Time To Begin 2010

TAKE 2

For the second straight year the Sooners will open the season against a team from the Mormon state. OK, OK…calm down. Just like you, I am well aware of the fact that the official nickname for the state of Utah is The Beehive State. But seriously, The Beehive State? I don’t get it…Is Winnie the Pooh from Utah or what? I will grant you that the Mormon state is not ideal...but at least it is not as generic and non-associating as a beehive. Look, my name is Buddy Putty, so who am I to say shit to anybody about what they want to call themselves. But I will say this…My “official” name is Weldon. The only people who address me as such are opposing counsels and some bitch from Discover Card…and I don’t like it or them. Weldon is an old guy who hangs out at the coffee shop. Weldon doesn’t fit me. So out of respect for Butch Cassidy, Donnie Osmond and all the other Utahans I have never met...Utah is the Mormon State.

(Wow, first paragraph and I go way off the map…although it seems worth it, if for no other reason than I got to use Winnie the Pooh and Butch Cassidy in the same paragraph.)

Anyway…Also like last year, the opening opponent will be dressed in blue and white and will be a double-digit underdog. As was also the case a year ago, the game is scheduled for evening kickoff and will be played before a large partisan OU crowd.

Also like last year, I plan on arriving at the game early. I plan on enjoying some time with old friends as well as some adult beverages. I am sure that just like opening day last year and all the opening days prior …I will still get that familiar rush that come with the new season…things I call ”the traditions”

The traditions are things…like the energy you feel and the color you see entering the stadium…hearing the “go-go” as the Pride takes the field (just got chills)…Waiting to see if the Drum Major who leads the team down the field can tilt his head back like the guys we watched as kids…all the while knowing he won’t. It’s the chill I will get from watching the new intro video on the Jumbo-Tron…which is similar to the one I will get when the Sooners take the field. Tradition is a large bag of peanuts and the sound of crown royal and ice merging in a $6 stadium cup. Hey, some traditions are better for you than others.

On a personal note, there is one tradition that I will enjoy above all other this season…I will see my friend Ken again. Ken is the unfortunate soul who has had to sit next to me at Memorial Stadium for the last 17 years. Don’t know that I have ever heard him cuss; don’t know that he has ever heard me not. Ken has been battling cancer for a couple years with a courage and passion that is truly remarkable. If he possessed an attitude wrought with bitterness or defined by depression, one would understand, if not condone…instead you find a Sooner fan with a youthful exuberance and passion that even I bow too. Instead of complaining about how he feels or the effects of chemo…Ken will talk about the point spread and single out which Pom-Pom girl he thinks wants to date him this season. Last year Ken had a tear running down his face on senior night. While we were all sad to see Cordero Moore and Carter Whitson graduate…I knew what he was thinking…maybe this was his last home game too. He promised me he would be back. He called me last week to confirm that he was indeed “living" up to his end of the deal. I never doubted for a moment that he wouldn't. Ken told me he was looking forward to seeing me…I am looking forward to him seeing me too…Ken, the honor is all mine. Boomer Sooner

Yes, it will be all smiles and maybe even a Steel Magnolia moment or two. It will be good to be back with something so familiar, so good, so comfortable….
That being said….from that point on….I hope that any and all similarities to last year come to an end.

NEW SCRIPT

I hope that Joe Castiglione does not have to scoop up pony poop before the anthem. I hope that after one play, it is not 1st and 15. I hope that the Sooners will find a way to score touchdowns inside the red zone…and be able make the point after when they do. I hope that if Landry Jones is standing on the sidelines in the second half without pads on, that he is eating ice instead of wearing it. I hope Stoops does not wait until Jones gets hurt to get Allen some snaps. I hope that the mouthy idiot two rows behind me had to go to a wedding or a baby shower or had car trouble and couldn’t make the game. I hope that the guy who wins the Carl’s punt, pass and kick thing has some eligibility left so he can kick for us. I hope our starting tight end is not on crutches when the game starts and has better hand than a fish after it does. I hope that LB’s Tom Wort & Ronnell Lewis are as good as I think they are…Jamarkus McFarland is more Selmon, Harris & McCoy than he is Mo Dampeer or De Granger. I hope the Sooner coaches can find the milk carton that former top prospect in the nation R.J. Washington is on. I hope Wheeler and Colman are ready to roll with the food this week, because I am going to be a consumer not a provider. I hope the final score is what I expect it to be.

It is time for football. Personally, the season could not be getting here at a better time for me. Life is strange…about the time you think you got it all figured out, it provides proof that you don’t. Going to Norman for OU games has always been like going home…a place to see old friends and meet new ones…there is a comfort in it…its good for the sole…and my soul could use some good.

It is time to renew traditions. Time to feel the chills those traditions bring…It’s time to tape your ankles and put on your eye black…time to turn on GameDay and fill you flask. Get out your new OU shirt and visor…and pick out your Pom-Pom girl…It’s time to get excited about potential and be nervous about the unknown…Its time to see old friends and met new…It’s time for football….It’s about time

Just the opinion of one mildly interested fan...
Buddy Putty
The Overweight Armchair Sooner