Nov. 18, 2009

I'd like to give you a history of Wednesday Weekly. When I arrived at Texas A&M, I thought, and many of you agreed with me, there was a need for more communication from the Athletic Department to our constituents. So we started this weekly column. I did something similar at my previous employers, but it was radio based. I had a two hour radio show which aired on Wednesdays in Nebraska. At Oregon, I did a Thursday morning hour on radio. Communicating with our fans is important, and it's something I've done for a long time.

When I get emails with fair and constructive points, many times I will pick up the phone and call the person to get a better feel for what their concerns are. I also share many of your emails with our staff, and many times we make changes based on what the emails suggest. Sometimes we share the best emails in this column.

With that said, I've noticed if we don't win a football game, the email reaction becomes increasingly nasty and personal. Some folks continue to insist I be more critical of our student-athletes and coaches, and discuss personnel matters in this forum. I'm not going to do that.

As someone who has done this a long time I've seen a change in how people treat each other. In our society, respect for each other is a lost art. People say things through email or texting they would never say face to face. It takes courage to speak face to face and courage to say who you are. The internet has developed a platform for people to speak whatever they want regardless of its accuracy, and they can do so anonymously.

I love to hear from folks, and I'm happy to have civil discourse, and sometimes agree to disagree. But I'm worried civility is being lost.

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I was very concerned about the football game in Norman. I knew how good their defense would be. And I thought the experience level of our team would be a factor. And it was.

If we play well at home, and by and large we have this season, I believe our chances for success are good. One of the things I'm hopeful of is the Aggies showing up to support us when we host Baylor this Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

The game was not picked by the television networks and will not be offered for pay per view. As we announced last week to help make sure Kyle Field is filled, we are offering a special promotion to all Aggies to come out and support their favorite team. We have thousands of half-priced tickets for fans to take advantage of.

We are offering tickets for $35. The game is very important for us, because a win will make us bowl eligible. I hope you will take advantage of this offer and join us at Kyle Field. We've offered half-priced tickets to all games this year in the bleachers, but for this game we are extending that offer to four sections, including the bleachers.

You can click here to purchase half-priced tickets to the Baylor game.

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Click here for a list of radio stations carrying the game. In Houston, fans can listen via 740 KTRH-AM, while fans in San Antonio can hear us on 760 KTKR-AM. Those of you with Sirius Satellite Radio should tune in to channel 154. Don't forget we offer a free internet audio feed at AggieAthletics.com, while PDA users can go to RadioAggieland.com for the game.

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Speaking of football tickets, we have some seats remaining for our Thanksgiving night game. We will host our friends from the state capital in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown on Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. It will be a short week between the Baylor game and this game. I hope you will help us rekindle the tradition of Thanksgiving night games at Kyle. You can purchase tickets for the Showdown by clicking here.

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We have two very good basketball teams.

The men's team has a lot of potential with a good balance of experience and youth. We beat Angelo State at home last Friday, and beat SMU in Dallas on Monday. This Friday we will host Samford at 7 p.m. I think within a month you will see how much we will be improving. We have the chance to get a lot better in the coming weeks.

We'd love to see thousands of our football fans take advantage of our game on the eve of the Baylor game. As an incentive, we're offering $5 off the price of a Samford basketball ticket by showing your football ticket. You can do this at the door or purchase your ticket in advance by clicking here.

On Thursday night, there will be a special Yell Practice at 8:30 p.m. at Reed Arena. Doors open at 8 p.m. Coach Turgeon and our players will be speaking to the crowd.

The women's team has a chance to go deep in the NCAA Tournament. I don't know how good Duke is. Their name at least gave them a No. 6 ranking. We were unranked by the media, while the coaches ranked us 16. Monday, we appeared at No. 15 in the AP poll, and the coaches moved us to No. 8.

Any time you beat a top 10 team by 18 points, it's impressive. To open the season with a win like this one, and being unranked in one poll, definitely says a lot about the team Coach Gary Blair has put together.

Both Coach Mark Turgeon and Coach Blair noted our student support at this weekend's games. It was great! Our players and coaches hope you liked what you saw and will be back to Reed Arena very soon.

Sunday at the Duke game, in addition to a huge student crowd, our women had a great crowd from our community. All-in-all, it was our largest crowd for a non-conference game. If you were there, you know how much of a difference the crowd made.

Tonight, our women host Rice at 7 p.m. We want to show our appreciation to the entire Texas A&M faculty and staff (and their families) by offering a $2 discount off any ticket to the game.  And thanks to Mac Resource, all faculty and staff will be able to receive a $10 gift card to Mac Resource and be entered into a drawing for their choice of a FREE Video IPod Nano or Mac Book computer. You can get tickets now by clicking here.

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Another way we're trying to help you bring the whole family to Reed Arena is through our new Old Army Spirit section $5 seats. 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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It was a big win for our soccer team over LSU in the NCAA Second Round Sunday in Baton Rouge. We took a 1-0 lead after Emily Peterson scored in the second half, but LSU scored a few minutes later on a penalty kick. After two overtimes, the score was still tied, and in the postseason that means penalty kicks are used to decide who goes on to the next round.

Each team receives five penalty kicks which are taken in an alternating manner. Mary Grace Schmidt scored on our first attempt. Then, our goalkeeper Kelly Dyer made a save on LSU's first attempt. Rachel Shipley, Cydne Currie, and Emily Peterson all connected on their penalty kicks, before LSU hit the crossbar on their final attempt.

We outscored the fourth-seeded Tigers 4-2 on penalty kicks to advance to the Sweet 16 against top-seeded Florida State this Friday at 6 p.m. in Tallahassee.

This is our 15th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship.

Meanwhile, our staff continues to prepare to host the 2009 NCAA Women's College Cup Dec. 4 and 6 at the Aggie Soccer Stadium. You can purchase tickets now by clicking here. This will be the third time for us to host the final four of soccer.

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Our No. 3-ranked equestrian team has won three straight shows. We will conclude the fall portion of our schedule Saturday morning when we host South Dakota State at 10 a.m. at the Brazos County Expo Complex in Bryan. Admission is free.

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Porscha Lucas is a finalist for The Bowerman which is awarded to a top track and field athlete. Fan voting comprises a portion of the final selection process. Click here to vote. The voting ends on Nov. 20.

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Congratulations to senior cross country runner Joe Sauvageau who advanced to the NCAA Cross Country Championships after finishing sixth last Saturday at the NCAA South Central Regional in Waco. Joe completed the 10,000 meter course in a time of 30:54.9. The national championship will be held Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.

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Our volleyball team will be in Norman, Okla., tonight to face the Sooners at 7 p.m. This Sunday, our team returns to Reed Arena to host Texas Tech at 3 p.m.

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It was a successful trip to New England for our men's swimming and diving team. We won 11 of 13 events against Harvard last Friday in their pool. Diver Grant Nel had two wins and two NCAA Zone scores. We will be hosting the NCAA Zone Diving Meet March 12-14 at the Student Rec Center Natatorium.

Then, we beat Boston University, 135-108 on Saturday to conclude the fall portion of our schedule.

This weekend, our women's swimming and diving team will be competing at the Houston Invitational. The meet will conclude on Sunday.

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Good luck to swimmer Ella Doerge who will travel to Houston on Nov. 20 for finalist interviews for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Ella is a senior genetics major who wants to pursue a masters degree in clinical embryology at the University of Oxford. She is one of 32 students selected for finalist interviews. An Honors Programs University Scholar, Ella was also the Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Junior from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and she is an officer for WorldMed, a student organization that organizes international medical missions. This past summer, she conducted research in bovine genetics. Her long-term interests are to attend medical school and study prenatal genetics.  

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I've read all the recent news reports about the 10-year anniversary of Bonfire including Texas Monthly, the Houston Chronicle, and the local paper. While all of those reports were well done, they do not compare to the work done by our 12th Man Productions staff and students.

I just finished previewing the Bonfire documentary DVD entitled "The Burning Desire," which was produced by 12th Man Productions. It is one of the most moving videos I have ever seen. As someone who had never seen Bonfire, the video brought everything into perspective about our history and traditions, and why Bonfire was such a large part of our school's history. We will have copies of the DVD on sale starting next Thursday at Kyle Field. I'm confident this documentary will win national awards and will be something folks everywhere will want to have in their DVD collection. You can purchase "The Burning Desire" in the Texas A&M Bookstore at G. Rollie White Coliseum, at all Kyle Field Aggie Locker locations, or online by clicking here.

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See you at Kyle Field on Saturday.