Feb. 3, 2010

Letters, we get letters, let’s start this week by answering some of your email.

We are getting repeated questions from fans who are watching the Aggies play basketball via their high definition flat screen televisions and want to know why they can’t see our games in HD. When you watch a game shown in standard definition on a HD television, the end product is usually grainy, dark, and a bit blurry. That’s one of the reasons we get complaints about the court lighting at Reed Arena following a standard definition broadcast, and compliments about our lighting following a HD broadcast.

More of our games are being broadcast in HD, but we’re told the television industry is still lacking sufficient numbers of HD production trucks to show all of the games in HD. An HD truck costs between $7 and $10 million to build, and there are not as many available in our part of the country as there are in the east, upper midwest and southeast. This means the networks have a tendency to leave trucks parked in an area where they can access as many games as is possible.

This season all of the Big 12 men’s basketball games on ESPN and ESPN2 are in HD. Most of the games on ESPNU are in HD, but there are some exceptions. Meanwhile, all of the midweek games on the Big 12 Network are in HD, but the weekend games are still shown in standard definition. ESPN Regional Television (ERT), which produces the Big 12 Network games, only has one HD studio at the ERT headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., and they do several contests at the same time. Plus, they tell us many of the local stations showing the Big 12 Network games are not broadcasting in HD yet.

Some of our home games are broadcast by FSN, and currently those are only produced in standard definition. Jon Heidtke at FSN tells us they up-convert the standard definition signal for those cable and satellite companies which have a dedicated HD channel for FSN programming which significantly helps the picture quality on HD televisions.

The bottom line on this is the number of HD games is increasing, but not at the rate most of us would prefer.

The other topic I’m hearing from folks about is the color of the playing floor at Reed Arena. The court surface is now 12 years old, as it was new when we opened Reed in November of 1998. Depending on what our budget for next year looks like, we are looking at purchasing a totally new court at a cost of approximately $120,000. Refurbishing the existing floor would cost between $25,000 to $30,000.

The issue is increased competition on the floor after we moved volleyball to Reed. During volleyball season, we taped lines down for their court. Every time the tape came up and was replaced, it wore the varnish off the surface. 

One of the questions being asked by our coaches is whether we want to continue with the parquet look. They prefer a regular wood look. Frankly, as a long time fan of the Boston Celtics, I like the parquet look. I also like all their world championship banners hanging from the rafters, too.

One of the things we wanted to change when I arrived here, was the monopoly our friends in the state capital had on the outline of the State of Texas and the star symbol. We want to inculcate the symbols and values of the State of Texas, too. That’s why having the T-Star mark and the outline of the State of Texas at center court at Reed is important. At the same time, the design took a long time to be accepted by some of our fans. In addition to the brand we have established for basketball, our teams have become much more nationally recognized because of our play. Now our fans, and basketball fans across America who see our games or highlights, know quickly via our court markings they are watching Texas A&M play basketball.

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Let’s talk about the BCS. This last week, Sen. Orrin Hatch put out a news release talking about the United States Justice Department possibly investigating the BCS. One of the threats made was whether the foundations, like the 12th Man Foundation and Longhorn Foundation, which fund college athletics would continue to receive non-profit status from the IRS. Click here to read the letter from the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs to Senator Hatch, and here to read Bill Hancock's response.

There was a time in recent history when the individual conferences had contracts with all the major bowls, including the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange. Going back to this process would restrict folks like the Mountain West, Western Athletic Conference, and Conference USA to participating in bowls not played on New Year’s Day. This last year, the mid-majors received the largest bowl pay out in their history and it would not have happened without the BCS. I understand how these conferences feel about this issue, but they better be careful what they wish for. Do the complainers want to go back to those good-ole days? The BCS could go away in a flash at the end of the current contract in 2013. I know in speaking with some of the bowls, they would welcome the BCS going away.

If we want to have a college football playoff, I think the plan I proposed some years ago would work. At the time, I was supported by a lot of Division I athletic directors. Click here to read the plan.

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It was a great win for our men’s basketball team against Texas Tech last Saturday night and a sad loss for our women’s team against OSU on Sunday. At the risk of repeating myself, because I’ve said it before, if you don’t play your best every day, you will get beat because the Big 12 Conference is so strong.

I’m so proud of our fans. It was a late game on Saturday night, and people showed up in large numbers and had a real impact on the game. We had a Reed Arena record 13,648 and were in a sold-out situation for the first time this season.

Our student body continues to impress me. When I travel with our team, or watch other teams on television, I like to compare those crowds with our student section. And I’m happy to report we top almost every other venue in the nation except for a few like Cameron Indoor, Allen Fieldhouse, Bramlage Coliseum, and MacArthur Court. We have many unique qualities at Texas A&M, and I believe the sheer number of students attending our sporting events is one of the most unique.

With that said, on Sunday we had what seemed like one percent of the students from the night before attending the women’s game. One of the things I am going to ask our Yell Leaders to do at our women’s games is to combine our student sections so we have the largest number of fans behind our opponent’s basket each half.

I still recall the scene at one of our football games a few years ago, when late in the game the students on the third deck moved from one end to the other during overtime. It made an impact. I’d like our students to make an impact at our women’s games, too.

Tonight our No. 10 women’s team will host Missouri at 6 p.m. It’s a little earlier than we usually start our mid-week games, but we wanted to eliminate the head-to-head conflict with our men’s game at Missouri which will start at 8 p.m. and be televised by ESPNU.

We are hosting local elementary school students at the women’s game tonight. Special discount tickets for this group can be found here.

Saturday, our women will be in Lincoln to face No. 4-ranked Nebraska at noon. You can watch that game on FSN.

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Ticket sales are going great for most of our remaining men’s basketball games. In fact, we have less than 700 tickets remaining for the general public to Saturday’s game against Baylor which will tipoff at 3 p.m. at Reed Arena. Plus, we are sold out of general public tickets for the Texas game on Feb. 27. However, we still have approximately 2,000 tickets remaining for our ESPN Big Monday game against No. 1-ranked Kansas on Feb. 15.

We really need to sell out Reed Arena for the Kansas game. One of the reasons ESPN selects games for Big Monday is they want the sold-out, electric atmosphere for the broadcast. A capacity crowd not only helps ESPN, but more importantly, it can have an impact on how our team plays. Let’s make sure we provide Coach Mark Turgeon and our Aggies the best home court advantage we can for Big Monday.

You can purchase tickets to all remaining home basketball games by clicking here.

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Don’t forget to take advantage of the Old Army Spirit section $5 seats for home men’s basketball games. That’s right, $5 seats to every men’s basketball home game, except Kansas and with our friends from the state capital. This was made possible through a sponsorship by the Old Army Spirit Company on Harvey Road in College Station. Just stop by the store beginning the first business day after our last home game to purchase these special $5 seats for sections 201-203. The tickets must be picked up at the Old Army Spirit Co. store, but you can also make your purchase via their website.

We will not offer this ticketing level via our ticket office or at the Reed Arena box office.

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Make plans to be at Reed Arena on Saturday, Feb. 13 for our annual Beat the Hell Outta Breast Cancer women’s basketball game. We will pink-out Reed as our No. 10 women host Kansas State at 7 p.m. Our goal is to raise $30,000 for the Coach Kay Yow Foundation.

The official BTHO pink T-shirts are on-sale at each basketball game for $5, and all proceeds go to the Yow Foundation thanks to The Med. We are also accepting monetary donations in person at Reed or via our website.

Plus, we are hosting a 5K Fun Run on Feb. 13 at noon outside Reed Arena. Registration includes a ticket to the women’s game that night. For more information click here.

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The Texas A&M Challenge indoor meet with teams from the Pac 10, Big 12, and SEC, was the best indoor track and field meet in the nation, and will be the best meet of the year anywhere in the country until the NCAA Championships are held in Fayetteville, Ark., in March. The Big 12 won the meet, and there were great marks set during the two days, including six world-leading marks set by what are arguably the three best track and field conferences in the country.

Our teams set four school records, including Tabarie Henry (no relation to Coach Pat Henry) who won his debut in the open 400 with a 45.81 world-leading time that supplanted a 21-year-old A&M mark of 45.94 set by Howard Davis in 1989. Tabarie was named Big 12 Male Athlete of the Week.

You can read about all of our accomplishments at the Texas A&M Challenge by clicking here.

In case you missed it, our men’s team has joined our women’s team as the top ranked indoor teams in the country! There’s an old adage that it’s a lot harder to stay on top than it is to get there. Well, our track teams are doing a pretty good job of staying on top, and I must admit, No. 1 sure looks good next to Texas A&M.

This weekend, our No. 1 women’s team and No. 1 men’s team will be at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City. Our women won this meet two of the last three years, including last year.

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Our No. 19 men’s swimming and diving team had a great victory last Friday night against No. 23 SMU. It came down to the last race, the 400 freestyle relay. We won the relay and won the meet by one point.

This Friday, our men will host our friends from the state capital in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at 6 p.m. at the Student Rec Center Natatorium. Meanwhile, our No. 6 women’s team will be at Houston on Friday night, but will return to Aggieland to close out our home schedule with a dual with North Texas on Saturday at 1 p.m. It will be final regular season home meets for our men and women. Admission is free.

Tickets are now on-sale for the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships we are hosting in our pool Feb. 24-27. Click here for more information.

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Equestrian had a big win to start their spring season last Saturday. Our No. 3 team beat Delaware State, 15-5, at the Brazos County Expo Center. We’ll be in the DFW Metroplex Friday. The hunter seat squad will face SMU at 10 a.m. at the Mustangs' facility in Wilmer. Later in the evening, the western team will face TCU at 6 p.m. inside the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

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Our No. 6 men’s golf team began defense of our national championship earlier this week at the Arizona Invitational. We finished fifth as a team, while sophomore Jordan Russell placed fourth individually.

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Also in Houston on Friday, our No. 12 men’s tennis team will face our friends from the state capital in a non-conference dual match for the Texas Cup. The event will be held indoors at 6 p.m. at the The Met in downtown Houston. Last weekend, in some very chilly conditions, we lost to Fresno State before winning handily over No. 24 OSU as part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.

Our women’s team dropped a pair of matches on the road in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. We’ll face LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday.

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Softball and baseball are practicing, and that means winter has officially arrived.
Coach Jo Evans and our softball team will open the season on Feb. 12 against Wisconsin at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. Our first home game will be Feb. 19.
Also on Feb. 19, Coach Rob Childress and our baseball team will open the season with a three-game series against Seton Hall at Olsen Field.

Season tickets are on-sale now for baseball and softball by clicking here. You will also find a variety of ticket packs for baseball which are selling quickly.

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Speaking of baseball and softball, I want to bring to your attention a parking lot construction project which will impact us greatly this season at Olsen Field. Due to circumstances outside of our control, the third base parking lot at Olsen Field will be unavailable for much of the season as it is being redesigned and repaved with concrete. The scope of the project, coordinated by Texas A&M Transportation Services, will be vast and time consuming, but we are confident the final product will serve our fans well for many years to come.

In addition to a new concrete surface, the lot will also connect with the first base parking lot and the Aggie Alley lot. Plus, the designers have added a crosswalk which will connect the entrance to our softball, soccer, and track complex with the main gates of Olsen Field. This will make crossing Olsen Blvd. much safer. There will be more disabled parking spaces which meet current ADA guidelines. Also, the parking lot entrances will be redesigned and the intersection of Olsen Blvd. and Tom Chandler Drive will become a true four-way stop.

We’ve been assured by Transportation Services that every effort will be made to complete the project as soon as possible.

Reserved parking for our season parking permit holders will continue in lot 100k (first base lot), and at 100i (left field/Aggie Alley). Overflow season parking will be in lot 100g at Reed Arena.

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Today is National Signing Day for football, soccer, and track and field. Our coaches in all three of these sports have worked hard to sign quality student-athletes to wear the maroon and white. I’m always interested in how our recruiting is going in every sport. But I never judge the talent until I see them suited up for us and competing against other collegiate athletes. That’s the quickest way to separate the hitters from the duckers.

Click here for a comprehensive look at each student-athlete we inked today.

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And congratulations to former Texas A&M golfer Bobby Gates who won the Nationwide Tour’s season opening New Zealand Open. Bobby won his debut on the tour by one stroke. You can watch a video recap of the victory by clicking here. Coincidently, Bobby’s caddy at the tournament was former Texas A&M golfer Lauren Johnson.

Also, congratulations to another of our former players, Martin Piller who finished seventh. After former A&M golfer Ryan Palmer won the PGA Tour season opener in Hawaii two weeks ago, we joined Arizona as the only schools whose alumni have swept the season openers on the PGA and Nationwide Tours in the same year. Arizona’s Jim Furyk and Larry Silveira did it in 1996, back when the Nationwide Tour was known as the Nike Tour.

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Have a great week!