Best School Spirit EVER

This weekend we had a great doubleheader at the Toyota Center in Houston.  Texas played Michigan State in the opener and Texas A and M played LSU in the night cap.  It was a packed house with the Texas schools having the great majority of fans.  

During the opener, I was noticing the Longhorn people.  They had the cheers you see on tv and the normal flashing of the Horn signals.  I came to the game hoping both of the Texas teams would win.  Texas lost the opener and about 5 minutes before the game with A and M it happened.  As A and M took the court, they did the Aggie cheers.

This was my first Aggie athletic event.  I was told by many people including the great basketball pro Mike Newlin that I should go to an Aggie football game.  Anyway, I heard the cheer.  The first fight song was 8 times louder than the Longhorns sounded.  It was choreographed and the yell leaders were leading it with precision.  I cannot even describe it but it really gave me chills. It also moved my son who was in attendance with me.  Then they did another fight song that they joined arms in and did a swaying movement.  Now I was blown away.  Again, the precision and brotherhood and camraderie was amazing.

I have been to see Notre Dame play a few times, UCLA in football and played against them when Wooden was coach, Southern Cal and many more.  Nothing came close to what I witnessed with the Aggies....and it got me thinking.

What does all this sound like at Kyle field when there are ninety thousand people doing this in unison?  It must be incredible and that brought me to question number two.  How is this team not a top 10 team every year?  If I was a young man being recruited on the sidelines and saw this, I would sign on the dotted line in a split second.   If I was a great coach, there could not be many jobs I would covet more than Texas A and M.  Think about it.  You go in any direction for 200 miles and you have more college talent than anywhere in the country.  And you have this school spirit that is hard to describe unless you experience it.  

I have since asked some Aggies about this and they said when they first entered the Big 12 that all the visiting fans were just blown away by the school spirit.  It was like nothing they had ever seen.  I have since talked with Newlin about this.  Mike is a 10 year plus NBA veteran, and he said there is nothing like it anywhere.  And I thought I had seen it all. 

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                                                TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS PART II

I would be remiss if I did not wrap my last blog up by mentioning Linda Jones.  I was listening to the soul station and I heard the song Hypnotized.  I got the artist's name and promptly downloaded it and a few others by Miss Jones as well.  The  tune was produced very slick for its time.   I had heard it before and was fairly curious about the artist and wondered why she was not well known.  Linda Jones died backstage at the Apollo in the early 70's from a diabetes attack after a performance.  She gave it her all and died doing what she loved way before her time.  

On  a brighter note, check out Betty Lavette on the Austin City Limit web site.  She was a 60's Motown signee who is just now making it.  She reminds me of what Tina Turner  would be like now if she did not go pop... with just a touch of Mavis Staples in her voice.  Has a very strong Muscle Shoals band backing her as well.  Very worthwhile checking this out as someone who has paid their dues for 40 plus years and is starting to see the money roll in.  Very inspiring.

Try a Little Tenderness

I was walking around the other day and ran across the Top 100 Singers of All Time on Rolling Stone Magazine.  This title piqued my interest, so I had to look.  Sitting at number eight on the list was Otis Redding.  And there on the picture was Otis on his knees, with a microphone and a cord dangling while Otis was belting out a tune.  Otis was dressed in slacks and a white shirt and was in a cold sweat.  I felt a chill go up my spine.  This picture represented the feeling of passion better than anything I have seen in awhile.  Don't take it from me, take it from Booker T. Jones, famed keyboard artist of Booker T and the MG's regarding his audition the first time they met:

" It didn't seem like an audition at all.  It was a performance. It wasn't the size of his voice - we knew lots of people with vocal powers like that. It was the intent with which he sang.  He was all emotion. It was like, "this guy is definitely not singing for the money." I don't think he ever did."

To me that says it all,  the picture said it all.  As time has evolved and Otis has passed on, we have sayings now that it's all about the money.  Greatness for Otis apparently was never about the money...it was about the joy and the love of his craft, music. 

Today we have so called artists making millions with little or no music training.  I was told there is one man who hangs with a rapper who makes a certain sound and gets paid millions just to make a sound.  In every sense it feels like most of these people are in it for the money.  I don't resent that, but I would say that if there was such a thing as a time machine and Otis could be brought back to 2008, and Otis could be on stage with any contemporary artist, I think he would blow most of them away.  And I believe the contemporary fan would be awed.  Just a concert, no special effects, no garbage, just performing and how good are you really, without the fluff.

One other thing that hit me about the singers in the article was that a big number of them were proficient on musical instruments and knew about key changes and tempo and timing.   

Otis paved the way for artists to come.  It is a shame he left before his time at the young age of 26.  My favorites, Try a Little Tenderness, Respect, Tramp and These Arms of Mine.  But what do I know...I was the guy my friends called "Mr. Pitiful".