TxHoops

  Don't let A&M middle of the pack finishes be your guide.  They were equally mediocre in the Big 12, maybe even more so.  They just went from losing to Texas Tech on a regular basis to losing to LSU on a regular basis...

  Shocking.

  I remember not long ago when A&M was proud of its academics.  The quality education you could receive in College Station was one of its selling points.  Has this unprecedented success, i.e. 7th place conference finishes, in football gone to your heads and made you change your priorities??

  Wow!! Made Bowl games??  They actually were able to finish 6-6 or better??  Amazing!!!!

  UNC nor UVA will join the SEC for the same reasons Texas won't.  I would be willing to make a sizable bet on that.  (2 more of the Public Ivies.)

  That looks much better.  A&M and Missouri leaving for the SEC actually boosted the SEC rankings and hurt the Big 12 (especially adding WVU).  The Big 12 was formed by geography.  When the move is made, UT will join the ACC, Big 10, or Pac 10, all of whom are very sound academic conferences that don't have the stigma of the SEC (see SWC of the 70s and 80s).   Edit - By the way, I don't have a problem with Time Magazine.  It was just that article could not have meant what you thought it did (or appeared to have thought it did).  If they want to rank the universities, I would think they could do it justice.  I would also assume Northern Illinois would not rank No. 2.

And if you believe the conference can not be brokered out of existence before 2025, I have a LOT of stuff I would like to sell you.  A LOT.

  Did you actually read the article?  Or is reading comprehension not your friend?  Hard to tell with you aggies... 

  Of course you do.  It is the one conference in the country where the mediocre programs like Ole Miss, Miss St, Vanderbilt, and now A&M find it acceptable and not laughable to claim the championships of its league opponents.  We would have let you guys do that in '05 if you hadn't been too proud!

  You should favor that approach.  A&M (unless piggybacking the accomplishments of programs who have won a championship in the last 75 years) is much better off with an academic evaluation than a football evaluation.

  You know what I said is true.  You of all people since you follow UT football more closely than most of my fellow alumni.  #aggyobssessionneverdisappoints  

Found the list. I was right. Just a ranking of the "teams" not the schools according to how the kids do in the classroom. Northern Illinois at number 2 might have been your first clue. Smh

I am guessing that is a list of the team's academics. Since paint by numbers is a core class at sec schools, I would expect the gpas to be higher. They are, however, as originally stated, well below the acc, big 10, big 12, and PAC 12 academically. Sorry.

😂😂😂 Did you find a list ranking the actual academics of the football team??? Texas ranks higher than every school on that list. Lsu as the 11th ranked academic school in the country?? Where is the sec school that they hang their academic hat on - Vanderbilt? Please tell me you were joking when you hit enter and didn't believe you were actually posting a serious list of the best academic schools in the country. Since you didn't post a link - I will assume you were going for comedic relief.

Agreements change when pressure is exerted from the right places. That's how the business world works and the dollar rules everything. Again, there is no way Texas would ever join a conference with the low education bar and stigma of the SEC. The academics would never let it happen. So rest easy. It would never be a consideration on Texas' part.

Not one of the power players...the biggest power player. It is the biggest brand in college sports and has been since it passed notre dame years ago. And despite aggy wanting to believe it is sooo close, it is, as it always has been, one of the other schools in the state.

Yes you are.

  +1 for me on absolutely all of that.

I don't refer to myself in the third person. I did have the great fortune (although I thought I was very unlucky at the time) to learn the subject from Charles Alan Wright (God rest his soul). He is widely believed to have been the greatest constitutional scholar of the 20th century. Great man, even though he was a Republican. Never opened a book or brought a note to class and picked up the next lecture exactly where he left off the previous one. And he was in his late 60s at the time. I tell you this for a reason. The one thing I can tell you after a semester with Charlie Wright is that I am no expert in Constitutional Law. However, I can tell you that he did not believe that men 250 years ago could envision all the problems in the world today, much less foresee them. When the topic of whether the Constitution is a "living, breathing" document would arise, reference was usually made to the existence of constitutional amendments.

  Couldn't agree more.  On the polygamy issue as well (assuming it doesn't involve the FLDS types who use underage girls like currency - which I am confident you would obviously take issue with too).  I have the exact same basis for my belief as well.  Separation of church and state and religious freedom.  Some of the self-proclaimed constitutionalists on this site forget that little nugget of the very founding of our country. 

Big bad UT ruined the Big 12.  UT is greedy and toxic.  Blah blah blah.    I will give credit to the Aggies for at least having the balls to break away being the Longhorns' step child and making a bold move (although they promptly assumed the role that Ole Miss and Miss St and other SEC programs play of vicariously claiming the victories of the power programs in the conference).  OU had a chance but couldn't quite break away and left that annoying little wagon hitched to the Longhorns.    Ultimately, conference contraction is going to happen.  Probably sooner rather than later.  And when it does, you are a fool that has no idea how big business works if you don't think they will all come clamoring for the biggest brand in college athletics (I'm talking about The University of Texas for those having trouble following along).  "But the Longhorns are on the downslide and a lot of people aren't going to want to deal with them."  Last year, like the years before it, more Longhorn gear was sold than any other university in the country.  Last year, like the years before it, Texas had more revenue in football, and in athletics in general, than any other university in the country.  And guess what?  Even with that new SEC network, I will bet all you can bite off this year will be no different.   In the end folks, college athletics isn't much different than the pros.  It's about making money and UT is a cash cow (pardon the pun).  So when that day comes, watch all the conferences come calling and UT will be making the decision once again.  You aggies can take solace that there's no way the academics in Austin will agree to letting The University be the first "Public Ivy" to join the SEC.  But rest assured, publicly or privately, the SEC will be at the door with hat in its figurative hand.

You miss the point of my post and the OP''s with your "but what about them" finger pointing. I have no idea where you stand on social issues so I won't presume where you stand. However, ECO was asking how one justifies demanding less government economically but is all for legislating morality. Or at least that was my interpretation. Maybe I'm a "low comprehension reader" like Smitty.

Gay marriage yes. Abortion is a different matter because it at least arguably (and IMO) involves a "victim." Individual liberties end when you infringe upon another's.

It is why libertarians exist. They believe, consistently, that government should stay out of people's lives. The hypocrisy of many GOP'ers is that they scream and cry for smaller government (they mean fiscally), while at the same time forcing their way into our homes and bedrooms, telling us what we should and shouldn't do and wih whom we should or shouldn't do it.

Just added this one to my list. Thanks for the info. Brisket is the principal means by which I judge a Barbeque place. I would help with the second part of your post but I'm much better at eating it than preparing it!