College Station

Warning: The Aggies Have Drones & Are Prepared To Use Them

All you teasippers out there, be on the lookout. Cougars, keep your head on a swivel. Baylor Bears, pray to your God. The Aggies have drones, and they're launching them. As far as we know, the drones are unarmed. As far as we know. We are not saying you should ease up on your surveillance, but t ... More >>

Move Over, Johnny Football! Kevin Sumlin To Be Named WWE World Champion On Sunday

2012 was an unbelievable whirlwind for Texas A&M head football coach Kevin Sumlin. After quickly making the transition from Houston to College Station last spring, Sumlin went to SEC Media Day in July and basically learned that the respect level from the rest of the SEC for his Aggies was practicall ... More >>

Houston Area Might See Some Winter Weather as Soon as Friday

It's so damn hot in Houston most of the time, we forget what cold weather feels like. Then, we get a week where it doesn't make it out of the 50s and we wish for warmer climates if only because frozen margaritas seem so much less appealing when it is 40 degrees outside. Right now, we're in the midst ... More >>

Karbach Tap Takeover Invades Houston Bars in 2013, Plus Hellfighter Bottles

You can hardly throw a rock in Houston these days without hitting a Karbach beer. Most larger grocery stores and liquor stores carry their canned beer 365 days a year. Hundreds of bars from The Hay Merchant down to local ice houses have their tap handles in their lineup of draft beer. It's an encour ... More >>

Huntin' Season Begins: A Collection of Old-Time Hunting and Boozing Ads

Right now in the state of Texas, thousands of virile Texan fathers, uncles, brothers and grandpas are heading to leases all over this great part of the union to track, shoot, skin and mount furry things. Yes, it's hunting season again in the Lone Star State. Whether you are wielding the family d ... More >>

Crystal Marie Mosquera: Accused Shoplifter Planned Ice Cream, Beer and Cucumber Party, Police Say

This week's entrant in the Crystal Crime Report is Crystal Marie Mosquera. College Station cops say they picked up the 19-year-old Thursday evening outside an area Walmart after she was seen placing numerous items in a reusable shopping bag, defying a security guard's order to stop and attempting to ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Campus Shooters & Emily Dickinson

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

Texas A&M Issues a "Code Maroon"; Two Cops Shot, Suspect Arrested (UPDATED w/Constable Death)

Texas A&M officials issued a "Code Maroon" warning to the nearly empty College Station campus in connection with an incident in which two law-enforcement officers were shot. An "active shooter" in the 200 block of Fidelity near campus caused the warning, and the school warned students to avoid the ... More >>

Teresa Ann Kruk: Fiery Fourth Leads to Felony DWI Charge

We've said it before, we're saying it again, and, sadly, we are sure we will have to say it some more down the line: drunk driving is dumb and utterly irresponsible. Drunk driving with a kid aboard is much worse, and doing both of the above with a barbecue pit full of hot coals in the bed of your t ... More >>

Omar Daniel Gonzalez-Torres: Craigslist Prank Backfires, Leads to April Fool's Day in Jail

According to what he told police, Omar Daniel Gonzalez-Torres was upset at the way a woman was treating his girlfriend, so he chose the route of high-tech vengeance. Posing as his girlfriend's alleged antagonist, the 21-year-old College Station man took out a Craigslist "casual encounters" ad offeri ... More >>

Rocks Off's Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Miranda Lambert

Date: March 13 Name: Miranda Lambert AKA: "The Other Woman" Genre: Music to burn down your ex-boyfriend's house to

Pop Rocks: R.E.M. - Talking About The Passion

So terribly, terribly young.​News of R.E.M.'s demise yesterday wasn't so much greatly exaggerated as it was endlessly propagated. I follow less than 100 people on Twitter and I'd conservatively estimate 500 of them made some mention of it. Quite a reaction to what has to be one of the most und ... More >>

Pop Rocks: R.E.M. -- They Got There From Here

So terribly, terribly young.​News of R.E.M.'s demise yesterday wasn't so much greatly exaggerated as it was endlessly propagated. I follow less than 100 people on Twitter and I'd conservatively estimate 500 of them made some mention of it. Quite a reaction to what has to be one of the most und ... More >>

For Texas A&M: A Guide to the SEC

Welcome to the family, Aggies.​Earthshaking news that you might have missed if you're not a sports fan: Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 to go to the Southeastern Conference. If you're not a sports fan, perhaps your earth has remained unshaken, but it's a monster step for the Aggies. To help ... More >>

Ex-Con Jason Wayne Crockett Lives Up to Middle Name and Nickname

Brazos County JailJason Wayne "Crash 'Em Up" Crockett​We've said it before and we are duty-bound to say it again: Please, parents, get off the Wayne train when your baby needs a name. And as if having that apparently-crime-causing middle name wasn't bad enough, 28-year-old Jason Wayne Crocket ... More >>

An Aggie Tradition

The Brisket House on Woodway serves up a College Station classic.

Jeff Van Gundy Says "No Thanks" to Texas A&M

Jeff Van Gundy reacts to having to work with AAU "agents."​It seems like every year, as we head into the "boring phase" of the sports calendar (best known as the point where the Texans' and Rockets' offseason intersects with the Astros' regular season), some stories inevitably pop up to keep t ... More >>

Rain's A-Comin', And So's Your Chance to Win Hangover 2 Passes

Oh, it's coming​It looks like Houston will finally get hit with some serious rain -- the kind that comes, in spots, with nickle-sized hail, as happened in College Station. Let's face it: We need it. While you're enjoying this strange phenomenon, which should begin about 2 p.m. or so, don't f ... More >>

Alex Ford, Convicted of Drunkenly Driving a Maserati into a Cop, Asks for No Jail Time

Officer Terry Sheets faced loss of a leg ​Last year we told you about Alex Taylor Ford, now 23, the Houstonian who drove a Maserati into a College Station police car, hitting an officer who suffered severe leg injuries as a result. She blew a 0.164 after the incident; a jury convicted her of ... More >>

Parents Baffled By Outbreak of Birth Defects in Aggieland

Tied to plant fire? State will investigate.​When five families in Bryan-College Station conceived children with an uncommon -- and usually fatal -- birth defect, they began searching for answers. And now, state health investigators and Texas A&M researchers are also part of that search. The ... More >>

Sorry, Aggies: College Station Gets a "D"

Kazan is gonna be pissed.​Aggies may love their College Station, but the Daily Beast doesn't: The national Web site gives the city a "D" in its rankings of America's smartest college towns. College Station, you're no Cambridge or Berkeley. On the bright side, you're not South Bend, either: Th ... More >>

Aggies Shelter In Place With Gunman Report (UPDATED: All Clear)

Texas A&M is in a lockdown mode after reports of a man carrying an AK-47 on campus.The school's "Code Maroon" warning page says no gunman has been found, but police are still searching.Reporters listening to the local police scanner say the shooter is described as a white male with olive or gree ... More >>

Willie Movie Postponed; Woven Bones Cancel; Paul Wall Hosts Party

​Just a few late-breaking notes before Rocks Off gets the hell out of here... Austin lo-fi garage trio Woven Bones has canceled its show at Mango's tonight. No reason was given; all the more reason to go see Lightning Bolt and Indian Jewelry at Khon's. Aurora Picture Show's screening of W ... More >>

Megan Roiz, Young & Recessioned: Not Even A Magician's Assistant Job

​Today's installment of Young & Recessioned features Megan Roiz, a 21-year-old senior at Texas A&M from Sugar Land who is having a tough time finding a part-time job for the summer. The first job I got, I was 16. I've worked at two different pet stores, I did a counselor job for a summer c ... More >>

Aggies Recruit Teh Gheys

College Station, the San Francisco of Texas

Don't Start A Band, Unless You Can Deal With Slippery Bar Owners

​ Starting a band sucks, writing music sucks and getting your band's name out there sucks too. But what sucks most is dealing with incompetent club owners. This week, Rocks Off caught up with Chris Ginsbach, drummer for the Literary Greats, who told us a tale of malfeasance and uncouth behavior in ... More >>

Young & Recessioned: James Nguyen And the Oh-So-Elusive Dream Job

​Today's installment of Young & Recessioned features James Nguyen, a 25-year-old Texas A&M grad who spent close to ten months unemployed before landing his current position. I never had a dream job. I started in computer engineering, then made my way to the business school, and I did ... More >>

Aggie Professors Trying To Recruit Gays? That's What Happens When Your Football Team Sucks

​Perhaps there's a side of Aggieland that we've never experienced, but Texas A&M, along with the entire College Station area, has never struck us as a place that accepts alternative lifestyles.But that could be changing, because the school's Faculty Senate took a step to attract more gay profe ... More >>

Bulls On Parade: Our Favorite Songs About Livestock

​It's almost Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo time again. Our annual celebration of sub-par country music and pissed-off bovines stomping poor fools' nuts in the dirt kicks off March 2 and runs for almost three weeks. During which Houstonians will enjoy traffic-delaying wagon trains and more dou ... More >>

George H.W. Bush To Aggies: Please Don't Be Aggies When Obama Visits

​President Obama is headed to College Station Friday, at the invitation of former President George H.W. Bush, to speak about community service and whatnot.Obama, having already spoken at Notre Dame earlier this career, apparently decided to find an even more hostile environment. (Next stop: Bob Jo ... More >>

For Teddy: Our Favorite Dead Kennedys Songs

​That's right, we went there. Longtime Massachussetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, better known as Teddy, passed away late Tuesday night at age 77. News media sites have already gone to Defcon 2 - "A Famous Person Not Named Michael Jackson Has Died" - so Rocks Off thought we'd take a different appro ... More >>

The Disaster That Is College Station

​Via Swamplot, we've learned that College Station is a disaster. On purpose.Popular Mechanics offers a fascinating look at a 52-acre site near Aggieville that has been modeled to look like a town in the aftermath of a man-made or natural disaster. Finally, there is Disaster City itself, the urban ... More >>

Rice Students Get Their Art Displayed On Billboards! In, Ummm, College Station

Photo by west.mIt's not every day that college art students get to see their work displayed on billboards, but that's what's happening with a group of Rice seniors - they'll just have to drive to College Station to it.Rice University was kind enough to send Hair Balls a press release explaining how ... More >>

ARchiTecture: College of Architecture Faculty Biennial 2009

Web exclusive!

Bryan City Officials Trying To Star In Their Own Version of

If you're a cop, you know what kind of call you don't want to get?Well, obviously, there's plenty of them, come to think of it. But take away all the death and dismemberment, the ones involving kids and buddies getting hit, and you know what must suck?Answering a domestic-disturbance call at the pol ... More >>

“Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art”

Web exclusive!

No Germ Lab for You

Texans Get Dissed

The Gougers

Texas twang meets indie rock

Aggies Dissed, Miss Out On Getting A Dangerous New Lab

Luv Ya Maroon

Web Extra: More Aggies Behaving Badly

Rotten to the Corps: A Question of Justice at Texas A&M

Thanks to A& M and a district attorney, two cadets escape punishment for beating in a student's face

Cover Story: Rotten to the Corps

Big State, Big Ideas

Friendswood Is a Great Place to Live. Or So We Hear.

Too Bad A&M Doesn't Have a Law School

This Modern World

This Modern World

Blue Earth

Behind the Sun (Rehab Records)

Swinish Behavior

Texas A&M's attempt to push an animal research center on a black neighborhood has raised a sour smell in College Station