Posted on 01/07/2002 12:26:58 PM PST by jbstrick
Great News for us sooners!
Here is a post a friend of mine made to a sports board. I think is it a good read
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Hey guys, I've been soaking all this in over the past two days, and I just want to say a few things.
I can sense that Bob is emotionally torn. I'm sure he and Carol had a wonderful time in Gainesville from 1996-1998. They loved it there and the people loved them. But he was as an assistant under a legend, not a man building his own legacy.
The only reason I can see for Bob leaving is because it is the place he really wants to be, the place he and Carol want to live and raise their kids. His "dream" job. But no matter how you slice it, that is a knock on Oklahoma, and it hurts.
OU lead by Joe C. took a chance on Bob. We have made him (now) the highest paid coach in DI. We have given his assistants multiple raises. We have committed over $75M in stadium and facility upgrades. We have won a Big XII title, a National title, a Cotton Bowl title, and have gone 24-2 over the past two years. We have a Top 5 recruiting class returning, and a Top 10 class coming in. Our players and coaches have won numerous awards, including player and coach of the year honors. More importantly, we have a history and tradition second only to Notre Dame. We are a special place, one with ghosts on the field, with legends on the walls of hallowed halls. But most importantly, college football means something to Oklahomans.
Through the Dust Bowl, and through the oil boom and drought, its always been there. We've rallied aournd it as our totem. It has become part of our identity as a poeple and a state. Its not just a sport to us, but a religion. If makes us all feel more alive and bigger than ourselves. We have sense of belonging to something special. It makes the meaningless job more meaningful. It makes the bad day good. It takes us above the clouds and brings us to our knees
I was born and grew up in OK. Since I've left, take it from me, nobody else cares about OU football. Nobody I know of here in AZ or CA knows that Oklahomans think of themselves as OU football fans first. Americans second.
Most everybody around here thinks of Oklahoma as that place where the building was bombed by that whacko McVeigh. They even think the wacko came from somewhere around there, so most everyone else around there must be something like him.
Oklahoma has a serious PR problem, and OU football hasn't been the cure for the last 40 years. So I don't think it will be in the future.
... And noone in OK cares what you think out there in the dry air of Arizona.
Count me in as one of those who couldn't care less what someone in Arizona or California thinks about OU football.
That's a mighty tall statement. Many might argue that point with you. Anyway, I'm glad he's staying in the Big XII.
Not to mention the Sorbonne and Oxford, which got ripped off by the BCS.
The composite AP Top 20 from the 1936 season through the 2000 season, based on the final rankings of each year. The final AP poll has been taken after the bowl games in 1965 and since 1968. Team point totals are based on 20 points for all 1st place finishes, 19 for each 2nd, etc. Also listed are the number of times each team has been named national champion by AP and times ranked in the final Top 10 and Top 20.
1 Notre Dame
2 Michigan
3 Oklahoma
4 Alabama
5 Nebraska
6 Ohio St
7 Tennessee
8 Texas
9 USC
10 Penn
11 UCLA
12 Florida
13 Miami-FL
14 Auburn
15 LSU
16 Arkansas
17 Georgia
18 Michigan
19 Florida
20 Washington
OU does have a wonderful tradition. Just busting your chops.
Look at the states around OK. Texas has heros at the Alamo. And you'd best not mess with them. CO has the rocky mountians. NM has some classy indians (OK had to tell people about its indians by its "Native America" tags, and most people outside OK don't understand what that means). Arkansas has.... Well, we can skip AR. Even Kansas has Dorothy.
Dallas has "Americas Team". And only sooner fans from OK pay any attention to OU football. Trust me, nobody outside OK cares.
It's not like I'm not proud of where I'm from. But as I said, OK has a serious PR problem that it needs to address. It hurts when a co-worker of mine from OK recently told people he was going home to Oklahoma for the holidays and people laughed. You may not care that people outside Oklahoma laugh at the place, but I do.
All of us here apologize for showing you our shallow selves. I know because we are talking about Oklahoma football others may have the impression that we are toothless rednecks. I am also sorry that your co-workers feel the way they do about Oklahomans. People often get the impression of a state or city from the people they meet. I would suggest that your co workers have probably formed theor opinion the same way
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