Here’s some attendance figures for sporting events in 2010:

- Six Nations Rugby - 70,351 (average)

- FA Cup - 88,335

- FIFA World Cup - 49,670 (average)

- Regular College Football Game between Texas A&M and Oklahoma University - 81,259

At only $80 (!) a ticket for seats in the nosebleed section, its not surprising that College Football is big business. Coaches get paid amounts that would make many Premier League managers happy. Mack Brown of Texas got paid $5.1M in 2010 (compared with Roy Hodgson of Liverpool who got £3M for the same year). Bob Stoops of Oklahoma was second with $4.3M and Mike Sherman of Texas A&M is way down the list at 28th with $1.8M.

As we saw today, the amount the coach gets paid is no guarantee of success (tell that to Texas, who had a 5-7 win-loss season this time around compared with 9-3 for arch rivals A&M). The Oklahoma Sooners (Sooners is a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement) lost only 2 games this season and one of them was this one to A&M (33-19 to be precise).

A college football game is a major event which you can tell just by looking at the schedule for the day:

Somewhere towards the end of the BBQs, hospitality tents, food and drink samples, games and military marches there’s the game that you came to see.

Military marches at a football game? This is limited to a few colleges that have their own Corps of Cadets like A&M. Over 2,000 Cadets attend A&M and they live their life immersed in military traditions and rules.

Here’s one such tradition. The mascot, Reveille. This is Reveille #1 from 1933 (not a dog you will ask to fetch much these days):

A&M are now on Reveille #8 seen here during the Corps march to the stadium just before the game starts:

And here’s some more of the 2,000 Corps who marched that day:

All college teams have their own band, but few of them will compare to A&M’s Corps band. They do everything with (not unsurprisingly) military precision. Here they are forming the A&M logo (large T with a small A and M on each side):

Now if you watch an A&M college game you might notice that a lot of people stand up most of the time. This is not because there’s a lack of seats or a high proportion of hemorrhoid sufferers. They are remembering King Gill, whose statue stands just outside Kyle Field, the A&M football stadium:

King Gill is known as the first “12th Man”. Back in 1922 King (a former A&M player) made himself available in case there was a need for a stand in. He didn’t actually play that day but his readiness to play was noted and he became known as the 12th Man. Since then all A&M students stand throughout the game to represent their readiness to join the team should they be required.

The “12th men” these days do sit down at one point though - during the opposing team’s band display!