Week 11 - Bedlam, Simply Bedlam!

First and foremost, Happy Veterans Day to all of you who have served your country. We wouldn’t be here without you.

 

That's right Ice Man, I am dangerous!

Last year, I had made the decision that I would come back to Norman, OK for the Bedlam game between OU and OSU. My #2 daughter had recently graduated from OU and moved to Oklahoma City to try out the grown up thing. (More on this later in the Bieber Section.) The game nicknamed Bedlam has been played for 108 straight years and 113 total games and has been thoroughly one sided with the Sooners dominating the Cowboys with a record of 88 -18 -7. However, that doesn’t stop the fans from getting as fired up for this as any other big rivalry contest. Once upon a time this game was dubbed  “A House Divided” at DFT HQ as Mrs. Tailgate ran with Mike ”The Mullet” Gundy and Barry Sanders back in the day in Stillwater. Once our investment started being made in #2’s higher education at OU, and with the cougar crush Mrs. TG had on Baker Mayfield, she did a Benedict Arnold and switched allegiances. Now we have a house united. However, much of her family and extended family wore the orange and many more donned the crimson and cream. It always makes for good smack talk in her family’s circle.

I rolled into OKC Friday night like Thunder (see what I did there?)  leaving the smoke of California behind for some sights, sounds, spirits and burgers to get things going. I was babysat by Mrs. Tailgate’s cousins Doc and LaurenLu Eichinger. I behaved well and was not put in time out once. Normally I get carted around the college bars of Campus Corner in Norman but this time we went where the grownups were. They were in their 30s. On this night, I was back in my hotel room before 10 to watch the Friday night CFB action.

 

Bloody Mary bash and Fireball mission at the Colonels!

On Saturday morning, after a proper Bloody Mary bash by the oldest living cowpoke alive, my father in law, Colonel T Boone Peters, we made our way to the beautiful campus on the plains of Oklahoma. The scene was electric as folks dressed in orange and white and crimson and cream dotted the lots and fields. I have never seen the campus with so much energy as tailgate tents were erected in every nook and cranny with music blaring, grills smoking and libations being quaffed. Laughter was abundant with an occasional Boomer-Sooner/Texas Sucks chant being belted out. The skies were blue and the air was crisp with temps in the 40s most of this perfect late autumn college football Saturday. We were invited to stop by the Sooner Football Fans Podcast Tailgate and partake in some beverages and chili. I have been a guest all season on the Sooner Football Fans Podcast on their Wednesday night segment (http://soonerfootballfans.com/). Terry Long, the main voice of the podcast and his wife Teresa were our hosts and showed us true Oklahoma hospitality. Many of Mrs. Tailgate’s extended family and daughter #2’s besties came by to visit. It was great catching up with them all. I also met some of the other folks that we do the Sooner podcasts with and people from our college football Twitter world. Very cool meeting these folks and other new friends for the first time. As is customary, The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band paraded past our tent on Jenkins avenue with the Sooner fight song being played. We concluded the tailgate ritual with a Boomer Sooner chant and the obligatory shot of Fireball. 

 

Gardner Minshew upper left, the Bolts upper right and the divided Eichingers on the bottom.

When your daughter stands you up you adopt new ones!

Now that is some BBQ!

Terry Long providing instructions on the art of two fisted drinking!

Mrs. Tailgate's Cousins, the Eichinger Sibs and Matt Bolt.

The Podcast and Twitter Celebs.

 

No wonder these guys had a mishap during the game!

Get ready!

 

BOOMER - SOONER - FIREBALL!!

It was now time to head into the Palace on the Prairie, Gaylord Memorial Stadium for the main event; the BEDLAM game. Luck continued to be on my side this week as I scored a $30 lower bowl ticket from a fellow guest and fellow Army Vet at our tailgate. Street prices were between $150 and $250. Oklahoma came into the game heavily favored despite having a defense as formidable as France during WWII. The trick is to score more points than the opponent. That is something that the Sooners can do as their offense is littered with future NFLers. Oklahoma State is young this year but still coached by that offensive master mullet Mike Gundy, the greatest coach in Poke history. With Veterans day approaching Monday, OU rolled out the red carpet to honor Veterans throughout the game. We were even treated to a pre-game flyover. Not one person out of all 88,000 sat for the National Anthem either. This was truly a great college football day interlaced with patriotism.

Our Seats were to the side of the south end zone 44 rows up in the OK State section. However, there were more Sooner fans than Cowboy fans in our AO. The crowd was buzzing…literally and figuratively (good tailgates have that effect). Each offense had no problem moving the ball and scoring at will. Defense was apparently optional. Unheralded OSU QB Taylor “Corndog” Cornelius threw for 501 yards. OU Heisman hopeful Kyler Murray threw for 350 measuring sticks and the Sooner ground game racked up another 350 yards. When all was tallied up, there was almost 1400 yards of total offense and close to 100 points were scored. OK State would not back down as they responded to each Sooner score with one of their own. In fact, they even took the lead and appeared to have the momentum for a chunk of time. The difference came on a missed OK State extra point early in the fourth quarter that would have made their lead 8 pts. As the game was winding down, the Pokes found themselves down by 7. As was customary on this day, they blew through the token OU defense and scored a quick touchdown with a little over 1 minute on the clock. They were down by 1 point and would tie it with the extra kick. However, Master Mullet showed intestinal fortitude and opted to go for 2 in an attempt to get the win in regulation and head back up to Stillwater on the party bus. Epic fail, on an attempted pass for 2, and OU DB Tre Brown finally made a big play and swatted the pass away. OU ran out the clock and narrowly and fortunately escaped with a win. This victory won’t help them win over the SEC Big ten loving pollsters and rightfully so. They have to figure out their defense really quick to have a chance to make the CFB playoffs once again. Final score Oklahoma 48 - Oklahoma State 47. A win is still a win. One of the most exciting moments of the game was when one of the OU Ruff Neks was dragged out of the back of the Sooner Schooner after an OU score. We tailgated with those guys so that might explain a few things. After the game I retreated back to my in laws quarters for chili, cocktails and the late games on TV.

 

Kennedy Brooks running behind his massive O-line.

Enjoying the game action.

Around the country - ESPN College Gameday descended on “The Heights” of Chestnut Hill, MA as #22 Boston College was hosting # 2 Clemson and their pretty QB Trevor ” Don’t Call Me Sunshine “Lawrence. Our friends Pops Leblanc and Rick Gagne were too busy having mimosas and egg white quiche at the yacht club to make it to Gameday. BC starting QB went out of the game with an injury after the first series never to return. This seemed to stymie their offense into a game of ineptitude. However, their defense was stout as they gave the high octane Tiger offense fits all night. Final score Clemson 27 – BC 7. On Thursday night in Raleigh, NC in perhaps the most exciting game of the week, Wake Forest upset #14 NC State on a game winning TD drive. In Big Ten Country, The Ohio State Buckeyes had perhaps their best game of the season taking down Sparty easily in East Lansing. In the SEC, Bama won again against Mississippi State in a shutout, Other SEC offenses are not that exciting and their defense is just too good. In the PAC 12, Wazzu and the Stache continue to roll on as they are the only hope for the Pac 12 to get into the playoff at this point. It pains me to report to you that USC lost again in smoky LA to the Cal Bears. In group of five action, Boise upset #22 Fresno, Friday night on the Blue. How about UAB improving to 9-1 and securing a spot in the Conference USA championship game? Just two years ago they didn’t even have a program. In recognition of Veterans Day, Army and Air Force won their games and Navy gave undefeated UCF all they could handle in a tough loss.

 

Perennial Bieber nominee John Maddalon at Dad's day tailgate in Boulder

In D3 action, my Alma mater took on their hated rival from the other end of the state of Maryland, Salisbury State U in what is dubbed “The Regents Cup”. With Frostburg ranked # 6 and Salisbury # 16, this would be one of the most meaningful matchups in state history. Tailgate Bill Donnelly was there to report on the action from the frozen crests of the Appalachian Mountains, however he earned Bieber points for leaving early as his estrogen froze. The Burgers beat the Steaks in OT to put them in a great spot for the upcoming D3 playoffs. Also, a shout out to St. Johns of Minnesota as they are ranked # 5 and remain unbeaten. A special nod to a former player there and superfan Bill the Monsignor Walsh to get well soon and get back on your horse!

 

Bobcat Stadium at Frostburg State courtesy of Bill Donnelly

Ginger – This one is well in advance of it actually taking place, but I was so impressed it needs to be awarded now. As many folks know, I am a bit…. shall we say “Type A” when it comes to planning these football weekends. As such, our East Bay DFT crew selected LSU as our road “Anchor Game” for 2019. This of course comes with a Thursday night in NOLA along with the weekend in Baton Rouge and possibly a Saints game on Sunday. If that ain’t badass enough, check this out;  One of the younger members of our group who shall go by the name “Snowflake Timmy” is set to get married next September. Timmy in my view, is the captain of the Snowflakes and will some day run DFT. The move I am about to tell you he made will solidify that vision permanently. With everyone concerned that the dates of October 9-12 were too soon after his wedding and his honeymoon, we were convinced he would be on the disabled list for this one. When questioned where his loyalties lie, he responded with this “ Let’s F&%#ing go! When asked how he would get away with this so soon after the big day, he stated simply “Lay the foundation early. Hard to move later!” It is amazing that this young man has this mindset as it clearly was not passed down from his neutered Papa whose name shall remain somewhat anonymous. Alas, I feel I may have had some impact after all on today’s youth. This also proves to me that there is hope with the Millennials now as the fortitude is strong with this one. For your brazen badass position on this, you my friend Snowflake Timmy are this week’s Ginger awardee.

Bieber -  This week’s Bieber goes to daughter # 2 as hinted about above. It seems my Suma Cum Laude brilliant Sooner graduate may have missed a course on how to read calendars. We already knew she can’t tell time as she is consistently late for everything. As mentioned previously, last year I coordinated with #2 on coming to the Bedlam game and planned that we would have a swell time like Buddy the Elf and his Dad when I came to town. In September, I again confirmed with her on a Tuesday night once more by asking if she was still going to be in town. Her response was a simple “duh daddy, I would not miss Bedlam with you”.  With this knowledge confirmed, I moved forward mobilizing all my assets to meet me in Norman for Bedlam. That Saturday, I got wind of a rumor that her boyfriend invited her to go see his parents for a weekend sometime in November. Upon inquiring as to when, much to my surprise, you guessed it, same weekend as Bedlam. With my heart crushed, and after doing the sobbing dork walk 1,000 times, I slowly got over the pain and anguish of being so insignificant that she would forget about our special weekend. You see, this was a legitimate hall pass too, as Mrs. Tailgate and #3 would be out of town at a dance convention. You don’t just waste a golden opportunity like that. So, after two months of trying to figure out what to do, I opted on Tuesday to burn some airline points and go to Bedlam after all. At least her roommates thought enough of me to stick around and tailgate with me. Oh well, she got her trip to Colorado and she has some new hardware awaiting her under the Christmas tree. Well-earned dear daughter!

Next Up – Big week…Monday night I will be attending the Monte Vista v San Ramon Valley High School playoff game as it was moved from Saturday due to the smoke. Tuesday is #3’s high school dance show. Thursday, University of Houston home game. The weekend, Austin, TX for the Iowa State v Longhorn game and a massive tailgate with the Horn-Ball Tailgaters and a big DFT Snowflake crew.

Happy Tailgating!