Farmers, Fight!

"Give me an army of West Point graduates, and I will win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I will win a war."
– Gen. George S. Patton

Or not. Even the Aggies officially accept there's little evidence to prove Patton actually said that. But in some places the tradition is far more important than the facts, which brings us to Texas A&M University.

Ugh. Today Dad and I attended what was for both of us our first UT-Texas A&M game and first college games at Kyle Field. Having given a substantial amount of his life’s earnings to UT, he is financially, if not legally, a UT graduate. The line was Texas by 6, so we were looking forward to a dominant UT performance. Well…not so much. Aggies 38, Longhorns 30. Sloppy UT performance. Goodbye BCS.

Some quick thoughts. Years of the “top 10 percent rule” and easier physical access to the A&M campus have collectively robbed A&M of a great deal of its traditional character. I spend a good bit of time on the UT campus, and it struck me that the A&M kids, and alumni, look virtually indistinguishable from their UT counterparts. Historically, of course, a rather profound difference existed—UT had the tea-sippers and wine-drinkers, while A&M was UT's white trash cousin who beat the kids and could never keep a job. No more. With money, the purchase of Nobel Prize Winners and other academic divas, and greater student diversity, A&M has cranked up the academics. The Bush 41 Library has brought greater prestige. The long process of demilitarizing the school (Corps membership, once mandatory, accounts for only 5% of the student body), and integrating women (the first women were officially admitted in 1963 [even though many had attended on a less formal basis before that], while the first woman became a band member in 1988 after settling a lawsuit against the University), also introduced radical change. The 80s brought a suburban deluge. Traveling through College Station today for the first time in roughly 15 years, it was striking how many suburban staples have cropped up en masse. When College Station has a Panera Bread, you know the Apocolypse can’t be far off.

The Kyle Field experience is quite different from the UT, Rice, Houston, or even Washington atmosphere. Much closer to Tiger Stadium (LSU). The stands are more vertical than at most stadiums, and the late 90s addition of the North end zone stands has resulted in the crowd noise staying in the stadium rather than going up and out of the stadium. The fans make the stands a solid maroon, except for the noteworthy amount of Texas fans in burnt orange. The field is close to the stands, and we felt very near the action from our 5 yard line/23rd row seats (next to the Gigantatron). The field itself is crowded with Corps commanders, yell leaders, photographers, reporters, and players. Erin Andrews was on the sidelines as well. Ahhhhhhh….. The fans are football savvy as well-the crowd noise is deafening when A&M is on defense, and very quiet when A&M is on offense. Consistent with their reputation, the Aggie fans stand the entire game (except at the half during the opposing band's performance).

Despite the great in-stadium experience, everything about getting to your seat is ridiculous. US 290 from Houston was backed up for dozens of miles. The roads leading from SH 6 into campus were totally clogged, all parking anywhere near the stadium was reserved permit only, lines for restrooms snaked very far, the crowd flow into the stadium was incredibly clogged (largely owning to the north gates being so close to other campus buildings and south approaches being blocked off), and it took us about 30 minutes to get from the stadium gate to our seats. We left Kingwood (in north Houston) at 10:40, stopped once briefly, and got to our seats at 2:45. Its like the stadium is designed to hold 90,000 people, but the rest of the campus and other surrounding infrastructure can only accomodate 30,000.

The A&M band performance was a special highlight. I took several pictures and all are uploaded to flickr. The introduction was a bit over the top, however. The PA announcer was talking about how it was the seniors’ last time marching at Kyle Field, and how their years of discipline and courage and integrity had preserved the long Aggie line and how their names would join the other “Noble Men of Kyle.” C’mon. They’re in the band. They didn’t exactly scale Pointe-du-Hoc with Col. Rudder. The biggest adventure most of these guys have had was looking for their lost retainers at band camp.

Aside from that, the militaristic aspects of a Kyle Field day are still present, but seem to have diminished from what I’d always understood to be the case. I predict this trend will continue, particularly after the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts conclude. A&M is pretty much just another school (albeit a high quality one), so while the traditions will remain, they will have less and less relevance to those who attend the school and who have less contact with the Corps (or memory of Bonfire—staggering to think that its likely that no current A&M student has ever attended a Bonfire as a student).