Sunday, October 17, 2004
Proud Aggies
By The Erudite Redneck
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Boone Pickens Stadium held four kinds of Proud Aggies Saturday night:
1. On the football field, the Texas A&M Aggies were rightly proud of their feat. They came to Stillwater and beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys fair and square.
The Cowboys themselves mightily aided the Aggies in their victory. The Cowboys didn’t appear to be able to find their collective backsides using all 22 hands.
2. In the stands, scattered here and there, Texas A&M Aggie fans likewise were proud: Their team was not expected to do what it did, but it did.
They quite reasonably celebrated their success with their “Gig ‘Em” cheer, wild cheers, high fives and cell phone calls, of the can-you-believe-this variety, to College Station and other Texas environs.
3. Also on the field, beaten almost from the beginning and embarrassed, the Cowboys (also known colloquially, out-of-state friends, as the Aggies), managed to keep long-term confidence in themselves even though their immediate poise took a lickin’ in the opening minutes of the game from which they could not recover.
The Pokes’ (another O-State Cowboy nickname) expressed both bewilderment at the immediate turns of events and their overall assurance in themselves in the stories in the paper this morning.
4. Also in the stands were Aggies like me, the Oklahoma State fan kind, who were button-poppin’ proud at the behavior of fellow fans. We grumbled. We gritted our teeth. We let our jaws and hopes drop. We cussed and frowned and scowled and wondered who the imposters were on the field and what they had done with our real team.
But I heard not one whit of whining – none. And, more important – and this is a sign of character born of losing more games than winning them – despite the reasonable but annoying glee of our guests in maroon, I heard not one word of ridicule, not one unkind word. Not a single one.
In fact, you’da thought were all kin, which we are, in a way. Ag schools are like that. I’m sure some O-Staters on Elm Street, after the game, after too many beers, probably got mouthy with somebody in maroon. And fisticuffs would not have beyond the realm of possibility. People are people. But I didn't hear such a peep, nor see such a scuffle -- and I was lookin'.
I am protective of our reputation -- or, to be more precise, I am protective of the fact that we do NOT have the reputation of others schools' fans for bein' jerks -- and I will fight a fellow O-Stater who gets out of line with a visiting fan if I have to.
But O-State fans, and Texas A&M fans, are good people. I never was prouder to wear O-State Orange than at this sad and frustrating homecoming defeat. I cannot think of a classier program or a classier set of fans than those of Texas A&M University.
GO POKES!
And Gig' em Aggies!
END
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Boone Pickens Stadium held four kinds of Proud Aggies Saturday night:
1. On the football field, the Texas A&M Aggies were rightly proud of their feat. They came to Stillwater and beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys fair and square.
The Cowboys themselves mightily aided the Aggies in their victory. The Cowboys didn’t appear to be able to find their collective backsides using all 22 hands.
2. In the stands, scattered here and there, Texas A&M Aggie fans likewise were proud: Their team was not expected to do what it did, but it did.
They quite reasonably celebrated their success with their “Gig ‘Em” cheer, wild cheers, high fives and cell phone calls, of the can-you-believe-this variety, to College Station and other Texas environs.
3. Also on the field, beaten almost from the beginning and embarrassed, the Cowboys (also known colloquially, out-of-state friends, as the Aggies), managed to keep long-term confidence in themselves even though their immediate poise took a lickin’ in the opening minutes of the game from which they could not recover.
The Pokes’ (another O-State Cowboy nickname) expressed both bewilderment at the immediate turns of events and their overall assurance in themselves in the stories in the paper this morning.
4. Also in the stands were Aggies like me, the Oklahoma State fan kind, who were button-poppin’ proud at the behavior of fellow fans. We grumbled. We gritted our teeth. We let our jaws and hopes drop. We cussed and frowned and scowled and wondered who the imposters were on the field and what they had done with our real team.
But I heard not one whit of whining – none. And, more important – and this is a sign of character born of losing more games than winning them – despite the reasonable but annoying glee of our guests in maroon, I heard not one word of ridicule, not one unkind word. Not a single one.
In fact, you’da thought were all kin, which we are, in a way. Ag schools are like that. I’m sure some O-Staters on Elm Street, after the game, after too many beers, probably got mouthy with somebody in maroon. And fisticuffs would not have beyond the realm of possibility. People are people. But I didn't hear such a peep, nor see such a scuffle -- and I was lookin'.
I am protective of our reputation -- or, to be more precise, I am protective of the fact that we do NOT have the reputation of others schools' fans for bein' jerks -- and I will fight a fellow O-Stater who gets out of line with a visiting fan if I have to.
But O-State fans, and Texas A&M fans, are good people. I never was prouder to wear O-State Orange than at this sad and frustrating homecoming defeat. I cannot think of a classier program or a classier set of fans than those of Texas A&M University.
GO POKES!
And Gig' em Aggies!
END
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