The Ozinga Outlook: A&M vs. UK Basketball

Someone please do tell me what a gal is supposed to do when she bleeds both maroon and blue! Oh my!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday celebration in College Station. Isaac and I had to drive separately since none of us have a car for more than five, but he rested after MS 150 training, and I jammed out to real TEXAS country music. Why can't Houston have one of those? College Stations has four. Yes, count them, four! I like Nashville country, but a girl needs her Texas pride too. The joy that crescendos in my soul as I turn on to Highway 6 each time I make the drive back to the Promised Land has no limits. It is pure, overwhelming bliss!

Anyway, we met Mom, Dad, David, and Laura at Blue Baker for a feast before the game. Oh, Blue Baker, how I miss you.

The Memorial Student Center (MSC) underwent a HUGE renovation the past few years. It officially reopened in April, but I hadn't had a chance to visit it yet. After lunch, we headed to campus to shop and explore. The MSC is certainly still the same building, but it's so new and fresh! I would love to see seniors doing boot races down the main hall on a week day. Whoop! The Flag Room was comfortingly left unchanged, and even on a weekend, there were plenty of students around. The memories that flooded back were a bit overwhelming. I loved my time at A&M like none other, and I would go back and do it all over again in a heart beat, minus the being sick 2 1/2 years of my four years there. That would be just peachy!

Flag Room

New main entrance

Rudder Fountain

Mecca: Kyle Field


Onesie and Tutu for a baby shower present. Thank you, MSC book store!

The game was going to start whether we made it to Reed Arena or not, so it was finally time to face the music and admit that the impossible was about to happen. A&M was playing UK in Aggieland. This Kentucky gal never dreamed that the school I grew up adoring and the school that helped shape me into who I am would be rivals. The move to the SEC is wreaking havoc on my emotions. All six of us cheered for A&M, as we should, but it was still strange not to join in on the UK cheers and eruptions on good plays. The game itself was horribly sloppy. A&M hasn't played well since they won against UK at Rupp three weeks ago, and UK has just been a bunch of high schoolers all season. We had fun chatting with other families with divided hearts, and we were a bit shocked that half the arena was full of blue. Come on Aggies! Support your teams! The game went into overtime, and the Aggies lost by 4 when all was said and done. We had a great time in spite of it, and Mom enjoyed her birthday celebration. I suppose this will be a twice yearly ritual from now on with these two teams. Oh, help us all! Gig 'em, and Go Big Blue!