Proud to Be An Aggie

There are so many things about Texas A&M that I love. The tradition, people, rivalries, atmosphere, but most of all, the respect we have not only for our fellow students but also other Universities.

The University of Texas in Austin is our #1 rival, which I have always thought was kind of funny because they do not share the same thoughts. Let me clarify, they don't like us, but the don't like OU even more. Now, I will be the first to admit that we are not normally a "threat" on the athletic board, but we still get pumped up and claim to Beat the Hell Outta whoever we can. So, on game day we are always there to win, even if the odds are not even close to being in our favor.

Since you have a little background, I will continue with my original reason for the post.

Rewind back to Thanksgiving Day 2009. Aggie football brings us the biggest game of our season. The only game we revolve around. The crowd is close to record breaking and completely deafening. There is truly nothing like an Aggie home game, and not much could contend with the noise made when that home game is against TU. But, when an injury occurs, Silence. If there is anything more bone chilling then hearing a stadium or 85,000+ people go silent, especially when the injury involves a player on the other team, I don't know what it is. Kyle Field was dead silent for almost 10 minutes as a team of trainers worked to stabilize UTs injured player. Oddly, the only noise made was a group of UT fans who started chanting some stupid UT yell, and it was us Ags who told them to shut up. Interesting how the school can't even give their own player the respect of staying quiet. As soon as the player was taken off the field, The noise started again, but for those 10 minutes the silence made me grateful for the school in which I attend.

(Photo from AggieAthletics.com)

Now, to the present. Once again, Aggies host UT, this time in Basketball. UT overtook us earlier in the year so this was a chance for us to redeem ourselves. Last 2 minutes of the game our star point guard and a Longhorn player collide. Both injured on the ground, and again, Silence. Reed Arena was packed with almost 14,000 people, the largest crowd in Texas A&M basketball history. There was no laughing, no joking, only silence. In the end, the UT player was taken off the court on a stretcher with a neck injury, but it was during the silence, once again, that I remembered why I love this school. Our respectfulness did not go un-noticed, ESPN was televising the game and commented multiple times on how quiet the arena was after being so crazy before the injury.

Obviously, this is not the only reason why I love being here, but it's a great added bonus. Oh, and we won the basketball game...Whoop!

Go Ags.