Don't act like A&M has a corner on the market of college students acting the fool. Agreed. But A&M is the only school that seems to rationalize and support it.
Before I go any further, can someone first tell me why Nebraska fans were rushing the field after beating the Aggies? Sheesh. This is the biggest quesiton I have on my mind. Are things really that bad for that school right now? How the mighty have fallen...that's almost embarassing. Anyways... I've never heard of Aggie fans rushing someone elses field after a victory. For God Sakes, we don't even trample all over our own damn field after a victory over the Longhorns! Why can't some of these other schools show the same respect? Whether you think the traditions are stupid or not, you should at least respect them while you're on the campus, no matter how much of an ******* you are. Second of all, to those of you who want to use isolated incidents by a couple stupid Corps member to judge the entire school need to take off your Aggie-Hatin' caps. Obviously, it reflects badly on the school, there's no denying that. But, it is by no mean indicative of the student body or alumni as a whole. The fact some people will look at this and say, "heh, well, that's an Aggie for ya," just makes me sick. I've seen Texas Tech fans throw batteries at Aggie players and ram field goal posts into Aggie fans; however, I'm smart enough to understand that 99% of Texas Tech fans are <b>not</b> violent, uncontrollable monsters. Furthermore, this isn't even the typical student body at A&M that are doing some of these things, this is a distinct group that has very little in common with the vast majority of the university. I am not defending someone for hitting another person in the head. This idiot should be seriously punished. But, since there are also idiots in the world who are not A&M fans (believe it or not, there are), it looks like there will continue to be people from other schools who trample all over the field after winning at Kyle Field. In my opinion the Corps needs to address this right now. They should either make it clear to leave it to security, or go about a different method like asking the person(s) to please get off the field. If the person continues to not get off the field after kindly being asked and a fight breaks out, I wouldn't really care if that person got his ass kicked for being a disrespectful *******. However, just running on the field and wildly taking cheap shots is ridiculous and embarassing to the school.
Aggies field old questions after skirmish By Brent Zwerneman San Antonio Express-News Web Posted : 10/30/2002 12:00 AM COLLEGE STATION — The 55 American flags atop Texas A&M's Kyle Field honor the Aggies killed in World War I. The grass beneath and between the flags, so often torn asunder by soiled football players, does not. That's why Athletic Director Wally Groff, a 1964 A&M graduate, has a hard time figuring out why the field of Kyle has a mythical reputation as some sort of war memorial. "There's no policy about not having anyone on the field because it's a memorial," Groff said Tuesday. "I'd never even heard of that, other than in recent years. It certainly wasn't that way when I was in school. To say that's a myth is to use as good a word as any." But that myth also provides some Aggies with the excuse of trying to whip opposing fans who rush onto the field following a football game. It happened again last Saturday, as a Corps of Cadets member swung at and hit a Nebraska fan who sprinted onto the field after the Cornhuskers' 38-31 win. And now, an investigation between the Corps and A&M's department of student life is under way to determine exactly what happened Saturday, and to ensure that it doesn't happen again. "It certainly reflects poorly on the young man, the Corps of Cadets and Texas A&M in general," Groff said of the incident. While the recipient of the hit, a 21-year-old Nebraska student, didn't want to press charges against the unnamed Corps member, he did file some paperwork with A&M university police. The report said that the back of the student's neck was "red and swollen," and that's got the Corps command saying it's seeing red. "It's not the Corps' duty to keep people off of the field," said Maj. "Doc" Mills, Corps of Cadets spokesman. "That's the job of law enforcement. Neither the Commandant office or the university condones any sort of public misconduct by any of our cadets." Mills said if the student — an "Officer of the Day" at the game — is found at fault, appropriate discipline will take place. Mills said the Corps' Officers of the Day — who can range from a handful at a game to about 20, depending on how many seniors are in that game's selected unit — are charged with "maintaining good order and discipline" among cadets attending the game. Order among visitors to Kyle Field usually hasn't been a problem in the R.C. Slocum era, as the coach has lost only 11 home games in his 14 years as head coach, thus subduing the emotions of opposing fans at game's end. But three of those losses have come this year, and No. 2 Oklahoma visits the unranked Aggies on Nov. 9. And once again, law-enforcement officials will line the visitors section of Kyle Field to try and keep fans off the field, although Groff said they're under instruction not to use force to remove anyone. "And the Corps definitely does not have the responsibility for enforcing such a deal," Groff said. "You prefer that people stay off of the field, just to keep the grass from being trampled on. But then when we win a ballgame, we know there are hundreds of Corps freshmen who chase down the Yell Leaders on the field (as an Aggies tradition) ... The field isn't sacred." Based on the latest fight on the field, Mills said Tuesday that the Corps is reviewing its policy of having "Officers of the Day" on the field, before anything worse than some swelling around the neck among opposing fans occurs. The most notorious incident involving a Corps of Cadets member and a visitor came in October 1981, when senior Greg Hood wielded his saber at an SMU cheerleader on the field after a 27-7 Aggies loss on Halloween. The university suspended a contrite Hood. Mills said cadets' sabers are now "locked down" in their case and can't be removed for such reasons as frightening visitors. More recently, some cadets tussled with Texas fans who stormed Kyle Field after the Longhorns won the final Southwest Conference crown, 16-6, in early December 1995. One arrest was made at that time when a UT fan reportedly hit an off-duty Bryan police officer in the groin with an orange. The injuries so far have been light — although the Bryan officer may not agree — in any kind of skirmishes between Aggies and visitors to Kyle. And A&M officials said Tuesday they'll try and do what they can to keep it that way, especially with visitors having more reason to celebrate at Kyle after games these days. bzwerneman@express-news.net
I just find it humorous how some people fiercely defend the corps when they are obviously out of line, as is the case here. The corps isn't a police force and is not legally allowed to attack people who go onto Kyle field. Dressing a thousand (or however many of them there are) young men in military uniforms and giving some of them sabres probably riles them up and they lose their cool. Many aggies just get brainwashed during their time in college station and think that the corps can simply do no wrong. This whole thing about how they're above other students because some of them join the military as an officer is a pile of crap. I've got news for you Aggies - there are tons of non-corps college students at other universities who do the very same thing in joining the military as an officer. By the way - the corps have pulled their sabres on Rice students (my alma mater) in the past as well.
You really don't have a clue, do you? The majority of Aggies, are either not supportive of many things the Corps does, or they don't even care enough about the what the Corps does to give it any thought. I should know, I'm one of them. The Corps had little to no effect on my life while I was a student at A&M.
<B>Yeah, after reading the above article it really sounds like A&M supports it. </b> I guess I should have said "many A&M fans" rather than A&M. The University itself has never supported any of these types of things. Most other school's fans don't ever support ANY of these types of things.
No I think you're the one with no clue. Have you not read the fierce defense of the corps in this thread? Many Aggies are in fact supportive of the corps.
First of all, Refman is the only <b>one</b> I see that supports this, and I'm not sure if he's really saying he supports it or not. I just thought he was commenting on how stupid a person can be to come on the field after being warned over the PA system that fans are not allowed on the field. If Refman does actually support what happened, then I disagree with him. There are going to be idiots who are going to run out onto the field, and security personnel should take care of it, not members of the Corps. Did you check the link to one of the Aggies message board that someone provided? Most Aggies are disgusted by this. Your insinuation that most Aggies think the Corps can do no wrong is untrue.
The Corps was wrong... This is why you employ stadium security...to keep people off the field...you don't charge that duty to a bunch of college kids running around with sabres. It's ridiculous, it's indefensible, and it should be stopped.
Rule of law... government of laws but not men....that's the law....blah blah blah....blah blah blah....sound familiar?
I don't support it...I just think it's a little disingenuous to do something knowing what might happen and then b**** when it does. Not true...when I was in school there Parsons Mounted Cavalry was disbanded due to an incident. That was a move that the vast majority of students supported. The Cavalry had a history of abuses. Most of us think that in many ways the Corps needs reform - ie closer tabs on hazing - but that could be said about frats etc as well.
He said that defending a crime was disgusting. If he had committed a crime that would be inconsistent. That's the point I was making. BTW...do you have anything useful to say here? I didn't think so.
The feeling is mutual. Whatever. You said the AM cadet dude should have the right to take the law into his own hands and defend his "yard" I don't necessarily disagree, but you have frequently set yourself up in the past to be hoisted by your own petard by robotically espousing a hardline "rule of laws/laws, laws, laws" approach in other contexts, and now apparently you're willing to discard it if the outcome is at odds with a position you favor.
Yes, though I don't believe it applied to intentional torts. In any event, 18th C. English legal doctrine doesn't really seem like it applies here.
it's a legal impossibility for the corps to make the assumption of the risk argument...one can't assume the risk of another perpetrating a crime or an intentional tort against him. can you imagine if that were really so? "yeah...he came into our neighborhood...he knew we were tough S.O.B.'s...he knew we put people down before...so we didn't do anything wrong...he assumed the risk!"
I agree that this is not a case for assumption of the risk...my post was meant to be tongue in cheek. But I must state that it IS possible for it to apply to an intentional tort or a crime. If you and I were hanging out and decided to have an impromptu boxing match, we could beat each other silly. An act that in the absence of the agreement would be both an intentional tort and a crime. For the record...I never said that there shouldn't be prosecution. I merely commented on the character of the individual who ran onto the field and decided to whine later. Nobody handled the situation particularly well.
ref, your earlier posts sounds like you thought the UNL guy deserved it. Since when does running on to the field warrant a shot to the back of the head? And, why is it only expected at atm? Past history I guess? Also, when the PA announcer said "stay off the field" was that follwed by "or you'll be punched?" It's sad that a few bad "future generals" can make a good university look bad. I think Groff's handling of the situation has been correct thus far.
This may be the only thing Groff has done right in his entire tenure at A&M. I don't think that the guy from Nebraska "deserved it." But I DO think that he shouldn't be b****ing about it given the fact that he KNEW what could happen.
