.” You gotta like that.

Defense –Probably the biggest coup in recruiting this year was keeping defensive coordinator Tim Deruyter from taking a head coaching job somewhere else. Last year’s unit finished ranked at just #50 in overall defense, but that was an improvement of 50 spots from the prior year. Statistics tells us we should have the # 1 overall defense in the country this year. Well, bad statistics and some help from those little bottles of liquor you get on the airplane. In the second year in Deruyter's system I expect to see a much more consistent command of the defense from the players in general. I also expect to see blitzes coming from all over the field instead of just watching Von Miller blow past people all season long (yawn...). We only lost three starters from last year’s unit and have added a lot of valuable depth along the line and in the linebacking corps. The secondary should be the strength of this defense with a lot of returning experienced playmakers. Keep an eye on Stephen Campbell, Trent Hunter, Dustin Harris and Coryell Judie.

Special Teams – OK. We’re probably not going to be great here. The kicking should be good. The return game could be great. But, we’re unsettled at punter and I won’t believe we’ve got coverage figured out until I see it with my own eyes. We recruited a great punter in the spring, but he missed most of fall camp with an injury.

I think we’re in better shape as a team than we’ve been since 1998. Every team needs a little luck to win it all. We’ll need a little more than some others might, but it’s shaping up to be a very good season.

And now on to the SEC question. What an interesting summer this has been. The media appears split on the issue of our pending departure. Many writers are chastising and in some cases condemning the Ags for ostensibly destroying the Big 12. Other writers are correctly pointing to the greed coming out of Austin for continually weakening and, ultimately, destroying the conference. Either way, we’re gone. The Big 12 will try to add one or more new members, but will still probably be disbanded within a few years. What matters most in musical chairs is that you have a chair when the music stops. We’re ensuring that have a good one playing in college football's finest host cities like Auburn, Baton Rouge, Knoxville, and Tuscaloosa. Baylor, on the other hand, will be playing in towns like Fort Collins, Laramie, Boise, Reno and Albuquerque.

What about tu? I’ve been surprised at the ambivalence on both sides to the question of the Thanksgiving rivalry with tu continuing after 2011. Lots of people are ready to call it quits and never play them again. “We’ll just play LSU or Arkansas on Thanksgiving.” Personally I’d like it to continue playing tu because I can’t imagine trying to use a chainsaw on a Hog or a Tiger. But then again, I can’t imagine staying on the Titanic that is the Big 12 just so we can continue to play the sips every year. That’s not like staying in a bad marriage for the kids. It’s like staying in a bad marriage for the tax benefits. It's just not worth it.

So my belief is that right now is just the wrong time to decide the fate of the rivalry. We need to let things cool down so it’s not strictly an emotional decision. The Ags have expressed an interest in continuing the 117 year tradition. The ball is now in tu’s court. We’ll see what happens. I can say, with some certainty, that this is going to be on hell of a Thanksgiving game in College Station.

But until then it is finally time

for

the

First Game !!!!!

So what about SMU? We’ll host the SMU mustangs on Sunday, September 3rd in the evening. It could be a pretty good game, really. June Jones was brought in to resurrect the program and he seems to be on the right track. I can’t name a single player on their roster and I don't know what their record was last year. I did watch them play TCU tight for a half last year in Dallas. I don’t know if that counts as research or not, but I did a little statistical "research" over the weekend. I’m actually writing this on a plane back from Vegas and while I was there I checked the spread on the A&M SMU game. I know you can get that on-line, but I'm shooting for authenticity here. The odds makers like the Ags in this one. Ags favored by 16.5. I didn’t bet on that game, but I did put $20 on the Ags to win it all at 30:1.

And the Tailgate? Oh, we’ll have a little somethin’, somethin’ going on for the game. Believe it or not Tim and I are going down on Thursday night to make sure we get all our junk in place on Friday for a game on Sunday. I guess we’ll cook on Saturday some, but Sunday is the big time I expect all of you to be there. Why not, right? A Sunday night game on a holiday weekend is just an invitation to barbecue. Expect a little bit of everything, a great crowd and a good time.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Gig ‘em and Beat the Hell Outta SMU!

Chuck ‘96

P.S. We have a facebook presence. Look for "The Aggie Tailgate".

How Aggie Football Ruined My Life

While I was in school at dear old A&M I had what you might call occasional "grade abnormalities". We were just so darn good during that period I couldn't help but watch every game. I guess if there was any upside to what happened to Aggie Football from 1996 to 2009 it was that it allowed me to concentrate on my work at least a little. Yeah, there was the 1998 season in there, but I was living in Wisconsin so I missed it. That's Big 10 country and there's not a lot of Aggie football on TV up there.

But now... Now I'm screwed. I can't concentrate on work and now is not the time for me to take a breather. Not only are the Ags in the pre-season top ten for the first time since 1999, there's also all the drama about leaving for the SEC. In case you aren't completely obsessed with the Big 12 and college football in general here's a quick rundown.

- t.u. struck a deal with ESPN for $300 Million over 20 years for the Longhorn Network.

- t.u. told the conference that they were only going to put one t.u. game on the network each year

- ESPN announced that they were going to air high school football games of recruits that t.u. was targeting.

- everyone got mad and rumors started circulating that we were headed to the SEC

- t.u. said "we didn't know about the high school games" and "we want what's best for the conference" and "ESPN controls all the programming stuff"

- through a Freedom of Information Act request, the contract with ESPN has been made public.

- the contract makes it clear that t.u. always intended to air high school games, always intended to air more than one football game, and has been making plans to be an independent (ala Notre Dame)

- moreover, t.u. has editorial rights over ESPN and ESPN must place them in a positive light.

Drama, drama, drama...

Mostly it just looks like t.u. is out for themselves and can't be trusted. As Gomer Pyle used to say "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise..."

Well, now it appears that the SEC and A&M have been in talks for a few weeks and the scuttlebutt in SEC country is that we're headed that way. Fans from all the Confederate states are talking about it. They seem generally pleased about the development.

No one seems to know what will happen to the A&M / t.u. rivalry if we leave. I imagine all of the other rivalries are dead (Baylor, Tech, OU). t.u. may declare that if we leave the conference we can no longer play t.u. in football. Hard to imagine, but so is a downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt. No one is sure what will happen.

Personally I like the idea of playing Alabama, Auburn, Ol' Miss, LSU, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. I think it sounds like a lot of fun.

Anyway, I thought an update was in order so I could get back to work.

The players reported to Fall camp yesterday. They start practicing tonight. It's almost here. 26 Days 'til Aggie Football, Baby!

Gig 'em,

Chuck

The First of Many

Howdy!

Betcha thought this was all behind you. :)

Autumn is in the air. The leaves are turning brown, the grass is dying... ...and my yard gnome spontaneously burst into flames.

Autumn, right?

It seems like the fall ought to be here. I'm ready for it. Football is starting to unveil itself once again in dramatic fashion and I've had about enough of this *%$^# summer.

In case you missed it, here's a quick recap of Aggie sports in the 2010 - 2011 school year. We were good to great in everything except Volleyball, Women's Tennis, and Cross Country. We won nine conference championships and three national championships (four if you count equestrian), the most of any school in the Big 12. The Women's basketball team won the ncaa tournament. Pat Henry's Track & Field teams each won an unprecedented 3rd consecutive National Championship in Outdoor Track & Field. The baseball team went to Omaha for the first time since 1999. The Basketball team went to the ncaa tournament again, not losing until the second round to a surprisingly good Florida State team. Softball, Soccer, Men's Golf, Men's Tennis and Baseball all finished in the top ten. I lose track of everything else, but it was a really good year. Finished 8th overall in the Learfield Director's Cup standings. As a point of comparison, t.u. whose athletic budget is 60% larger than A&M's finished ($120 Million vs. $74 Million) finished 12th overall.

And, of course, there was Football. What an exciting season. We won our last six regular season games in a row after finally putting Ryan Tannehill in for Jerrod Johnson. You can only imagine what would have happened if we had made the change at QB earlier in the season. Would we have had five turnovers in Stillwater allowing OSU to come back from a double digit second half deficit to kick a game winner as the clock ran out? Would we have let Missouri beat us in Kyle Field? What else might have been different for the Aggies? No one knows for certain, but I'm comfortable saying that we'd most likely have had the chance to turn down an Obama invitation to the White House.

In spite of that missed opportunity, we won nine games and beat OU, Nebraska and t.u. (in Austin) all in the same season. We eventually lost to a very good LSU team in the Cotton Bowl (which all of the t-sip players got to see because they were home with momma). Coach Sherman went from the hot seat to a raise and contract extension.

Man, I love football.

Now, why would I say that football is "unveiling itself in dramatic fashion"? Here it goes: Recently the Longhorn Network (LHN) announced that they would carry high school football games of athletes they were recruiting. Everyone cried fowl and the Aggies threatened to head to the SEC. Then LHN announced a deal to air t.u. conference football game, only they hadn't talked to the other conference teams about it. Everyone cried fowl and the Aggies threatened to head to the SEC. Then LHN announced that some of these high-school games might feature out of state recruits... You could actually hear the collective grunt of alarm from Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, LSU and all of the other schools who thought t.u. was only a pain in A&M's butt. And, you guessed it, everyone really cried fowl and the Aggies threatened to head to the SEC. The Big 12 said "Hey, Mr. Bigshot, who do you think you are?" and declared no high school or conference games on LHN this year.

At the Big 12-2 media days, Dan Beebe has been trying his best to not show that he knows his time is up. Mack Brown had the gumption to say that national broadcasts of high school games on a network literally plastered with t.u. propaganda would in no way be a recruiting advantage. How could he tell such a lie right through his butter colored teeth? Unbelievable. Meanwhile, A&M is quietly showing former students new plans to overhaul Kyle Field and to build an "athletic village" the likes of which no one has ever seen. Of course having never seen an athletic village, who can say if it is a good village or a bad one. The price tag leads me to believe it's going to be a dandy. Add to all of that the fact that A&M is already racking up one heck of a recruiting class for 2012, and there's been enough summer football to keep anyone's attention.

We'll be very good this year with 10 returners on offense and 8 on defense. In our second year in the 3-4 Deruyter defense we should be as good or better than we were last year in spite of losing Von Miller, the second overall pick in the NFL draft. Our offense features the two best runners in the Big 12, a gritty O-line, an all-American wide receiver, and one tough SOB at QB. I like our chances. In all honesty, we could win every game on our schedule. I think we're likely to win all of them except OU. A lot of good teams have gone into Norman happy and headed back out a lot less so over the last ten years. I was there for 77-0, so I'm reluctant to predict a win, but I do think it's possible.

Would 11 regular season wins be enough? Maybe. I'm hoping for 12. I'm awfully excited about this upcoming season. I hope you got that from everything I wrote above. You know my motto, "Never miss a meal." But I've also been known to say "Why use ten words when a thousand will do?" Right? Anyway, this post is just a test. No jokes and very little wit or substance (clearly different from my normal literary masterpieces). I just want to get it out there to let you know that (1.) I have not died yet; and (2.) Football is coming.

Gig 'em and Beat the Hell Outta this Goddam Heat!
Chuck Berend '96