As vikingfrog pointed out to me in a non-spitblood setting earlier today, it's kind of interesting how little attention the whole Texas Cartel University situation received when compared to the onslaught of opinions from commenters old and new regarding the proposed mascot reconfiguration. Your school and football team being dragged through the mud by over zealous police officers with questionable agendas in a manner so hasty that they misidentified a key suspect so eager were they to bring the "accusations" to light? Meh, what're you gonna do? But Phil Knight's crew trying to take an already weak representation of your mascot and make it slightly more threatening all in the name of recruiting and shitton of new uniform combinations intended to paint the blank canvases of high school recruits minds purple? OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!! I'm not sure what that says about everyone's priorities, but we probably shouldn't think too hard about it if we want to keep our collective sense of self worth high.
Fortunately for you guys, though, it appears TCU heard your cries of "help! police! murder!" regarding the proposed mascoticide as CDC directly addressed the situation in his Notes on a Scorecard. Copy/Paste ENGAGE:
TCU is fulfilling its ambitious vision for the future through our long-term relationship with the world's most innovative brand, Nike. We have enlisted their branding, product and design talent to help us achieve our goals to continue to transform TCU into a world-class institution. One piece of this is powerful and unique branding that's consistent across all athletics and allows us to respect the past and represent the bright future of TCU. Much like we saw a few weeks ago when a "leaked" version of our football schedule made the rounds and wound up being different than our actual slate, we are in ongoing discussions with Nike and nothing has been finalized in regards to a new logo.
So, at least for now, it would appear you can put the torches and pitchforks away and return to your regularly scheduled afternoon lack of doing real, actual work. But before you do so, re-read that last sentence again.
I'm not using this post as a vehicle to suggest that Spitblood as a singularly entity is important or widespread enough to warrant change regarding anything on campus. In fact, I HIGHLY doubt any TCU administrators visit the site regularly, if at all; CDC once stated he had heard of SB but had never visited, an assertion I would deem to be true. We can all agree that if the powers that be paid attention to what was written on the message boards and heeded the advice contained therein, AGC would never be undergoing a facelift that would cause re-seating for, heaven forbid, the sake of progress. Not to mention Casey Pachall would be kicked off the team for running the largest drug smuggling ring this side of the border and every single Coach in the University system would've been fired at one point or another. The University has plenty of properly informed decision makers controlling the purse strings and wielding an ax when it comes to big time, University rebranding scenarios such as this one.
But... it can't be a coincidence that he addressed the issue and denied anything being final ONE DAY AFTER Spitblood created an uproar, right?
Spitblood isn't the most heavily trafficked of the major TCU fan sites, but we are the ones who published the "leaked" schedule first. Sure, it turned out to be incorrect, but at the time we had no reason to believe that, and it at least generated some fun, harmless discussion. We're also the ones who generated the most pageviews for the "leaked" mascot, an image which most of us had seen over a week ago but one that we chose to keep under wraps until receiving enough assurances that it was accurate so as not to jump the gun again. Clearly we may have done so, but, again, we had no reason to believe that we were receiving false information. We may not have well connected golf course sources, but the few we do have proven reliable in the past. And who can forget the Rose Bowl uniform fiasco?
Personally, I believe the schedule leak was speculation on the part of someone in the know and, in the age of instant information, a private email was circulated to an entire fanbase, causing no harm except for the permanent damage my circulatory system received at the proposed SMU/Tech/Baylor circuit. And rectifying the Rose Bowl uniform situation more than likely had everything to do with the coaching staff, the team and the major players in the athletic department. The average fan such as ourselves may have agreed with the decision, but we're kidding ourselves if we think we had anything to do with it.
But I find I find it EXTREMELY convenient that SB posts a rumored change, the readership revolts, and TCU makes a swift announcement that "nothing has been finalized" and "discussions with Nike are ongoing." It's just too perfect. Again, I don't genuinely think that major decisions are made based solely on message board chatter, but with the vast majority of your fanbase having the ability to give their opinions instantaneously in a public forum, I'd be stunned if our kind didn't at least have SOME influence.
Could we have been the force driving the head honchos back to the table? Is SB finally relevant in the real world? All I know is, if CDC is secretly using the Spitblood comment section as a secret focus group, at least he goes with an award winning group such as yourselves. And if the final version of the new mascot comes back as a disembodied head with blood shooting from its eyes? We certainly have a case for copyrighting that sucker. So give yourselves a big ole pat on the back, Spitblood, and have a drink to celebrate a job well done.
Now that I've properly buried the discussion question - Since we are now activists for University change, how else can we use our power for good? Make the band stop jingling their keys in blowout games? Enact a, "If you can physically stand and cheer but won't, not even in game-altering situations where the crowd noise could legitimately swing the outcome in TCU's favor, get the hell out!!" policy for season ticket holders? Petition the football team to train a horse to kick field goals next year because they have strong legs and can be locked in pens without fear of retribution, or at least put ankle monitors on our real life human kickers to assure legal compliance? The sky is seriously the limit, guys. Get to it!
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