What is the biggest game of the season? Is it the first when a team tries to start the season off with a win? Or is it the last when a teams tries to finish the season going out on top?
Maybe it is the first game you play against a good opponent. Or maybe it is the championship game that you hope to play in.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s this week’s game. No game is more important than the one you are playing in, right?
Can you possibly look forward in the schedule and circle THE GAME that you have to win? Where the result of this one game determines whether your season was a success or not.
These are called rivalry games, when nothing else in the world matters but what is taking place on the field. It is when both small towns and big cities flood to the stadium or to their television sets to see which side will come out on top.
Rivalries are what make sports so great, when you can throw out all the stats and records and see who will prevail.
Since 1894 The University of Texas and Texas A&M University have been facing off in the Lone Star Showdown to claim bragging rights over the state of Texas.
It has been a bitter and historical rivalry that has seen its fair share of amazing finishes and memorable moments.
This past Thanksgiving these two programs met for the 118th time, with Texas coming out on top 27-25 after a game winning field goal as time expired.
Each year these teams fight for bragging rights for the year — well Texas just might have won bragging rights for a long time.
The 2011 edition of the Lone Star Showdown was the last meeting between these two football teams in the foreseeable future.
With Texas A&M making the big move into the SEC next year, Texas has decided to end the historical rivalry, as of now.
Texas A&M wants the rivalry to continue and are willing to schedule Texas as an out-of-conference game, but the Longhorns have made it clear that they do not want to ‘waste’ an out-of-conference game on the Aggies.
Texas has the tendency to schedule easy out-of-conference games with the possibility of playing one competitive out-of-conference opponent each year.
The Longhorns are just bitter at A&M for leaving the Big 12 and are willing to end one of the nation’s biggest rivalries over selfish ambition.
Supposedly, Texas A&M has been upset with Texas separating themselves from the rest of the Big 12 by starting up the new Longhorn Network and have been generally disappointed with the once powerful conference falling apart.
So the Aggies decided to make a change and move over to the strongest football conference in the country, the SEC.
Maybe Texas is putting the rivalry on halt because they are upset with the Aggies for moving to the SEC, well don’t worry A&M, I think the grass truly is greener on the other side in this situation. But it is sad to see this great rivalry coming to an end over money and bitterness. But then again, that’s what college football is all about now.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to trollason@yahoo.com.
