Though I’m nerdy and fairly girly (in the hate-spiders-love-skirts-and-pink-and-flowers kinda way), I love college football.  Nothing new, I know, but it hasn’t always been that way.  I clearly remember thinking football was barbaric and nonsensical.

When offered season tickets prior to my freshman year at OU, I scoffed, thinking I’d never want to go to such things.  It was the year after our last national championship  (7 total, but who’s counting?) and we had a fab young coach, so our campus was all abuzz about the new season.  It seemed like everyone but me was into it, but I still thought it was stupid.

Fortunately, I had upperclassman friends who taught me the lay of the land, and besides teaching me that tests actually do require studying, they took me to a football game if only for the experience.  To be honest, I couldn’t even tell you who we were playing that first game, but it was some small team.  And you know what?  I liked it.

After that, I got tickets for the OU-K-State game.  Being from Kansas, I never liked those purple cats, so I was excited to see us beat them (that was when they were good, too).  That sealed it…I absolutely loved being a part of Oklahoma Sooner football.

Though another national championship wasn’t going to happen that year (or the next, or the next…maybe THIS year is our year?), I fell in love.  When we lost to Nebraska late in the season, it was my first experience at disappointment (which I’ve experienced many times since).

So, with that in mind, I’m excited for another year of Sooner football, my 9th as a fan (which means it’s the 9th season since our last national championship!).  Boomer Sooner!

Thanks for the help yesterday (if you haven’t checked it out, I recommend/ask/beg you to do so now!).  Unfortunately for blogging, I’m still mulling over the same things, but perhaps not so intensely.  I have decided that I am going to try to do it if at all possible, but I won’t be able to make that decision until I know better how life is under my budget. *cough* student loans *cough*  Hopefully in a couple of months I’ll be able to think better on this matter as well.

You know what I’m excited for?  (And it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m likely taking 3 out-of-country and 4 in-country trips in the next year.)  Football season!  Who’s with me?

Football season is probably my favorite thing about the fall (especially that I’m now not a student).  And don’t be fooled…when I’m talking about football, I’m only talking about college football.  I’ve yet to develop an interest in fully grown men going at it like boys.

Besides, one day when I marry, I figure I have to allow my husband’s team preferences to influence mine.  Since I won’t budge on the college football (I’m all Oklahoma Sooners!), I at least can root for his pro football team.

Would I turn down a marriage proposal from a Texas or a Florida fan?  Who knows…  You know how I feel about orange teams!

Today the NCAA basketball tournament begins!  I think it’s kinda like the holidays for sports…even those who don’t observe their fanhood during the rest of the year still decorate (themselves) with their team’s gear and show up to watch the game (if only on TV).

As always, I’m rooting for the Kansas Jayhawks (remember, I’m from there) and some for the Oklahoma Sooners (as they’re my alma mater).  I also root a little for North Carolina, but if they completely fall apart in their game today, I’ll laugh.  Though I picked them to win the tournament, so I might not laugh that hard.  But I’m in good company…Obama picked them to win, too.

I definitely picked fewer upsets than I have in years past, mainly because I didn’t have the time to research the teams like I have previously.  My Final 4 consists of KU, Pitt, UNC, and UConn.  If you did a bracket, who did you pick?

Congrats to the Florida Gators, really.  Though he wears orange, I’ve admired Tebow and what he’s done in the name of Christ.  I was disappointed there at the end though, with his taunting (not that others weren’t doing it, including Sooners.  It’s just that I expect better conduct out of one who openly proclaims his faith.).

It was a good game as expected, but we lost.  I wish I didn’t know this feeling oh-so well.  Let’s review:

In 2001, Oklahoma lost to Nebraska (yes, Aubrey, you all were my first loss as a Sooner fan) in a regular season game, but it was my first opportunity to feel this type of heartbreak.

In 2003, late in the season we were dubbed “the best team ever” as if we had earned it without playing a championship game.  Then we lost to K-State in the Big XII championship.  And again to LSU in the national championship.  That year, I was at a big Christian conference that was a great distraction.

In 2004, we played for the national championship against USC.  And of course lost.  I was spending time with friends at my parents’ house and had just bought a bunch of new clothes with birthday and Christmas money, so I focused on that rather than our loss.  Less than a week later, I met Jason White, our Heisman-winning and 2-time losing national championship quarterback.  I was proud that he was willing to face a crowd of angry fans in a busy Norman Walmart on a Saturday (I was his cashier).

In 2006, we were in the Fiesta Bowl, against a presumedly easy opponent, Boise State.  On a trick play in overtime, we lost.  We were tricked, all right.  This is considered one of the best games in recent times, which isn’t really something to be proud of.  To forget about the loss, I had our big office move to pay attention to this time around.

In 2007, we once again were in the Fiesta Bowl.  But this time, we were playing an even easier opponent in West Virginia.  Does the Big East even know how to win football?  Apparently, because they beat us.  I didn’t have time to focus on this, though, as I had a class to read for.  And politics to pay attention to.  Those were a great distraction.

And now this year, what do I have to distract me?  You guys.  Go ahead, tell me a joke, amuse me, give me a funny anecdote.  Tell me your most embarrassing moment, the strangest thing your child has ever done, the time that you shot Dr. Pepper out your nose.  Anything.

But hey, we’ve been 2nd best 3 of the 8 years I’ve been a fan.  I just had hoped that we would be THE best.  Someday…

Yesterday I was fairly miserable with a cold, but I think I’m feeling better.  Nothing can drag me from watching the game tonight, but I’d like to be as awake and energetic as possible.

You love me, right?  Then  I have a favor to ask of ya.

Root for my Sooners tonight.

Okay, okay, maybe you don’t like football.  Fine.  I’m not gonna make you watch.  But if you are a sports fan and are otherwise unaffiliated with the enemy the Florida Gators, I’m asking you to support the Oklahoma Sooners.

We just might need every little bit of cheering we can get.

Boomer!  Sooner!  Let’s go for National Championship number 8, the first since I’ve been a true blue crimson fan!

As a public service to you, my dear readers, I am declaring today “Orange Awareness Day.”  It has come to my attention that the dubious color orange has taken a rank in the world that it doesn’t deserve.

Orange is not a pretty color.  Sure, it has a rightful place on the color wheel, but there is good reason that Sorry, Trouble, Candyland, and other reputable children games do not have orange game pieces.  The color simply does not belong in the hands of babes.

Orange is the color of construction signs for a good reason.  Orange construction barrels caution you to stay away.  Both construction and orange are best if avoided.

While there is nothing particularly objectionable about orange the fruit, you may notice that the part that is the most orange, the peel, is not eaten.  The concentration of orange simply makes it bitter and inedible.

I recently was encouraged to hear this very message in a young child who was playing with a toy that had the ill fortune of having some orange beads among it’s myriad of colors.  I asked her if we liked orange, and she properly responded, “No.”  I asked her what color we do like, and she respectfully listed the rest of the rainbow.  Attagirl.

Orange should not be the color of toys, pens, beds, jewelry, cars, or shoes. 

Most of all, orange should never be the color of football jerseys.

Please forward this message to any Clemson Tiger, Oklahoma State Cowboy, Florida Gator, or texas longhorn fan you may know.  It is the time for new beginnings.

And one last thing…

Boomer Sooner!

Dear NATIONAL CHAMPION Jayhawks,

You won my heart all over again so you deserve a second letter. This is the first national championship that you’ve won since I’ve been old enough to cheer “Rock chalk Jayhawk!” And though I went to a rival Big XII school, know that my (basketball) favorite was always you.

You earned this national championship by getting into the Final Four by beating the tourney sweetheart, Davidson. I hear a lot here in North Carolina about how good ACC basketball is, but you proved better then all of them by beating UNC Saturday (and oh, how it’s been cold and rainy in sky and countenance since!). Then tonight you beat the almost undefeated Tigers with class. You’re national champions for a reason.

Mario Chalmers…you are my hero.

Ecstatic,

Ronnica

P.S. A shoutout to Roy…I love you, but it turns out we didn’t need you to win the championship

P.P.S. Tigers, do you wish you had worked on that free throw percentage a little more? I heard somewhere that Calipari said your horrible free throw shooting wouldn’t affect your tourney play, but it did. If any of those last regulation free throws had made it in, you would be elated and I wouldn’t be. Just goes to show that you must work on the fundamentals, no matter how good you are!

Dear Jayhawks,

First off, congrats! You really did Kansas proud by the way you played.

Since I live in North Carolina (and to be quite honest, I enjoy cheering for UNC as well – though I definitely didn’t tonight!), I was anxious about how this game would turn out. I knew that if for some reason you were blown out (though I knew you were able to hold your own), I would hear about it.

Of course, that didn’t happen. The way you played those first 15 minutes showed just how well you can play. Though the next fifteen were rough, you salvaged it by finishing it off well.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to brag on my home state once again.

Rock chalk Jayhawk!

Loving being a Kansas Girl,

Ronnica

***We interrupt this otherwise girly blog to discuss 300-pound men who throw each other to the ground.***

As sad as I SHOULD be that OU lost, I really am not. It’s much easier to get emotional about games (both when we’re playing well and when we are playing poorly) when there are other fans around. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only OU fan on the entire East Coast.

Another way I can avoid getting attached to the outcome of the game is by doing something during it. While we’re playing well, I’m watching attentively. While we’re playing poorly, I read or write thank you notes to distract myself between downs. I wrote 7 thank you notes and read 10 pages of fairly intense reading, if that tells you anything about the state of the game.

The funny thing is, I have to turn around and do this again tomorrow. Though I’d rather have seen OU win, I’ll still be rooting for KU to finish well. Just because the best can’t (yes, I still think OU is the best), doesn’t mean the second best (okay, that’s not really true, but they are my second favorite) shouldn’t. I just hope they can.

Then, I’ll giggle gleefully when we can be the first to stun KU next year come October. That’ll end all my family’s trash talking, or at least muffle it for a while.

***Now we end this special bulletin about lost games in favor of our regularly scheduled programming of lost luggage and lost brains.***