Reasons to Hate: Texas A&M

This season we're resurrecting an old feature charmingly called Reasons to Hate. As a public service to you, the Hog fan, we'll be providing a handy pre-game cheat sheet detailing why you should hate each one of the Razorbacks' opponents this fall. Some weeks will be easier than others...

1. The yell leaders. Clad in all-white outfits and displaying a downright demonic intensity, these guys, elected by the student body and responsible for leading the A&M crowd in cheers during games, are easy to hate. Check out this quote from a former head yell leader:

"Next to actually playing on the team, the only thing that can really rival it is maybe student body president. Everybody knows who you are. You get all the girls. I remember I used to have a different date come down every weekend. I couldn't keep them straight."

And how 'bout this charmer, uttered by a yell leader at a pep rally before the 2007 Alamo Bowl between A&M and Penn State:

"Joe Paterno’s on his deathbed and someone needs to find him a casket."

 In fact, the whole game-day experience at College Station appears to be a little ... frightening, the kind of thing that melts the hearts of authoritarian personalities everywhere. As commenter Double D Down Under said recently, "Went to a game at College Station in the early 2000s, and I swear it was part Nuremberg Rally, part State Fair." (By the way, thanks to Double D for the list of "hate" suggestions.)

2. Jackie Sherrill. Sure, it's been more than 20 years since he coached at A&M, but the memory of him strolling the Aggie sideline still raises our blood pressure a few points.

3. It's in Texas.