The Backstory

Here I sit, at the age of 31, and can safely say that I have loved no other University during my life but the wonderous bright orange of Oklahoma State. I know this might be one of the most awkward starts to any possible conversation, but I feel it must be stated. My history of warm fuzzies involving the Cowboys goes back to 1988, before I really knew anything about the beauty that is College Sports.

I was 8 years old and rocking it in the 3rd grade when I made my first big decision to begin the orange blood transfusion. I grew up in a small, small town in Oklahoma. Little Chandler, OK, was the host for the first 14 years of my life and left an impression larger than the town itself on me. A fateful fall day at school was called OSU-OU day. I think several of the small towns in Oklahoma do something similar where they encourage kids to dress up in the colors of the team they supported the day before the Bedlam rivalry would take place. My dad had graduated from OSU's med school and so, I had an OSU shirt to wear, but really no understanding of it's importance.

Recess, of course, is the most anticipated part of any elementary kid's school day, and so it was for me. OSU-OU day recess was exciting because our normal soccer game was split between the kids wearing OU gear and those wearing OSU clothing. I stepped out that day to see the division between the red and orange and was shocked. As most small towns in Oklahoma, the red far outnumbered the orange. I have never been one to follow a crowd and so I took up my lot with the underdogs and we fought out a 0-0 tie that day, and I had fully aligned myself with Oklahoma State by the time the last school bell rang.

I have seen OSU at their highest points, 2010-11 Seasons, and their lowest points, anyone remember 0-10-1? I have remained faithful since that fatefull fall day in 1988. I had no idea what traspired in the actual '88 "Parker dropped the winner" game at the time, but I have never forgotten the soccer game that pushed me away from the crowd to a wonderful relationship.