The first “Maroon Out” football game was held when I was a freshman at Texas A&M against Nebraska. We all knew it was a long shot to win against the No. 2 team in the country but as Aggies always do, we sold and bought shirts vowing to blind the opposing team by making Kyle Field bleed maroon.
Despite getting sunburned – again – we yelled our hearts out, filling the stadium with a solidarity of color and a deafening roar from the stands and we watched the Aggies beat Nebraska 22-17. We did it. David beat Goliath in a sea of maroon we were all a part of. We won the Big 12 Championship that year standing in solidarity with our beloved team.
Fast forward 3 years later. The country was in shock from the 9/11 terrorist attack. I remember that phone call – it was Mom calling me to tell me to turn on the TV that someone had flown into the World Trade Center. Trying to make it to class that day was hard, instead of a cheery Howdy! from our fellow Aggies we were silent – shocked – scared. We had only just to begin to heal from the tragedy of Bonfire. The wounds were still fresh.
But as Aggies do, we showed our solidarity once more. During the first home game after the attacks on Sept 22 against Oklahoma State, we all paid tribute to those whose lives were lost on 9/11 by transforming our Maroon Out tradition to having a Red, White, and Blue game. I wore a white shirt sitting in second deck.
We were all scared sitting in Kyle field that day – that was the first time I really thought about how to get out of that giant stadium if it was bombed. During a quiet moment someone yelled out “Beat the hell outta Osama Bin Laden!” – I thought we were goners for sure.
But on that day we didn’t let fear defeat us. We stood strong, sang the National Anthem that much louder, and showed the country and each other how to overcome fear and stand with our fellow countrymen in solidarity against evil.
Gig’em Aggies and May God forever bless the USA.
: Eagle files