NBA action. Go Thunder!

Maybe my newer friends wouldn't be much to attest to this, but anyone who has known me since at least high school knows I'm not the biggest of basketball fans. In fact, the only time I can ever remember getting excited for basketball was when Creighton University made the March Madness Tournament, but as soon as their glory faded, so did my interest.

Last night I went to an NBA exhibition game between the new Oklahoma City NBA franchise, the OKC Thunder, as they took on the Houston Rockets with star, Yao Ming. I gotta say, I really enjoyed myself. The radio station I work for also has a sports station in their media group and we carry the exclusive broadcast rights for Tulsa for Thunder Basketball. What does this mean? Well to most people it means, if you want to listen to the Thunder games on the radio in Tulsa, you have to tune it to 97.1FM. To me, this means amazing seats! I got two tickets for a private suite where our seats were leather and the waitress took our orders. I could live like that.

The X-Factor

With the Olympics just days away, everyone is looking forward to the stories of huge sacrifices, competition, and overcoming adversity but until then, I dare say you can already find this going on.

When I say skaters, many of us think of those stupid punk kids (man am I starting to sound old) who hang around movie theaters or malls, or anywhere but the skate-parks cities often build for them. We don't generally think of olympic quality athletes. Let me share with you what I saw recently while watching the X-Games. The video is of Danny Way, a skateboarder who in this particular instance is competing in the "Big Air" competition in which he skates straight down one side of a quarter pipe, ramps over a large gap, then skates straight up another quarter pipe where you would try to get "big air" and do a trick. On his way down from 20+ feet of air, he clips his leg on the wall and tumbles down the quarterpipe. After spending some time with the paramedics, he is able to limp his way out of the stadium but decides he is still going to compete in his final jump. He literally limps back to the top of the ramp to start his final run! Talk about determination! He goes on to win the silver in this competition after what was described as the "second worst fall in x-games history".

Vidcast 1.2

Greatest Show on Dirt

So, I'm really excited to go back to Omaha. Less than a week now. I'm not so much homesick as I am just really wanting to watch some of America's favorite pasttime in its truest form - College World Series. Growing up in Omaha I was spoiled to be able to go every year (except my summer spent in Oklahoma doing my internship four years ago). I always had a good time but never realized how much I loved it until that point. Some Omahans aren't to thrilled about the new stadium being built, and maybe it was a waste, but if thats what it takes to keep CWS home, I'm all for it. I really think that this will be one of those things I keep coming back to Omaha for, no matter where I'm at or how much of my family remains there.

So for any who are interested in joining me, first let me start by saying I have no intentions of repeating last year's infamous fiasco and hope to enjoy the game in its entirety this year. I plan on going to the 6pm game on Saturday the 14th, so you'll find me in line to get tickets bright and early Saturday morning. Anyone who would like to join me is welcome, just call my cell. I'll also be at the Sunday night game and hopefully the Monday afternoon game. Hey, I work at a sports station, maybe I can pull some credentials! :)

I'm a Sports Animal

I did my first real remote today. The company I work for also owns a sports station, and every now and then I'll have to go out on remotes with them if their guy can't make it. It was quite a bit of fun. There is a neighboring town called Muskogee thats about 45 minutes from Tulsa and they were having a charity golf tournament with some Heisman Trophy winners so we were there promoting that. What was cool was the Heisman winners that were going to be playing in this tournament were Mike Rozier, Eric Crouch, and Johnny Rodgers from the Huskers (and George Rogers of the South Carolina Gamecocks, but who cares about him, right?)

So the sports show that was broadcasting live at this event was all about Nebraska... sorta. I'm used to sports talk radio talking about the Huskers, but remember, I'm in Sooner country! (For those of my collegiate football challenged friends, there is a long time rival between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Okalhoma Sooners in college football. If you've ever seen any college football clips, you've probably seen the "Play of the Century" where Rodgers returns a punt 72 yards for a touchdown against OU. Also, a few years ago, Eric Crouch ran a trick play against OU which I believe he called a "41 Flash Pass Reverse" where he threw [and caught] at 62-yard touchdown pass to beat OU who were at the time the defending National Champions.) Sorry to get off on a football tangent, but this gives you some perspective at the type of rivalry I'm in the middle of down here. So, back to the sports talk radio. Sample question: "Who of these three Nebraska players was the biggest thorn in OU's side?" "If you had the opportunity to play against these guys in the golf outing, who would you most want to kick the tar out of?" It was a good time. Oh, and I found out one of my co-works is Pat Jones, famed head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys where he coached guys like Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders. He was also later assistant coach for the Dolphins and Raiders.

Anyways, that was my day yesterday. I spent the rest of the time catching up from all the work lost from being gone all day, but managed to still get out around 6.