FOotball

Went to a football game finally! Since we can never leave the habit of getting things for cheap, got tickets that were sponsored by International Student Services ($20 for an $80 ticket) that also came with a free t-shirt! But as fate would have it, we missed a session where the actual game tickets were given along with the t-shirt in exchange for the $20 bill coupon. Today, we went a little late (by about 2 hrs) and hence missed the complimentary breakfast (I don't believe it!), missed the Army band (btw TAMU played against Army since today was 'Army appreciation day') and because we didnt have the actual tickets yet and so had to go around the field hopping into every ticket counter and asking them to exchange the coupons for the ticket, missed the first quarter of the game as well! Thankfully the score still read 0-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Understandably the entire $20 stand (which wasnt all that big) was filled with Indians and Chinese. Found a corner at the top of the stand where we had the huuuugggee display behind and the game happening straight ahead. Also the attendance was supposedly 85000+. I found that a bit tall, coz the entire population of College Station is 68000 and it is tough to believe some 18000 people came from elsewhere to watch the match.

The game was a little complicated initially since I didnt know much about how it was played. All I knew was each team gets 6 points on 'touch-down' and a chance to get a bonus on 'touch-down' which most times was converted into one. So thats 7 points for every 'touch-down'. But after the second quarter ended we met an american classmate who gave a little info about the various numbers involved. Coz of that the second half was much more interesting as we could understand 90% of what was happening.

During the break between the two halves, the Fightin' Texas Aggie band played in honour of the US athletes who participated at Beijing, the Army, the Navy, the Airforce, TAMU football, Aggiespirit etc. The formation on the field was mighty impressive. It was breathtaking to watch the cadets walk all over the field playing the instruments while also beaking into various patterns that culminated with a huge 'T'. Those 5 minutes were the most impressive display of the day! Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UIX-05H9Cw.

Second half was dominated by the Aggies. We had 2 touch-downs while the Army had 1. Score read 14-7. Then in the final quarter, the Army did something to gain 3 more points. Following that they had an amazing touch-down with one of their players litteraly flying over the line. and the score read 14-17. Then Aggies had another touch-down and went up to 21. The game was in its final 3 minutes. The Army was advancing towards touch-down and the Aggies were in danger of losing yet another game this season (they had 3 losses out of 3 so far). But again there was a superb move by one of the Aggies and the Army advance was stopped and the ball changed hands. In the last minute, the Aggies advanced like gladiators and almost had a touch-down before the whistle blew. Finally the Aggies had won a game this season! All thanks to our presence in the field! :P

Followed, the post match conference that was being shown on the big screen, while little boys started playing with their rugby balls on the field, and we took a few pics before finally deciding to head home!

Later.