Long read but worth it:
So last minute I got a call from brother Boz letting me know he snagged a seat for me for the game. It had been a while since I had been to a game so I was pretty pumped. Little did I know how the weekend would play out. After battling I35 construction (for 3.5 hours) I finally made it into Norman. Just a smaller battle with 9 and I finally make the turn on to Chautauqa...with a huge smile. I am finally home. Now I am not a an OU grad my allegiance to the school has never wavered. I had dreams of attending but my fathers dreams of moving back to New York were more important. Never the less...I bleed crimson. Always have....always will.
So I head north on Chautauqa past the OU signs and different campus buildings. I see coach Switzers house on the left where I have fond memories of watching a game with him and chatting about his wine. I still have pics of his office in my phone. My one and only time of ever being star struck. He is such a cool guy. Gracious and cusses like a sailor. In any event I make my way north to the house where I will be spending the next 24 hours. I jump out grab my bag and I bounce to the door. I ring and someone yells to come on in. The home owner and a few guys are in the room and of course ESPN is on. So I reach out my hand and it's Dante Jones. Jesus he is still huge. Then Daryl Reed walks over and says hello. I'm like holy hell! So I remain calm and take a seat and melt into the conversation. Of course it's about football. Five minutes later the door opens and in walks Keith Jackson. Let the party begin. Keith is larger than life and probably the only one who can move Boz to the side of a room and of course he (Boz) walks in just a few moments later. The conversation commences into a total shit show of defense v offense which goes to show you the competitive nature of players even many years later. I laughed my ass off so much I thought I would piss myself. About an hour later everyone dispersed as we had a bit of a function to go to. Seems we were headed to the Legends and Legacies that was celebrating the OU/Neb rivalry and to honor the Selmon brothers. This should be interesting...and it was.
An hour later we are headed deeper into campus. We make our way to The McCasland field house. Folks are dressed rather nicely and there is a bit of a line to get in. The Sooner schooner was outside and of course they clamored for a pic and autographs with Boz. I am used to taking pics for him when ever we are out and for the life of me I don't know how he does it. Guy gets mobbed where ever he goes. He is always gracious and does the best he can. But damn he gets dragged in so many directions. In any event we finally get in and what a site. The main room is decked with tables and a cool band is kicking some old school jams on the stage. After an hour or so we make it to our table in the middle of the room. I sat down and turned my chair to the stage and holy freaking hell.....I'm staring right at Stoops at the table in front of me. Like two feet from me. SHIT! WTF do I do now? You don't get chances like this very often but again what the hell was I going to do? Well....coach did it for me. He glanced over at Boz then walked up shake his hand. He turned towards me and I said how are you doing coach? He reached out his hand and shook it and said I am doing great and with a wink he turned around and sat down. Well FML that was nuts!
The evenings event was filled with great stories from Toby Rowland ,JC watts and Curtis Lofton as they Mc'd the evening. The wonderful story of the Selmon brothers and the OU/Neb rivalry unfolded before my eyes. If you don't know the story of the brothers you should google it. Its really crazy how it unfolded. So the event ended and people are saying hello's/goodbye's and at one point I am standing next to Castiglione who is chatting with Brian and of course a few feet away is coach Switzer. What a place to be.
Off we go to a little cigar shop where Joe Washington is have a cigar launch party. It's mobbed (of course) and we try to make our way in. Poor Boz is mobbed and gets dragged out for autographs. I make my way over to buy a box of Joes smokes and then get behind a table and out of the crowd. I look to my right and there is Marcus Dupree. We chat for a bit and then he leaves. I spot Joe and try to get over to him but he is chatting it up so I did not want to bother him. I have met him in the past but I was wanting a pic with his cigar box. About 15 minutes later we boogie back to the house. I put my head on a pillow still in awe about the night. It was pretty crazy indeed and could never get any better...or could it?
Game day:
Get up and lets get cracking! Some of the guys from the day before are in the living room. Same banter as before and I hear a knock at the door. I open it and it's coach Sumlin and his wife. Well...the day begins like the night ended indeed! After about 30 minutes we head over to the suite and I plop down for the game. I am going back and forth with @Grimlock72 over Twitter to see if we could connect at some point but sadly it never worked out. Now I know he lives in my hood so I am seeing a collaboration of some sort in our future. He better give me his autograph. In any event the game starts and off we go. Looks good so far but as the 1st quarter ends Boz asks me if I want to head to the filed for Coach Stoops induction. Uh....**** yes I do. Never been on the field before so this should be fun. We head down and make our way to the edge of the tunnel and I see coach Stoops again and then I spotted Aikman and Switzer. Boz walks over and they start having a chat and if you watched the game at home you saw it on TV. I was right next to the camera man. In any event we start walking the side line and Boz and Troy are chatting it up. I'm a fly on the wall and even though Troy lives about 7 minutes from me it was cool to see him. So then they go out onto the field and do their thing and I get my first ever chance to soak in the stadium from a vantage point that many do and have not. So many years...so many players...so many fans. I really can't describe the feeling. Crazy, crazy.
After the induction we head back up to the suite, the game ends with a thud, but a win is a win. I say my goodbye's and make my way back to the casa and jump in my car. Out into traffic hell I go. As I'm sitting at the Lindsey street intersection I start musing about the last 24 hours and how unexpectedly it played out. It was fast/furious and filled with many memories that will go into the cup with memories of the past. Not sure I will ever get to rub elbows with so many past players and greats (again) but I know I will never forget it.
Keep this story here gang.
Boomer!
So last minute I got a call from brother Boz letting me know he snagged a seat for me for the game. It had been a while since I had been to a game so I was pretty pumped. Little did I know how the weekend would play out. After battling I35 construction (for 3.5 hours) I finally made it into Norman. Just a smaller battle with 9 and I finally make the turn on to Chautauqa...with a huge smile. I am finally home. Now I am not a an OU grad my allegiance to the school has never wavered. I had dreams of attending but my fathers dreams of moving back to New York were more important. Never the less...I bleed crimson. Always have....always will.
So I head north on Chautauqa past the OU signs and different campus buildings. I see coach Switzers house on the left where I have fond memories of watching a game with him and chatting about his wine. I still have pics of his office in my phone. My one and only time of ever being star struck. He is such a cool guy. Gracious and cusses like a sailor. In any event I make my way north to the house where I will be spending the next 24 hours. I jump out grab my bag and I bounce to the door. I ring and someone yells to come on in. The home owner and a few guys are in the room and of course ESPN is on. So I reach out my hand and it's Dante Jones. Jesus he is still huge. Then Daryl Reed walks over and says hello. I'm like holy hell! So I remain calm and take a seat and melt into the conversation. Of course it's about football. Five minutes later the door opens and in walks Keith Jackson. Let the party begin. Keith is larger than life and probably the only one who can move Boz to the side of a room and of course he (Boz) walks in just a few moments later. The conversation commences into a total shit show of defense v offense which goes to show you the competitive nature of players even many years later. I laughed my ass off so much I thought I would piss myself. About an hour later everyone dispersed as we had a bit of a function to go to. Seems we were headed to the Legends and Legacies that was celebrating the OU/Neb rivalry and to honor the Selmon brothers. This should be interesting...and it was.
An hour later we are headed deeper into campus. We make our way to The McCasland field house. Folks are dressed rather nicely and there is a bit of a line to get in. The Sooner schooner was outside and of course they clamored for a pic and autographs with Boz. I am used to taking pics for him when ever we are out and for the life of me I don't know how he does it. Guy gets mobbed where ever he goes. He is always gracious and does the best he can. But damn he gets dragged in so many directions. In any event we finally get in and what a site. The main room is decked with tables and a cool band is kicking some old school jams on the stage. After an hour or so we make it to our table in the middle of the room. I sat down and turned my chair to the stage and holy freaking hell.....I'm staring right at Stoops at the table in front of me. Like two feet from me. SHIT! WTF do I do now? You don't get chances like this very often but again what the hell was I going to do? Well....coach did it for me. He glanced over at Boz then walked up shake his hand. He turned towards me and I said how are you doing coach? He reached out his hand and shook it and said I am doing great and with a wink he turned around and sat down. Well FML that was nuts!
The evenings event was filled with great stories from Toby Rowland ,JC watts and Curtis Lofton as they Mc'd the evening. The wonderful story of the Selmon brothers and the OU/Neb rivalry unfolded before my eyes. If you don't know the story of the brothers you should google it. Its really crazy how it unfolded. So the event ended and people are saying hello's/goodbye's and at one point I am standing next to Castiglione who is chatting with Brian and of course a few feet away is coach Switzer. What a place to be.
Off we go to a little cigar shop where Joe Washington is have a cigar launch party. It's mobbed (of course) and we try to make our way in. Poor Boz is mobbed and gets dragged out for autographs. I make my way over to buy a box of Joes smokes and then get behind a table and out of the crowd. I look to my right and there is Marcus Dupree. We chat for a bit and then he leaves. I spot Joe and try to get over to him but he is chatting it up so I did not want to bother him. I have met him in the past but I was wanting a pic with his cigar box. About 15 minutes later we boogie back to the house. I put my head on a pillow still in awe about the night. It was pretty crazy indeed and could never get any better...or could it?
Game day:
Get up and lets get cracking! Some of the guys from the day before are in the living room. Same banter as before and I hear a knock at the door. I open it and it's coach Sumlin and his wife. Well...the day begins like the night ended indeed! After about 30 minutes we head over to the suite and I plop down for the game. I am going back and forth with @Grimlock72 over Twitter to see if we could connect at some point but sadly it never worked out. Now I know he lives in my hood so I am seeing a collaboration of some sort in our future. He better give me his autograph. In any event the game starts and off we go. Looks good so far but as the 1st quarter ends Boz asks me if I want to head to the filed for Coach Stoops induction. Uh....**** yes I do. Never been on the field before so this should be fun. We head down and make our way to the edge of the tunnel and I see coach Stoops again and then I spotted Aikman and Switzer. Boz walks over and they start having a chat and if you watched the game at home you saw it on TV. I was right next to the camera man. In any event we start walking the side line and Boz and Troy are chatting it up. I'm a fly on the wall and even though Troy lives about 7 minutes from me it was cool to see him. So then they go out onto the field and do their thing and I get my first ever chance to soak in the stadium from a vantage point that many do and have not. So many years...so many players...so many fans. I really can't describe the feeling. Crazy, crazy.
After the induction we head back up to the suite, the game ends with a thud, but a win is a win. I say my goodbye's and make my way back to the casa and jump in my car. Out into traffic hell I go. As I'm sitting at the Lindsey street intersection I start musing about the last 24 hours and how unexpectedly it played out. It was fast/furious and filled with many memories that will go into the cup with memories of the past. Not sure I will ever get to rub elbows with so many past players and greats (again) but I know I will never forget it.
Keep this story here gang.
Boomer!
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