By Andy Villanueva
The decision didn’t come easy. Fighting the urge to change allegiance from one team to another is the most difficult decision. You fly the colors of one team and believe you bleed them until your dying day, only to feel an allegiance begin to fade once shown a tradition that could possibly be considered the best experience one person should ever have.
Believe me this change in flying different colors didn’t come without one of the greatest “recruiting” ploys ever embarked on by individuals.
Let’s throw light on this subject.
Coming from a “house-divided” growing up with the cross-town rivalry it was difficult to make a choice between USC or UCLA. In the end, my Aunt’s brainwashing techniques worked much better than my father’s threats of writing me out of his will. So from the time I was ten to about a year ago, it was powder blue and gold.
At first it was a slight nudge by the wife. Texas A&M is on lets watch. If UCLA and TAMU played at the same time, the channel would be flipped back and forth. If one game was tight, the channel would be kept there until the outcome was known. No harm, no foul. Both parties were happy to watch the others teams.
On my first initial meeting with her best friend Angel and her husband Eric, both from AggieLand. The wife even roomed with her best friend in college. So the ties were strong in the maroon and white. During our time together at Skirball Center, Eric brought up Johnny Manziel and the Aggies. A heated discussion broke out regarding whether Johnny would ever be a great pro. Two things I learned, Eric was passionate about Aggies and that is not a great way to a great first impression by stating how Manziel wasn’t NFL ready.
The passion was more than I had ever seen in any person regarding “their” school. It was inspiring but still believed in the Bruins.
The recruiting reached a new high two Christmas’s ago. As Angel and Eric sent a book titled, “Marooned in Aggieland: A Bumbling Brit Discovers College Football, Guns N’Waffles” by Josh Perry. It told the story of British soccer fan who would be changed by watching the Aggies on television and Manziel. He spent an entire season in College Station immersing himself in the Aggie culture.
I thought, no way would that ever happen to me. No chance no way.
The final straw in the recruiting of this Bruin was September 12, 2015. It started at midnight during an Aggie tradition called “Midnight Yell.” This tradition is unlike any other. Nearly 40,000 college students, alumni and fans take part in learning the “yells.” Don’t ever call “yells” cheers. That will end up getting you some bad looks. Needless to say the clincher during “Midnight Yell” was the Aggie War Hymn. As the participants sing they ready themselves by getting close to strangers and sway side to side while yelling, “Saw Varsitys Horns off.” In reference to their rivalry with University of Texas. It was spectacular to watch right after midnight.
That same afternoon, walking around Aggieland it was all about tradition. Between the “March In” (which has the Corp of Cadets march into the stadium), the MSC (Memorial Student Center), Ms Rev (Reveille), or the Reveille Memorial which faces its own scoreboard after Kyle Fields renovations it all started to make me realize that becoming an Aggie fan.
The final nail in trading the powder blue and gold to maroon and white was prior to the fourth quarter. As the Aggies were thumping the Cardinals that Saturday in 2015, that made the change official. As the Aggie Band was playing the Aggie War Hymn, the crowd of 102,000 began to sway back and forth yelling, “Saw Varsities Horn Off!”
That is how I made the decision to take my yelling talents to Aggieland.
Joe T.’s High School football novel is available through Amazon.com
“A literary snapshot of what goes on over the course of a high school football season…an awesome read and a story that truly will transcend time.”—Jim Singiser, AD/HC Arroyo Knights Football
“Thrill, dread, anxiety, love, agony, success, and failure; basically all the emotions you feel as a football player/coach as you do in life, all wrapped up in a single book.”—Marc Paramo, HC Rosemead Panthers Football
“I read the book and really enjoyed it a great deal. I would think coaches and parents could Learn a lot.”—John “Coach” Kentera, former sports talk host at Mighty 690 & Mighty 1090
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