Why I hope Texas Tech never plays Texas A&M again

Everyone went to school with that one person you couldn’t stand. No matter how hard you tried to ignore that person, you found it was impossible. You were put at the same table, in the same project group or on the same team as this person and you dreamed of the day you would never have to put up with him again.

So it was for Texas Tech fans as for decades we had to put up with the obnoxious, illogical, self-inflated and egotistical actions of Texas A&M University. But since 2011, Texas Tech has been freed of the obligation to deal with the nation’s most polarizing and strange fan base.

But now it seems that everyone associated with Texas Tech football, from the fans to the coaching staff (at least what’s left of it) to the administration is on bended knee praying to Jesus, Santa Claus, the elf on the shelf or any other holiday entity known for giving gifts to pit Texas Tech against Texas A&M in the Houston Bowl.

However, I hope that the Red Raiders play anyone else in the nation than the Aggies and my reasons have nothing to do with the potential matchup on the field.

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I know absolutely nothing about this year’s Texas A&M football team because of an intentional decision I made when the Aggies left the Big 12. Over the past four years I’ve refused to watch that university in any athletic competition and I have enjoyed that decision.

This is not a grudge towards the Aggies because they left the Big 12. Actually, I celebrated that move.

The reason I don’t watch Texas A&M football is because I simply can’t stand anything about the Aggies.

Long before I became a Red Raider, even when I was a child just coming into my sports consciousness, I hated Texas A&M. I can’t stand the trumped up traditions that make no sense, the rehearsed cheers of the crowd, the awful color scheme of the uniforms and the way that the Aggies act as if they are normal and the rest of the world is clueless.

Even as Texas Tech was dominating the series between the two schools during the Mike Leach era, I dreaded the Texas A&M game every year. Seeing those faux cult members descend on Lubbock and act like complete fools made my blood pressure rise to an unhealthy level.

I couldn’t fully enjoy beating them because it seemed that after every Texas Tech victory, the Aggies would fabricate some lie about Texas Tech fans smearing feces on the team’s bus or starting fights in the stands or sabotaging the Friday night Aggie yell practice.

The type of people that I’ve come to know the Aggies to be as a group are not people I want to spend my time around. Life is too short.

Unlike most Texas Tech Red Raiders, I have had no personal interactions with Aggies in my personal life (save for the wife of one of my Texas Tech friends). I’ve never been friends with an Aggie nor does my family have any connection to the school meaning all I know of Aggies is what I’ve observed through the lens of college football.

And what I’ve seen of the Aggies, I don’t miss. I used to wish that the school would shut its doors forever knowing that would be the only way I could ever avoid dealing with that fan base and its over-inflated sense of self importance.

Fortunately, I received the next best gift when Texas A&M left the Big 12 in 2011. If the school wouldn’t cease to exist, at least its move to the SEC removed it from Texas Tech’s schedule meaning that I would no longer have to see Aggies infest Lubbock acting like dodo birds while continually smearing the name of Texas Tech and Lubbock, Texas with lies.

I have not watched on Texas A&M game since its last game in the Big 12 against Texas and I have been just fine. My enjoyment of college football has not dropped one bit.

The rise of Baylor and TCU to national prominence has made it easy for Texas Tech fans to find new schools to hate and new rivalries to look forward to. And while I can’t stand the Bears or the Frogs, I can at least look at their fans and see people that act in a somewhat logical and reasonable manner.

I know that I may well be the only Texas Tech alum or fan that doesn’t want a shot at the Aggies in the Houston bowl. Almost all of the Texas Tech fans want another opportunity to get one over on the A&M.

But I don’t want to have to sit through the last Texas Tech game of the year having to watch shots of the Aggie yell leaders who act like robots that have been wired incorrectly or see maroon-clad fans in the stands doing rehearsed dance moves that make the Muppets look like graceful ballerinas, while listening to the television commentators talk about how special and unique these pointless antics are.

Next: Big changes being made to the Texas Tech coaching staff

This year, my Christmas wish is not for world peace, an end to hunger or the salvation of the lost. All I want is for Texas Tech to play anyone, LSU, Tarleton State, McMurray University, or even Cavazos Jr. High in its bowl game than the Aggies.

I have no idea how Texas Tech would fare against the Aggies but I know how I will react if I am forced to watch my beloved Red Raiders face the College Station cult again. Such an occurrence would force this Dr. Jekyll to once again turn into Mr. Hyde and I could really do without that.

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