For the first time in my life, I kind of feel like an athlete who’s trained and competed in the Olympics. Now, if you’ve met me then you know by no means do I resemble one in stature as I ‘m way too fat to be a gymnast or a skater and not nearly big or strong enough to throw the shot put or do a clean and jerk (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase).
No, the real reason I feel like an Olympian is that I have been in training for most of my life to perform the task I got to perform last night at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK.
While I’ve probably called hundreds of football games over the last 15 years or so, last night was my big moment, and what a blast it was describing the action of 3rd ranked Oklahoma’s 61-41 win over #12 Oklahoma State to a national audience on the Touchdown Radio Network. To be honest, it would have been almost as satisfying calling that game into a tape recorder from the stands like I use to do in training years ago, but I’m not gonna lie, it was a pretty cool feeling knowing that friends and family from San Diego to Detroit could be driving around listening to me describe the action of the game of the week in college football.
When the dust cleared and feeling returned to my feet (we broadcasted from an open air auxiliary booth on the roof of the lovely renovated stadium with temperatures dropping from the 40’s to the mid 30’s during the game), I’m not going to say I got a perfect 10 from the Russian judge or even that I stuck the landing…but as my own harshest critic, I felt pleased with the overall effort and was more than sufficiently prepared for the opportunity.
Heck, as a play by play guy, 102 points and over a 1000 yards of total offense is like putting a happy meal in front of a hungry toddler.
For those of you who may have missed it, there’s a reason they call that rivalry “Bedlam” and boy did last night’s game deliver as advertised. If OU isn’t one of the top 2 teams in the country and Sooners’ sophomore QB Sam Bradford doesn’t win the Heisman than there’s something seriously wrong with the sport many of us love so much.
At one point during the broadcast, former Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta (my color commentator and CEO of Touchdown Radio) remarked that the stats looked like we were watching a video game…he wasn’t kidding! OU’s top ranked offense could not be stopped as they rolled up over 60 points for the 4th straight game. But OSU is no slouch on that side of the ball either and if it wasn’t for 2 costly turnovers, the Cowboys may have hung in there with a chance to pull the upset.
In the end, the game will go down as another in an endless line of Big 12 shootouts in 2008. But for me, I’ll never forget making a dream come true on a chilly night in Stillwater.
