Another Tradition Bites the Dust

Texas A&M's last Big 12 game and the 118th meeting between these bitter rivals before the Aggies depart for the Southeastern Conference next season was a thriller befitting one of college football's oldest and most storied matchups.

College Station AP 11/24/11

UT Austin won the game 27-25 with a time expired field goal. But fans on both sides are the likely losers. There are no more games scheduled between A & M And UT Austin. What’s going on here?

This is not just another football game. Consider the history of the two teams. A & M began way back on October 4, 1876. That’s just eleven years after Lee surrendered to Grant! Today it boasts the second largest enrollment among campus systems in the State. Along with UT and Rice, it is one of only three recognized  Tier One Research Campuses in Texas.

UT Austin began in 1883. It is the largest system in the state. As recently as 2002 UT System granted 63% of al bachelor degrees in Texas. Graduate degrees conferred are an even higher percentage.

The legislature granted both institutions income from the sale of land and grazing rights on vast tracts of land, right here in West Texas. Oh, they also got the mineral rights……The discovery of oil on these properties in the 1920s led it to become the second largest endowment in the country.

This grant became known as the Permanent Fund. UT Austin receives two-thirds of its income and A & M the other third. Institutions serving large Texas cities such as North Texas (Dallas) and University of Houston understandably objected to channeling money to the smaller communities of Austin and College Station.   Fearful of the funds being diluted, UT Regent Frank Erwin hatched a plan.

The plan would place a UT or A & M branch in at least a dozen of the 31 Texas Senate Districts. Erwin figured that if the money was being spread around the state via other campuses,  that would be defense enough to keep the Fund in tact.

The scheme worked. This created other large campuses like UT Arlington, UTSA, and UT El Paso. A & M  gathered eleven  smaller schools under its umbrella.

But this still does not project the reach of these two schools into their domination of Life in Texas. A & M has a reach into every one of the 254 counties in Texas with its Agriculture Program. Its not required that a County Agent but an Aggie but its hard to find one who graduated elsewhere. The A  & M Engineering Department virtually staffed the Texas Department of Transportation for years. It Corps of Cadets graduates more military officers than any other school save the military academies themselves.

UT Austin with its Medical Schools in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio dominates the health care landscape.  And then there are the  Pharmacy and Nursing Schools.  Being student body president has been a stepping stone for Texas politicians. Its Law School graduates were one and the same with the  Texas Banks n pre-branch banking in the state.

But let’s get back to The Game. The two began playing 1894. That’s two years before Charles Dow created his Dow Jones Index. They have played every year since 1915. The Thanksgiving Day game is a tradition. It is celebrated at UT and A & M Alum parties across the State. But all that is now ended.

UT has created its own Longhorn Television Network. But UT is Permian and A & M feels like Odessa High. And so A & M is headed out of the Big 12 and into the even tougher Southeast Conference SEC. There are no more UT – A & M Match ups scheduled.

We are about half way through an 18 year period of negative mood and economic stagnation. This break up is yet another manifestation of negative mood. Penn State has really wanted Joe Paterno gone, they now have their wish granted.

Did  UT and A & M really want to quit playing altogether?  Sure other games can be scheduled that will fill the stands and the motels and restaurants. But 118 years of tradition can’t be replaced with a check the box, who’s available mentality.

Gee that’s odd. The official schedules for both teams list November 24, 2012 as To Be Announced. That’s negative social mood for you. They’d rather be apart looking for a partner than together for the 119^th time.

Dennis Elam hold three degrees from UT Austin and teaches at Texas A & m San Antonio.

 

 

Monday Nov 21, 2011

The film premier of the first of the last two books in the Twilight series was this past weekend. 

The movie took in $283.5 million world wide in just three days. 80% of the ticket buyers were women. 

Twilight had a midnight showing last Thursday to kick off the premier. 

I have been harping on how socionomics, understanding mood, can improve a company's marketing ability. I have suggested that designing products for the market understanding the mood of the market would reap superior returns to investors. Here is a case in point. 

Ask yourself, how is it that this story resonates so strong among women?  Yes  a female has the lead but that is hardly unusual. In this story she marries and become pregnant, by a vampire. Not exactly who Mom and Dad had in mind as a son in law I would guess….

Monday Nov 21, 2011

Nassim Taleb  is the author of The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness. Here he makes some socionomic observations. Are people depressed by reading bad news or do depressed people seek bad new?

Note the comments, he is dismissive of other methods but this is an interesting read.

Thursday Nov 17, 2011

Few to no students  at Texas A & M San Antonio subscribes to the Wall Street Journal. Too bad. 

Two days ago I made  a post on great designers, leading off with Leonardo da Vinci. Today on page D7, 

Masters of Men and Machine reviews a gallery exhibit in Rome on Michelangelo and da Vinci. The drawing by da Vinci of an Archmedes Screw is simply amazing. I suggest you attempt to find the article. Most WSJ content is blocked to non subscribers. 

We have mentioned the importance that social mood plays in forming cultural tastes. Below the da Vinci article Men and Machines is an article explaining how a young group calling themselves The Pendletons auditioned a Four Freshman song in a  re arrangement of'Their Hearts Were Full of Spring.'  The record producers went thumbs down on that idea, but liked another tune in the works called 'Surfin.' Months later a re named group, the Beach Boys, went to number one on the Southern California play lists. ONce the producers tuned the music to the mood of Southern California, they had a hit. 

On the last page, What to Wear That Says, Buy this Porsche, tells how car show models have dramatically change. Rather than sport skimpy outfits and drape gals across the cars, now the models wear the same clothes as the market segment the car makers are targeting. The models, often actors and actresses, are trained to be expert on the car features. And so the potential buyer sees him or her self in the model.

I continue to be convinced that socionomics is even more applicable to marketing than financial markets. Here the automakers are projecting their desired mood onto the shopper.  

Anyone out there interested?