Newcomers - Difference between UT and Texas A&M - important distinction!

[Acuda]

As a graduate from the University of Oregon and the "real UT" The University of Tennessee, I feel Austin is tame. From my point of view, both Eugene and certainly Knoxville are more fanatical about the universities there. Both of those cities have less people from around the country moving there though. I have colleagues that are A&M grads and I hung out with them near the campus during the UT/A&M football game and no one said anything. I've also heard, UT doesn't take A&M as serious as the whiners up there in Norman. Whereas, A&M takes UT very seriously (makes sense since UT usually beats the Aggies). I do feel A&M has to be one of the most overrated sports programs out there. I think little ol' Oregon has more collegiate championships than A&M.

I can care less about the Longhorns, but I share their strong dislike of OU and I'm happy to root against the Sooners.

[miniwheat]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

Honestly, I am not a fan of aggies. I always laugh when I see that they move here, in their maroon pickups with the 'twelfth man' (or whatever) bumper stickers. Why the heck didn't they stay in Aggieland where they belong?? I guess because even they have to admit that Austin is better....

I'm not a fan of many longhorns, and this is exactly why.

Around campus, I have been actually assaulted once for wearing a rival shirt. Not a "friendly jibe" mentioned earlier, but an attempted battery.

In the general city, I don't even think I get "friendly jibes", really. That's because this isn't a college town anymore. Someone is more likely to have gone somewhere *other* than UT. Occasionally someone will joke, to quote the other poster, and say "Man you sure are brave!" I always smile back and say, "I haven't found anyone big enough to do something about it."

Anyways, the isolated incidents are just isolated. Just like the moron saying "don't disrespect this city's founding and the majority of it's residents" is just one poster. I mean, Austin is all about tolerance, right? Wait, no it's not, that's just another unfounded stereotype.

[love roses]

My BIL went to UT and is a huge fan. He never gets aggressive with people who aren't, and neither do his friends. He will tease people, but it Never gets ugly. I've heard of aggressive fans in other cities and it's a surprise to hear that its happening here now.

[ZhugeLiang]

Originally Posted by scongress1234

Me and a buddy figured this out after a long chat at Rudy's.....

Remember, there is a reason for the enmity between the schools.....
Try wearing a A&M shirt in Austin, specially around the university, and see what happens.....

Every Texan child, at birth, is determined to be either a University of Texas Longhorn or a Texas A&M Aggie. There is a ritual involved that I won't get into. Suffice it to say that if you are Longhorn, you think Aggies are dumb and vice-versa. It was discovered you could just plug in Longhorn and Aggie for Jew and Catholic or whatever, and voila! Instant joke fodder! It doesn't stop there, though.
If you are lucky enough to actually attend the school you have inexplicably been rooting for your entire life, you must cheer on your team's mascot at the football games. UT's mascot is, unsurprisingly, a Longhorn steer named Bevo. Like the majority of the school's students, Bevo spends most of his life in a drugged-up stupor. They plunk the poor thing down on the sideline during games to incite pep, but that's about all he does.
Texas A&M, being a little more war-like and well, nutty, has a collie named Reveille that they treat like some kind of god. There is a special unit of the "Corps," which is Aggiespeak for crazy weird R.O.T.C., assigned to care for it. They trot this dog around campus, and if it barks during class, well, that class is dismissed. For real. Corps members must salute it. When one dies, they bury it under the goal post.
Kids tease each other based on their choice of school and mascot. This is usually pretty puerile, to the tune of "you suck/no you suck". Any Longhorn kid lucky enough to be exposed to the song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" through music class is golden, though, because of the line "He's in the army now, he's blowing Reveille, he's the Boogie Woogie bugle boy from company B." Hours of entertainment. It's almost enough to make one miss race-based humor.
So that's it. That's what you outlanders have been missing. It should shed some light on the whole "Republic of Texas" phenomenon. Now you can wink knowingly at your ex-pat friends from Texas. You've got their number. Don't Mess with Texas indeed. And remember, hook 'em, horns!

..........And then there's those of us from Baylor who could give a rat's rear end about any of that. We're just more civil that way.

The Aggie Corps, wow, people so proud to admit they couldn't get into VMI or West Point.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by miniwheat

I'm not a fan of many longhorns, and this is exactly why.

Around campus, I have been actually assaulted once for wearing a rival shirt. Not a "friendly jibe" mentioned earlier, but an attempted battery.

In the general city, I don't even think I get "friendly jibes", really. That's because this isn't a college town anymore. Someone is more likely to have gone somewhere *other* than UT. Occasionally someone will joke, to quote the other poster, and say "Man you sure are brave!" I always smile back and say, "I haven't found anyone big enough to do something about it."

Anyways, the isolated incidents are just isolated. Just like the moron saying "don't disrespect this city's founding and the majority of it's residents" is just one poster. I mean, Austin is all about tolerance, right? Wait, no it's not, that's just another unfounded stereotype.

Hey, I'm just a little girl I wouldn't hurt you! But I'm not a fan of all that military and corps stuff.....just too much for me! I'm ok with OU and really any other school, but I promise I wouldn't beat you up!

[miniwheat]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

Hey, I'm just a little girl I wouldn't hurt you! But I'm not a fan of all that military and corps stuff.....just too much for me! I'm ok with OU and really any other school, but I promise I wouldn't beat you up!

I don't know, I'm kind of a wuss. You'd make it interesting.