"I just got back from College Station. THREE of my children attend undergrad at TAMU. Even with the limited crowd, it was a great game day atmosphere. So many cool traditions. A&M fits right in with the SEC.
A few thoughts:
They have incredibly gracious fans. I’ve been to Athens, Tuscaloosa, Knoxville, Tallahassee, and Auburn. If I am wearing Gator gear to an opposing venue, I have thick skin. I expect some good natured razzing and some harassing. I got NONE of that, even sitting in the student section, even in defeat. Instead, I got several “I’m glad you’re here. I hope you have a great time” and “beat the rest of the SEC up for us”. It was actually stunning how polite they were.
The stadium as a whole was legitimately at 1/3 capacity or less. Very strange and my first in person game with the reduced capacity. It may have looked like more on TV but it was not. The student section (which was behind the bench) was more crowded, but every other row and with some spacing between groups. So prob 40-50% capacity on the east side. The west side and end zones, esp upper portions, were much less densely populated.
That said, it was INCREDIBLY LOUD, esp at the moments that mattered towards the end. I had to plug my ears a few times. I know, I’m getting old. But it was loud. And nothing artificial piped in from what I could tell.
The students are more engaged than any opposing fans I’ve ever seen. They don’t sit, even during time outs. They only sit if there is a player down on the field. It was over 90 degrees and sunny, so it was tiring. And they incessantly do “yells”...all game long. Weird cheers if you aren’t an Aggie. But it’s fun. And they impacted the game, IMO.
They DID enforce mask wearing, at least where we were. My 8 year old daughter had hers off at one point and a staff member walked up 20 rows and politely told me she had to wear it. As a physician, I was impressed by that.
The Corps of Cadets are classy. We entered the stadium as a parade marched in with their horses, toting their cannon on a horse drawn cart.
Someone prayed over the PA system before the game. I thought it was awesome. Only in Texas.
I hate to lose any game. But I can tell you A&M needed this win. They are long suffering, eternally optimistic (but not arrogant) fans. My son told me that Jimbo probably saved his job with that win. While I don’t care much fo Jimbo, I will say I was happy for the fans. It was fun to watch their joy and see their hope that they can compete with the best. And, of course, I got to see my kids. All in all, eight of my kids got to accompany me to the game, which was really special. Even though it was not meant to be a substitute for my annual trek to the Swamp (that I will miss this year), it was a really great trip."
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