School Spirit; Dead dogs and Cowboy Orgies.

I can understand that some schools have traditions, but here at good ol' Texas A&M these traditions often border on the weird, the absurd or the downright creepy. Without further adeau, here are the two oddest traditions that I have heard of as of yet:

The Midnight Yell.

Before the game with the University of Texas, the biggest game of the year, over 20,000 students congregate in the stadium and participate in a group yell. This on its own doesn't seem very strange at all. But this is fucking TEXAS, and more specifically this is TEXAS A&M- of course it gets weirder. Firstly, everyone is instructed to "hump it". You have to literally bend over and scream, a practice also taken up by the friendly population of the Texas State Penitentiary. To ramp up the absurdity even further, all the lights in the stadium are turned off and everyone makes out. Now to me, the gathering of coeds with the pretence of making out in the dark can only lead to three eventual outcomes:

1. Orgy.
2. hot cowboy man love.
3. random acts of violence (my personal favourite, which is probably a good indication of why I'm still single/ Not a gay cowboy.)

The Midnight Yell... probably.

Reveille, the Texas A&M Mascot.

Reveille is the pride and glory of Texas A&M. The full bred American Collie even holds the rank of a Five Star General in the cadet corps and must be referred to as Ma'am by all. It then comes as no surprise then that I got weird looks from my Residential Advisor when I posed the hypothetical question Would I get lynched if I rolled up and punted Reveille in the face? The answer was an unconvincing no by the way.

The idea of having a mascot is pretty cool, but as this is Texas A&M it gets way weirder. Up until only recently, a cadet would have to be stationed in the cememetry where all the the previous Reveilles are buried. He would then have to read out the football scores to the dead dogs. That is pet cemetery level insanity. What do they expect is going to happen, a zombie paw breaking the earth's surface in celebration? A muffled undead bark-moan?

Regardless, these absurd traditions really help to create a unique school spirit that even the most cynical redcoat can get behind.


EDIT: The Texas A&M merchandise is completely ridiculous and awesome. I don't want to ruin any suprises, but you guys back at home are going to get some pretty cool shit come christmas time.