OU vs. Tulsa

Today marked one of my favorite days of the entire year: The official beginning of the 2011 Oklahoma Sooner's football season! This year was even better because me and Heather were able to go to the game. Heather has never been to a college football game and her first is in Norman versus an in-state team where we live! I've only been to one other OU game (2008 OU vs. Texas Tech) and it ranked in the top 5 most amazing experiences in my life! As of today, that game still ranks #1 in attendance at 85,646. The game today was not far behind at 85,620 in attendance.

We parked nearly a mile from the stadium and showed up almost two hours prior to the game. I gave my last $10 in cash to the parking lot we parked in. We began our march, first past three or four more parking lots before we made our way into the rent houses that surround the stadium. We didn't have any idea where we were going because we couldn't see the stadium so we just followed everybody else. This led us down some rather creepy alleys where people sat on their screened-in porches watching us wander by.

Then we heard it, and smelled it. The alley opened up into a parking lot where a large grill was set up and people were standing in large lines for food. Just beyond them, a sea of crimson wandering the streets. We had arrived! First order of business: food. With no cash (Yes, I really forgot to hit the ATM), our options were limited but luckily, the first corner we turned put us dead center in front of a Which-which. They were absolutely packed, but after our trek thru the heat, we were alright waiting in line to give us time to cool off.

After we ate, we began our final journey across campus to the stadium. It was at this point, while staring at nothing but crimson and cream I had this thought, "I have absolutely no affiliation to this school, but I am filled with pride just to walk it's campus."

We went around the east side of the stadium so we could walk thru Heisman Park and see the statues, particularly the new Sam Bradford statue that was erected on Thursday. There were a million people surrounding it but eventually got in enough so Heather could go stand next to it so I could snap a picture.

Afterward, we headed to the stadium. I tucked my "little" camera under my arm in hopes they'd let me in with it and headed to the gates. I didn't get so much as a glance when entering so my day was looking up! Seats close to the field with a camera with an optical zoom up to 35x? Yes, please :) We found our seats, got a couple drinks and settled in to watch Oklahoma Memorial fill up.

The intro video this year is absolutely amazing, even touching, with the mention of Austin Box who passed away in the off-season. It was very powerful. After the video wrapped up, the boys shot out of the tunnel and entered the field to the roar of 85,000+ fans.

The game went fine. Started a little weak but finished strong with a 47-14 victory over Tulsa. On the way out, we scrambled over to the tunnel to watch the players retreat to the locker rooms.

It took us nearly an hour and a half to get from the stadium to Moore, OK due to traffic. We even got a little rain on the way home. We arrived back in Broken Arrow around 2:45am and dug thru my pictures and videos before finally passing out.

Tulsa has a promising year now that OU is done with them. GJ Kinne is a fantastic quarterback who hasn't deserved half the attention he deserves. Unfortunately, their (arguably) best player and receiver was arrested on a felony embezzlement charge. I just want to say for the record that he is an idiot. He had millions of dollars waiting to be stuffed into his pockets when (not if) he went pro and he gave all of that up for $31 in Macy's clothing. Remember Rhett Bomar after he got canned from OU? I didn't think so.

OU has a very promising season as well. Pre-season ranked #1 in the nation. As awesome as that is, it almost guarantees us a loss at some point, maybe in week 2 at Florida State? If it's gonna happen, I hope it's then and not late in the year versus OSU.

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