The SEC Has Officially Designated Tennessee as the Real 'UT', Texas 'TEX'

I would like to thank Greg Sankey and the fine folks in the SEC offices for making the obvious and correct decision to designate the University of Tennessee as the officially recognized UT.

For those unaware, this has been a bit of a running feud between Tennessee and Texas for many years and one that's certain to only intensify now that the Longhorns have joined the SEC. If you're a neutral observer, however, let's take a look at a few facts and see where you land on the issue:

- The University of Tennessee was founded on September 10, 1794, more than 50 years before Texas was even a state.

- Tennessee has used UT branding on athletic apparel dating back to the 19th century and the interlocking UT logo — the two schools now have an agreement sharing a trademark to be used east and west of the Mississippi River — as early as 1900.

- The University of Texas is only able to exist under that name today because of the Tennesseans that showed up every time Texas was in another war with Mexico.

- Tennessee orange is a beautiful, unique color rather than a glorified brown.

- Tennessee is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and has a 92-year head start on membership in the league Texas had to beg to join.

All this seems like a pretty open and shut case to me, but I'm happy the SEC set the correct precedent anyway. This squabble now settled, we welcome our new almost orange brethren with open arms.