Our family moved to Stillwater when I was a kid. My father had returned to school and rented a house on the banks of Theta Pond, the OSU reflecting pool.
Looking back, I was probably too young to be wandering around the campus, but it was a different time then. Besides, it was practically my back yard.
My sister later got her degree at O-State. My other sister met her husband as a student there. I enrolled, but being the black sheep, never attended a single class, instead opting for a low-income radio deejay job offer.
Unlike some Cowboy fans, I never had an animosity for the University of Oklahoma. It was fortunate, since my son and daughter both attended OU. The only difficulty became who to pull for during the Bedlam games. I usually choose to pull for whoever has the most to benefit from a win.
I don’t really care to root against either team.
So, the upcoming OU-OSU football clash provided a particularly tough quandary, with the Cowboys ranked second in the nation and holding the cards to play at the final table. OU – on the other hand – is still in a position to call ‘all in.’
My heart is with OU these days, what with the memories associated with Father’s Day football games in Norman, campus corner visits, and the pride of being an alumnus parent. That being said, it was going to be a particularly tough Bedlam this year.
The Cowboys were at a new level. Until the crash.
In the wake of the plane crash that killed OSU women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna, the Cowboys football team was knocked down from its lofty BCS perch by a double overtime Iowa State upset. The 37-31 final was, in part, the result of interceptions thrown by Brandon Weedon, who may have played himself out of the Heisman Trophy hunt.
Perhaps for the first time, the Cowboys understand the heartbreak of a loss that ends incredible possibilities. OSU has handed such losses to the Sooners in the past. Friday night’s loss was the first of its type for the Cowboys.
Bedlam remains ahead. The stakes have changed. Both teams are now one-loss squads who had occupied a spot in the top two.
As for pulling for one team over another, the old formula remains. Cheer for the team with the most to gain.
At this point, I figure that is now the OU Sooners, with heartfelt and sincere condolences to the Cowboy nation.
