Loco about the Logos

What's with the Big XII and logo disputes this year?

The University of Missouri is planning to sue a College Station high school for infringement if it does not cease & desist.

Mizzou logo:


A&M Consolidated HS logo:


while it is clearly an infringement, it's interesting that the school singled out (i've seen plenty of HS logos in Texas alone that infringe on many Big XII logos) is located two miles from the Texas A&M campus.

Revenge for what Jorvorskie Lane did to their defense, and subsequently their season, last fall?

i am not jesus

while sufficiently obvious to many, further proof was provided last week when it took me much longer than 3 days to rise from my bronchitis-induced death.

whilst confined to the underworld, I was out of touch with not only my blog and all sports blogs, I was out of touch with class, work, and life in general. It's test week here at A&M, so with class being infinitely more important than the blog (emphasis added for the 12MC's parents/tuitionpayers/recent lurkers on this site), I'll have less time than normal to catch up. Thus, I'll be busting out my favorite style of writing: Hollow Point-by-Point Bullets

• Last Week's 48Hrs of Primetime Lime
  It was a landmark weekend in Texas A&M Athletics history. When those two games went out across the nation, it was clear(720p to be exact) to basketball observers everywhere that A&M Basketball was for real, and here to stay. In 30 years, when Dick Vitale's grandchild interviews Billy Gillispie, standing in the new arena bearing his name, they'll point to that first weekend in February 2007 as the starting point of Texas A&M Basketball's national significance.
  
  getting back to the smaller picture, while the two wins over Kansas and Texas were significant wins for the program, they were more importantly two signature wins that the Ags' resume had been lacking. Those two wins, coupled with the Ags' remaining home schedule should ensure the Aggies remaining in the top 10 up to selection sunday (a bolder than usual prediction, i know). With the way this team continues to rise, it's hard not to start talking about a #2 Seed.
  
  Yet, if A&M has any hope to continue it's streak of Big XII domination and beyond, it must work to strengthen to major flaws exposed during those 48 hours:
  1. Foul Trouble
     It's what continues to weaken us on the road, and to make games much more interesting than they need be. It's getting to the point where it feels like we're playing a "great" game if Jones and AK don't go into halftime with 3 fouls. Jones managing to play most of the 2nd half against Kansas with 4 fouls is nothing short of divine intervention. When Kirk went to the bench with 3 early in the 1st against Texas, we lost our best defender, giving Augustin the greenlight to slice and dice his way to the hoop. We've been fortunate so far, we've been able to get incredible play from the bench and our team has played with liquid nitrogen in their veins. Yet, the road to the final four isn't paved with +20 foul games.
  2. Transition Game
     perhaps the simplest flaw, and easiest to exploit is the apparent fact that we're used to an transition tempo. Our vaunted defense will be all over your guys and up in your face, but only as long you allow us to transition at our own pace. As Augustin & Durant proved last monday night, if you push the ball hard down the court on every possession, you will negate one of our biggest guys and best rebounder: Joseph Jones. No one is calling the big guy out of shape, but anyone who watches the Ags play knows that Jones takes a lot longer to get down the court (hence, the often used play of the surprise Jones shot from the key). By upping the tempo of the game, the Longhorns forced Gillispie to pull Jones and make a lot of personnel changes. Although the game wasn't close in the end, the Longhorns came into Reed and forced the Aggies to play a different style of game, and you can bet coaches on NCAA bound teams took note.


• Acie Law up for Cousy Award
  if becoming a national household name wasn't enough, Acie is currently considered the front runner for the Bob Cousy Award, awarded to the nation's best point guard. vote here


• Recruiting
  Signing Day was last week. So i'm not gonna do a copy/pasted run through of our pickups along with their respective Rivals/Scouts annointed star level. While I look upon recruiting as an indicator of future success very skeptically, I do think it's a very indicative tool for measuring trends of perception. A glaring outlier in 2007 was Oklahoma State. The okies made significant inroads in Texas, poaching a couple of high value A&M targets, specifically: Dez Bryant and Will Cole. Both were early A&M offers, Bryant was a verbal. What boggles me is what is going on in Stillwater to attract that kind of talent away from a very similar environment in College Station. Both programs are on the rise in the Big XII South (A&M much closer to a championship). Both programs well funded and with top facilities (OSU only recently, stadium expansion on the way). Both programs located in majority white, small college town settings (OK beer is diluted). I'm not trying to analyze the thought process of 18yr old athletes, I'm only curious to discover what product OSU is selling that separated itself from A&M in this case.
  
  
  
  Meanwhile, Billy Gillispie's been busy in H-Town. The center piece of his 2007 class will be F DeAndre Jordan (6-11 240), a rather timely haul with the impending loss of AK to graduation. While many may be fretting over the threat of a storied basketball program attempting to poach Gillispie from A&M, one only need to look at the pipeline he's quietly yet quickly constructed flowing from Houston to College Station. Imagine the kind of team A&M will have once Billy has a couple years with players he handpicked, the future looks good for A&M basketball.


• Breakfast of Champions
  
  In a recent article, Gillispie admitted that his breakfast usually consists of peanutbutter crackers and Dr. Pepper from a convenience store near his home. The "Billy Breakfast" will soon be sweeping a dorm room near you.

Ticket Pull for Texas Postponed: chaos, tragedy averted

(UPDATE: 3:50PM) Student tickets to be distributed via lottery



while, there is no "good" solution to prevent a repeat of last night's insanity, it's hard to not feel cheated if one doesn't get a ticket.


good luck Ags




at 12:20PM last night, before 6,000+ students camped out(and cramped out) in the pedestrian underpass, the student ticket pull for monday's game against Texas was postponed indefinitely.

an announcement concerning the ticket pull is due out sometime today.


Aubrey Bloom (Reed Rowdies Prez) attempts to institute some semblance of organization... it fails.


now imagine all of these people attempting to sprint to the ticket windows at 5:30AM.. people were headed to the hospital for sure, if not the morgue.


to get a better feel for the night's events, watch these two videos:

video 1 - going through the crowd and tents interviewing students
video 2 - the announcement that ticket pull is cancelled and the urging of students to go home on their own accord instead of having UPD clear them out.

(note: these are unedited, thus lengthy, but worth it)

2007 Football Schedule

while many have been analyzing various teams' OOC schedules for weeks now, A&M's schedule has been up in the air. until now.

9.01 or 9.08		Fresno State
9.01 or 9.08		Montana State
9.15		Louisiana-Monroe
9.20 (Thursday)		@ Miami
9.29		Baylor
10.06		Oklahoma State
10.13		@ Texas Tech
10.20		@ Nebraska
10.27		Kansas
11.03		@Oklahoma
11.10		@ Missouri
11.23 or 11.24		Texas

While it has yet to be announced by the athletic department, Billy Liucci($) is reporting that Fresno State will round out the Aggies' non-conference portion of the 2007 schedule.

It doesn't take a football genius to see that A&M will face one hell of a road schedule this season, here's hoping Fran can transfer the 2006 team's ability to win on the road to next season's team.

Ags freely hand over moral high ground. Native American sale of Manhattan recalled.

UPDATE: Hours after publication the A&M Marketing office reversed their decision to send a letter to RivalWear.com. Apparently, Mike Huddleston reads this blog.

"The call was made late Wednesday night because the T-shirts did not meet the criteria necessary to pursue the letter. The shirts did not feature "University colors, an accurate depiction of Reveille as a mascot, and didn't contain any other identifying marks," Huddleston said."

In what is quickly devolving into a contest of which school can out-gay the other, A&M is threatening to sue a Longhorn t-shirt website, RivalWear, for it's t-shirt mocking/imitating Aggieland Outfitter's 'Saw 'em Off' shirt.



While Texas' case against Aggieland Outfitters is weak, atleast the logo being parodied is clearly identifiable as theirs. According to the article, A&M claims it has copyrighted the image of an American Collie wearing an A&M blanket...

1. No where on the RivalWear collie silhouette is there anything that identifies A&M.


2. The collie featured in the image isn't even wearing a blanket


3. Why did we even copyright the image of an insane inbred collie to begin with?

UT QBs in short supply. UT Lawyers not so much

The University of Texas is suing Aggieland Outfitters, alleging that AO's "Saw 'em Off" logo "..is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive customers".

While it's debatable who first (and when) visually depicted what "Saw Varsity's Horns Off.." would look like, Aggieland Outfitters was the first to standardize the image and sell it on t-shirts back in 1997. Since then, the logo's popularity has exploded and is almost considered a secondary logo for Texas A&M:


the image is so popular that even the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band will bust it out every once in a while.





a lot of people from other schools think that's a "horns down", it's actually the horns sawed off.


Both my favorite Texas shirt and proof that not only has UT been keenly aware of the logo, they've been playing along too.

The lawsuit against the decade old logo was filed Dec. 4th, 2006. That's right, a week after the Aggies beat the Longhorns 12-7 in Austin.

You decided what's worse:

Late Hit on McCoy

Or

Trying to put a family out of business because your team got embarassed by the school you like to pretend isn't a rival anymore


If UT was truly interested in protecting its trademark, it would be filing lawsuits against the likes of:




the city of Fort Worth



Microsoft





OU shirt vendors




hundreds of schools around the state of Texas




While Seattle fans may be taking much pleasure from this debacle, I think most reasonable sports fans see this action as fairly childish and to be honest, very opposite of the carefully constructed image of We're Texas (and stupidly arrogant).

Whether you hate Texas, support A&M, or just can't stand bullies, stop by AggielandOutfitters.com and buy one of their new shirts (below) inspired by the lawsuit OR tell everyone you know about the story. The more negative publicity for UT that is generated, the less inclined they'll be to continue with the lawsuit.

The shirt says it all:


update (10:34PM): to all the anonymous horns comparing this case to the Ft. Worth case or the Seattle/12th Man case. What Aggieland Outfitters is doing is called Parody and has been upheld by the Supreme Court for the past two decades. As a Professor of Trademark Law, Louis T. Pirkey (UT's lawyer) should know better. Either Pirkey shouldn't be teaching at such a prestigious law school, or UT was counting on hollow intimidation to get what it wanted.

HT: The Battalion

Student Pull for OSU Game Singlehandedly Thaws Brazos County

4,250 tickets gone in slightly over an hour

seeing as how i was already up absurdly early, and thinking that a shot of whatever crazies camped out in the cold for tickets would make a good feature (i'm a photog for our student paper), i went up to the Kyle Field ticket offices around 6:45am this morning. What i saw, both shocked and awed me..

thousands of students lined up and ready for the 7:00am window opening..


all of these people got tickets


..so did these people


these people might have gotten tickets


these poor souls prolly made it within spitting distance, only to have a terrific view of the windows closing.


don't get me wrong, student fanaticism for all things sports is nothing new at A&M. we're the friggin 12th Man (and we'll sue your ass too). but i think EVERYBODY underestimated how fast the tickets would go today. I, like many, foolishly thought I would be able to swing by after my 8:00am and pull tickets for my roommates.
(not to worry, we got tickets. i'll prolly be on the court shooting anyways)

Whining and heated debate about seniority vs. priority vs. first come ticket pulling policies are sure to follow on TexAgs today.

Jason Jack declares for NFL Draft

Aggie DL Jason Jack has decided to forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. The 6'4" 270lb Jack recorded 20 tackles in 10 starts this season. According to Billy Liucci of the Maroon & White Report (subscription), Jack is close to graduating which, coupled with a nagging injury reducing his stats and an influx of younger talented DL's, heavily influenced him in his decision to go pro now rather than wait.

severe shrinkage

we Texans are a peculiar breed. We'll beat your ass for littering, we singlehandedly defeated Santa Anna, and we'll gleefully drive our 4-door trucks over your Prius..

..but when the roads get icy, HOLY SHIT STATE OF EMERGENCY ALERT THE NATIONAL GUARD OH LORD HELP US WHERE THE HELL IS SOME ROCK SALT HONEY WHERE DO I BUY TIRE CHAINS!1?!?!

so yeah, today was supposed to be the first day of classes for the spring semester, but seeing as how the apocalypse is upon us (in the form of Wintry Mix), classes and more importantly student ticket pull for the sold-out A&M-OSU basketball game this weekend are postponed until further notice.


i guarantee you, somewhere in college station a similar exchange is taking place

Cal readies secret weapon

for the past 3 days, Berkeley has been experiencing earthquakes of magnitudes ranging from 2.5 to 3.5.

These earthquakes, coupled with last week's news that Cal FB Byron Storer broke his arm, only serve to confirm our suspicions that something sinister is brewing in Berkeley.

Perhaps a Jorvorskiestein?

only time will tell (5 days to be exact)

BTHO Cal ..and their abomination!

Breakin My Balls

• the Anti-Playoff Alliance
  CFR and his compatriots can whine all they want about how the MLB, NBA, & NCAA basketball playoffs practically negate their respective regular seasons, but when it comes down to it, you can never convince any true sports fan that a consensus of spectators opinions should preclude the playing of the sport itself. They argue that a playoff would undermine the sport. What is truly undermining our sport is the notion that a team is definitively better than another because of stats & opinions, rather than a final score after 4 quarters of play


• Josh Carter's hands
  
  i don't wanna rip on Josh, but somebody get this guy a pair of Cutters. (Anyone know if wearing gloves is actually legal?) Atleast 5 times during last week's games (@ LSU and @ UCLA) the ball just inexplicably flew out of his hands and out of bounds.


• Texas Weather
  
  ok, so it's nothing new, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. For my final on Friday: it was 35 and windy. For my final on Monday: 75 and drizzly. The only true season we experience in North/Central Texas is summer (F-ing hot), other than that, it's kind of a weather buffet each month.


• the Textbook "industry"
  I'm hardpressed to come up with a historical example of firms within an industry with such monopoly AND monopsony power as is displayed by the Bookstores in College Station. I'm tired of buying high and selling low. Yes, i am aware of this thing called the interweb and it's amazing ability to facilitate the free flow of information, thus assisting in the natural equilibration of prices in markets worldwide...but to me, the current risk and inconvenience of buying over the internet is greater than the current reduction in cost. Can someone at the SEC ("Securities & Exchange Commission" for those of you from Louisiana) explain to me how the textbook stores are NOT monopolists/monopsonists when they sell a brand new text book for $120 -> buy it back for $40 -> sell it used at $100 -> rinse & repeat cycle with new edition of the text book

Secretary of Defense/message board lurker

Unless you're a Michigan fan in an alcohol/depression induced coma, you've probably heard that Texas A&M's Robert Gates was confirmed by the Senate (95-2) to become the next Secretary of Defense.

What you and most Aggies DIDN'T know is that Gates has been lurking on TexAgs.com for the past year under the name "Ranger65". It's funny to read how he refers to himself in the third-person.

some of the posts he made over the past year:

• On the proposal to move the A&M/Texas Tech game to Dallas:
  

  Ranger65: There is only one person standing between keeping this game on campus and going to Dallas -- Dr. Gates. He has met with State Fair officials, with Regents, and knows what the Athletic Department and football coaches want. I am told he remains firm -- and pretty much alone. While he might agree to one away game at the State Fair at which we play different teams -- including but not limited to Tech -- he is adamant against locking in the annual game with Tech there. I think you can take this to the bank: the annual meeting with Tech will not move to Dallas as long as Gates is President of Texas A&M. He has said not only that college games should be played on college campuses and that A&M students would be the losers, but I'm told he has said in private he would never agree to being locked into an annual competition that relgated us to a permanent second class status behind tu and Oklahoma. So, despite all the speculation on this board, don't underestimate one tough SOB standing up for what he thinks is right.
  
  Ranger65: I'm told that Byrne, the coaches and even some of the Regents want the Tech game moved to Dallas. I was at an A&M club meeting last spring where Gates was asked this question and he replied that he is opposed to moving the game because he believes 1) other than Bowls, college games should be played on college campuses, 2) most A&M students couldn't go to the game in Dallas, and 3) he doesn't want to elevate Tech to be our equal and principal rival -- that role should be reserved for tu, and our time to regain the upper hand in that relationship will come. He said the $ in Dallas are certainly attractive as is the impact on recruiting in the Dallas area, but his bottom line: he still needs to be convinced of the net benefit of playing the game in Dallas. I think, at this point, he alone stands between playing Tech at Kyle Field or in Dallas.



• On the "12th Man" trademark settlement with the Seattle Seahawks:
  

  Ranger65: Wake up and smell the coffee. A&M's trademark was protected only for college teams -- not the pros. We had a weak legal hand to play. This deal gives A&M a legal basis now to protect the 12th Man trademark in the pros because the Seahawks have recognized our claim and are going to pay us to license it. Not for a buck but for $100k plus enforcement costs each year. The administration made this deal, not Athletics. If you think they'll license the 12th Man to anyone else, you have not been paying attention. But we do now have a much stronger case for extending trademark protection to the pros as well as colleges. Moore took a weak case and built us a wall -- and got money for it besides.



• On some drama involving the Corps of Cadets:
  

  Ranger65: KillerClamsAg, I hope before you graduate you figure out how to get more reliable information instead of believing gossip, especially from a CTO. Gates was out of town all week and, I'm told by an official in Student Affairs, he first learned about all this well after the fact when informed by Bresciani. He has stood aside, leaving decisions to the Trigon and Student Affairs. All the BS rumors aside, neither Gates nor the Governor nor anyone else outside the Trigon (note: Corps Commandant office) had anything to do with the decisions that were made.
  
  Another false rumor was that JVA (Gen. John Van Alstyne, Commandant) has resigned. Not only am I told that is wholly wrong, but anyone at the game today could see Gates schmoozing and laughing with JVA after march-in. JVA sure didn't look like a guy out of favor or quitting to me.
  
  Two things you can take to the bank: 1) regardless what KillerClamsAg thinks, Gates has gotten the Corps 100s of thousands of dollars extra for recruitment and loves the Corps more than many Aggie presidents; and 2) in previous Corps flaps, he has been heard to say that JVA has saved the Corps and Gates won't allow him to leave before Gates himself does. My money is on JVA staying at least until mid-2009.

on a sidenote:
Today is Gates' last official day as President of Texas A&M University. He will be leaving his office in Rudder to walk to his car in Koldus around 6:00 pm. If you're in the B/CS area, come join the student body in bidding Dr. Gates farewell as we sing the Spirit of Aggieland along his walk to Koldus.

The Tears of Unfathomable Sadness

mmmmm.. yummy! yummy, you guys!




with the exciting finish of the West Virginia vs. Rutgers game earlier tonight, it's looking likely that the Gator Bowl will choose West Virginia, relegating Texas to the Alamo Bowl.

To say that Texas' finish to their regular season was "unexpected" might qualify you for understatement of the year. It's safe to say that your local Wal-Mart will prolly have plenty of burnt orange t-shirts in stock this year.

Less than a month ago, Texas was not only gunning for the Big XII title and a BCS bowl, but a shot at the MNC itself. How quickly things change. Fiesta Bowl -> Fiesta Texas.




and because i never wrote a recap of the texas game: