No Buzz For Basketball

If you still have a team alive in the NFL playoffs, you’re one of the lucky few.  For the rest of us, mid-January leaves an empty feeling.  College football season is officially over.  Just reading that last sentence out loud is almost enough to make my eyes wet.

So now we can turn our full attention to basketball.  Or can we?  I’m sorry, I just can’t do it.  I feel no buzz, no excitement, and no anticipation for hoops right now.  I don’t think I’m the only one.  In this state, no one is talking basketball.  Sure, the newspapers and local media will cover the games because they have to, but trust me, the fan bases of our state schools are not fired up.  There is far more interest in the next football season than there is in the current basketball season.

Part of that is simply the climate in our state.  Oklahoma is a football state, always has been, always will be.  Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of basketball tradition here.  Henry Iba, Eddie Sutton, Wayman Tisdale, Billy Tubbs, the Griffin brothers, Nolan Richardson, and countless others have contributed to the hoops history of Oklahoma.  But the truth is, no matter how many Final Fours the colleges rack up, and no matter how many dunks Kevin Durant throws down, basketball is never going to overtake football in the hearts and minds of Oklahomans.

Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon will both be back for another season in Stillwater (courtesy tulsaworld.com)

Part of the basketball apathy is due to the unbelievable success of football in 2010 and what could transpire in 2011.  OU is already one of the favorites to win a national championship, while OSU is getting its stars back and should start the season in the Top 10.  Tulsa finished in the Top 25 for the first time in nearly 20 years, and the search for a new head coach is dominating the headlines in this part of the state.  If there’s one constant in Oklahoma sports, it’s that it’s never too early to start talking football.

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Trespassing, Tree Climbing and How Cathy’s Bra Saved Our Lives

When you grow up in the country, you’re socialized to do things a little differently than in the city.  First of all, locked doors are not the number one concern on your mind. Second, if you want to commence an activity on someone’s property such as fishing or picking up “those Bodark apples for a craft you’re doing with the Girl Scouts,” you just go knock on their door and ask.  They can say no, but usually don’t.  And, if you need to quickly cross or gain access to someone’s property then get right off again…well, it’s usually going to be fine unless there is a NO TRESPASSING sign hanging on their fence.  You’ve seen them, right? Old tires, painted with white letters, some of them dripping so much the message is slightly illegible by the time they dry.  Sometimes they read, “NO HUNTING.”  That’s a different message.  It means – “I might be okay with you walking across, but don’t shoot anything.”

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Hearty Meals…Good for your Soul!

My cuddle buddy Luci

January is turning out to be a very chilly month! All I want to do lately is move from the bed to the couch and stay under my blanket with Luci cuddled up next to me!  (Luci is my child, aka, my little terrier mix that I rescued when she was 6 weeks old.) Although she only weighs 5 lbs, she does put off some heat!

Another thing I like to do when its cold is eat warm, hearty meals. This does not coincide well with most New Years resolutions, I suppose.  Many of my co-workers and friends are on some sort of diet, whether its the HCG or WW, so I do look for ways to make recipes healthier – whether you are watching your waistline or you’re just a healthy eater in general.

Ramsey Wayne Sellers...such a cutie!

This week I made two casseroles for my friends who just had a sweet little baby boy. (I actually went ahead and made myself smaller casseroles to have in the freezer for later as well.) I have no children and am not accustomed to the traditions that come with having them. But, I am learning that you no longer have much time to cook, nor do you want to. By cooking these meals ahead of time, they can be popped into the freezer, thawed the morning of, and baked with no hassle!

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A Moment With Sheldon S. Stout, Oklahoma Poet

Rooftop Flower Girl

Sitting on the rooftop ledge

She threw petals to the wind

Watching as they slowly floated

Down

Roses

Daisies

And

Posies

A soft rain of color

Covered the street below

Adding color

To her world of black and grays

~ by Sheldon S. Stout, 2008, From “Pop, Punk or Pulp Poetry?”– 2008

Sheldon Stout was born in Enid, Oklahoma (OK). He grew up in Medford, OK and currently resides in Alva, OK with his wife Bethany and his four daughters: Amber, Autumn, Isabella and Zowie. He has written three books of poetry: Pop, Punk or Pulp Poetry?: A Collection of Poetry by Sheldon S. Stout , Call It What You Will, and Mystical Tales of the Lost & Found: The Poetry & Prose of Sheldon S. Stout

Why poetry? In Jr. High I wanted to be a rock star. So I started writing songs. None were very good. Then we had to write stories for an English class. So I wrote some stories. I continued writing throughout Jr. High and high school but it wasn’t until I was a Junior in high school that I started getting into poetry. It was in Mrs. Innis’s English class in 1988-89 that I really found my calling, so to speak. We had to write some poems and I got a good response from the teachers and other students. So I wrote more. I found it to be a nice escape from my problems and a good way to vent my frustrations with the world.

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The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 2

#2 of 52 : COOPER RAIBORN

2001 Imaginary Family Project week 2 - Cooper Raiborn

External Photo Clues:
PrintStamp – 6/54

Imagine:
“And that,” Ava dealt the photo onto the Duncan Phyfe tabletop like it was the final card in a high-stakes game of Twenty-One, “is a reeeaaal Southern agriculturalist, taking a fine-weather day from his crop-tending to catch some fish!  He was so kind to let us take his picture, would you just LOOK at that cane pole?”  She peered over her reading glasses at her bridge group assembled around the table.  They stared intently at the photograph as though it were unlocking the mysteries of life and they should take care to soak in every bit of magic it had to offer them.  It was Ava’s turn to host, she had made the refreshments, and they were determined to act interested.

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.