AND THEN THERE WERE NINE!

Well let's see, when we last left our hero, he was hanging on for dear life, by a thread if you will, and then_____________

Kinda feels like that, or worse a badly written Soap Opera, thats what the BIG XII should be called-- another "Peyton Place"... (for those of you too young to remember that particular Soap Opera, ask someone over 50!)

Alright, so here's the deal.... Texas A&M has now officially left the BIG XII Conference to take their toys and move to the Southeastern Conference  (aka SEC), and it has been said, so they will no longer be made fun of, joked about, or disrespected! REALLY?????

So much for over 100 years of tradition, 100 years of being a part of a rivalry that is pretty much the fabric of College Football, no, they took their toys and left, because the University of Texas has their own network, and didn't share with the rest!

Lets back up a moment, shall we? 

Oklahoma University (OU), Oklahoma State University (OSU), Texas Tech (TT) and Texas (UT), were all ready to bolt the BIG XII to head to the PAC 12... but wait-- the PAC 12 said.... NO WE DON"T WANT YOUR LITTLE SORRY ASSES HERE IN OUR CONFERENCE.. well maybe thats not a DIRECT quote, but you get the jest of the subject! So they decided to hang-- but there's a caveat, brought upon by OU, they wanted current BIG 12 commissioner Dan Bebe to resign! Which HE DID! IN DOING SO, the conference is now back together, because OU said they would stick, and with that, OSU HAS to stay, because by Oklahoma legislature they have to be together (joined at the preverbal hip as it was. Now Texas never really wanted to leave, and Texas Tech is sort of the younger brother and will do whatever Older brother says! in this case Texas.

NOW! With Nebraska, and Colorado leaving, and Texas A&M sprinting off next year, they will leave the BIG IX, unless they find someone to fill the other three spots!

Here are some schools being considered-- BYU (Brigham Young) TCU (Texas Christian) SMU (Southern Methodist), and Houston (UH).  Now I am not sure about TCU since they reneged on their situation with the Big East, since both Syracuse and Pittsburgh have decided to go to the ACC.... TCU has decided to return to the Mountain West Conference, though if they were to come to the BIG IX they would have a great rivalry with Baylor, and IF SMU comes in, with their cross I-30 rival! But what about Texas.. they still have Oklahoma, but they two schools had a rivalry long before they were in the same Conference- -in FACT-- Oklahoma once upon a time ago was in the SouthWest Conference-- they left and went to the BIG 8, and yet the rivalry survived on the 2nd Saturday of October during the State Fair Of Texas... now will Texas A&M Continue their rivalry with Texas during the Thanksgiving Holiday? Interesting thought don't you think?

So here we sit, once again trying to figure out-- Good bye to Texas University, So long to the Orange and the White... Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies... They are the boys who show the real old fight

Really? SERIOUSLY? YOU BUYING THAT?

Not any more-- those are the words to their own fight song-- they make direct reference to the school that they hate so much-- and yet they ran from, when they, (UT) was able to solidify a Television deal with ESPN to make their own network-- REALLY? AGGIES? THE BOYS WHO SHOW THE REAL OLD FIGHT? C'mon now!

Alright-- so here's what might happen-- the BIG IX will once again get two or three teams to join to take the place of the ones that have departed-- Texas and A&M might continue their rivalry somewhere down the road but now right away!

118 years-- that's how long this rivalry has been going on-- that's almost FIVE GENERATIONS that have grown up knowing about this hatred for each other-- that's 118 years of telling each other to "GO TO HELL".. that's A&M Sawing off Varsity's Horns... and Texas saying Texas Fight, Texas Fight and its GOOD BYE to A&M in their fight song! So now who are they going to call out?

Texas and A&M will continue their rival game-- it just won't have the same impact-- sorta like when Texas used to play OU in the old days before the BIG XII... when The Southwest Conference and the BIG 8 were still in business-- they kept the second Saturday of October date at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair-- then after 1996-- it became a real game-- a fight if you will for a Conference win or loss-- Now with A&M it will just be a none conference game that will count in the overall wins and losses for the season! Here's to old traditions-- in hopes that something's never die!

Just a thought!