Texas A&M’s 12th Man has been getting lots of press lately.Sports Illustrated On Campus recently named Olsen Field the best place to watch a game in all of college baseball.
CBS Sportsline.com rated Kyle Field the No. 1 college football stadium in the nation, while ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit tabbed Aggieland as having the best stadium atmosphere.
You’d also be hard-pressed to find a better collegiate soccer atmosphere than at the Aggie Soccer Complex, or a better collegiate tennis experience than the Mitchell Tennis Center. G. Rollie White Coliseum is near the top of the list in college volleyball. Other coaches and athletes from teams across the country say as such quite often.
Pat yourselves on the back, Aggie fans. You create the atmosphere, you help our athletes succeed and you make Aggieland’s venues very tough places for opponents to succeed. Not only do you accomplish all that, but you do it with a class and dignity not found in very many places in collegiate athletics.
You were the story in 2003-04. Texas A&M is a special place to watch an athletic event, no matter what the sport, and it’s that uniqueness caused by you, the Aggie faithful, that has caught the eye of those around the country.
I hate to sound like a cynic, but it was unfortunate that we have had more football players arrested in the off-season than we have won games for the past two years, combined.
And despite the demagogic neoconservative brownshirts and sanctimonious bible-thumpers on campus, attending sporting events is worth it as the camaraderie and team spirit is mind-numbingly exhilarating and all-consuming. I remember attending my first home game at Kyle Field (2001), watching 80,000+ devoted fans “yell” in synchronized harmony (we don’t have cheerleaders, we have five Yell-leaders which coordinate various Yells throughout the game — wearing Converse shoes no less).
If you are in Brazos County this fall, shoot me an email and I’ll try to get you a ticket to a game (no promises on us winning though).
Via Sharleen Mondal.