The Burning Sands

"Thank you big brother, may I have another?"

On April 9^th 1988 I crossed the burning sands and became an official member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. Back in those days we actually pledged the frat. Like I always say, anybody that pledged after 1990 is “cat” because that year they changed rules for admission to all Black Greek Letter Organizations. There was to be no more above ground pledging and the only requirement was to learn info and be admitted. So boyz/girlz post ’90 are just getting beat up at nightly sessions to get into the joint and that was even more wack and dangerous. Gone were the days of being on line 24 hours a day for 6 to 8 weeks. The “School Daze” pledging that we knew of no longer existed which completely took all of the fun out of pledging and all of the lessons learned during the process. Pledging only at night ain't pledging bruh! No offense but that's just real talk!

Well on Saturday both Texas A&M and Missouri had to cross those burning sands of the Southeastern Conference to make it official. They couldn’t officially put on the SEC letters until they learned the information, learned how to greet the big brothers properly, follow strict instructions, think on the fly and take some wood all at the same time. "Thank You big brother, may I have another?"

Texas A&M came to play the big bruh’s from Florida even in a 20-17 loss. They jumped on the Gators in the 1^st half leading 17-7 at the break. However, the Gators let the Aggies know that it was big bruh football in the 2^nd half by completely shutting them down and controlling the line of scrimmage. I will have to say that the A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is the real deal. He was the Texas Player of the Year last season and lived up to the hype in his 1^st start at Kyle Field. He’ll be hopping around the party in no time trust me. 

Mizzou on the other hand, took a little more wood than A&M against Georgia. Now they led at the half as well 10-9 but got dog walked in the 2^nd by giving up 32 points. The Bull dogs walked out of the joint with a 41-20 victory leaving the Tigers in the "human chair" as they left the field.

Its official now, both A&M and Mizzou have crossed the sands but not without properly greeting the bruh’s! "Greetings big brother sho nuff, sho tuff, do what you want to a hater, 6 straight national title taker, livin’ in yo own world maker, cuz you too smooth, too cool, always playin’ by yo rules and dressed to a T,  the one and only in charge SEC!"  Now go forth my brothers and be prosperous!

However, we all know that everybody on your line isn’t going to be productive. Some boyz will graduate and take the world by storm while others will drop out of school and hang around campus only to step at the parties for the next 15 years. Oh yeah, some cats will graduate but live only for the frat for the rest of their lives. Ridiculous!!

Texas A&M will be that bruh that graduates and takes over. They couldn’t win the Big 12 because they were competing with Texas and Oklahoma for the best players in the state of Texas. They could only land maybe one or two of the best because that territory didn’t belong to them. Now that they’re in the SEC they’ll start trumping both Texas and OU for players because they'll want to play in the SEC. The state of Texas has more D1 prospects than any other state in the country. Therefore, it won’t be long before they’ll be doing what USC has been doing for years in Cali. Give my boy Kevin Sumlin 2 or 3 years and they’ll be one of the best teams in the SEC. That’s a promise. Yesterday's game was a huge recruiting tool even with the loss. 

 On the other hand, Mizzou will be that dud that I mentioned earlier. They’ll be the guy that you pledged with that just couldn’t get it together. You know the one I’m talking about? The dun that let the frat get too big for him and it took over his life. The cat that still wears Greeks everywhere he goes and talks about the frat all of the time. The nerd that could only get some women after he pledged. Y’all know that clown. That’s Mizzou! They’re too far north to get any better players than they already have and would have been better off staying in the Big 12 and losing. Now they'll keep losing but they'll get a does of "Old Man Football" every week.  Cats from the south have too many places that they can stop off before they get to Missouri. Good luck with that bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!

Jay Graves

Get @ me on Twitter:@jaygravesreport