Can We Finally Call Texas A&M A Cult? This Cringy Video Sure Makes It Seem Like One

Andrew Mies·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Texas A&M
@TexAgs

As a Big Ten guy, I tend to stay out of SEC matters but given conferences don’t really mean anything anymore, I feel it’s high time to say that Texas A&M has a strange, strange culture.

Sure, Johnny Manziel was fun to watch, the infamous “Ball 5” chant during baseball is pretty cool, and the “12th Man” environment at Kyle Field is one of the best in the country, but all of that doesn’t even come close to outweighing the weirdness, and dare I say cult-like nature of the university.

For starters, they pose as a quasi-military school despite around only 3% of their students actually serving, which is odd enough, but things get much, much stranger.

They have an official list of “Aggie Terminology” that both students and sports fans are encouraged to use, they hold an “Elephant Walk” before the last home football game of the season where seniors “mark the end of their usefulness to the student body” by walking around campus hand in hand, and they have a list of songs that all involved are supposed to know and sing along to, which include “Aggie War Hymn” and “The Spirit of Aggieland,” along with many more traditions not officially sanctioned by the university.

Oh yeah, they have secret hand shakes to identify former Aggies and apparently there’s some secret guidebook that explains the reasoning behind the seemingly thousands of traditions housed within the institution.

Granted, going to college and being part of something larger than yourself is a great experience and of course each school is going to have their own little quirks that most will look back on fondly, albeit with a chuckle, but Texas A&M just goes far and away beyond the realm of reasonability.

Need a more current example? Let’s look at a video posted by an official Texas A&M account just yesterday.

The A&M Women’s Tennis team won the National Championship this year (big congrats to them) and there was a celebration of sorts where everyone gathered together to honor the team and their accomplishments.

Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, they didn’t just have some pizza and pass out awards, no that would be too normal. They just had to throw their arms around each other and sway side to side, singing one of their songs while the pep squad did their strange finger-guns-to-the-sky dance and thankfully, it’s getting ridiculed online as it should be.

Take a look for yourself.

Yep, looks completely normal to me (not).

Here’s some of the best reactions to the video, proving that I’m not alone in my confusion at the entire culture of this university:

I mean, what are we doing people?

There’s no doubt going to be a documentary at some point in the future where we see the backend shenanigans of whoever’s organizing this and I look forward to it.

If you’re a current or former Aggie, please defend yourself in the comments because I need to hear the other side of this. For all those who think it’s strange, well… let it rip because I think it’s high time we put an end to this behavior.

It doesn’t have to be this weird, man…

 

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