7-5 Sooners bound for the Sun Bowl

With bowl games and such in flux, I didn’t post after the excellent Bedlam series game in Norman on November 28, when our Sooners finished the season strongly by shutting out #12-ranked OSU, 27-0. As put it at the time, “Oklahoma beat Oklahoma St 27-0, potentially costing the Big 12 $4.5M. The Cowboys have been knocked out of BCS contention. The only chance the league has now of putting a second team in the BCS is if Nebraska beats Texas next week.” If you watched the game, you know that this literally came within one step of happening. Colt McCoy revealed this week that he did not know that the clock runs on incomplete passes until it hits something out of bounds. Had he scrambled for just one more step, it’s likely the ball he launched would not have hit the ground until time had run out, flushing Texas’s undefeated season, conference championship, BCS Championship game bid, and McCoy’s Heisman hopes right down the Bevo Basin. The Longhorns are extremely lucky that ball didn’t stay in the air for an extra ½ second. Had it done so, Nebraska would be in the Fiesta Bowl, Texas would be a BCS at-large team, and Oklahoma probably would have been chosen one earlier in the pecking order and be heading to the Alamo Bowl. Instead, with five losses, our Sooners have been invited to play the 8-4 Stanford Cardinal in the Brut Sun Bowl (December 31, 1:00 PM CST on CBS). Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart is one of the five finalists for the 2009 Heisman Trophy, but Stanford’s starting quarterback is injured and will not play in the bowl game. OU can tell them a few thing about losing starters to injuries. The Cowboy Marching Band played Carry On Wayward Son and Bohemian Rhapsody for their halftime show. The Pride’s seniors voted on their favorite tune from the past four years for the opener, and they selected the theme from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which they had last performed in 2006. (I know it was done once before that, then once in 1993, and maybe before that but I don’t think so. I could be wrong.) The concert number was New Divide from Transfomers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, and that was followed by the (at least) 32 seniors who will join us as Pride Alumni after the Sun Bowl. That includes outgoing drum major Jason Marshall, who was presented with a Bob Stoops autographed football on the field after the game by assistant athletics director for marketing Charlie Taylor, who himself served as drum major of the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band and knows first-hand how difficult the job is. The Norman Transcript reported on Jason’s final game, in no small part because his mother was there to see it: Shirley Marshall wasn’t missing her son’s final strut across Owen Field Saturday, even if she had to be wheeled in on a stretcher. And for the first time this season, she didn’t. Wheelchair, yes. Stretcher, no. I say “at least” 32 new alumni because the number is likely to be higher. Most of you remember that Pride auditions involve enrolling in the class, signing up for audition material, and so forth, so the band department has a strong idea by July 1 how many people are going to audition for each year’s band. This year, there was a significant drop-off from the number of people signed up on July 1 and the number who showed up for pre-camp just six weeks later. There was some burn-out—with three BCS bowl games in the previous three seasons and a 2007 term that included the Oklahoma Centennial and the Macy’s® Thanksgiving Day Parade, I can certainly sympathize with those now-alumni who felt they got five years’ worth of experience in three seasons. When I had this year’s Macy’s parade on TV, I got tired just thinking about that year. And I didn’t even go! But most of those folks had made up their minds before July 1. The attrition is largely due to the economy. Students used to piling on work hours in the summer to save for the fall and spring terms found that there were fewer hours available in 2009. Others realized that they needed to keep working during the fall to make ends meet, and that just wouldn’t work with a class schedule and the grueling Pride schedule. Remember, that means a minimum of six hours per week for road games. For home game weeks, it’s ten hours of rehearsal and six hours of game (from rewarm through post-game concert), and that’s not counting downtime before the game when things like work are impossible. And it also doesn’t count road trips (this year twice to Dallas, for the BYU and Texas games), pep bands, individual practice, or the rest. The minimum committment this season averaged to over 12 hours per week, and that’s without full-band trips to Stillwater, Lincoln, or (sadly) the Big 12 Championship, and does not include the upcoming bowl trip. Add in the extras and most Pride members probably spent around 250 hours on Pride and its related activities during the Fall 2009 semester. Each. That’s why the new programs that Karen Renfroe mentioned both here and on the mailing list this week. The endowed spots are, I think, a particularly great idea—a way to make sure that every position in The Pride has a uniform, an instrument, and a stipend for the student in perpetuity. All those new Yamaha trombones a couple of years ago were great (and still are), but won’t it be even better when we know that each and every one of them gets replaced every ten years? And the same with everything else? That alone takes a big headache off the hands of students who play the more expensive instruments. Combine it with a stipend and we’ve really got something. Granted, a stipend can’t financially replace 250 hours of work (a version of “The Pride” that paid minimum wage would look a lot different than the tradition we know—there’d probably be five people auditioning for each spot), but even a few hundred dollars per semester can be incredibly helpful. I think all any of us want for future Pride generations is a level playing field, so that anyone who wants to be the band and passes the auditions can be in the band—that the time or cost of doing so will not prohibit talented students from being part of this organization. It’s a difficult challenge, more so in an economic downturn, so I hope everyone who has the means to do so will seriously consider the programs Karen has outlined. As for the Sun Bowl, we already have the game on our Events calendar and will add any more opportunities to see The Pride in El Paso as we learn about them. Maybe later this week I'll post about why a college football playoff is still a horrible idea, but I'll leave you with this hint: Finals start at OU on Saturday. If the football team were in the BCS top sixteen for a "playoff" system, then the best case scenario is a home game. On Finals Saturday, and again after Finals are over, and again the day after Christmas, and so on. Or worse, a road game on the same timeframe. Or at a "neutral" site with one week's notice. As a Pride member, do you think you could have managed that kind of December schedule? Would you consider it an OU football game with no college trappings except the team itself? Do you think anyone at any of the schools wants this? (Maybe more later on that.) Posted by Webmaster on 12/10/09; 3:51:05 AM from the Alumni sightings, Gameday, Membership, Pride of Oklahoma dept. Discuss #

Pride Patrons and Endowed Scholarships!

Greetings and blessings during this holiday season. It was great seeing some of you at Homecoming. If you were there, you heard about our two new Pride giving programs (and you can’t stop doing that dance every time you hear the Thriller music)! We have some exciting news and ways you can continue your legacy with the Pride and help others at the same time. I hope that you will consider joining the Pride Patrons. The Patrons will be an affinity group designed for anyone who loves The Pride, wants to become more closely involved with its activities and who would like to offer their financial support to support the good works of its members. For those that join in 2009-10, you will be charter members. The yearly dues are $100. More information is available here in PDF format. I also hope that you will consider endowing a position (or section) in perpetuity in the Pride. Our goal is to endow the entire Pride so that the legacy will continue and ensure that it continues to be the very best organization of its kind in the nation! These sponsorships will cover uniforms, instruments, equipment and a scholarship for each Pride member. For a limited time, a financial match is available. These endowments start at $15,000, and they can be payable in many different ways. A full explanation of the opportunities is on our Web site here, again in PDF format. Contact me if you have any questions! My days in the Pride were my best memory of OU, and I am grateful every day for that experience. I hope you will join me in helping others have that same kind of experience in the years to come. Live On University, Karen Posted by Karen Renfroe on 12/8/09; 11:57:31 AM from the Membership, Pride History, Pride of Oklahoma dept. Discuss #

Excitement building in the symphonic winds

I do go on a bit about the fantastic concert scheduled for Monday night from our Wind Symphony and Symphony Band, but with good reason: this thing's going to be incredible. Here are just a few of the phrases you'll find inside to describe it: "The work is largely inspired by games of chance, logic and strategy, both ancient and contemporary." "you can hear them live, in person, with the composer at the piano accompanied by our own Wind Symphony." "Recent or current students may be more familiar with the work of Wataru Hokoyama from his orchestral music in the video games Afrika and Resident Evil 5." "Find out why the piece quotes U2." Interested? Click here to learn why you want to be there Monday night. Posted by Webmaster on 11/18/09; 3:13:52 AM from the Concerts, OU Music dept. Discuss #

The Sooners are bowl-bound!

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Five interceptions one week. Five touchdowns the next. Such is life as a freshman quarterback for Oklahoma’s Landry Jones. It’s no secret that Sooner fans have gotten more accustomed to the latter extreme than the former, but despite having lost an estimated 256,782 starting players due to injury this season, our Sooners made it look like most Texas A&M games of the past decade, extending the streak to seven consecutive wins over the Aggies and making the injury-plagued team bowl-eligible. The Pride's guests were The Noble Men (and Women) of Kyle—The Pulse of the Spirit of Aggieland Nationally Famous Fightin' Texas Aggie Marching Band, and as always, the crowd greeted their halftime performance quite warmly. You can see photos of the Aggie Band on The Pride's practice field here, along with an assertion that "The Aggie Band never loses a halftime," including this past week. We know the administration is already getting mail disputing this, and of course, we have documented evidence that even Texas newspapers thought The Pride won halftime the last time the Aggies came to Norman. That, of course, was Thriller night. It's a little bit rough on the Aggie Band that their past two visits have come during such special shows—first the 2007 Halloween show, and this weekend, a Veterans Day tribute that included the Carmen Dragon arrangement of America, The Beautiful, complete with a vocal performance from the 200-member strong University of Oklahoma Singing Sooners, and a nice nighttime fireworks show from the press box and south of the stadium. The Noble Men (and Women) of Kyle—The Pulse of the Spirit of Aggieland Nationally Famous Fightin' Texas Aggie Marching Band has a long and distinguished tradition, and they are always appreciated at Owen Field. I personally believe it's kind of silly to suggest that The Pride could do something in a Halloween or Veterans Day show that would make them look like anything other than the disciplined and focused organization that they are. They're just about the only band in the country who does what they do, and our crowd always respects their show (especially the fans in the end zones, who hear them louder because of how their drill is written). They were recognized for this excellence when they were awarded the Sudler Trophy in 2001, just as The Pride was in 1987. Both bands do what they do very well and are nationally recognized for it. With two games left, the Sooners are now all but certain to head to a bowl. The Big 12 has seven bowl tie-ins, and we already know that Colorado cannot win the six games this season necessary for bowl eligibility (the Buffaloes are 3-7 at the moment). Baylor is 4-6 and can't be bowl-eligible with one more loss; Texas A&M is 5-5 and must win one more game to be bowl eligible—but A&M's next two games are against Baylor and Texas, and Baylor's are against A&M and Texas Tech. If Baylor loses either game, they're staying home; if A&M loses both, they're staying home, so at most one of those two schools will play in a bowl game this season. Even if more teams hit the 6-game threshhold, there are already seven Big 12 teams that are bowl-eligible (Nebraska, KSU, Iowa State, Missouri, Texas, OSU, and Oklahoma), and it seems reasonable to guess that bowls would pick these teams first. Texas's win over Baylor on Saturday morning clinched the Big 12 South division for the Longhorns, so even the most remote "OU could get into the BCS somehow" scenario is now off the table. The Cotton, Holiday, Alamo, Sun, and Insight Bowls are all in play, and Alamo Bowl representatives were spotted on the field Saturday night (on the A&M sideline). But now the Sooners have to travel to Lubbock to face a Texas Tech team, in their house, with an identical 6-4 record. Kickoff is at 11:30 AM CDT on the regional Fox Sports Networks, so keep your red and white at hand. Posted by Webmaster on 11/16/09; 2:09:13 PM from the Gameday, Pride of Oklahoma dept. Discuss #

A Pride wedding!

Congratulations to Nicole and Craig! Nicole Chantal Cobb and Craig Raymond Maucere were united in marriage Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. in The Piazza in the Village in Colleyville, Texas, with Rodney Howell officiating. The couple met while attending the University of Oklahoma through participating in the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band. Craig graduated in 2008 with a degree in political science and Nikki graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in musical arts with an emphasis in business. Click through to see a lovely wedding picture. I have no idea why the paper didn't publish an August 8 wedding until November 10 (sometimes teh interwebs get confused on these things), but a hearty congratulations to two alums! Posted by Webmaster on 11/10/09; 12:24:47 PM from the Alumni sightings dept. Discuss #

Last 2 kickoff times [UPDATED]

The regional Fox Sports Network channels (“Fox Sports Southwest” here in central Oklahoma) has picked up all three of the Sooners’ remaining games. We already knew that FSN would broadcast the OU vs. Texas A&M game at 6:00 PM CDT this Saturday, but on Monday, the athletic department’s Twitter feed filled in the remaining details: OU-OSU set for 11:30 a.m., on FSN. OU-Tech will be at either 11:30 or 2 on FSN. Should know which one in the next day or two. And then: FSN has set OU at Texas Tech for 11:30 a.m., on Nov. 21. Our Events calendar has been updated appropriately. The early kickoff time for the OSU game means Bedlam rehearsal for this year’s Pride members will be Marching In The Dark! Didn’t you love those 6:00 AM rehearsal times? (Don’t answer that.) Posted by Webmaster on 11/9/09; 12:11:45 PM from the Gameday dept. Discuss #

Bowling for Implications

Click here to read my take on the Big 12 races and on the surprising reason why a Sooner team no better than 8-4 may still prove irresistible to the Holiday Bowl due to a perfect storm of circumstances. Posted by Webmaster on 11/8/09; 7:07:34 PM from the Gameday dept. Discuss #