Theme of the Week-Olsen Field
My favorite stadium is Olsen Field, home of the Fightin' Texas Aggies and the best place to watch a college baseball game.
It's thirty-one years old, and Leo's been taking care of it since then. He's won awards for the shape he keeps the field in. The set up is great and it has the best sight lines. The double grandstand keeps everyone close to the field. It used to have a great view of Kyle Field (our football stadium) but then they put up a bunch of barns in the way.
But the atmosphere at Olsen is what makes it awesome. We call it Olsen Magic. The student section is always pretty full and we make noise. We call out to the opposing pitcher, and heckle the other players, coaches, and umps. There are so many Olsen traditions that I couldn't possibly list them all here:
Shark chomp clap for a big hit, bantering with the public address announcer, ball five, twosies, yelling "hello" to people on their phones, yelling "between innings" to people who walk in front of you during the game, rally caps, Rally Rooster.
There's a small parking lot behind the left field fence and that's called Aggie Alley. People pay for a spot out there and then they park their big pickup trucks with couches in the beds, start up some barbecue, and sit and watch and heckle the left fielder. And there's a really big park out front where people tailgate and have picnics before the game. They bring their RVs and hook up out there and you can always see kids playing catch and stuff.
And perhaps one of the most awesome thing about Olsen is the different personalities of the different sections and the pride people take in being from a certain section. You move from one section to another, and you can tell the difference. Personally, I'm partial to Section 203. I think we have the funniest hecklers. To the left of us is Canada, sections 204-206ish. I used to sit there, but moved, found 203, and never looked back. To the right of us is 201 where the Corner Boys sit (it's the very edge of the stands) and 202 which some people call Mexico (not including me). There's the right field bleachers where-I kid you not-I once saw some girls out there tanning. They're usually pretty empty unless we're playing a big game, and the people out there I think mostly sit there to give the opposing bullpen grief (the bullpen is right in front of the bleachers). That rounds out the student seating/general admission. There's Aggie Alley which I already told you about. Below us is 103/104 where Prop Guy (literally brings a duffel bag of props), Kman (hangs the Ks), and other Aggie grads sit. The mostly quiet people are on the third base side of the stadium.
Olsen Field (like all Aggie venues) sells Slovacek sausage. Guys. Slovacek sausage is the best sausage ever.
Everyone's usually really nice and friendly. The ushers (at least the ones in my section) are fun to get to know. Gary was awesome and whenever we saw him go off to tell a person "don't do that" or "don't hang over the rail" we'd say, "Git 'im, Gary!" And we had Nelda last year... she just spoils us. She regularly brings candy and baked goods for us to pass around. It's just really nice of her.
Not only is it my favorite stadium... it's my favorite place in the world. Walking up those steps, gradually revealing the field before you while "Dream On" plays over the speakers. It's home. It must be just like living in paradise.
The view from my section.
The fence around the park.
This one was taken by Wildmen03 at TexAgs.
It's thirty-one years old, and Leo's been taking care of it since then. He's won awards for the shape he keeps the field in. The set up is great and it has the best sight lines. The double grandstand keeps everyone close to the field. It used to have a great view of Kyle Field (our football stadium) but then they put up a bunch of barns in the way.
But the atmosphere at Olsen is what makes it awesome. We call it Olsen Magic. The student section is always pretty full and we make noise. We call out to the opposing pitcher, and heckle the other players, coaches, and umps. There are so many Olsen traditions that I couldn't possibly list them all here:
Shark chomp clap for a big hit, bantering with the public address announcer, ball five, twosies, yelling "hello" to people on their phones, yelling "between innings" to people who walk in front of you during the game, rally caps, Rally Rooster.
There's a small parking lot behind the left field fence and that's called Aggie Alley. People pay for a spot out there and then they park their big pickup trucks with couches in the beds, start up some barbecue, and sit and watch and heckle the left fielder. And there's a really big park out front where people tailgate and have picnics before the game. They bring their RVs and hook up out there and you can always see kids playing catch and stuff.
And perhaps one of the most awesome thing about Olsen is the different personalities of the different sections and the pride people take in being from a certain section. You move from one section to another, and you can tell the difference. Personally, I'm partial to Section 203. I think we have the funniest hecklers. To the left of us is Canada, sections 204-206ish. I used to sit there, but moved, found 203, and never looked back. To the right of us is 201 where the Corner Boys sit (it's the very edge of the stands) and 202 which some people call Mexico (not including me). There's the right field bleachers where-I kid you not-I once saw some girls out there tanning. They're usually pretty empty unless we're playing a big game, and the people out there I think mostly sit there to give the opposing bullpen grief (the bullpen is right in front of the bleachers). That rounds out the student seating/general admission. There's Aggie Alley which I already told you about. Below us is 103/104 where Prop Guy (literally brings a duffel bag of props), Kman (hangs the Ks), and other Aggie grads sit. The mostly quiet people are on the third base side of the stadium.
Olsen Field (like all Aggie venues) sells Slovacek sausage. Guys. Slovacek sausage is the best sausage ever.
Everyone's usually really nice and friendly. The ushers (at least the ones in my section) are fun to get to know. Gary was awesome and whenever we saw him go off to tell a person "don't do that" or "don't hang over the rail" we'd say, "Git 'im, Gary!" And we had Nelda last year... she just spoils us. She regularly brings candy and baked goods for us to pass around. It's just really nice of her.
Not only is it my favorite stadium... it's my favorite place in the world. Walking up those steps, gradually revealing the field before you while "Dream On" plays over the speakers. It's home. It must be just like living in paradise.
The view from my section.
The fence around the park.
This one was taken by Wildmen03 at TexAgs.