I was born into it, I'm a proud alum, etc., but it wasn't until I moved away from OK that I really began to appreciate how special the tradition of Oklahoma football really is. I've worn my crimson all over this country, and it almost always sparks a conversation with someone who loves college football and wants to talk to me about their experiences with the Sooners, win or lose. It's become a connection for my kids, as the military moves us constantly--they don't have a hometown, or a home state, but they are Sooners!!! Born and bred.
Thank you for your service, and raising your kids properly. Hell my dog has an Oklahoma game day jersey with his name on it! Still need to pick him up an away jersey though....
Superman. I was a little too young to fully appreciate the National Championship game. I had no idea my dad was a fan of any sports team, let alone a diehard. He was my mighty mite football coach, and the fact that a pop warner team in New Jersey was running exclusively the wishbone was probably very telling to the people who knew more football than the 10 year olds running it. I couldn't figure out why he was so invested in a football game that was on the tv, and to this day I still haven't seen him that riled up. I wondered where this team had been all along, not yet knowing they literally were MIA for the past decade. My dad has a keen football eye, and I can remember him telling me many times that night how good #38 was. "That kid, right there on the left! Remember him. They got a good one." I didn't quite grasp football at that point, but I remember being mezmorized by the way that defense played that night. I can also remember being told to go to bed before the 4th quarter started, and I never let him forget that. I'm sure I cheered for them that night, but only in the way a kid does when he's just trying to be like his dad. I can say for sure I wasn't yet hooked that night. Yet. I won't lie, there's a good chance I would have wound up joining my dad's side anyway and calling myself a Sooner fan. But that's not how it happened. It happened less than a year later. By the time the '01 RRS rolled around, football had already become a much bigger part of my life. I can't remember which of the first four games, if any, we watched before texas that year. But I can sure as hell remember the texas game. Watching that game is one of the strongest memories I have, and I remember the day perfectly. It was the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever seen. The atmosphere. The stadium. The field. The way the colors of the two teams were perfect opposites. The speed. The precision. And most of all, the defense. I was absolutely intoxicated with the brand of football being played. Physical specimens attacking each other on each play at full throttle, with the smallest room for error. I was able to fully appreciate the level of difficulty it actually took to make it look so easy. My brain was on fire. By halftime I was addicted to football, and by the end of the game I was hooked on OU. It wasn't just the defenses, it was the Sooners defense. And it wasn't just the Sooner defense, it was #38. It seemed like 38 played a part in every play the Sooner D made. My dad bragging to himself and reminding me he called it last year surely made it easy to focus on him, but I don't think it would have much mattered. He was everywhere. As seduced as I was by the unit as a whole, it was'nt anywhere near as impressive as he was individually. He was just always around the ball at the end of the play, and was usually the one who made it. If he got a finger on you, you went down. To this day he's the best tackler I've ever seen. And as that game went on, he got stronger. By the end of the game he was an absolute force. And then he went and did the unthinkable. I still remember not notcing him until he was already airborn. And I still remember my dad's chilling shriek. It may have been the first time this young man achieved full wood, but was lost with the moment. Because while we were still screaming our heads off, he then ran down on the kickoff and swallowed Nathan Vasher whole. And he then picked the ball off on the next play. It was the point of no return. Roy Williams is still easily my favorite football player ever, and I can guarantee that will never change. I don't know if it's the Sooners because of Roy or vice versa, but each hold a special place in my heart. But my love for this team has only grown since he's left. Each fall I live a little and die a little with them. I root for other teams in other sports, but I'm a fan of only one team. Sometimes it borders being unhealthy, and other times I'm able realize it's just my favorite hobby. But I can tell you this. My blood is a little darker shade of red than most people. P.S. I talked to Barry Switzer on the phone right before the 2000 Orange Bowl kicked off P.P.S. My dad made me sit through every god damn mother ****ing play of the 2004 Orange Bowl. We didn't leave until the clock hit zero
P.S. I talked to Marcus Dupree the Spring game before he left school. I talked to Brian Bozworth just hours before his suspension for 'roids in the Orange Bowl. P.P.S. I don't talk to players anymore.
I won 1st place in a homeroom art drawing competition at my school as a kid. I drew a picture of Marcus Dupree running into the end zone against Texas with with his hand up flashing the #1 sign on a poster board. Money!
I started watching in grade school but no one in my family was a big sports fan so I didnt become a huge fan until late middle school which was in the mid 90s. Got season tix for the 1st time in 99, yep, the year Stoops came. Got my degree from OU, have seen us play in the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl(Natl Title), 5 OU-tx games in person and 10 total in Dallas, also been to Seattle, LA and Oregon. Now days I tailgate off of Boyd and Asp for every home game
Oh, but I do believe you. And I'm not kidding about Marcus or Boz. Still have my 14-year-old brace-face pic taken with Marcus tucked away. And though I don't have a momento of my meeting with the Boz, I can just say it was in an elevator in the Fountain Blue in Miami where the team was staying. (We were staying there too.) Though really, I barely got two words out (along the lines of [voicecracking] H-hey...Boz.. [/voicecracking]). Dude was intense and intimidating.
My mother was born in Florence South Carolina and raised in both Florence and in a home overlooking the ocean at Myrtle Beach. So naturally, she was a loyal Gamecock fan listening to every game on her transistor radio sitting on the beach. My father was doing the same thing in Texas, He was an avid Longhorn fan, so I was raised by parents who loved football. One evening, she and her friends were standing in line to see 'Singing In The Rain', staring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. Right behind them in line was my father and his Air Force buddies. They started talking about football. They were married two years later. He was an Air Traffic Controller who eventually ended up in the F.A.A. Not too long after I was born, Daddy was stationed at the Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. Other than a few moves here and there, I spent most of my childhood in Oklahoma City. All my friends were OU Sooner fans. Our love for the Sooners has kept us all very close throughout the years. The day I fell in love with the Sooners, I was a Girl Scout. One of my best friends, who's mom was the coaches secretary and our Girl Scout Leader, treated us all to a game one weekend we had a Brownie slumber party. We got all dressed up in our Girl Scout uniforms, and off we went to my very first game. We got to sit right behind the players. We were playing the Jay Hawks that day. We won too. I was hooked after that. I'll never forget all the players winking at us. I thought they were dirty old men. So I owe being a Sooner to Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, the United States Air Force, my parents love for football, the Federal Aviation Administration and a really fun slumber party weekend.
I was born into Sooner fandom and started following the team somewhat in the 1960s. My first vivid memory of a game was the 1971 OU/Nebraska game. Losing that game totally pissed me off.
4 years old and my old man dragged me and my older brother out to some remote motel location in Oklahoma that was carrying the OU/Stanford game on TV. I remember having a electric race car set we were playing with. The room was full of Cigar smoke and big cheers! Ever since that game I would have the report of what down, yards to go for first and score! I naturally loved the game of football since then..
Born in Oklahoma and became a fan when I was 6 (1990). Not really much to it but losing those close games almost made me cry (so I was told).
Grew up a MEGA OSU fan. (Dad went to State.) We traveled to bowl games and everything in the late 80s. I had initially been awarded a full tuition scholarship to a halfway prestigious school out-of-state. Decided last second not to go and to stay in-state. My folks lived closer to Norman than Stillwater and it was the 11th hour and I needed to apply, get admitted, admitted to the Honors College, and get a scholarship all starting in July. OU was easier to get all that done. And it was the best decision I ever made.
Is that all? You didn't try to blow your brains out with a shotgun? You didn't try to impale yourself on the nearest fence post? A Sooner loss is supposed to destry your life! You must tie all of your self-worth in the Sooner football team. So what kind of Sooner fan are you?
