Texas Tech Bans Sale of "Vick 'Em" Shirts

The Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M football game has been a heated rivalry in recent years. This year's game now has taken on an added fervor after a Tech student started selling a T-shirt with the likeness of Michael Vick hanging A&M's dog mascot.

A take-off on the Aggies' slogan "Gig 'em", the shirts say "Vick 'Em" and show a cartoon of football player wearing Michael Vick's No. 7 jersey holding a rope with Texas A&M mascot Reveille at the end of a noose.

Vick is suspended indefinitely by the National Football League after pleading guilty to a federal dogfighting charge. He faces up to five years in prison.

Texas Tech has banned the sale of the T-shirt and announced that the fraternity that sold the shirts has been suspended temporarily.

Photo from Burnt Orange Nation

In 2001, Tech fans pulled down the goal posts after a Red Raider victory, then threw a fallen upright into the A&M fan section. Mike McKinney, father of A&M center Seth McKinney and Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff, was caught up in a brawl in the stands and needed eight stitches to close a wound over his eye that day.

Saturday's A&M-Tech game already had a couple of interesting sidelights:

Tech coach Mike Leach broke his arm this week falling off his bicycle. Leach is also an avid in-line skater, but says he's never been seriously injured there.
A&M running back Jorvorskie Lane guaranteed his team would win in Lubbock this Saturday, despite the fact that the Aggies haven't won at Tech since 1993.

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By Jeff Beckham in Other on October 10, 2007 11:07 AM 0 Comments

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guest

What's wrong with you people. How about looking up Gig'em in the dictionary. Ok, just look up gig. If you have ever had a three pronged spear shoved through your body you might find that phrase offensive.

guest

http://art.blogging.la/archives/walker600d.jpg

this piece is by artist kara walker. here's a little about her work:

Walker's silhouette images work to bridge unfinished folklore in Antebellum South...She uses images from historical textbooks to show how white people depicted African American slaves during slavery.(text from aaregistry.com)

i just had to draw a comparison between it, and the shirt above. the likeness of aesthetic is, er...somewhat horrific.

guest

"There were 3 Aggies in a car and they were going to Disney World. Along the way they saw a road sign and it said "Disney World Left", so they turned around and went home."

Don't say things like that. It's offensive.

guest

Ok. Whatever you say, boss. Am I banning right?

guest

Saw 'Em Off should be looked into by PETA, I bet they don't find that funny; and OU doesn't really suck, I think that t-shirt is offensive, who could find that funny? I'll tell you who; young men and fraternities.

How is it that when Rice does an entire halftime show about Michael Vick chasing a dog around the field gets a standing ovation from all the UT fans and it is seen as humorus and highly creative?

guest

#3 is right. One of the fundamental ideas in this country is that we ban things we find distasteful.

Duh.

Scooby

#3: lighten up, Francis.

guest

They're all outside their homes looking for the government cameras planted in their trees.

guest

Where are all of those 1st amemendment supporters that complained that kid couldn't wear a Edward's t-shirt when you need them?

guest

Can we still give Aggies the thumbs down and say "Gag 'Em"? What about jokes concerning their carnal relations with their relatives and animals? Are those still ok to think about and *gasp* say aloud?

guest

A large majority of Texas Tech alumni were appalled by the creation of these t-shirts by a young man and his fraternity ... who seemed to think this was a joke.

It was not and he shirts have been rightly banned.