Fan(dango)
If you reside anywhere in Oklahoma, there is a good likelihood that you are either a Oklahoma Sooner fan or a fan of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Pokes, if you will. I’m not a fan of either team, I must say. There’s no real reason for this that I can think of and typically, both teams do fairly well during the course of a college football season, with the biggest game of them all being the Bedlam game between the Sooners and the Cowboys. Sometimes I may spend my afternoon watching that game, without really caring which team wins. If I could identify with either team for a reason, it might be the Cowboys, since my step daughter is an OSU grad. But the truth of the matter is that even she (as far as I know) couldn’t care less how OSU does and has better things to do than be concerned about whether they’re winning or losing, or if they’ve done well enough to qualify for tournament play at the end of the regular season.
The local team in this area is the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. If I’m being honest, and I am, being the Division I team with the smallest enrollment, they are not a magnet for much of the top level talent coming out of the high schools around the nation. To their credit, academically speaking, TU is a highly thought of destination. But as it concerns their football team, maybe not so much. In comparison, if you’re talking about attendance at the home football games, OU and OSU will draw tens of thousands of fans to all of their home games, while TU stadium stands are usually sparsely occupied, at best. Now, if the Sooners or Cowboys happen to be on the weekend schedule, then you may expect a real nice turnout, with a larger Hurricane fan base showing up, but most of the spectators consisting of Sooner or Cowboy fans. You cannot go anywhere in this town without seeing their fans(Sooners or Cowboys) proudly wearing the hoodies, hats, jackets and even SHOES to announce their loyalty. There are even quite a few fans from south of the border (and I mean the Texas border, not Oklahoma). I like to claim that I’m a Golden Hurricane fan but the truth of the matter is that I cannot say that it’s “no matter what” or “win or lose”. The record shows that, through the years, they’ve had some winning seasons, (albeit not often) meaning that they won enough games to qualify for a postseason bowl berth, typically one of the less prestigious choices, but a bowl game, nevertheless. Typically, if a coach happens to do well in his first season at TU, he is snatched away by a more desirable university, offering a big fat pay raise. You can assume it”s going to happen because it always does. My expectations of the “home” team are not unreasonable. You make the best of the people you are able to attract, for whatever reason, depend on the coaches to prepare them to play every weekend, solid, minimal error football and if you don’t win the game, I’m still okay with it. Effort, execution and just good, smart football. But the turnovers that end up giving points to the opposing team and costing you the game, that’s a pill that’s hard to swallow. If I’m discouraged and disappointed by seeing this, as a “fan”, I can’t imagine how hard it is for the football players to stay positive week to week, losing one game after another. There has to be a direct relationship to team record and fan turnout, wouldn’t you think? Who knows? Sometimes, though, I’m pleasantly surprised. Case in point? The last game began with the first pass being intercepted, and returned for a score for the visiting team.. What the…???? And that wasn’t even the only interception. However, there is a happy ending to this story. The home team comes back, things begin to fall into place and good fortune smiles this day on the home team. It’s a hard earned and badly needed victory. So… all’s well that ends well, right? Chalk one up in the win column and it’s onward to the next opponent.