A Day of Grieving

34-17...not such a bad score really. But that score does not really reflect how completely awful the game truly was. They played a better game. What more can I say? We ran out of time. (Aggies never lose.) Their offense wasn't that great. But neither is our defense. I've been saying that for the last 3 weeks. Our running game, ranked #5 in the country, was SHUT DOWN. And I wish I had that attitude of "Oh well, it's just a game." But it's NOT just a game to me. It's just not. And only if you have a really close emotional tie to a school or team could you possibly begin to understand that.

For now I'd like to focus on the reason why my head is still spinning from last night's game. I feel like I've been to hell and back. And it has NOTHING to do with the actual game, but rather my experience in Miami. I've heard so much about the "mystique" of the Orange Bowl. The only mystique I found there to be was whether or not I would make it out ALIVE! Let's see, how should I describe the Orange Bowl? The word "dump" comes to mind. I overheard a fellow Aggie call it a sh**hole. And while the language was offensive, I thought the statement to be a completely accurate assessment of the environment. I heard more gangster or "gangsta" rap, I guess I should call it, in one night than I've heard in my WHOLE LIFE and it wasn't coming from people's cars or bedroom windows. No, it was coming from the stadium sound system. For FOUR SOLID HOURS y'all. But then again, I guess that's what thugs listen to and well, that place was full of thugs. Which would explain why I feared for my life the entire night. Fortunately I was surrounded by about 5000 of my closest Aggie friends. The clean cut, well behaved, normal looking crowd. I kept my eyes on the field, praying for the safety of our players, that a Miami player wouldn't like pull out a switchblade after being tackled.

Miami is very much a "t-shirt school". Not many actually attend or graduate from there, but many buy their t-shirts and show up on game day. The student section was VERY SMALL, like the size of a high school game crowd. And there were only about 40,000 in attendance or about half the size of a normal Aggie game. No video jumbo-tron, just a teeny tiny LED screen that printed words in about 3 or 4 colors. I guess I'm spoiled to the largest high def screen in the country in Kyle Field. Where you can even see the blemishes on people's faces, the picture is so clear....only I would notice something like that. Oh, and the Miami team came out on the field through this blow up football helmet and there was a smoke machine, but it didn't blow smoke continuously. It blew like a puff at a time, which made it all the more funny to watch. And all I could think was THANK YOU GOD that we don't do cheesy things like that at Kyle Field.

Something else I'm spoiled to that was NOT at the Orange Bowl...GOOD FOOD! Cary and I didn't have time to go eat in Miami so we thought we'd just buy something at the stadium. At Kyle Field, you can get Papa John's pizza, On the Border fajitas, Wings from Wings N More, bar-b-que, and so much more. Their selection...hot dogs, peanuts, coke, water, and beer! That's it! No nachos, no burgers, no giant pretzels. And on the top section where we were, they didn't even sell hot dogs. Cary had to go back to the lower section to get us a hot dog. It was so pathetic. None of the sections were marked with their numbers so we kept having to go up to people in uniform to ask them what section we were in. NOTHING was marked. The announcer was a dead beat. Here's a quote, "Let me hear a SOOOOOEEEEEEEEEE" and I thought does he think they're playing Arkansas? Then he said, "Give me an A, give me another A, give me an E, give me an S. Now what does that spell?" And Cary and I just looked at each other like "I don't know, what DOES that spell?" And everyone wearing green and orange yelled out "GO CANES". We couldn't stop laughing. That place would not meet the standards of any other university I'm quite sure.

And OH THE PARKING....I can't believe I almost forgot this part. There was no parking. And the stadium is in like this Little Havana section of Miami. Probably not the safest of areas. But all of the residents were standing out in their yards holding up signs, "$30 parking". THIRTY BUCKS! I almost had a heart attack. And not only did you have to pay, but then you had to worry for the next 4 hours about whether or not your car and its contents would still be there when you got back. We found a townhome unit that charged $18, but they stacked the cars in, so once you were in, you couldn't get out till everyone behind you got out. So that's what we ended up doing and there were 6 cars behind us. And I got out of my car and about 1 foot away was the opened front door where a family was sitting in their living rooms watching T.V. BIZARRE! And then I passed by 4 more opened doors where other families were sitting in their living rooms as I walked to the street. When we got back to our car and we were standing there waiting for the other cars behind us to leave, the guy parked behind us offered Cary some marijuana. He was a Canes fan, let's just clarify. And while Cary was being offered marijuana, three men walked in front of my car and whipped it out and just started peeing up against the brick wall. Not three men at the same time, but separately. You get the idea.

It was total culture shock for me y'all. I'm so used to my Aggie bubble world where everyone is clean cut, normal, acts educated (mostly), where tradition is oozing from the hallowed ground, the fans are welcoming but high spirited, and the environment REEKS of class, comraderie, and professionalism. So even though the Ags ran out of time on the scoreboard, once again, I was reminded of how proud I am to be an Aggie.

Gig'Em...Beat the Hell Outta Baylor!