As of tomorrow, this little college town of Norman, Okla., will virtually turn into a ghost town for the next three days. Not only is the university closed Friday, but some local stores, businesses, and restaurants will close up shop for part of the weekend as students and Norman natives travel down to Dallas for the Red River Rivalry.
As a victory lap senior, here are my thoughts on OU/Texas weekend and some free advice for all you freshmen who have no idea exactly what to expect.
1) It’s called the OU/Texas game. People from the state south of us like to refer to this weekend as Texas/OU. If for any reason you call it this, anyone wearing crimson and cream will attack you.
2) Get used to 72 hours of Facebook statuses that say something along the lines of “I’m hungry for (insert breakfast/lunch/meal/snack here). Bevo sounds delicious,” “It’s (insert any time of the day here) and Texas still sucks,” or “beat the hell out of s?x??!” LIKE ALL OF THESE. It doesn’t matter how many times you see the EXACT same status, you continue to like every single one.
3) Yes, you will inevitably drink too much Friday night and possibly party until dawn the next morning. Everyone does. And thus, begins the worst hangover of your life when you wake up at 8:00am Saturday to head to the Cotton Bowl for an eleven o’clock game. There is no good advice or cure for this. See #4.
4) Get over the hangover. Yes, your head will hurt. Yes, you’ll feel sick. So will everyone else. Take some Tylenol. Put on your cowboy boots, throw a big bow in your hair, and put an OU sticker and a smile on your face. It’s gameday. And gameday means play like a champion. Eat a corny dog or some fried cookie dough at the Texas State Fair, check out the scene of ESPN’s College Gameday, and get ready to scream, cheer, and watch the Sooners continue their Chase for Eight (more formally known as their quest for an eighth national championship).
5) If you’re going to the game, do not forget your ticket. The ticket is your entry into the Cotton Bowl for the fair and the stadium. It seems like such a simple concept, but the excitement of being in Dallas will catch up to you quickly, and you could easily set your ticket somewhere with the intention of grabbing it later. After you sit in traffic for an hour, pay 20+ dollars to park and walk a mile to the nearest entrance, the last thing you want is to dig through your purse only to realize you left your ticket on the desk in your hotel room.
I could probably think of many more things to tell you, but everything you really need to know fits into one of the five categories above. What it comes down to is, ultimately, there is no preparing yourself for OU/Texas. It’s unlike any other experience you’ll have in college, and probably your life. It’s a weekend of great shopping, food, drinking, football, traffic, 15 people crammed into a hotel room meant for four, and it is what you make it. Everything is hectic and crazy, but the little things don’t matter, because at the end of a few days, it’s all worth it. Be safe, have fun, and enjoy one of the best and most memorable weekends of your college career!