It was the best of times...

That's it. It was the best of times. I've been to almost 50 OU football games, (call me a raving idiot fan if you must) and I have never had as much fun as I did Saturday in the pouring rain at Owen Field.

Yes, there have been great times. OU beating Texas on Roy Williams' "superman" play last year was phenomenal. Hearing people shouting "We're the real Big Red!" at Nebraska fans during the home Red October game of 2000 was great. And, of course, the Kansas State squeaker of 2001 and the Alabama close-call this season were both incredible games. Heart stopping, but incredible.

But nothing, I repeat, nothing will stand out in my memory twenty years from now like the home game against the University of Texas-El Paso.

"What?" I hear your incredulous, questioning screams with anger bubbling below the surface. "What about the Big 12 Championship Game in 2000 in Kansas City, Jeff? What about that?" And of course, you have a point. That was fun. Cold, but fun.

OU/UTEP, though, will forever be my best time at a college football game. I had my doubts as to how much fun I would be having when the wind shifted and the rain first started coming down. Oh, and it was a cold rain. But as the rain came down harder, every student, crazy idiots that we are or not, seemed to acclimate well to being in what can only be described as the deep-end of a pool.

The game was postponed and still we stayed our ground. Well, almost. We automatically received a free student seating upgrade as the girls in white shirts and the hydrophobics ran down the ramps and out of the weather.

And why was the game postponed? That two or three strokes of lightning, I presume. But, if it's safe enough for the Pride's tuba players to be on the field with metal wrapped around their bodies, it's safe enough to play some football with plastic helmets.

And what can you say about the Pride of Oklahoma? They certainly seemed to represent their name on Saturday when they came out of the stands in ponchos and played to the student section.

Five of my fraternity brothers and I expected to be the only ones in the stands when the rain REALLY started coming down. And that was the best part. I looked around and close to 3,000 students actually stayed. Yes, there are more raving idiot fans than just myself and my friends.

The Pride played to the student section almost everything in their repertoire. Boomer Sooner was blaring loud from the field as we students jumped up and down and sent water back into the sky from our red and white poms. We chanted "Let them play!," waiting for the game to resume.

Secretly, I'm sure none of us really wanted it to start back up too quickly. We were having too much fun.

It seemed to be perfect timing when the team finally came back on to roaring applause. How do you think the whimps who went downstairs knew when to come back to the game? It was the student section cheering wildly and jumping up and down on the new metal bleachers.

That's what made a 68-0 blowout the most fun I've ever had at an OU game. I've never been prouder to be standing in the student section instead of sitting in the press box.
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