Sept. 3, 2008

Nobody likes to lose. You've probably noticed by now that I don't like to lose in anything. We looked sharp at times against Arkansas State in the first half Saturday night. While in the second half, we seemed to come apart. It reminded me we still have a lot of work to do.

I heard from some of you after the game saying "hang in there," others were very critical. I can tell you no one is more critical of our results than our players, coaches, and staff. You don't put in the amount of work getting ready for the season as everyone has and not be disappointed with the outcome. I'm confident we will improve as our recruiting continues to improve. We will get better.

The bottom line is we should not be losing to Arkansas State. But we did. Arkansas State did what was necessary to win the game, and I congratulate their coaches and players for coming to the Home of the 12th Man and leaving with a victory.

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I've heard from a lot of you about the great experience you had on game day. There were a lot of positives from the inaugural Kids Yell Practice prior to Spirit Walk, to the experiences in the Aggie Fan Zone. Many of you told me how you enjoyed the new introduction sequence of the team entrance. I thought the 340-member Fightin' Texas Aggie Band was terrific, and the fly-overs are always a great sight.

Previously we've heard from fans who thought the Aggie Band did not play enough during the game. Saturday night, we heard from the band a lot throughout the game. I think we have the best band in the land, and I like to hear them as often as I can.

I was really impressed with the cleanliness of stadium. We work extremely hard in the off-season to power wash and clean Kyle Field, but we still have bat and bird residue reappear no matter how close to game-time we clean. I wish we could find a way to discourage the presence of these creatures, but the bats are a protected mammal in Texas.

I was also impressed with the way our fans stayed to the end, making the 12th Man a factor throughout the game. Our student body deserves a special pat on the 12th Man back. As usual, you were outstanding!

Speaking of our student body, staffers at Kyle Field informed me students set up camp in the Zone Plaza shortly after the game to position themselves to purchase tickets for our away football games. Those tickets went on sale yesterday morning. It's incredible that we lose a football game, and students are already camping out for road game tickets. You've got to love it!

Many of you who attended Spirit Walk noted how sharp our players looked as they emerged wearing dark blazers, white shirts, and khaki pants. I observed it myself, and I thought our players looked terrific. A tip of the hat to Mike Sherman, our coaches, staff, and team.

A special thanks to our honorary captain Aaron Glenn '93 who had to quickly depart after kickoff to rejoin his teammates with the New Orleans Saints for an evacuation to Indianapolis. Aaron brought his wife and two children to the game, and I can't thank him enough for being our honorary captain while Hurricane Gustav was approaching his home in New Orleans.

Another former player, Houston Texans linebackers coach Johnny Holland was in attendance on Saturday, and I'm told it was Johnny's first game to attend at Kyle Field since 1986. We were excited to have Johnny in Aggieland. He's been a player and coach in the NFL for many years, and it's difficult for him to attend many of our home games.

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Here are a couple of statistics related to game day you might find of interest.

Our attendance of 78,691 was the second largest opening day crowd at Kyle Field. It was only surpassed by last year's first game crowd of 79,438 against Montana State.

Our medical team made 167 calls in and around the stadium. That's very low for the conditions we had, but similar numbers to our home opener last year. Interestingly enough, 25 percent of the calls were from the third deck on the student side, which is somewhat higher than we are accustomed to. However, we experienced overcrowding on that deck as we had several fish camps utilizing group seating there.

All in all, only five fans were treated by EMTs, and three fans were transported to local hospitals. I want to compliment our fans for paying attention to their health and being well hydrated in the humid weather we experienced Saturday. A special tip of the hat to our emergency medical staff. They are terrific!

Our new information booth in the Aggie Fan Zone near gate 11 received a lot of use and positive feedback.

There were a couple of issues with parking lots before and after the game. Postgame traffic was cleared in about 90 minutes, which is normal for our night games.

One pregame parking issue was particularly compelling. The 12th Man Foundation received more than 200 requests for disabled parking for this season, and we expect the number to increase annually. In an effort to secure the proper use of disabled parking spaces, an officer of the law checked disabled parking tags and the identification of the disabled person the placard was issued to at A-Lot (west side of Kyle Field) and D-Lot (Koldus Garage). If the disabled person was not attending the game, the disabled parking pass was not given access into the lot. There were 65 vehicles attempting to utilize disabled parking placards without the disabled person in the car which were turned away Saturday.

All in all, with the exception of the outcome of the game, I thought Kyle Field offered a great college game day experience.

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Some of you in the Dallas-Fort Worth area wrote me discouraged with the reception you received on your radio during the Arkansas State game.

We have over 50 radio stations covering the State of Texas, but not enough to cover all of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Big city radio affiliates require dollars, a lot of dollars, to broadcast games. To get the kind of radio coverage which blankets the Metroplex, it will cost around $400,000 a year. In order to acquire airtime, there must be sponsors. Our multi-media rights holder Texas A&M Sports Properties, a division of Learfield Sports, spends countless hours securing sponsors and radio affiliates throughout the state, but they need help from Aggies especially in Dallas, Austin, and Waco.

If you have companies, yourselves, or a local A&M Club interested in sponsoring our radio broadcasts, please let me know by using the email link on this page.

Aggies in Abilene, Texas, have been successful buying the airtime on a local station for A&M football games. Through their sponsorship selling efforts, the Abilene Aggies have been able to provide 11 scholarships to students attending Texas A&M. Great job!

We need to do something similar or simply ask Aggie fans to subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio. With the Sirius and XM merger, you'll get all the college football games you could possibly desire.

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A few of our Texas A&M Sports Network affiliates experienced some technical difficulties during the football game due to some satellite transmission problems.

We also discovered our affiliate in Houston switched stations without notifying us which caused some difficulty in Aggies finding the broadcast. We are working closely with them to clear this up so we can better publicize the channel offering the broadcasts each week.

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We had a great crowd at the first Mike Sherman Radio Show last Thursday at Wings 'N' More Party Room in College Station. Reservations are being accepted for this Thursday's show by emailing coach@athletics.tamu.edu. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the broadcast starts at 7 p.m. There is a $15 all-you-can-eat buffet and a cash bar.

Beginning Sept. 8, the radio show moves to Monday nights and will broadcast live from the University Drive location of Wings 'N' More. Reservations will be accepted for a limited number of reserved seats at coach@athletics.tamu.edu, while open seating will also be available. Regular menu service will be offered.

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Congratulations to our men's and women's cross country teams which took second place at the University of Iowa meet. Kevin Ondrasek led a trio of Aggies in the top 10, while Christina Munoz placed third on the women's side. The next meet will be our Texas A&M Invitational Sept. 13 at the Penberthy Intramural fields.

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Our No. 11-ranked soccer team had two hard fought matches at the Aggie Soccer Stadium last weekend. We dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 2-ranked North Carolina before 5,600 fans. Then, we beat Indiana, 3-1, on Sunday. We have a lot of new faces on the soccer team, and they continue to improve each match. This week, Coach G will take the team to Blacksburg, Va., for games against Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

Congratulations to junior Amber Gnatzig for being named Big 12 Player of the Week. She scored a career-high two goals against North Carolina. Last week, sophomore Rachel Shipley was named Big 12 Player of the Week.

I only heard from a couple of you last week about the mysterious slab of concrete which was unearthed on the west side of the soccer field. Both fans (Nick McGuire '64 and Brian Covington '95) agreed with me it was the foundation from an agricultural building of some sort, either cattle or dairy, from Old Army days. The discovery forced a delay in constructing new seating on the west side. Temporary bleachers are being removed today, and crews will attempt to drill through the concrete later this week as construction resumes on the permanent seating.

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Our volleyball team has been slow getting out of the gate. We dropped a trio of matches at a tournament in Omaha to No. 21 LSU, No. 16 Minnesota, and Creighton. I suspect we will be much improved when we host the Texas A&M Invitational this Friday and Saturday at G. Rollie White Coliseum. I hope you will come out and support Coach Laurie Corbelli and our team this weekend. You can get tickets by clicking here.

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Our No. 18-ranked women's golf team opens the season at the Duramed NCAA Fall Preview on Sunday and Monday at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., which will be the site of the NCAA Championships next spring.

Meanwhile, our No. 9-ranked men's team opens its schedule at the Adams Cup Sept. 22-23 in Newport, R.I. Junior Andrea Pavan represented Europe against Great Britain and Ireland in the St. Andrews Trophy last week in Scotland. Andrea won both his singles matches.

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Tuesday, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved the naming of the track portion of the McFerrin Athletic Center. We are pleased to announce the recognition of the Rhonda and Frosty Gilliam, Jr. '80 Indoor Track Stadium.

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A popular feature at our football games is the "Bugle Call" celebrating people who have attended virtually every home game for an extraordinarily long time. We have created a means for you to nominate persons for this recognition at remaining games. Consider the following criteria: How long have they been coming to Aggie football games? What is unique about their support? Why do they deserve the crowd's applause? Email your nominations to BugleCall@athletics.tamu.edu .

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One my favorite sayings in football is we improve more from game one to game two than during any other time of the season. I expect this to be the case this week at New Mexico. Game time is 4 p.m. central. You can watch the game on Versus or listen to your radio via the Texas A&M Sports Network. If you will be in Albuquerque Friday, Yell Practice will be held at the Pueblo Cultural Center at midnight.

See you in Albuquerque!