A billboard supporting Texas A&M football went up in Gainesville on Tuesday as some sort of smack talk before the Aggies play their first SEC game on Saturday. The billboard, located at 13th Street and 53rd Avenue according to Gator Nation, said:
Howdy Gainesville,
You’ve been annexed by Aggie Nation
The Best Academics & Cleanest Program in the SEC. WHOOP!
Real Football. Real Tradition.
Texas A&M said the billboard was not put up by the school, and they were actually investigating it for possible copyright violation. There investigation must have worked, because the billboard came down a few hours later.
According to USA Today’s Rachel George, the billboard was purchased by a Houston-based agency representing a group called Aggie Nation. The trademark concern was over the phrase “Whoop!” George reports.
Here’s what the billboard looked like after the A&M ad was taken down:
Count this as the second college football smack-talk billboard that was taken down in the past week. What’s funny is that fans are responsible for them and the schools try to distance themselves. Guess you can’t stop fans from doing what they want to do, just like it’s tough to stop boosters from handing out gifts to players.
A&M is a two-point favorite over Florida in Saturday’s game.
Photo via Rachel George
