I am asking the obvious but humor me because I don't pay good attention. So Texas currently has the title and not the Aggies? it's ours to lose? Just checking.
Everything seems to be coming down to the baseball series as FW and I and others originally discussed. Before I do any more analyzing I will wait for the softball. The game is this Wednesday (May 4, 2011) at 6:30 P.M. in CS. Those that can please go there and support the Horns. The Aggies were very tough in Austin and will be even tougher at home and we will need to be at our best to beat them. I will be Austin for a conference so I can't go there. I will be back posting late Friday. GO HORNS! FIGHT AND WIN!
Well there goes that 0.5 point Shame too... because I honestly think we were always supposed to get swept by them in track. We'd have to salvage the tie by winning 2 out of 3 baseball games to hold on to the trophy. Softball was our last shot for the "outright" win. Oh well... there's always hope.
Is Texas suddenly mediocre or are the Aggies really catching up in all sports? Looks like the entitlement attitude has spread across most programs!
Seattle, say this for $Bill he has upgraded aggy in most of the non-revenue sports particularly track and field and the imrovement in Women's B-Ball while we tread water since replacing Jody (who it was time to replace dont get me wrong) was fantastic and he has emphasized sports that Texas used to take for granted. They will beat us in the Director's Cup for second straight year this year and anyone who thinks aggy isnt going to keep beating us in that competition for at least the next few years is whistling past the graveyard sad to say. We may hold on to the LSS again dependiong on baseball but that is a snapshot the Directors Cup is a better indicator and until two years ago it was always Texas, not anymore. Dodds is the best AD in college sports but Plonsky is a far cry from what Texas deserves and certain sports need to step or get shook up.
I agree with FW. For whatever reason the women's side seems to be content with "effort" while the men's side (except T&F) demands team Championships.
It's clearly not a men vs. women thing. It's a sport-by-sport thing. Our volleyball team has had more success these past two seasons than any of the big 3 men sports. Track has been a forgotten issue for a while now. It's also the one that has the potential to create Olympians, possibly even more than swimming. That's a big draw. I'm tired of not even placing at regional events in track... it's good to have a few individual winners but our team is on the down. Soccer is not living up to the money spent on it. I'd argue that women's bball had a rough year not because of the coaching or money pumped into it but because of some bad luck with personnel. Men's golf has been crap for a while now. Our tennis teams seem to have their ups and downs, but like track, there's more success on the individual sides and less on the team side. We need to reevaluate a lot of things, but I think if we solved track and field, we would solve a lot of other stuff too.
One of these days overseas will listen to what is being said instead of assuming everyone is picking on women's sports. With the exception of football, no one is questioning individual effort. (The football team and individuals are questioned constantly on this board.) The questioning is why Texas is not competitive across the board. Under any subjective benchmark can any objective person say that Soccer, Women's Basketball and Men's Track are competitive with the top teams in the conference much less nationally? The excuses in these sports are running very thin. The only issue I have with overseas is using injuries as a crutch. Injuries happen to every team in every sport; how the team recovers from those injuries defines the team and its leadership.
I didn't assume anything and simply responded to what was said about Dodds and Plonsky in one post, and about men's programs demanding championships in another. Those were pretty straightforward statements and I addressed them.
Many people addressed Cokie's injury and it obviously had an impact, but this isn't the women's basketball board, and injuries - basketball and otherwise - weren't being addressed. As far as the aggies are concerned, clearly they've made a push to get better in some areas and have had success, and all credit to them for doing so. But the reality is the Horns have won more than twice as many Big12 titles as the the ags across all sports. As far as the women are concerned there are only 2 of 11 programs where a&m has more Big12 titles than Texas, and three or four where they've never won a conference crown. It's natural they would want to improve, and make investments in getting better in areas where they've been traditionally weak. And in turn the Horns have responded and fought back. The ags won two swimming titles in a row but the Horns have now won two of the last three, including this year's crown. The ags won the Big12 softball title in 2008 and the Horns are closing in on their second in a row. The Horns just finished a point behind in the ags at the indoor track and field meet, and then finished in 2nd and ahead of a&m at the NCAA championships. No one is questioning the aggies success in some programs in recent years, but overall - across all programs - the Horns have been, are now and will be more successful than the aggies. Unless I'm missing something the aggie women have only won a single Big12 title so far this season (and the NCAA basketball title of course), whereas Softball would be our fourth conference crown of the year if we clinch this week. We're never going to win every championship every year, or finish ahead of the ags in every sport. But one by one we're responding in the handful of programs where they've had success recently. We still have some work to do in a few areas, but I'm confident we'll get where we want to be in those sports as well.
Thanks for admitting your using injuries as an excuse for the Women's Basketball teams. We are never going to agree on your settling for less than a championship effort in every sport.
When Colt McCoy was injured on the first drive of the National Championship game against Bama, did y'all think we would still win? Better yet, if Colt had been injured before that season even began, would we have even been in the National Championship game? Just curious.
This is a weird argument to have. Anyone who thinks the Cokie-led basketball team would have ended with the same result is delirious. Same goes for anyone blaming Plonsky for the "lack" of success of women's sports.
Right now to no one's surprise I am sure the Aggies look like they are going to take the two Outdoor Track and Field points and lead the series 9 1/2 to 8 1/2 with the only point left is baseball. But if we get the point we retain the trophy with the tie breaker. Do I like that? No. I want to win it outright but under the circumstances I will be somewhat happy to keep the trophy since the Aggies got to keep it with the tiebreaker before. When the competition was set up the Aggies were smart in getting facilitys for the Track and Field Team and hiring a successful coach. By sweeping these points (4) they get almost half the points they need to win the competition. We pay our coaches well and they need to get on the job. Besides good coaching good recruiting must be done and we have lost too many good athletes to the Aggies in Baylor especially in women's basketball. We have only won one NC in the past five years while the Aggies have won several. The thing is that we should be celebrating NCs like we used to do instead of worrying about this competition which used to be secondary . I want to get the tie and retain the trophy but it is a shame and should be unaceptable for this to be this important. We need to do much better and stop underachieving so much.
Men's track got 10 points closer than last year but still fell short in the track events. 3rd in the 4x100 and 4th in the 4x400 tells it all - sparse points in the sprints and hurdles. Maybe one day we will find out how aggy, baylor and sand aggy can out recruit Texas. The shocker was on the women's side. Another 50+ point difference was not expected.
4 points for Track and Field is ridiculous. That counts more than football, men's basketball and baseball combined.
Well, the Director's Cup includes Water Polo and Ice Hockey, so to each "ranking system" his own. I don't have a problem weighing other sports against the Big 3. I do have a problem with lack of success in minor sports. I'm happy for the rowing team, but when your men's golf consistently blows leads...
We take the first baseball game at CS. Now we win one more and we get the last point. We also have the tie breaker this year so we retain the trophy if we win one more of the baseball games which will be in Austin. Go Horns!
With baseball point now decided the trophy stays in Austin as result of 9 1/2 to 9 1/2 tie. Winning it outright would have been sweeter but Texas retaining it via the tie this year is still an overall great showing. As posts at beginning of year indicated this was always going to be a tight competition and the fact that it ended in a tie shows how true those predictions were. Texas can take heart in some points won that were hard fought and a little unexpected like womens golf while regretting lost points in mens tennis and failure of womens basketball to get even a half point that might have won it outright. Bill cant wait for next year and doing this all over again.
Indeed yes FW. Under the circumstances this is a great accomplishment and we have retained the trophy! Now we need to do it again next year as you posted but that time we need to win it outright.
Another one that really hurt was the volleyball team having to split the point with the Aggies. All others teams were good and fairly even but our volleyball ladies were head and shoulders above the Aggies and had swept them several years. This was one team the Aggies didn't belong on the same court with. Don't get me wrong - our volleyball team had another great year and great playoff success but oh that half a point hurt us as far as getting the outright win.
I got the information below from the state farm lone star showdown web site on how ties are settled so I guess how they do it we have not only retained the title but have won it. It worked their way two years ago and this way it goes our way. I don't necessarily agree with this method but it is as it is. So basically in case of the 9 1/2 tie they had prior year total points which gives it to us. Well as I wrote it went their way two years ago so this year it goes our way and we have retained the trophy! Well Done Horns! Tie Breaker — If, at the conclusion of the Lone Star Showdown Rivalry Series, the Universities are tied at 9 ½ points, the team who last won the Rivalry Series championship retains the title (in the first Contract Year, points for the previous year will be tallied as if the Rivalry Series had been in effect).
