So sad to see the Aggies SECede

"Goodbye to Texas university. So long to the orange and the white." Texas A&M's swan song football season  in the Big 12 has been disappointing for me. After starting in the preseason top 10, they've lost some close games, many of them heartbreaking occasions of snatching defeat from the hands of victory, squandering more than 20-point leads and fighting through four overtimes before coming up short.  

And circumstances kept me from experiencing the Aggies' final visit to OU for the foreseeable future. 

And now circumstances (work)  will keep me from attentively  watching the final conference showdown between A&M and Texas on Thanksgiving Day.

A big part of why I hate that A&M is leaving the Big 12 and heading to the Southeastern Conference is because I'll miss them being part of the local (Oklahoma City) sports coverage. Besides football, it's been fun to watch men's and women's basketball teams and baseball and softball play in Norman and Oklahoma City. How I will miss those visits. 

For some reason, it didn't seem like the end of the A&M/Texas Thanksgiving rivalry would bother me that much. But as it's gotten closer, the reality is sinking in. Traditionalist that I am, I'm actually more saddened by the end of this rivalry than by the Aggies no longer being in the Big 12.

So far,   I've done pretty well accepting that that's how life goes sometimes and it's not that big of a deal. I hope the price for that acceptance isn't detachment and aloofness. 

I do still hope the Aggies "beat the hell outta t.u.," as the ever-popular yell says. Unfortunately, I'll still be sad about the end of an era and a proud tradition. 

I have so many more thoughts and feelings about this and how it relates to real life, but as usual, if I wait until I can make enough sense of it to write it down, I never will. Maybe I'll update later.