IMPORTANT NOTE: This post was actually 90% complete on Saturday, after I got back from witnessing the whuppin'. I had to finish the last 10% after some thought and a lot of work.
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To borrow the heavily-overused cliche:
Tickets to the season opener: $250
Cup of ice for girlfriend and her son, who need to cool off in the heat and humidity: $4
Total time to drive through traffic to and from the game: 5-1/2 hours
Watching your beloved Sooners play with miserable ineptitude and get totally beaten by a mid-major team going nowhere: priceless.
OU looked lOUsy today, taking themselves to a 0-2 record for the year 2005. Both losses were embarassing abominations, travesties against the glorious tradition of Sooner football. In early January, OU played a game in which they appeared completely confused and as inept as your average JV team. They played again today, almost exactly 8 months later, with new personnel and a new gameplan, and they appear to have learned very little; they looked every bit as awful today as they did on that fateful evening 8 months ago. Two straight games, two straight obliterations that made me ashamed to call myself a Sooner. OU is only one game in to the 2005 season, and already they've destroyed their hopes for a shot at a national championship and convinced me that not only is another Big XII Championship out of the question, but also that these Sooners will be lucky to win more than 7 games this year.
I've had everyone trying to tell me this isn't such a big deal, and they're right. My sister's hoping that this will be a "big kick in the butt" for OU and snap them out of all this mess. My dad just says they have a lot to work on. Mom figures this will be a good thing now because there's no pressure to win. Yeah, I guess.
I went out yesterday and played golf for the first time in a few weeks. To put it bluntly, I stank. I normally can go out, even after a layoff, and play somewhat decently. Yesterday, though, I played like I hadn't played in years. If I had finished the front nine, I doubt I would've made it in less than 55 strokes. Considering I can usually make it around 9 holes in 43 strokes or so (just a bit below bogey), shooting that badly was very disappointing, and basically ruined the outing. I just couldn't enjoy playing golf.
What does all this mean to me?
Perhaps I need to just not take all this stuff so seriously. I've been wondering if God's been trying to teach me a lesson with all the stuff he's put me through over the last year and a half. I think I'm starting to see it...I need to just learn some contentment, just try to be satisfied with where I am and what I have. As a lifelong Sooner fan, as a golfer, as all the other things I am, I guess I just get too worked up when things start to go wrong. For some reason, I get so emotionally invested in the things that are important to me, that I just can't relax and enjoy those things unless they're going somewhat well. In short, my passion needs to be toned down. Time to pack it away, to care a little bit less, to just let it go.
And the good news is, it appears that this season of OU football will be the true final exam for my newly-realized lesson. A 7-5 season and a meaningless trip to the Alamo Bowl is not out of the question for this team. Ah well...maybe my golf game will start to look up again.
Thanks for reading along.
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