The problem some of us have with how aggys "mourn" the tragic event is that you choose to commemorate a highly sanitized, almost farcical version of the event.
As the aggys tell of the event, there was no personal responsibility. No culture of irresponsibility, poor decisions, immaturity, stupidity and willful negligence. No lessons to be learned about how aggy culture often fails to be utterly self-aware. no acknowledgement that there were plenty of warnings of extreme and needless danger, no acceptance that 12 kids lost their lives because aggys can't be trusted to be responsible adults.
Some of us find the refusal to be honest about what happened and why it happened as unforgivable as the negligent acts themselves. And because we find it unforgivable, we continue to speak of the event in open, honest terms, lest the truth be lost as has happened in so many other instances when dealing with aggy "history." If you truly wanted to honor those you collectively killed, you would have long ago embraced the failings of aggy culture that lead to their deaths and you would have worked to eradicate those vile and odious elements from your culture. But, being aggys, you instead chose to double down on them and present the tragedy as you do.
aggys have even bastardized the origins of the bonfire event. If you refer back to the April 17, 1914 school paper, it explains the first bonfire occurred in 1902 after the football team from the agricultural branch college first defeated the team from the main campus of The University of Texas. Over the years, aggys stole from area landowners to build the bonfore, with no consideration of the damage of financial burdens of their thefts. Eventually, the bonfire turned into a drunkfest where students working on the woodpile were regularly abused and degraded. Nice tradition there.
You should come to grips that there are a number of individuals who are not going to allow aggys to add the deaths to those students to the long list of aggy fraudulent lies. You people have lied about the origins of your bonfire, of your yell leaders, your "12th Man" tradition and even the origins of your school itself. Lying to others about who you are is what you do. It is at the core of the aggy culture. Some of aren't going to allow you people to lie about the stupidity and irresponsibility that caused the deaths of those kids.
As for the performance os any of the sports teams over the past decade, who really cares? A lot of kids who otherwise would never have attended UT Austin were able to do so, and at little to no cost. The fans were entertained. None of us are so devoid of meaningful things in our lives that our lives are materially effected by college athletics. None of UT's athletics events has ever resulted in the negligent homicide of UT students. At least we have that to hang our hats on.
I will repeat for your benefit - the people of Texas deserve better than Texas A&M.