SxSE: Gig 'em Aggies

♦ Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field

• Capacity: 7.053
• Opened: Olsen Field opened 1978; complete renovation named Blue Bell Park opened 2012
• Named after: Pat Olsen, former Aggie ballplayer, and Blue Bell Creameries, an Ice cream company

♦ Aggie Traiditions

• The Aggies revere their collie mascot, Reveille, so much so that five successive dogs named Reveille are buried just outside the football stadium.

•  Corp of Cadets: Texas A&M is one of only three schools with a full-time Corps of Cadets program leading to commissions in all branches of military service -- Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. It has a tradition of providing more trained officers to our nation's armed forces than come from any other military school.

• Gig 'Em:  At a yell practice before the 1930 TCU game, A&M board of regent Pinky Downs '06 shouted, "What are we going to do to those Horned Frogs?" His muse did not fail him as he improvised, borrowing a term from frog hunting. "Gig 'em, Aggies!" he said as he made a fist with his thumb extended straight up. And with that the first hand sign in the Southwest Conference came into being. [trrip note:  I doubt that last sentence]

♦ Raggin': Aggie hecklers find home at Olsen (The Battalion)

"The regulars are considered Raggies," said Stephen Chesney, a senior political science major. "It's not like the Reed Rowdies where there is actual membership. We don't make T-shirts or anything like that."

Chesney said Raggie lore suggests the heckling began in 1980 with a small group that sat on the first row of the student section usually reserved for the oldest Raggie members. Admittance to the front row is considered an honor, Chesney said.

"It's suffocating. (Opposing teams) can say whatever they want, but the Raggies, they create the home field environment for Olsen Field," said Texas A&M Baseball head coach Rob Childress.

♦ Let's get loud (The Battalion)

It is Tuesday night at a Texas A&M baseball game, and the Sam Houston State coach is approaching the pitcher's mound. Suddenly, a resounding yell is heard throughout Olsen Field, "Touch his butt!" 

The Aggie fans are taking part in one of the A&M traditions found at baseball games. The yell continues throughout the conversation on the pitcher's mound, and if the request is not met, it is followed by a resounding "Tease!" 

♦ Video Tour of Blue Bell Park (youtube.com)

♦ FAIL: