Aggieland

  • It’s the Thanksgiving Miracle of 2006


    I realize the game ended three hours ago, but I have just this moment gained enough composure to actually post. Also, I watched the game at Gulley’s house and we have spent the afternoon saying “We won, we actually won.”

    It’s like when Sally Field won the Oscar for Best Actress. Complete disbelief and awe.

    So, with apologies to my Longhorn readers (Phyllis and Carol)…

    The Aggies beat the hell outta t.u.!!!! WHOOP!!

    My only regret is that I wasn’t there to see it. There are few things in life as sweet as beating t.u. on their home field and watching to see how fast they’ll turn off the scoreboard, as if that could take away what just happened.

    Last year was one of the worst years of college football I have ever experienced. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Aggies were terrible, the horns won the National Championship. It was like salt in a wound.

    Today made me feel just a little bit better.

    And did y’all see that Coach Fran actually cried after the game? He’s probably so relieved that he won’t be putting his brand new house on the market after all. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but we’ll see where we go from here.

    Gig ’em!

  • Now that’s what I call a good day

    Okay, first of all, the Aggies won. We beat a previously unbeaten Missouri team that was ranked #19. I wasn’t sure we had it in us, but I’m so proud we did it. Gig’em Ags!

    Secondly, thanks to Susie at Bluebird Blogs, Big Mama has a fancy new look. Hope y’all like it because I sure do.

    Lastly, P brought home flowers for me for no reason at all (well, other than I’ve been a little stressed out) and that was the best surprise of my whole week.

    Have a great Saturday night!

  • The next generation

    My beloved Aggies are playing Missouri today and obviously, if y’all have been paying attention, they are going to need all the help they can get. So, let me present today’s cheering section.

    This is Caroline with her partners in crime, otherwise known as Gulley’s boys. They are the fightin’ Texas Aggie classes of ’25, ’26 and ’28.

    We might not win the game, but at least we look cute.

  • We will return to our non-football programming tomorrow

    There is a quote by General Patton that is famous in Aggieland and last night as we played Army it was seen on t-shirts and signs everywhere.

    Give me an Army of West Point graduates
    and I’ll win a battle
    Give me a handful of Texas Aggies
    and I’ll win the war
    Anytime I see this quote, it always makes me so proud to be an Aggie. I love the school and its rich traditions. They are the lifeblood of the school and one of many reasons that attending Texas A&M is a truly unique experience.
    We had a great time at the game last night, in fact my throat is much worse for the wear from all the screaming and the yelling. Being in a stadium filled with maroon clad fans was just like going home. We saw old friends, we laughed and cheered, and we sawed varsitys horns off. At one point I became nostalgiac as I thought back to how many times I had stood with Gulley and watched the Aggies play. It was a fabulous night.
    Then the game started. Y’all my Aggies almost got beat by Army. To put that in perspective, Army was ranked last week as one of the 10 worst Division 1 football teams and they came within seconds of beating us. Honestly (and it hurts me to say this), Army deserved to win. The Ags got lucky and were it not for the deafening crowd helping our defense, I think we would have lost.
    It’s not that we don’t have the talent, we do. What I saw last night more than anything is the result of poor coaching. At one point my soft spoken friend Gulley was actually booing the entire coaching staff and in 15 years of watching games with her, that’s a first.
    Coach Fran’s head is on the chopping block and well, it should be. The sooner he and his golf cart get out of Aggieland the better off Aggie football will be. The team he put on the field last night, with the exception of a few players including Stephen McGee, showed a complete lack of discipline and that’s a coaching problem. When they eeked out the last minute win, they started doing cartwheels and making snow angels on the field and basically showing no respect to the Army team that outplayed them all night. They should’ve been walking across the field to shake Army’s hand for a game well played. That’s what Aggies do.
    So for today, here is my version of General Patton’s quote:
    Give me a horrible defensive coordinator
    and I’ll lose some games
    Give me a terrible head coach
    and I’ll run a football program completely down the drain

  • I love you tomorrow, you’re only a day away

    I haven’t even told y’all about the biggest excitement in my week. Tomorrow I get to go see the Aggies play. They’re playing Army right here in town and Gulley’s stepdad, Big Roy, got tickets for all of us. Even better, they’re on the 50 yard line.

    P can’t go because he’s having Lasik eye surgery today and will be wearing goggles for the next 24 hours, but being the concerned wife that I am I made sure that his surgery wouldn’t interfere with me getting to see the Aggies. His doctor assured us he’ll be fine, so I’m going to the game with Gulley and family.

    It is going to be big fun. One of our other best friends from college, Meredith, is driving in from Shreveport with her husband and they’ll be tailgating with his family so we’re going to go up early and hang out with them for awhile. This alone will provide more entertainment than should be allowed. We spent many years in college tailgating with Gene’s family and sufficed to say when Gene’s dad, Leo, gets the pit going there is barbecue and fun aplenty.

    I brought Caroline over to Gulley’s house the other day so that she and Jackson could play for awhile. While the kids were busy playing, Gulley’s husband (we’ll call him J) came home from work and we started talking about all the things we were looking forward to about the game. Watching the Aggie band and the Corps march in, seeing old friends that we haven’t seen in a long time, and most importantly watching the Ags beat the hell outta Army. We were having a great time laughing about different college football memories.

    As if on cue, Gulley’s youngest who we call “brother” came toddling into the room and started dancing to some music. He was bobbing and twirling and all of a sudden just fell over. I said “Hey, I think I did that same move once at Hurricane Harry’s (which is a bar we used to frequent at A&M).” And then Gulley brought up a college memory that has made me laugh out loud every time I have thought about it this week.

    One night we were at Hurricane Harry’s hanging out and Gulley decided to have a seat so she put her bottom on the edge of a barstool so that she could hoist herself up. She gave a powerful hoist only to come to the startling revelation that what she had actually done was hoist herself into a trash can. There was Gulley with arms and legs askew hanging out of what had to be a filthy trash can. Being the good friends that we are, I immediately offered her assistance.

    I am sorry, that’s a complete lie. I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t stand up and had tears running down my face. It was a good 3-4 minutes before anyone in the crowd gained enough composure to help her out of the can.

    As she was retelling this story, her husband J was just looking at her shaking his head and said, “That’s one of the things I love about you. Your grace and delicate nature.”

    There is going to be alot of that grace and delicate nature on display tomorrow as we’re yelling our heads off on the 50 yard line. Good times to be had by all. Gig ’em Ags!