No more Bowl game trips for my family for a while

[MamaMia]

We didn't get back in town until the wee hours of the morning yesterday. I have an uncontrollable and very passionate love for my alma mater and especially for my football team. All the while since the game, I've had to be cheerful and strong for the kids when I really just wanted to cry. My heart was breaking for everything and everyone OU. I haven't had my say so please allow me to get this off my chest without y'all getting all mad at me. :(

No matter how hard my family and I tried to make happy, this last BCS bowl game loss, which is the 4th in a 5 year period, was a big pill to swallow. We've spent a big chunk of our hard earned savings to show up and "cheer like a champion" for teams wearing crimson and cream who I didn't even recognize. For us, looking forward to the next Bowl game trip on the schedule is what keeps us hanging on after whatever fiasco of a bowl game we endured the year before. Three of the four last BCS bowl losses weren't just losses, they were total embarrassments. It takes us a good healthy win to heal that kind of wound. This last loss was like a slow motion train wreck, and a very expensive one at that. Twice now we have walked out of bowl game stadiums with the opponents fans feeling pity for us. USC cheered for us when we scored that last TD. There is something really wrong with this picture.

I stayed at USCs hotel during the Orange Bowl and either stayed at or attended ongoing functions at OUs hotels the other games. I have noticed that there is a big difference in how the Sooners prepare for a bowl game. What I've observed since TGOWWDNS is our team having lots of fun running around town, dancing on beaches, shopping, going to the movies and visiting places when our opponent stays together doing things to get ready for us. They are solely there to do one thing and one thing only, which is to beat OU.

Flying and driving across the country for all these losses has taken a toll on us. :O

Thanks for allowing me to whine for a bit. I feel a little better. :)

[birddog]

good post, mama. you are a great fan.

[The Maestro]

We didn't get back in town until the wee hours of the morning yesterday. I have an uncontrollable and very passionate love for my alma mater and especially for my football team. All the while since the game, I've had to be cheerful and strong for the kids when I really just wanted to cry. My heart was breaking for everything and everyone OU. I haven't had my say so please allow me to get this off my chest without y'all getting all mad at me. :(

No matter how hard my family and I tried to make happy, this last BCS bowl game loss, which is the 4th in a 5 year period, was a big pill to swallow. We've spent a big chunk of our hard earned savings to show up and "cheer like a champion" for teams wearing crimson and cream who I didn't even recognize. For us, looking forward to the next Bowl game trip on the schedule is what keeps us hanging on after whatever fiasco of a bowl game we endured the year before. Three of the four last BCS bowl losses weren't just losses, they were total embarrassments. It takes us a good healthy win to heal that kind of wound. This last loss was like a slow motion train wreck. and a very expensive one at that. Twice now we have walked out of bowl game stadiums with the opponents fans feeling pity for us. USC cheered for us when we scored that last TD. There is something really wrong with this picture.

I stayed at USCs hotel during the Orange Bowl and either stayed at or attended ongoing functions at OUs hotels the other games. I have noticed that there is a big difference in how the Sooners view a bowl game. What I've observed since TGOWWDNS is our team having lots of fun running around town, dancing on beaches, shopping, going to the movies and visiting places when our opponent stays together doing things to get ready for us. They are solely there to do one thing and one thing only which is to beat OU.

Flying and driving across the country for all these losses has taken a toll on us. :O

Thanks for allowing me to whine for a bit. I feel a little better. :)

BINGO! This is who I said I felt sorry for when I was whining about my free tickets and having to drive home all of 50 miles that night. MamaMia is committed...and that has to get frustrating, especially the amount of coin shelled out. Yes, a personal choice, but it also sounds like a personal choice not to do it again until some better results on the field.

I don't blame you, MamaMia. Totally understand your position.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Stay strong, Mama. I'm pullin' for you and others like you just as much as I am Bob's boys.

Your dedication and commitment makes us one hell of a travelling fanbase. And with some time, there'll come a day I'll take my lil' blonde Sooner alum that's (for some unknown reason) decided to hold my arm and join you. Until then, keep the faith, Mama.

[Phil]

Yeah - no more bowl trips for a while for my crew, either. Well, for a year, anyway. You'll feel the same way, Mama, when the time comes, I promise.

[olevetonahill]

Yeah - no more bowl trips for a while for my crew, either. Well, for a year, anyway. You'll feel the same way, Mama, when the time comes, I promise.
What I was thinkin :D

[85sooners]

i have been to the last seven bowl games and i am sick!!!!!!!!!!

[mdklatt]

What I've observed since TGOWWDNS is our team having lots of fun running around town, dancing on beaches, shopping, going to the movies and visiting places when our opponent stays together doing things to get ready for us. They are solely there to do one thing and one thing only, which is to beat OU.


Replace OU with Florida State and you just described the 2001 Orange Bowl. Is Stoops mellowing out??

[TripleOption14]

I was thinking about this over the weekend. Its getting to the point where it SEEMS like the fans should boycott the bcs game until the team can prove that they have stopped selling wolf tickets to the fans. Not that boycotting will make them play any better but who knows maybe we as fans are the jinx. Just a thought.

[cvsooner]

I've been to three Fiesta Bowls involving the Sooners, and we're 0-3. For the good of the program, I don't see myself ever going back to Phoenix for a bowl game.

[auto]

I will be Australia next year, no worries for me.

[soonerfaninfla]

i am with you on this, but what bothers me, is that this problem has been so obvious for a few years now, but people have tended to just ignore the problem and pretend next year will be different. Now is the time for Stoops to take charge and get our team back

[cvsooner]

Ehhhhh. I'm not so sure it's so obvious. Okay, we're competitive with an injured QB in the Sugar Bowl, losing by seven. Then we got blown out by a team for the ages (USC would've killed anybody they played that night).

Then we have a down year, bounce back and beat Oregon in a different, non-BCS bowl.

Last year, what was really just an average or maybe less-than-average OU team more or lesss lucks into the Big 12 championship (hard to admit it, but it's true) and beats Nebraska. Boise State might not have had the athletes OU does, but they were a unit that had played together for three years and damned good. As it was, we stayed with them, clearly, to the very end. I don't know why we were favored in that game. I honestly don't.

Then WVU clobbers us like USC did.

There's some lack of chemistry in the coaching staff and the players. I think this group of Sooners like Bob and the staff, but they're missing leaders on the field...someone who just absolutely wants to win no matter what. That's my guess. Until a few players come up with that sense of winning--of having pride in competing and wanting to win--we'll see more of this. I'm not sure any coaching changes will improve that, either.

I posted elsewhere from players' comments to the media that beforehand it was clear the coaches had said the right things but for whatever reasons the players didn't get it done. Stoops then makes a couple of bad calls, strategically, in the third quarter, and phffft....that followed by 28 points in the third quarter in about two minutes just killed 'em.

I have watched the game again, and I do think there was more energy on the field than we're giving credit to the Sooners for...really a pretty aggressive defense. Too aggressive, perhaps. A defense against a running option attack has to be very patient. We weren't. You commit yourself and they go the other way.

I don't know...maybe the answer is to show up two days before the bowl game and tell the team, "if we win, we stay a week. We lose, we go home on the bus right after the game." To a certain extent, doesn't matter to the players otherwise. They still get the same freebies, get to spend a week on somebody else's dime at a world class resort. So they get embarrassed. So what? They weren't playing for the national championship. Nobody's yanking their scholarships if they don't win. Stoops takes all the heat (and/or the assistant coaches).

Boils down to personal pride. What I wouldn't give for a few guys on the field like Tulsa's Paul Smith or even the WVU fullback guy. I mean, the game means something to those guys, you know?

[TUSooner]

...I have noticed that there is a big difference in how the Sooners prepare for a bowl game. What I've observed since TGOWWDNS is our team having lots of fun running around town, dancing on beaches, shopping, going to the movies and visiting places when our opponent stays together doing things to get ready for us. They are solely there to do one thing and one thing only, which is to beat OU....
Great post MamaMia. There's more common sense and wisdom in that paragraph than in all the "sky is falling, revamp the team, and fire coach xxxxxx" hysteria that's been flying around here this past week.

[Petro-Sooner]

Great post MamaMia. There's more common sense and wisdom in that paragraph than in all the "sky is falling, revamp the team, and fire coach xxxxxx" hysteria that's been flying around here this past week.

So I see you noticed my fire Josh Hueple comment elsewhere. :texan:

;)

[TUSooner]

So I see you noticed my fire Josh Hueple comment elsewhere. :texan:

;)

I think replacing some of the fans would be a good start! :D

[OKC-SLC]

To a certain extent, doesn't matter to the players otherwise. They still get the same freebies, get to spend a week on somebody else's dime at a world class resort. So they get embarrassed. So what? They weren't playing for the national championship. Nobody's yanking their scholarships if they don't win. Stoops takes all the heat (and/or the assistant coaches).
I couldn't agree more.

[Vaevictis]

My father is a long, long time OU fan. Been going to the games since he was a kid.

He swore off bowl games after USC, but he was at the Fiesta Bowl this year all the same. You'll change your mind, and soon. It sucks to get blown out in the BCS Bowls, but hell -- ten years ago, you'd have been BEGGING to get blown out in a BCS bowl, right? :D

[FirstandGoal]

Due to my insane work schedule and financial situation, I've never had the opportunity to attend a bowl game. In the next couple of years, I hope to be in a situation where I can, and I pray that we have this 'issue' sorted out before then.

[Soonerus]

Hard to argue with Mama...hard to imagine OU bowl attendance won't suffer for awhile...I'll probably go though....

[SoonerGirl06]

I'll gladly take the place of anyone who doesn't want to go to another bowl game.

[MamaMia]

Yeah - no more bowl trips for a while for my crew, either. Well, for a year, anyway. You'll feel the same way, Mama, when the time comes, I promise.
http://bestsmileys.com/undersun/4.gif

I hope you're right. Maybe I'm just depressed, but right now I can think of a few holiday spots where I could spend my vacation money while knowing that the trip home would be pleasant.

[sanantoniosooner]

http://bestsmileys.com/undersun/4.gif

I hope you're right. Maybe I'm just depressed, but right now I can think of a few holiday spots where I could spend my vacation money while knowing that the trip home would be pleasant.
I went sno skiing instead and my back went out for a week. It was just bad for crimson where ever it was.

[OK2LA]

i have been to the last seven bowl games and i am sick!!!!!!!!!!

I'm impressed.

I've dropped a few bucks going to these games myself . . .

Fiesta 2008(L)
Big XII-2007 San Antonio(W)
UT-2007-Dallas(W)
Miami-2007-Norman(W)
Fiesta-2007(L)
UT-2006-Dallas (L)
Oregon-2007-Eugene (L)
Holiday-2006-San Diego (W)
UT-2005 - Dallas(L)
Orange-2005-(L)
Sugar-2004-(L)

Throw in a few more OU/TX games in there, and it really tests a person's resolve.

OU games are basically what I spend my money on. When you are only able to attend a few games a year, and pick the ones you go to - it really hurts when you fly all the way across the country to see us get our asses whipped. (see Orange/Sugar - as many of you were there with me)

Sometimes you have to take a break from them all and try not to sink your heart and soul into the team as much. (believe me-easier said than done)

It doesn't make you any less of a fan if you don't go to the games. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You're not a fair-weather fan.

[MrJimBeam]

I'll gladly take the place of anyone who doesn't want to go to another bowl game.
You can come with me. As long as the Sooners are in bowl games I'm going.

[MamaMia]

I'll gladly take the place of anyone who doesn't want to go to another bowl game. There have always been plenty of extra seats.

[virginiasooner]

I spoke to my mother after the Colorado loss, and she told me that I am no longer allowed to go to games (not just bowl games), cuz every time we're there, the Sooners lose. The only exception to this rule was the Rose Bowl. We'll skip the Cincinnati game, even though it's close (I count "close" as being in the same time zone).

[recemp]

I'll be back next year - even though I had a godawful time at a couple of these games - this years Fiesta included.
We drive from Chicago for all the home games and the Texas game. Last one we missed I was in the hospital watching K-State on TV.
Drove through a blizzard to get to the BigXll game last year.
Prevented a guy from popping an obnoxious SUC fan in the Orange Bowl and then got harassed everywhere in the state of Florida because every shirt I had had on OU logo.
This year I got tossed from the stadium after a drunk 20 year old kid got in my face and started throwing punches. This was after three hours of being mf'd to death and having to take my buddy down for medical care (open heart and 1/2 lungs) to get some oxygen and his bp down because of this jerk. Stadium people cited the bill of rights in their refusal to do anything before it escalated.
We had a three year old kid in our row that no doubt got an ugly indoctrination to college sports.
And this was my 'vacation'.
I know I'll do it again because I won't leave the game to the morons and the elation of 2000-2002 that I won't want to miss.
Like Bob, I'm going to have a different game plan going in, but I ain't giving up