Aggies for a Day!

This weekend Kyle, Jackson, and I got to experience our very first Aggie Football Game. Of course you know we bleed Purple and Gold, but had the awesome privilege to head to College Station on Saturday with our good friends, Chris and Bethany. We loved the whole experience!

...especially seeing this LSU tent in a see of Maroon and White ones...HAHAHA. You gotta love LSU fans. Chris said it was probably just half off.


Our first stop in College Station was The Chicken Oil, a fun local hole-in-the-wall type restaurant with great burgers and, well, chicken. ;) We had a blast even though a certain deer head hanging on the wall above Chris was bound and determined to knock him out...four times. Ha!

Next stop...AGGIELAND. We got a brief tour of some parts of the campus before parking. We headed into Kyle Field (Kyle loved that) and made it in just in time to see the traditional Aggie Pregame Flyover. Very cool! We got to our seats and got to watch the Corps line up and then the football team run through them. It was so neat to see members of the the Band/Corps march in playing drum cadences ahead of the team. They also kept showing on the screen the man wearing the #12 jersey. There is a different man for each game wearing the jersey in honor of the "12th Man," which is the entire student body. The person who wears the #12 is not a member of the football team, but he does have to try out to be #12. Neat tradition.

You can definitely feel the "spirit of Aggieland" when you are there, and it was so fun to be on Texas A&M's campus on game day and experience the fun and hype that comes along with another school (besides LSU) that is rich in tradition and full of people who love their football team! We loved every minute of it. And yes, we wore maroon! :)


Student Section...

I was in awe of the HUGE student section. Wow...you can tell this school LOVES its students. They don't have cheerleaders, but they have "Yell Leaders." There are 5 of them...all males...and they are usually "the hot guys" as I've been told but I won't say by whom. ;) They wear all white, and I didn't take a picture of one of them. Oops. Oh well. I asked lots of questions about all the different "Yells", and there are neat stories behind everything they do. Freshman have to go to "Fish Camp" before their freshman year to learn all about the different yells and everything they do at the games.

A couple of my favorite Aggie traditions that I learned about yesterday are the tradition of the students standing throughout the whole game in honor of the 12th MAN, symbolizing their support for their team and willingness to "step up" if they are needed should the events that happened in 1922 happen again (you should read the link above...neat story if you don't know it) AND I love the cannon firing each time the Aggies score and how every one kisses their dates because "When one Aggie scores, all Aggies score." ;)

Jackson liked the cannon firing, too. He would peek around to see what was going on, and every time it fired, he would say, "Uh-oh." :)

"Uh-oh!"


Still worried about the cannon...:)


We SWAYED with the Aggies, cheered them on against Baylor (but I did have on my green rain jacket in honor of my Baylor friends), listened to the cheers and learned most of the Aggie War Song (which is STILL in my head), and had a great time despite the chilly and drizzly weather. Jackson did amazingly well...did not fuss and loved every minute of it, I think. He slept through parts of the game, snuggled up next to Kyle.


The half time show was great! The marching routines are so neat! Here's the A&M signature "block T".


After the game, we got to walk out on the field, and Jacks loved running around. Here's our little Tiger in a sea of Maroon.


Chris, Bethany, Me, Jacks, and Kyle

Kyle, Jacks, and Me

We then toured more of the campus and got to see the 12th Man Statue, the site where the former Reveilles (mascot, a collie) are buried, the "fish pond", where the Corps throw in the Yell Leaders after a win (felt sorry for them last night...it was chilly!), the stairs where Yell Practice is held after the Yell Leaders are thrown in the "pond", and lots of neat buildings and places where Chris and Bethany hung out. We got to see the Bonfire Memorial, which was special since this is the 10th anniversary of the Bonfire Tragedy. We enjoyed learning about life on campus and hearing Chris and Bethany's stories. I didn't realize that A&M was a military school, so it was neat hearing about that aspect of it. I was very impressed.

Jacks and Kyle next to the 12th Man Statue.


After we finished our tour, we headed to the Blue Baker to eat. I had some tortilla soup, and there couldn't have been a better night for it. Yum. We had a great meal and a fun ride home. One more tid bit I learned as we were leaving was that College Station requires businesses with orange in their exterior logos/paint (like Whataburger and Home Depot) to have some maroon on them (to spite T.U.)...so the Whataburger in CS has one maroon stripe and an A&M logo...ha! Funny. I love it.

Bethany and I topped off the night with some hot chocolate from McDonald's, and we headed home. It was a great day, and we are proud to have experienced Texas football. :)

Now...who all's coming to Tiger Stadium??? Next year...field trip!!! :)

We continue to remain AMAZED at how God has blessed us here with such wonderful friends who feel like family. I never, EVER, in my wildest dreams would have pictured myself wearing maroon and sitting in a car heading toward College Station on a Saturday, but it happened! Ha!

Now, back to bleeding Purple and Gold. I feel like I need to wear LSU clothes every day this week to get my loyalties back on track ;) (although it's tough this year...)