Gig Em!

Last weekend I was in College Station, TX. Home of the Texas A&M Fightin' Aggies! When God created ‘traditions’ he must have been thinking about Texas A&M. My Lord (no pun intended) this school has some traditions. There’s traditions for everything. I can’t verify this but this school probably has a tradition for your first restroom experience on campus. Who knows?

Well, one of the many traditions in AggieLand is this thing called the “ring dunk.” I’m not an Aggie so my terminology might be off but basically it’s a time-honored tradition for when a soon-to-be graduate gets their class ring. It happens when the coed has enough credits (usually junior year some time). Well when the ring comes in the student dunks his/her ring in a pitcher of beer. Usually, several students participate in the “dunk” altogether. It's an event.

The idea is simple. Drink all the beer until you get the ring in your mouth. Try not to puke your face off and then put the ring on your finger. Yeah! It’s preferred that you drink as fast as possible. Puking is expected. From what I have gathered, you're exceptionally ‘cool’ if you can do this quickly and not lose your lunch. Well, this past weekend I got to witness one of these events. It was amazing! I got teary-eyed just watching it. Mind you I didn't know any of the ring dunkers and I get emotional for no reason sometimes.

Heck, I don’t even have a class ring. And as much as I love beer I’ve never slammed a whole pitcher of it. I got chills watching this in action. I saw a couple tough guys puke but all in all it was such a cool thing to witness. I really do have a place in my heart for College Station and I’m glad I married an Aggie. It’s truly a wonderful place and it is truly an experience in itself. The tailgating was unbelievable, as was the game I attended. But the best part of the whole experience is the people. People care for one another and there’s only one thing that matters… a Texas Aggie victory.

I encourage anyone reading this to go to a Texas A&M game. Spend the weekend there. Go to Whattaburger, Chick-Fil-A, Yell Practice, the Dixie Chicken and yell gig ‘em to a couple strangers. I promise you this… you’ll love it!