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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I once had my truck vandalized by a Texas fan immediately after OU beat Texas 63-14, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.
That vandalism came from a coworker who somehow thought it made sense to draw Texas Longhorns and other pro-Texas things on my car windows with a burnt orange paint marker. It’s still the strangest way I’ve ever seen a Texas fan celebrate getting their butts kicked by OU and fortunately, the paint was easy to wash off.
“I’m Sooner born, I’m Sooner bred, and when I die, I’ll be Sooner dead.” Those are some of the lyrics to the song “Boomer Sooner,” which is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma, and they certainly apply to me and my family. I was born in 1976, and by that time the OU football program was already known as one of the best programs in college football history. OU won the nation title in 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, and 1975. During the 1950’s coach Bud Wilkinson led the Sooners to a 47-game winning streak that started on October 10, 1953 with a 19-14 win over Texas and ended on November 16, 1957 with a 0-7 loss to Notre Dame. It’s an incredible streak that still stands to this day as the longest winning streak in NCAA Division I football.
You may recall that I spent a lot of time at my grandparent’s house growing up and my grandpa was a massive OU fan. My grandparents’ house had a den, and that room was basically an OU football shrine. As you walked in and looked at the far wall your eyes would be met with two large bookcases that went from floor to ceiling. The bottom half of the shelves were filled with various books my grandpa had collected, but the top half of each was all OU.
In those days not every OU football game was televised, but many were. My grandpa diligently recorded every single game. My brother was also a rabid sports and OU football fan, so he and my grandpa would often get loud and animated while watching the games. One time my grandpa let my brother control the remote control to the VCR. During one particularly exciting play they each lept up from their recliners with enthusiasm. As he did, my brother unknowingly hit the stop button on the recorder. That was the last time my grandpa let him control the remote!
Each of those tapes was cataloged and sorted onto the bookcases in the den. Surrounding the tapes were various OU football memorabilia. Toy footballs, bobbleheads, posters and photographs. Items they’d picked up at OU/Texas games, Orange Bowls, and other visits to see their team play.
But the centerpiece of the room was on the floor. To get to the bookcases and other memorabilia, you had to walk across a large OU rug. The rug was oval in shape and I’d guess 8 feet long by 4 feet wide. The rug was an OU red color with the white interlocking letters of OU in the middle. The rug was handmade by my dad, who was a carpet layer by trade. My dad made two of the rugs, giving one to my grandpa and the other to his brother-in-law, my uncle.
My uncle and aunt lived in Liberal, KS. We’d visit them every year for Christmas. They lived in a split level home on the north end of town. Downstairs there were two bedrooms, the laundry, a bathroom, and a large living area. The living area had a bar, fireplace, seating area, and a nook. The nook had an Apple computer off to the side, but there in the middle was his OU rug. Every year the Christmas tree was placed right on top of the interlocking OU.
A couple of times each year they would come to Oklahoma to visit us. We’d gather at my grandparents house and eagerly await their arrival. They drove a brown conversion van that was popular in the 80’s. We didn’t have to look out the window to know they’d arrived. My uncle had installed a custom horn in the van and as they pulled into the driveway, he’d hit the horn and the sound of Boomer Sooner would fill the neighborhood!
My parents had season tickets and would also travel to the OU/Texas game each year. They’d also take my two brothers and I to see one game each season. The games were a lot of fun and I enjoyed hanging out with my brothers. Going to the games was a totally different experience than watching on TV. Before each game The Pride of Oklahoma marching band would gather on the north side of the stadium and perform for the crowd, whipping them up into a frenzy. Then, the marching band would march into the stadium and the crowd would follow. I’d never seen anything like it, and I loved it.
When OU won the national championship in 1985, my other uncle took us to meet the team before the next season. It was amazing getting to meet many of the stars I’d seen on TV and I even got to meet the head coach, Barry Switzer. You can check out episode 197 for more of that story. It was an incredible day and one of my favorite childhood memories. Getting to hang out on the practice field and see the players up close was the closest I’d ever get to the program. Certainly no one in my family had the athletic skill to ever make the football team, and I was happy to view from afar via the TV or the stands.
As my son was growing up he dreamed of becoming a video game developer and attending Full Sail University in Florida. He joined band in 6th grade, choosing to play the trumpet. But after his freshman year of high school, things changed. During that year, he fell in love with the trumpet. By the time his senior year rolled around his interests had changed. He no longer wanted to become a video game developer. Instead, he wanted to pursue music. His top and only choice was the great music program offered by the University of Oklahoma.
We toured the facilities and met several of the professors. The more we explored OU, the more he became solidified in his choice. He not only wanted to pursue a music degree at OU, he wanted to join The Pride of Oklahoma Marching band. I’d been secretly hoping he’d go this route, but the decision was his to make and I wanted to make sure he was the one making it.
He applied to the university and was accepted. Shortly before he graduated high school he submitted his audition for The Pride. That June we learned that he’d made the band! Once he showed up on campus, they began rehearsals. One of the first pictures he sent me was of him sitting on the field inside the stadium. I think I was more excited than he was.
The OU pregame routine has limited space due to how the band forms the OU logo, so not every member of The Pride participates in pregame. As such, it’s a separate audition. Colby auditioned for it that freshman year and got in! Not only was he part of the pregame band, he was placed right in the middle of the front row!
His first game was a non-conference game against the University of Texas El Paso. We arrived hours before kickoff and met up with Colby as the band began warming up. After warming up the band marches in parade formation around campus, stopping along the way to give a mini concert at an alumni tailgating spot. Then they march across campus to the east side of the stadium where the university proudly displays statues of all their Heisman Trophy winners. There the band director climbs up on a ladder and pumps up the crowd. The band performs a series of pop songs and school songs, ending with a song called the OU Chant. The band then marches into the stadium and the crowd follows. It’s amazing!
That week we quickly made our way to our seats in the upper deck so we could be ready for the pregame. We’d had custom shirts made that said OU Band Mom, OU Band Dad, and OU Band Sister. Moments after we found our seats the OU pep squad took the field. With half of them flanking the west sideline and the other half flanking the east sideline, each squad took turns holding up signs. One side held up BOOMER, and that side of the stadium yelled the word back. As their chant echoed, the other side held up their sign, and the other half of the crowd yelled back, SOONER! Back and forth the crowd yelled, building anticipation as the countdown to kickoff clock raced closer to zero.
Then, exactly ten minutes before kickoff, the drumline took the field. “Ladies and gentlemen, now entering the field under the leadership of drum major Isaac Rosales, the University of Oklahoma proudly presents The 2022 Pride of Oklahoma!”
Without hesitation the band members came pouring out of the tunnels on the north endzone. We quickly spotted Colby coming out of the northeast tunnel, running up to the 25 yard line, and taking his position right in the middle of the field. The drumline sounds off as Issac runs up to the 50 yard line, slams his head skyward in the traditional and iconic OU drum major pose, and The Pride follows after him. The sound of “Oklahoma” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein music of the name name fills the stadium, the crowd erupts, and I am wiping tears from my eyes. What an incredible moment!
Here’s what I learned.
Okay let me be real with you. When I put together an episode, I start with a moment from my life that has impacted me in some way. In the process of impacting me, I can typically look at it and see a clear, big lesson. This story is not like that. It’s obvious that the story I’ve shared with you today has impacted me in a deep, emotional way. But what is the clear, big lesson? I’m not sure.
However, I do have a few things that come to mind as I ponder this story. Maybe they are big takeaways, maybe they aren’t. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
First, it’s okay to live vicariously through your kids…sometimes. Growing up, I never thought in a million years that a member of my family would put on a Sooner uniform and hear the roar of over 80,000 people cheer them on. I mean, sure, like most kids playing a game of pickup basketball or backyard football, we pretended to be those athletes we saw on TV catching or throwing the long touchdown pass or making the last second game-winning shot.
And in some way, Colby is fulfilling a version of that childhood dream I had. I don’t see anything wrong with this. This is not an example of me pushing him to be something I never could or achieve a dream of mine that I was never able to fulfill. Parenting in that way to live vicariously through your kids is wrong and should never be done. But seeing him choose this path completely on his own has been incredibly rewarding. Once he made the decision to go to OU and once he made the band, I then shared my feelings with him. Even still, I was not prepared for the emotion of that first time seeing him take the field. Seeing him live out his dream in his own way is incredibly satisfying and I’m so proud of him.
The other thing that comes to mind is just how beautifully poetic this experience has been. I’ve enjoyed going to the games since I was a kid because of what I saw on the field. When I became an adult and started going to games on my own nickel and my own timeline, I made sure I got to the games early so I could see the band. Now when I get there early and now when I look down at that field, I see my son. The Sooner fan experience has come full-circle for me.
We never know when we’re going to experience full-circle moments in life. They don’t happen often, but when they do, they are beautiful and we should make sure we take time to recognize them for what they are, and thank God for blessing us with them. Earlier this spring, Colby once again auditioned for The Pride of Oklahoma, and once again he made the squad. Football season has just started and I can’t wait to watch him do his thing. We’re Sooner born, we’re Sooner bred, and when we die, we’ll be Sooner dead. BOOMER SOONER!
I’m Darrell Darnell, and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
I want you to be a part of the next Monday Mailbag coming up later this month on September 30th, with the contribution deadline by end of day on September 25th! Monday Mailbag is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can send in questions or responses to my SILY episodes, and I’ll respond to them via Monday Mailbag episodes. You can participate in Monday Mailbags by visiting the Golden Spiral Media listener feedback page.