I didn’t expect to be attending this game. However, there were free tickets handed out at work and my boss, Ron, came back from a week-long out-of-town conference wanting to go. Were I in his place, I would not have wanted to have moved this weekend out of my easy chair. So, let’s go. We had an early dinner at McAlisters deli first. I mention this only to push their new green sweet tea, which is excellent, and to mention that several other Aggie fans were there. In fact, a rush of people came in right after we got our order.
Even with a leisurely meal (and you can’t imagine the spectacle of watching someone eat an entire muffeletta in front of you, the sandwich is as big as the plate), we ended up in the stadium a good half hour before the game. There was plenty of parking on campus for this game, unlike the Lobo’s game. Our tickets were next to the endzone seats on the north end. Not great, but the cheerleaders were in front of us. They were wearing pink t-shirts for the “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” promotion, except for one of the girls, who was just wearing her black sports bra. (That was an engaging distraction until she put a shirt on). The stadium was dotted with pink in the crowd with fans wearing old and new pink Aggie shirts. Several fans in our section had nice portable stadium seats, since I thought odd, since these weren’t good seats.
The video board promoted an “Aggie Country Pass,” that got you into any sport, except football and men’s basketball for $100-something bucks. I mentally ran the numbers and decided that it probably wouldn’t work for me until I’m retired and have time to go to all the games. What’s frustrating about these offers they mention at the games is that I can’t find them on NMStateSports.com website to research them. Meanwhile, I found out football and men’s basketball had raised their season ticket prices dramatically when a couple of co-workers mentioned it. One of them grunted out a cuss word about it. He is definitely not a person who uses that kind of language, so this is a passionate subject.
Out on the field, the local Onate High School band performed and was followed by the “World’s Most Dangerous Band,” the Aggie Pride band. The band had a separate edgy, dramatic PA, rather than the regular baritone PA, who did the game call and much of the rest of Aggie home sports. The two bands finished and went up into the stands and would share a section together. I wondered about this before I realized that Georgia Southern didn’t bring a band. The visitor’s section looked fairly sparse, but they generated quite a bit noise when their team came out. They did bring their eagle-suited mascot.
Ron nudged me and pointed out a trio of glamorous young women, who came out on to the Aggie sidelines from the entrance tunnel. They stood behind the team for a while during the pre-game. I had to wonder what their relationship was to the team. The crowd filled in nicely, with an announced attendance of over 10,000. Horse-riding Pistol Pete (as opposed to the two other Pete's) came in ahead of the team, wearing a pink shirt. The horse even had pink highlights.
First Quarter
The Eagles moved downfield well. Nearly right off the bat, we got a long official’s review of a play. This was a poor way to start any game. The Aggie defense held on a 3rd down and limited the drive to a field goal. The cowbells were aplenty among the fans for that and every other 3rd down for the game. 0-3 Eagles. The cheerleaders started throwing little footballs into the crowd to get them excited. I found the good number of pretty girls in the crowd wearing shorts exciting. The Aggie offense was not exciting and went three and out on their first possession.
A co-worker came by and sat next to us. Her husband started watching the Cubs versus Dodgers playoff game on his phone. Before the game, Ron asked if I’d rather stay home to watch baseball, but lacking cable and the three-digit station the game was on, I didn’t care. (The MLB playoffs TV situation has got to be unacceptable to everybody.) At best, I might have been able to get the game on a bad reception AM radio station. In any case, the Cubs were up one early. The husband got irritated and stopped watching. I’d guess he was a Dodgers fan.
The Eagles got a big quarterback run off an option and got downfield quickly, but the Aggies intercepted one of Kevin Ellison’s passes in the endzone. The Aggies only managed to get to midfield on the turnover and had to punt. A new Georgia Southern quarterback came in for the next drive, perhaps because of the interception, though they alternated their QB’s throughout the game. I couldn’t keep track, even with the radio commentary in my ear. I was glad I’d gotten a program on the way in, otherwise I would have never believed that the opposing team had a player named L.A. Ramsby. This guy had to have been born while the Rams were in St. Louis. His parents were prophetic (and dumb for naming their kid something so stupid).
At the end of quarter, there was a sponsored contest for a fan to kick a field goal. If he could kick the ball into the truck parked behind the goal, he’d get (something illegible, it was a large cash prize, I need to improve my handwriting). Unfortunately, it was miss and only worth a free oil change. I noticed one of the regular Pistol Pete's working the endzone crowd. I wondered where he was.
Second Quarter
The Aggie defense got another 3rd down stop in the red zone. After another Eagle field goal, it’s 0-6 Eagles. The net behind the goal doesn’t stop the ball as usual. The Aggies got the ball back and had a big 3rd down conversion, which I didn’t see as the people in front of me stood up to leave. Another co-worker and her family arrived. Her son was working one of the cameras on the field. The radio call mentioned an Eagle defensive player that had me going for the program again, Ironhead Gallon.
The Aggies made it into the Eagles’ red zone. There was a beautiful misdirect on a pass that left a receiver wide open for QB Tyler Rogers for a touchdown. Arghhhh! And once again, the kicker missed the PAT and hit the upright. Why is this guy still the kicker? This is the same guy who was missing these things last year. Is there anybody else on the team who could just come in to kick the point afters? It’s six all in any case.
More mini-footballs were thrown into the crowd to placate them. A co-worker got one. Ron had one bounce off his knee, but didn’t come up with it. People were standing for the balls, and I couldn’t see the game. My radio signal started going in and out. I moved my little radio around, finally clipping it to my hat. I almost managed to strangle myself on the wires in the process. The next big play I saw was the Aggie defense getting a sack on a Georgia Southern 3rd down. Update: the Cubs go up 3-0 in the 3rd.
The Aggie offense went into a hurry up and managed to quickly move the ball into the Eagle’s side of the field. A time out by Eagles stalled the drive. The Aggies settled for a 42 yard field goal. 9-6 Aggies. The Eagles got the ball with Ellison back in as quarterback. Another interception for the Aggies! Unfortunately, the offensive drive stalled after a couple of false starts. They probably got out of sync on their hurry up. The other Eagle QB came in and went three and out.
Me and Ron both lost our radio signal for several minutes before the end of the half. It was strangely, eerily quiet with the game call. The Aggie offensive made a good drive downfield, but it again stalled. On a 4th down on the Eagle’s side of the field, Rogers dodged a couple of tackles, but had to throw it out of bounds. We go to the half, 9-6 Aggies. The team got a good cheer as they came off the field.
Halftime
The co-workers leave. One of them had to go to a high school game that was going on at the same time. That was bad planning on somebody’s part with the public schools, but I don’t think it hurt attendance at either game. (High school football is big here.) When I went to bathroom, I ended up seeing a couple more co-workers. The bathrooms at the stadium are better than the troughs at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, but not as good as at other Aggie sports venues. I skipped visiting the concessions, since I wasn’t particularly hungry or thirsty. There isn’t anything hugely appealing there either. I noticed a sign over the concessions saying that they were run by a non-profit entity. This might explain the lack of appealing fare, though not their prices. Presumably the Papa John’s tent is run for profit, though at $4 a slice, they’re likely running at an even larger cost overhead than the stadium concessions.
The halftime entertainment was a large pink ribbon that was brought out on field and a moment of silence. The cheerleaders were out in the concourse, selling pink shirts. There was a posthumous video board message from the Aggie’s honorary team captain from the last couple of years, Lori Paulson, who died from cancer. Several players stopped their warm-ups to see her for a moment. The team and the crowd stopped to make a finger “L” to honor her when Lori’s family was on field. Update: 5-0 Cubs in the 6th.
Third Quarter
A good pass to Larry Rose III and a roughing the passer penalty tacked one afterward, got the Aggies on the other side of the field quickly on their first possession. On a 3rd and 11, Rogers ran for a first down. Suddenly, I’m distracted by an attractive female reporter on the sidelines wearing very tight pants with high boots. I don’t recognize her. She might have been with the local campus news. She continued to be a distraction for the rest of the half. There’s another first down on a Rogers’ run, but the Aggies had to settle for 20 yard field goal. 12-6 Aggies. (The kicker’s normal with regular field goals, just not point blank shots.)
The PA called out for the dreaded “Kiss Cam.” One couple really got into it. The PA had to warn them to “Just kiss.” The Aggie defense forced a fumble on an Eagles on a 3rd and long. This got the biggest cheer out of the crowd for the game, but unfortunately it only resulted in a missed field goal from 33 yards. The Aggie defense came up big again as they got a stop on a 3rd and short right after. After a punt, the Aggie offense fumbled in their end. QB Ellison got some good yardage running, but this had the evitable result of him getting his bell rung. After he had to come out, his replacement wasn’t able to convert a 3rd down inside the 10. Another field goal, and its 12-9 Aggies.
There’s a surprise onside kick after the field goal, and the Eagles recovered at midfield, but they were offsides. The re-kick bounced a couple of times when it got to a returner, who touched it, but didn’t catch it. The Eagles recovered the ball deep in Aggie territory. The crowd collectively groaned. End of quarter. The Sundancers performed on our end of the field. There was an ad on the video board for the New Mexico State volleyball team. There’s a nice giant image of Jordan Abalos with it. The radio call mentioned the team a couple of times as they had won this weekend.
Fourth Quarter
The Eagles started the quarter with a quick touchdown. Their kicker missed the PAT. It must be contagious. 12-15 Eagles. After the score, two guys with Georgia Southern flags and their eagle mascot charged into the endzone. I finally notice that there were cheerleaders on the other side of the field. There were about eight of them, which maybe explains how I didn’t see them. We have about 30 in front of us.
The Eagle defense held and then they blocked the Aggie’s punt. The ball rolled to the Aggie 40 before the Eagles recovered it. From there, a screen pass went all the way to endzone. Touchdown Eagles, 12-22 now. Final update: Cubs win 5-0 over the Dodgers. They’ll face the Indians next week. Between these two historically losing franchises, somebody’s gonna win. T-shirts were thrown into the crowd, but only on the student side of the stadium.
The Aggies took to the air as the quarter wound down. They were greatly aided by a pair of pass interference penalties. On a 4th and 11, Tyler Rogers made it running. And then, an interception. The crowd started deserting en mass. Ron and I were left nearly by ourselves in the section. A co-worker wearing a really smart Aggie polo came over to say, “Hi” before he left. (I have some shirt envy now.) The cheerleaders came up into the crowd and handed out, I think, pink bracelets to everyone wearing pink, which didn’t include us.
A kid below us held up a sign, “Striking for head coach.” Striking is the name of the tee-retrieving dog. I have no counter-argument at the moment. The video board announced a 5th quarter following the game, where kids are allowed to run on the field. That’s a nice touch. Attempting to run out the clock some more, the Eagles turned it over on downs. Rogers passed the ball very efficiently, resulting in a quick touchdown, and the PAT was good. 19-22 Eagles. Where was this kind of offensive tonight? Alternately, Georgia Southern’s defense may have gotten tired by the end.
The Aggies attempted an onside kick of their own, but the Eagles recovered with a minute, 19 seconds left in the game. After the Aggies used their last timeout, they could no longer stop the clock. We left right before it went final. Ron was angry and depressed. He likely would have left earlier if the score hadn’t been close. I don’t know how we lost. We had almost four times as many cheerleaders, a dance squad, a band, and Pistol Pete! Almost needless to say, the player of the game is the Aggie defense for playing so stout and keeping the game close. A little more consistency on the offense and this would have been an Aggie win.
On the way out, I got a handout of a couple more Aggie cards. Check out the resume on this Charley Johnson guy! Does he have any eligibility left? We, and some other Aggie fans, ended up at the PQ Treats nearby. Ron and I took advantage of their shake special, and they were good, helping to wash down the bitter defeat. On the way out, I suggested to the soda jerk (that wasn’t his title, but I so seldom get the opportunity to use that term) that they should have an Aggie Gameday special, something with crimson and white ice cream. Well, all I have to say is let’s hope the volleyball team doesn’t take after the football team next weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment