Category Archives: football

football, memories, texas

Proud to be a Cameron Yoeman

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My alma mater competed in the state football championship tonight. Thanks to Fox Sports Southwest, I was able to watch the game online. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter I was able to watch it with fellow alumni, as we all screamed at our computer screens. Jumped up and down. And scared our children (literal for most of them, my cat just stayed far far away).

My Cameron Yoemen lost by 6 points in the last 30 seconds of a game that Hollywood could not have scripted. This game was what Texas High School football is all about. My friend told me via text that this game would be better than any collegiate or NFL game I’d watched all year…

…she was right.

I have always been proud of my alma mater. A school with family history. A school whose traditions so mirrored my college’s that the transition from one to another was seamless. But over time, I’d forgotten. I’d forgotten the adrenaline of a great high school football game. I’d forgotten the pride my school has. I’d forgotten how I am forever a Cameron Yoemen, with a loyalty that I find is hard to find in schools here in Tennessee. (Oh there’s a school pride, so no Nashvillians hang me for saying that. There’s just an almost rabid quality to it back home. There is a reason all the football movies made are set in Texas.)

I found myself glued to the computer screen, literally yelling and cheering for my team. I could hear the band play and found myself chanting old cheers along with the cheerleaders. I was 18 again for awhile.

To any Cameron Yoemen who might stumble upon this blog: HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH. What I watched tonight was the most incredible high school football game I’d ever witnessed. You’ll be back next year, fighting for that state title again. You played an incredible game, an incredible season. I wish I could have been in that high school parking lot in front of the athletic building, right along side dozens of other Yoe fans and alumni, welcoming you back home after a long ride back. You probably spent the ride going over the, “Coulda, woulda, shouldas” but they do no good now. No, now you need to bask in the glow of the best season this school has had in thirty years.

Congratulations, Yoemen. You did the whole Yoe Nation proud… you played an amazing game. Amazing. And when I come home at Christmas, I WILL be getting myself Yoemen swag to wear proudly around Music City… Because you have reminded me of a part of my roots I’d “forgotten” about, a part that I am ready to tell anyone who asks about.

GO BIG YOE!

football, tamu

Game thoughts: a rare football commentary

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My team won this weekend. 9 – 6 over Nebraska. I really wish I could bask in the glow of that win, but its been consistently tarnished left and right in various ways. So, I felt I should get this off my chest and off my mind. Forgive me if this is somewhat scattered… I NEVER do game commentaries. Too much passion follows them, and I hate how mean people can get. Sometimes I think talking football is worse than trying to talk politics or religion!

Texas A&M hasn’t had a decent season in years. We’ve not had a solid team and chance at ANYTHING since the 90s. And yet, I’ve stood behind them. All Aggies have stood behind them. I’ve been hassled about it by fans of other teams. (9 times out of 10 the hassler is a “fan,” not an honest to gosh former student, mind you. I find former students are usually more respectful. Mind you… I said usually.) I’ve worn my Aggie gear, and I’ve accepted our losses with frustration and glowed in our victories. Forgive me if I say it, but it’s about damn time we had a decent team and getting some recognition right along side the big dogs. Heck, the NCAA has ranked our schedule the toughest in the nation… and to have crawled our way up to 17 in the country is something I am going to be proud of having!! We did not work our way up into the rankings with ref help… which leads me to my next point.

There were bad calls in our game against Nebraska. There isn’t a single Aggie out there denying that fact. Did that last call for roughing the passer keep our drive alive? Yes it did. Was it a bad call? Yes it was. But just as the call kept our drive alive, it didn’t keep Nebraska from stopping us from field goal range again. It didn’t not leave enough time on the board for Nebraska to come back with a touchdown to still win it. There was not an Aggie out there that wasn’t holding their breath for the last 2 minutes of the game, praying our defense held once again.

The week before, I could throw the BS flag at several calls against us. It got to be where I joked that the Refs were wearing green underwear as they favored Baylor heavily. But at the end of the night, the refs are human. They call it as they see it at that time. And guess what… we STILL won the game. Bad calls and all.

Every game, you’re going to find bad calls or missed calls altogether. (I have seen countless games this season that have had “bad calls” have a direct effect on the score.) Its a component of the game for sure. But it isn’t all of it. And as A&M is slammed left and right that the refs won the game for us, I respond simply with, “There was still plenty of time in the span of the game for Nebraska to take it away. And yet they didn’t. And within that, we won.” Life hands you lemons… its what you make of those lemons the determines the outcome of things.

But, but, but… what about the video on YouTube? Yeahhh… that looks REALLY bad. But I’m also not going to crucify the whole team and Aggie nation (which is precisely what I see SO MANY people do). I’ve read countless rebuttals on that, and at the end of it all… only those guys in that pile know what was going on there.  And to quote my mom who quotes her dad: “Believe nothing you see and only half of what you hear.”  Meaning, we can analyze that video and all conclude something different. Until I hear something affirmative from somewhere, I’m going to treat that just as it is: a video that looks really bad on the Aggie player’s part.

Coach Pelini. Or perhaps I should really point out BOTH coach Pelinis, after the TexAgs camera debacle. I know a lot of Nebraska fans, and I know his/their actions are not accurate representations of the Cornhusker Nation. But if my child was thinking of going to play for him, I’d put a stop to that immediately. No one… NO ONE… deserves to be treated the way he treated his players and the refs. We all commented throughout the game that he was one curse word away from a heart attack or stroke. It was humorous to a degree, horrifying to another. His actions have out-shined our victory (and anything positive done on the Huskers side) 1000x over.  And maybe that was the point. I don’t know. But I am sad that as of Saturday night, I am no longer the least bit upset about Nebraska changing conferences.

On the other side of the ball, I could not have been prouder of the 12th Man. New record attendance at Kyle Field PLUS setting the record number of students at a college football game!? INCREDIBLE. I could feel the energy and excitement through the TV. I wished with all my heart that I could have been in those stands, singing the Way Hymn, waving my 12th Man towel, yelling every yell at the top of my lungs. The end shots of the Aggies all swaying arm and arm brought proud tears to my eyes.

From the outside looking in, you could never understand it. From the inside looking out, you could never explain it.  THAT was what that was for me. I could never explain it. Never in a million years. But it was powerful, and I was so proud.

Where do we go from here? I wish we could bask in the glow of the win, but between “controversy” and the fact that our next game in only days away… we can’t. We have to get our game faces right back on and turn our attention to Texas. A game that by records and rankings we should win with ease. But this is a game that will never be “easy” due to the passion it is played with. Throw out the record books, anything could happen.