Mutt Goes To Aggieland.....

HammerOfTheDogs

All-Conference
Jun 20, 2001
10,853
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...I've been there a couple of times before, but this is the first time I was on campus for a sporting event. A few things made an impression:

-On my way to the game, I go right around a bunch of Corps of Cadets and their families...they were having their final review for their Senior Class...this is the first time I've ever seen GIRLS wearing the shiny brown boots outside their pants...this is the kind of crap that happens when you allow girls into the military.

- I need to tell you the Aggie fans are nice...VERY nice. I would call them the Canadians of the SEC. "Hoser, how do you like Aggieland, eh?" They explained to me some of their traditions (most of which do with hating the Texas Longhorns). When they started singing "Hullaballoo hullaballoo kaneck kaneck" to the tune of "Cooties and the Bedbugs", I couldn't help but singing,

I’m singin’, Eenie-Meenie and uh, Minie-Moe
Catch a tigger tiger, by his toe
If he hollers hollers, let him go
I’m singin’, Eenie-Meenie and uh, Minie-Mo
-During the 7th Inning stretch, they started singing "Deep in the heart of Texas". they were happy I was singing along with them...until I told them I learned the song from "PeeWee's Big Adventure"


-Jon Mangum and Brent Rooker sucked. First time to see them in person, and they looked clueless. Thank goodness the bottom of the order came through, and the Aggies turned a double play into a two base error.

-Riley Self was a MAN. The Aggie bats were hot, until Self came in and pretty much shut their whole lineup down.

There are many similarities to Texas A&M and The Mississippi State University. Of course we all know that we're both Maroon-clad Ag and Engineering schools, that had to form traditions because there wasn't much else to do inthe early days of each school. However, there are a few differences-

- Outside of Ole Miss, I don't know of anybody who really hates TMSU. Here in Texas, Longhorn-fan looks down on them in amusement, but some of the other schools (Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, SMU, Rice, etc.) really dislike the Aggies. Not sure why.

- Imagine discovering millions of barrels of oil on the South Farm and Noxubee Refuge, and the wealth that results from that. That's what happened to Texas A&M. Their oil wealth has made their Endowment approach Ivy-League Range. That, and alumni, ERRRR, "Former Students" who became very wealthy in the Oil Business.

-With the facilities they have (Blue Bell Park is SEC-worthy, but didn't feel like I was entering anything super-special), how do they ever lose in any sport? Kyle Tacklebox is HUGE. Reed Coliseum is palatial. Yet, with our near-Mid-Level-Major budget we compete with them in every major sport.

-A couple of State fans were close-by. One of them was pretty active in the DFW MSU Alumni Association. Had a very nice visit.

-Andy Cannizaro is a wizard. He's winning using baling wire, duct tape, and a little WD-40. We should've lost that game 10-1.

Looking forward to going to Kyle Tacklebox next fall and watching The Mississippi State University play.
 
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BulldogBlitz

Heisman
Dec 11, 2008
18,574
27,153
113
That batch of cadets had my wife's nephew in it...and my in laws in the crowd. They said they were heading to AM this weekend and my first thought was "why baseball?"
 

HammerOfTheDogs

All-Conference
Jun 20, 2001
10,853
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Their "cultish" stuff seems rather benign. Besides, ALL the Texas schools have strange hand signals and ritual customs.
Texas

Houston

TCU


BTW, I think it was a good thing A&M ditched the Big 12 for the SEC. When SEC made the Longhorn Network, rather than the Big 12 Network, the Aggies knew the writing was on the wall. By ditching the Longhorns and joining the SEC, they just increased their revenue stream as well as receive a lot more respect than they would've being 3rd fiddle to Texas and Oklahoma.
 

512taylor

Redshirt
Sep 2, 2012
1,546
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Thanks for sharing your story. The only away games we go to are LSU, so it's nice to read what you experienced.
 

KurtRambis4

Redshirt
Aug 30, 2006
15,926
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36
It's simply amazing

to me, with all the money they have and the population of the state, A&M isn't one of the top 5 schools in all sports, annually.
 

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
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- Outside of Ole Miss, I don't know of anybody who really hates TMSU. Here in Texas, Longhorn-fan looks down on them in amusement, but some of the other schools (Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, SMU, Rice, etc.) really dislike the Aggies. Not sure why.
This is a common phenomena. I think USM hates us worse than Ole Miss sometimes. I think it's because they've always been closer to being our peer in substance AND perception, where with Ole Miss, it's just the substance part, because over time Ole Miss has done a good job convincing others they are more valuable than they are. Knowing that, and knowing we are 'in the club', albeit not much different from them, fosters hate.

Same in Texas. Texas has traditionally been the school that was hands-down richer than the others, and everyone accepted it. Texas A&M was a little brother school trying to survive just like the others, and now that they've 'made it', they get more hate out of jealousy than the Longhorns do, when THEY are the true oppressors. Sort of like how the middle class conservatives get more hate spewed from the poor liberals, when it's truly the rich elites doing damage. Nothing new there.

However, Texas A&M does itself no favors with those terrible traditions and how gay the fanbase acts.
 

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
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I think you reach a point of diminishing returns. There is a sweet spot, where you have enough to compete, but not so much that you get fat and happy and think you can buy everything. AL and SC as states, are good examples of the former, about 5 mil population and 'enough' money/fans/resources in the state. And favorable demographics to produce football players. TX, CA, FL and GA are almost too big - while they have plenty of players, they attract the whole country.
 

yee dawgy

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
292
0
16
Tradition or Redneck-Midwestern Cult?
I remember my conservative MSU alumni in laws coming home after attending a tam football game in the 1980's with my sister in law and her Aggie alum future husband. They were the type to embrace tradition but couldn't even describe what they had experienced with a straight face. Now that they are in the SEC and I get to see what they saw on a regular basis, I often laugh thinking about talking with them after their visit. They were trying to be cordial and respectful but couldn't with a straight face.
Aggie fans are a cult of a weird mix of people.
 

preacher_dawg

All-Conference
Nov 12, 2014
2,806
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I was a camp counselor in Texas for two summers and a lot of Aggies were as well. Very nice people, almost so that A&M became a distant second favorite college team. That's changing now that they are in the SEC and we play them all the time, but I still kind of like them. I really love that part of the country. And oh yes, they are weird, but a likable kind of weird.
 

AusTexDawg

Redshirt
Mar 29, 2017
145
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I went to all three baseball games in College Station this year, plus some in 2015 and 2013. Each year I've met some really nice folks (Always get to meet some nice State fans, too). One exception - the guy with the props who sits down by the visitor's dugout gets kinda obnoxious (especially in 2015 - I only sat in earshot of him for one game this year, thankfully). I go to church with several Aggies and work with a few, and they're good folks (although they may have had to learn to blend in in Austin). I agree that they can get weirdly obsessive about their Aggie-ness when in groups.

I like the open concourse at Blue Bell and am looking forward to that feature when I can get to the new Dude.

I bet plenty of them learned of a certain age learned "Deep in the Heart of Texas" from Pee Wee, too.
 

HammerOfTheDogs

All-Conference
Jun 20, 2001
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They're wonderful people...the kind of folks you'd want in a foxhole with you...

...if you're in a firefight. That said, they are a little touchy, especially after we beat them in football this year. I was at an Engineering Seminar with some Aggie "Former Students" the weekend after Nick Fitzgerald ran all over them and NONE of them wanted to talk about the game.

Imagine how their heads would've exploded if I had told them that Nick Fitzgerald was such a good quarterback, he's almost good enough to play for the Texas Longhorns.
 

HammerOfTheDogs

All-Conference
Jun 20, 2001
10,853
1,705
113
One more thing- Hwy. 6 is a speed-trap maze

All of Highway 6 between Waco and College Station is four-lane. The posted speed limit is 75 miles per hour (number 8287 why I love Texas). However, there's about 3-4 towns where the speed limit goes from 75 to 70 to 55 in about a 100 yards.

I bet those towns get all kinds of stuff funded from idiot College Students who are either driving to or coming back from the DFW area.
 

MaroonNation

Redshirt
Jun 9, 2015
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That's because UT and TAMU both allow way too much booster involvement in the everyday operations of their Athletics Department. They stomp on each other's dicks trying to outdo one another and position themselves as "the top booster".

See also Ole Miss, Archie Manning and the boys.
 
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