A softball fan

[j2d2]

Some years ago I thought that I would add women's basketball to my schedule. There was some noise about a recruit from Canada named Dales so I got a season ticket and a very good seat. Of course Stacy tore her achilles but by then I was hooked. While I'm still a fan I no longer think our team is a contender. I follow, support and cheer but my expectations are tempered. Then I started hearing and reading about OU's softball team. Why not? But there wasnt much to watch and I had moved away by then but I persevered and, Lo and Behold! a great team, great coach and winning ways! I'm spoiled by championships at OU (beginning in '55 traveling to watch the national championship football team and again in '56). Through the years the football team has totally spoiled me. Now I have another OU team that will compete for championships. With the quality of athletes that Patty Gasso recruits this is only going to get better.
I am now well and truly hooked.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

I am envious that you saw the 1955 and 1956 OU football teams in person. That must have been something else.

I also got hooked on OU WBB at the same time that you are talking about, although I did see some games when Burl Plunkett was coach. Coach Plunkett was one of my friend's uncles, and I used to go to "deer camp" near Idabel in the fall with their family.

My dad made me a basketball fan, as he loved to go to games. We started going to OU men's games in the late 1970s. As he got older and could not drive himself, I also got season tickets to take him to WBB games. He just loved OU basketball, and I loved making him happy.

Coach Gasso's winning ways have also made me an OU softball fan. The coaching job she is doing is quite amazing.

Now I need to get hooked on gymnastics.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I'm a 56 OU grad. Saw both teams and they were awesome.

 

[scrybe]

If I'm older than dirt (and I am), then what does that make you guys? :ez-laugh:

 

[j2d2]

Hey! I watched the first dirt layed! I watched the OU-Nutter Dumb game on a small, rounded tv screen in Muskogee in 1952 when Billy Vessels ran around, over and through them. We lost (the curse works!) but he won the Heisman that day. My Dad and our host scared me to death that day yelling , cursing, and jumping around like men possessed. Never saw anything like that again from him.

Tom Bombadil.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Some years ago I thought that I would add women's basketball to my schedule. There was some noise about a recruit from Canada named Dales so I got a season ticket and a very good seat. Of course Stacy tore her achilles but by then I was hooked. While I'm still a fan I no longer think our team is a contender. I follow, support and cheer but my expectations are tempered. Then I started hearing and reading about OU's softball team. Why not? But there wasnt much to watch and I had moved away by then but I persevered and, Lo and Behold! a great team, great coach and winning ways! I'm spoiled by championships at OU (beginning in '55 traveling to watch the national championship football team and again in '56). Through the years the football team has totally spoiled me. Now I have another OU team that will compete for championships. With the quality of athletes that Patty Gasso recruits this is only going to get better.
I am now well and truly hooked.

No doubt that winning championships has increased the interest in softball at OU significantly. Patty is a great recruiter and coach and from all appearances, has the future of the program headed toward another NC.

Likewise, women's basketball has seen a reduction in interest in the last few years. Sherri needs to land a huge recruiting class in 2017 to get the program back where it was and get fans excited again for another run at a final four.

 

[OUFinalFour]

I have enjoyed following OU softball for a number of years now. Patty Gasso is an oustanding coach.
9 WCWS appearances, 2 national titles, 13 Big 12 Championships, an excellent winning percentage, and her players are always on the Big 12 Academic Teams. Excellence all around.

 

[oketex]

It took dirt to help make the foundation, so keep in mind that us "older than dirt" people are the foundation of this great university and country.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

"HOW MUCH RICE CAN A CHINAMAN EAT?"

I don't know if today's OU fan compares to those back in the day, but the OU Chinamen must have been something else.

*****************

Regarding "older than dirt," I greatly admire the "older" generation. Thanks to all that helped to lay the wonderful foundation; not only of OU, but of America. While I am no longer a spring chicken, I can still sit face-to-face and listen for hours to the stories and wisdom from my elders. You folks know a lot!

 

[scrybe]

"HOW MUCH RICE CAN A CHINAMAN EAT?"

I don't know if today's OU fan compares to those back in the day, but the OU Chinamen must have been something else.

*****************

Regarding "older than dirt," I greatly admire the "older" generation. Thanks to all that helped to lay the wonderful foundation; not only of OU, but of America. While I am no longer a spring chicken, I can still sit face-to-face and listen for hours to the stories and wisdom from my elders. You folks know a lot!

I hope, in a way, that you're including me in that statement, Traveler. And in a way, I don't. :ez-laugh: