Texas A&M chancellor jabs at Texas, Longhorn Network: not 'real TV'
Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp had a few things to say about the Aggies-Longhorns rivalry and took a shot at the Longhorn Network in the process.
By
Jerry Hinnen
•
1 min read
Former Texas A&M chancellor R. Bowen Loftin wasn't exactly known for a shy, low-profile approach to issues concerning the university's football program, and it turns out his old boss isn't about to follow that path, either.
Texas A&M system chancellor John Sharp spoke with the Texas Tribune on Thursday concerning several subjects, including the future of the Texas-Texas A&M football rivalry. Sharp said he had spoken to Texas chancellor Francisco Ciggaroa and Texas president Bill Powers in the past*, and that at the time the Longhorn officials weren't interested.
"I mean, we did go to them," Sharp said, per a Dallas Morning News transcription. "We asked them to play. I will say there is less enthusiasm among the Aggie network now than there was back then. We have new friends and we like playing LSU and we like playing these folks."
Sharp then took a pointed shot at the Aggies' old rivals from Austin.
"We’re hopeful that sometime in the future there will be a bowl game that we’re able to play in, you know, if [Texas] gets there," he said. "But the great thing about playing us is that you can get on real TV if you play us.”
"Real TV" being, of course, the opposite of the much-ballyhooed but (relatively) rarely-seen Longhorn Network, which broadcasts multiple Texas home games per season. Sharp added that "of course I’m just joking about all of this,” but jokes that hit as close to home as Texas-Texas A&M rivalry banter inevitably does tend to be taken seriously whatever their intention.
The bottom line is that Sharp's comments leave the Texas-Texas A&M series precisely where it's been since the Aggies first decamped for the SEC: with the actual participants (and also Whataburger) willing to bury the hatchet and play the game, and the officials in charge of making it happen uninterested or unwilling to make it happen.
* Sharp put the timeframe at "right after I got this job," which would put it in late 2011 or early 2012.
