9th Annual First Yell, August 31, 2007

College Station's Texas A and M is a school rich with traditions. One of the newest, but best, in my opinion, is First Yell. First Yell is for the new students, returning students and the community to get acquainted. It's the start of football season with the promise of fall right around the corner. We lack the crisp apple weather, but not the crisp apple mentality!

Yell is by no means new. According to custom in 1907 when A and M was a military college restricted to males only, a little company from the ladies was welcome. Aggies would invite ladies from Texas Women's University to take the train ride to College Station for football games. Games are not an automatic admit! A certain amount of tickets are set aside for guest and these are doled out according to rank, with Freshman rarely getting the opportunity to bring guests. At one game, according to local lore, the Aggies were being trampled and the lady guests were none to happy. The boredom of a losing game was to much for the ladies and they threatened to leave. Upperclassmen ordered the "fish" to entertain the ladies. They stormed a janitors closet and out they trooped in white coveralls and, in grand tradition led the crowd with their cheers. This was the last time the underclassmen got to perform. After all, too much attention from the ladies isn't good for fish!

To find out more about the tradition of Yell go to http://yell.tamu.edu/.

Today's First Yell is an event! It has evolved from being an exciting prelude to the first game of the season to a stunning display of Aggie spirit and some great entertainment!

9th Annual First Yell is about to come out of the box!!!!! OK, in the past we've had some awesome headliners here; Bill Cosby, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Wayne Brady have graced our city with their presence
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This year...drum-roll please...we are graced with the likes of Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, from the hilarious ABC show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", these stars have began touring together in a critically acclaimed 2 man improv show "An Evening With Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood".

This College Station extravangza starts out with Aggie performers. The Singing Cadets and Aggie Wranglers perform! What a treat!!! These skilled groups are world class (and travel around the globe to show it!) then the headliner begins. Afterwards the talented performance at the Midnight Yell is enjoyed by all!

Tickets go on sale July 28th and can be picked up at Reed Arena, by calling 888-99-Aggie, or by visiting http://www.12thmanfoundation.com/.