Want to see what both pre-game and halftime looked like from above last Saturday night? Click here.
(Adobe Flash required, so it won't play on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The video starts with the BYU Pre-game, but skip along the bottom row of thumbnails by clicking the "->|" icon and the last two, as of this writing, are the Kansas State Pre-Game Show (starting with the Alumni Band!) and Kansas State Halftime.
This is provided courtesy of CVWmedia, the videographers for The Pride, who are taking orders for the 2009 Pride of Oklahoma DVD—:$30 if purchased before November 15th, and $35 if purchased afterward.
The modern connected world takes a bit of getting used to. We had heard from current Pride members and staff that they were looking at the videos we posted of their bowl game performances at a rest stop before heading on to dinner in Tallahassee at about 8PM CST on Friday night.
Five hours later, video of that dinner stop was online at The Norman Transcript, courtesy of the Tallahassee Democrat.
We were going to embed the video here, but we can't do so without it automatically starting (with audio) before you started reading this, so you'll need to click the link above to view the short video. Still, pretty cool!
By the time most of you read this, the 2008 Prie of Oklahoma will have returned to Norman and officially finished its performances. Our thanks again to all of this year's members for a hard-fought season and their fantastic work moving our tradition forward!
If you didn't get to see The Pride of Oklahoma during Thursday night's bowl game, you can purchase the entire game from FOX on iTunes for $4.99 if you want. An abbreviated version will also replay on most of the regional Fox Sports Network channels for much of the next 3000 years, especially Fox Sports Southeast (and Southwest, which is based in Texas).
If you just want to see the band, we've got you covered! First up is the segment of Oklahoma! that FOX aired during pregame:
And, of course, the segment of halftime that aired, to the delight of Barry Switzer. This features part of Roland Barrett's arrangement of Pinball Wizard from this year's The Who show.
Finally, if you read on the mailing list that FOX's live streaming Web video showed all of halftime from the cable-operated skycam that floats about 15 feet above the field, we have that as well. The good news is that it shows all of both halftime shows, with audio (although choppy at the end of each show). The bad news is that it's only from the overhead camera (although it moves around all the time), and since it was streaming Web video, it wasn't super high-quality to begin with. Nonetheless, it's the only place you'll see all of both halftime shows unless you were in the stadium, and here it is:
Thanks to FOX for the great video, and remember to go buy the game in iTunes if you want to own it.
The ESPN Road Trip crew visits Norman in preparation for tomorrow's game, including a trip to Pride rehearsal and a visit to the saxophone sectional (well, you see Drubner getting near the tree, at least…)
Our beloved Sooners are now 0-4 in their last four BCS bowl games, including two national championship games and two consecutive Tostitos Fiesta Bowl appearances. All hail to the Mountaineers, who overcame significant turmoil to play a fantastic game. Plus, a 11-3 season is nothing to sneeze at, nor is OU's second consecutive conference championship (#41 in an ongoing series).
We've got a few videos from KOKH-TV (Fox 25 in Oklahoma City) and from the national FOX Broadcasting's coverage of the BCS and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. First up, from KOKH news reporter Jaime Cerreta—an Arizona State University alumna, who's very familiary with the Fiesta Bowl and its festivities—a segment on The Pride's two-time world champion feature twirler, Meredith Sigler:
Next up is a live interview Jaime Cerreta conducted from the field at University of Phoenix Stadium with Brian Britt (not only one of us but, of course, director of The Pride of Oklahoma) at approximately 6:11 PM CST, or just about 70 minutes before kickoff, when The Pride entered the stadium:
Of course, what we really want to see is The Pride on the field, and FOX's BCS coverage in high definition obliged at both pregame and halftime! And if you can't have John McCormick, George Ryan, or Jeremy Gossett doing the honors on television, who better could you imagine to introduce The Pride of Oklahoma than legendary Sooners coach Barry Switzer?
And finally, nearly two full minutes of the halftime performance itself, featuring Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Wind and the Lion, and Michael Jackson's Thriller. FOX's timing did not include the Thriller dance, to everyone's great disappointment, but what did make the air looked pretty darned good:
The armchair coaches will have plenty to chew over until Pride auditions start in August, but there was no question to anyone watching the broadcast that The Pride was there for all sixty minutes of that game. Long after the TV shots made it clear that most Sooner fans had left the building, the young men and women in the new red uniforms finished strong, never giving up, never flagging.
We're proud to have had them carry on our tradition in this just-completed Oklahoma Centennial Season, one in which band members traveled over 10,000 miles supporting the Sooners and representing our state. Thanks, 2007 Pride of Oklahoma—and for those who have completed your time on the practice field, welcome to our ranks.
The Pride of Oklahoma debuted the new red uniform coats in New York City on Thanksgiving Day in the Macy's® Thanksgiving Day Parade. The previous red coats were retired after Coach's last season in 2000, and this is the first time in seven years that The Pride has appeared in public all in red. The new coats feature an interlocking "OU" logo on the front in white parquet, with "OKLAHOMA" on the sleeves in white embroidery on a black background with gray piping. They sure did look sharp on two national television broadcasts!
First up was the coverage from CBS, called the "CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade" because NBC has the rights to the name "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" and to the performances in Herald Square. The Pride appeared on CBS approximately one hour and 55 minutes after the coverage started, and showed the band playing Fight for OKU in Times Square. Here's the video from the CBS broadcast—you can hear The Pride behind an interview long before you can see them. Be sure to listen to Dave Price and Hannah Storm after the commercial break as they're unable to distinguish between Oklahoma and another Big 12 (heck, Big 8) school.
CBS's position was about 20 minutes ahead of NBC's Herald Square performance platform at the end of the parade. The Pride appeared on NBC approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes into the parade coverage, and while they definitely looked good in high-definition in those new red coats, we do wish NBC had shown more of the band members actually marching. It would have been nice to actually see those shiny new matching trombones!
Congratulations to all Pride members and staff, who should all be back in Norman by now preparing for rehearsals for Bedlam just 36 hours from when we post this. This is certainly a week they'll be talking about for many years—the members traveled over 3600 miles in the past week representing OU and Oklahoma, and those who performed in the Texas Tech band have logged an astonishing 4400 miles in just one week for The Pride. We couldn't be more proud of the way they've carried on our tradition!
Check out this KWTV "News 9" report from Tuesday night showing the new uniforms coming out of the boxes from Fruehuaf, along with interviews with Brian Britt and members Laura Ramsey (uniform manager), Cameron Robinson, and Samantha Coppedge. There's even a little impromptu Thriller dance, if you can handle Gan Matthews' singing.
It also gives a hint of the crazy schedule, which you can also see on our Events calendar.
