REDNECKS & FOOTBALL

HAPPY NEW YEAR ya'll!! We survived the holiday season. Another college football season is behind us, Bama's Crimson Tide won another championship. The deep south is full of happy rednecks. Professional football play offs have started. My Saints are out, so I'm not that excited about it. In the south football is a big deal, a very big deal. You don't even want to mention the hated BCS. It's the opinion of most redneck football fans that they've ruined the college football bowl season. We prefer the good ol days when the only bowl games were the Rose, Orange & Sugar bowls. The winner of the Rose or Orang e bowl would be the national champs. That was back when the Alabama, Auburn, Florida, USC, UCLA, Michigan, Penn State, Texas and of course my beloved Oklahoma Sooners were THE teams and one of them would usually win the National Championship. Here in Oklahoma folks include their season tickets in their Will. In town on Saturdays everybody is wearing shirts, hoodies & jerseys or at least, the colors of their favorite team. Every where you go, if they have a TV, college football is on. I've been with my mom, sister & grandma at the mall shopping and found a store with TVs in the window so that I could stand there and watch the OU-Texas game. Oklahoma-Texas is one of the best known rivalries in college football. The Red River Showdown has been the driving force behind a lot of things. Oklahoma fans have shirts, hats & window decals with the Longhorn head upside down on it and songs to be written. Years ago, when I was in school, there was always a battle of graffiti spray painted on every overpass between Dallas and Norman and numerous, sometimes obscene jokes about Bevo, the Longhorns mascot. Then there's Bedlam, the game between the 2 main Oklahoma teams, the OU Sooners & Oklahoma State Cowboys or Pokes. You're either a fan of one or the other. Very seldom do you find someone that likes both teams. I know Sooner fans that won't wear orange ever because it's Oklahoma State's school color. Same with Pokes fans, you won't catch them wearing the crimson color of the Sooners. I finally got to go to an Oklahoma football game, and it is one of the coolest things that I've ever gotten to do. When the Pride of Oklahoma marching band starts out on to the field and the drum major comes through them high stepping down the field while the band breaks in to the song Oklahoma gave me the chills. It's not just college ball either. High school football is a big deal too. I was leaving Bartlesville on a Friday evening and passed the Owasso team coming in to town for their games. The Rams rolled in to town on 2 coach touring buses for the team, 6 of their school buses, which look like Greyhound buses with a semi truck bringing up the rear carrying the equipment for the Pride of Owasso marching band. If you want to add the intimidation factor to your game, that's the way to do it. The Bartlesville newspaper had a big sports write up about the Caney Valley Trojans, from here in Ramona, possibly making the playoffs for the first time since 1980, when my husband played for them, when they were state champions. My family makes the play off games when their alma mater, the Wynnewood Savages, are playing. My Dad being a former Savage, it's only natural. We love our football! If you don't believe me all you have to do is read all the t shirts, hoodies & caps walking around, the bumper stickers & vanity plates on the cars & trucks in front of you.