Oct. 8, 2008

Ever start your day doing a really stupid thing like spilling the coffee or locking yourself outside in just your shirttail on your way out to get the paper?

Well, this morning, as I pulled up to the Bright Building, I ran over the concrete block protecting the sidewalk, and it lodged under my car. It's not very heavy, and along with offensive lineman Travis Schneider, we were able to push it all the way under the car. But, neither of us noticed the piece of rebar sticking up from the block, and it promptly wedged under the car.

Upon doing that, it seemed most of our athletes and staff, a parking officer, and everyone else I knew, came by to admire my stupidity. Thank God for Billy Pickard and our maintenance crew. They roared to my rescue with a jack and had me on my way pronto. I sure hope the rest of the week goes better than the first hours of work this morning.

Having started the morning that way, imagine how our coaches, staff, athletes and fans felt after our Big 12 football opener. We live in an age of, "What have you done for me today," and "Why didn't you win yesterday?" In today's internet and technology age, we want immediate gratification in all things, especially sports. Saturday night, I started getting questions at half time on my BlackBerry asking those types of questions in a variety of ways.

I've heard from a few of you wanting things with our football team turned around right now. The fact is it takes a while to turn a football program around, and when you change coaches, the time line extends.

With that said, call me crazy, but I saw more improvement in our team last week.

Since the game was not on television, allow me to offer a few examples of what I saw from our team. You may have heard we had five turnovers in the first half. Each time one of our players received a second chance, they did a much better job of protecting the ball. After running back Cyrus Gray fumbled, I remember watching his next carry. He had both hands around the football.

Quarterback Jerrod Johnson's fumble happened after a blitz from his blind side. He took a vicious hit, and lost the ball. The two interceptions we committed were simply gifts, and our opponent took full advantage of the situation. As the game progressed, I was pleased Jerrod had time to make second and third reads on plays. It means he is learning, and is getting better protection from his offensive line. That was real progress.

I was impressed with our goal line stand, and how we forced several three and outs against the Oklahoma State offense. Our ability to have 400 yards of total offense gives me hope for even more improvement this year.

Rome was not built in a day. So far this season, we've played seven true freshmen and 10 redshirt freshmen. All of those Aggies played against OSU. Four of the seven true freshmen started, and two of the redshirts started at OSU. Plus, eight walk-ons received playing time. I want to assure you, our coaches are putting the players on the field they believe will give us the best chance to win the game.

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I hope we have a heck of a crowd for the Kansas State game this Saturday. This is a big game for our team. The best way Aggie fans can make a difference is by attending the game and showing your support to the men in maroon. The game will not be televised and won't be offered on pay-per-view. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. We have tickets remaining, including a few discounted seats in the south end zone bleachers. You can click here to purchase tickets, or you can call our ticket office at 1-888-99-AGGIE.

You can listen to the game on your local radio affiliate of the Texas A&M Sports Network, or via the free audio broadcast available at AggieAthletics.com, or on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 154.

Many members of the 1998 Big 12 Championship team will be back on campus for a reunion. I'm told several are eager to slip into the maroon and white for a down or two. So, be on the lookout for some duplicate numbers.

Saturday will also serve as our annual Aggies CAN food drive conducted by our student-athletes. We are encouraging all fans to bring canned goods to the game, or make monetary contributions to benefit the Brazos Valley Food Bank. We are told every dollar contributed allows the food bank to acquire five cans of food. Our student-athletes will be easy to spot as they will be wearing lime green shirts. We will also accept donations at Friday night's soccer game against Nebraska at 7:30 p.m.

Our friends from Chevron/Texaco will be in attendance at the game this week and are helping us with Aggies CAN. Chevron representatives will be selling its Texas A&M themed collectable Victor-E-Van for $10 with proceeds going directly to Aggies CAN.

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We received word on Monday that our football game with Texas Tech on Oct. 18 will kickoff at 11 a.m. and be televised nationally by FSN. We have a handful of single tickets remaining for this game. To purchase remaining seats, click here, or call the ticket office at 1-888-99-AGGIE.

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Our No. 7-ranked soccer team is playing well. We are 10-1-1 overall and leading the Big 12 with a 3-0-1 record. Breaking news, the newest RPI came out yesterday, and the Aggies are ranked number four in America. Great job!

We started last weekend with a 2-1 win over then No. 10-ranked Oklahoma State on our home field.

I really enjoyed the Oklahoma match on Sunday. It was a windy afternoon on West Campus. Our opponent had the wind in its favor during the first half, so we were kicking into it, and still managed to score three first-half goals. We won by the score of 5-0, and the good thing is Coach G was able to play a lot of players. I've told you before we are young, but we are also talented, and quick and fast, too!

You'll have two opportunities this weekend to watch our team, because we have a pair of important games as Nebraska and Iowa State are coming to town. Nebraska is a really good team with a 3-1 Big 12 record. I'd love to have a full house to welcome the Huskers, and help our Aggies take another step toward a fifth straight Big 12 title. The Nebraska game will start at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, while Sunday's game against Iowa State kicks off at 1:30 p.m. You can get tickets in advance by clicking here.

Congratulations to Laura Grace Robinson for being named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, and congratulations to Becca Herrera for being named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week.

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I was excited our volleyball team won a tough five-set match with Missouri on Saturday night at G. Rollie. Mary Batis had a career-high 23 kills with seven happening in the fifth set. We have a pair of road matches this week. Tonight, we will be at Kansas, and on Saturday we will take on Texas Tech. The Big 12 Conference is good as always, and I am seeing improvement from our team each match. I hope the momentum from our midweek off and our win over Missouri last week will help us as the season progresses.

Mark your calendars for Oct. 15 when we host our friends from the state capital for the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. We are promoting the game as "Break the Record Night" as we attempt to set a new all-time attendance mark at G. Rollie White for a volleyball match. Fans with a ticket from the Kansas State football game will be admitted for $2, and members of Texas A&M affiliated Greek organizations wearing their letters will get in free.

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Our back-to-back Big 12 Champion women's swimming team opens its season Friday by hosting Rice and North Texas at 4:30 p.m. at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium. We've set the meet time to allow fans to watch swimming before walking across the street for the soccer game at 7:30 p.m.

I received some bad news this week from women's swimming coach Steve Bultman. He told me two of our top swimmers, Julia Wilkinson and Kristen Heiss, will be sidelined this season after having shoulder surgery last week.

Julia and Kristen are integral parts of our team and are the two most recent Big 12 Swimmers of the Year. I feel bad for Julia and Kristen because they were planning on ending their impressive collegiate careers at the NCAA Championships this March in our home pool. Despite this setback, I am told both swimmers will be even stronger after their surgeries, and they'll both be back to lead our team in 2009-10.

We are the defending two-time Big 12 Champions, and we accomplished that feat because of the great depth of our roster. I think a third title will be a challenge for our team, however I have been impressed with the way this team has fought and exceeded most people's expectations over the last several years. And I believe anything is possible for our team this year as well.

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Our men's cross country team placed third at the Notre Dame Invitational last weekend. Congratulations to Shadrack Songok for placing second overall. He was named Big 12 Runner of the Week for a second time. We were ranked No. 28 nationally before the meet, and we finished ahead of several teams ranked higher than us including No. 8-ranked Michigan. In the latest rankings, we moved up to No. 20 nationally and to No. 2 in the region. Our team will take a week off before traveling to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Chili Pepper Festival race.

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Congratulations to our No. 4-ranked equestrian team for its big win over Kansas State on the road in Manhattan, Kan., last Friday. We are a perfect 2-0 this season. It's hard to win on the road in any sport, and it's especially challenging in a sport like equestrian. Equestrian shows are judged by how a rider performs with the horse. Riders are assigned a horse based on a draw, and the horses are from the home team's stable. You may not know it, but our stable of horses doesn't regularly travel.

Our next show will be Oct. 17 when we host SMU at our new home the Brazos County Expo Center.

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Our women's golf team finished sixth at the Tar Heel Invitational in North Carolina last weekend. Sophomore Sarah Zwartynski finished seven-over-par for 13th overall. We're ranked No. 24 in the country in the latest Golf Week rankings.

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Basketball season is quickly approaching. Tip-off for the exhibition season is Nov. 5. To help get you ready for the return of Aggie Basketball, we will hold Maroon Madness in conjunction with Midnight Yell Practice on Oct. 17 at Kyle Field. We'll have a basketball court set up on the visitor's sideline as our women's team will get things started around 11:30 p.m. Then, Yell Practice will happen. Our men's team will have its portion of Maroon Madness immediately following Yell Practice at approximately 12:25 a.m.

Preseason rankings are starting to be published, and Athlon Sports ranks our women's team No. 4 nationally in its preseason top 25 poll.

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Progress is continuing on the construction of the Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball and the track portion of the McFerrin Athletic Center. Many of the workers affected by Hurricane Ike have returned to the sites.

Our basketball teams should be able to utilize the new locker rooms at Cox-McFerrin when the first official practice happens Oct. 17. Additional portions of the new basketball facility will come on-line as scheduled over the next 30-60 days.

We agreed to a two-to-three week delay on the McFerrin Athletic Center after we received an offer we could not refuse. World-renowned track surface company Mondo offered to install an indoor version of the surface used at the Beijing Olympics at no additional cost. This surface received many positive reviews by athletes and coaches around the world.

Texas A&M will be the second facility to utilize this special Mondo surface, and the first indoor track anywhere to have the surface. It is a great opportunity for our athletes, coaches, and our facility. We are still on schedule to host our first indoor track and field meet December 6.

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I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Kyle Field this Saturday. Please remember to bring some canned food items to help our Aggies CAN food drive.