Doing Dallas in Style

I have a great group of friends but we all would be the first to admit that we come up far short when it comes to guy trips. Well we've made an effort to remedy this problem and our recent Dallas trip was the latest try.

The BYU - Oklahoma game was the impetus for the trip. While it was the reason for mobilizing us it wasn't the "reason" if you know what I mean. In all honesty, outside of Cody, we weren't expecting much of a game. If we made a priority list of the weekend it would have went something like this:

1. Be with friends
2. Paintball
3. Eat much meat
4. Visit Cowboys Stadium
5. Six Flags
6. Dealey Plaza and the Grassy Knoll to postulate alternative JFK assassination theories
   
7. Massages
8. BYU-Oklahoma Game
9. Put up with flights that connect in multiple cities

The weekend leading up to Saturday Night was excellent. The agenda was full. Thursday was movie (GI Joe to boot), BBQ, massage, steakhouse, and Ryan B losing the game he proposed (credit card roulette) and footing a $200 bill for 4 people. Friday the rest of the group arrived and we passed time with paintball, basketball, pool, JFK, and more BBQ. Saturday leading up to the game was spent at Six Flags. Mormons don't know how to tailgate but we sure know how to amuse our selves. I'm willing to bet that half of the BYU contingency spent their morning there. We lasted a couple of hours before nausea forced us back to the hotel.

And then the game....

The stadium absolutely lives up to the hype. Other then a few quibbles the place is an absolute shrine to the football gods. Everything is bigger, better, and shinier then any other stadium you've visited. That awe is soon replaced with fear as you are engulfed in a sea of Sooner red. Dallas is just down the road from Norman and we were introduced to "big boy" college football. We were still dumbfounded by the atmosphere when the kick off came. The atmosphere was electric....it was College Football energy in a luxurious NFL setting.

And then we showed up to play. Going into the game we were expecting 44-24 Sooners. By the end of the 1st Quarter it was confidence in covering the spread. By the end of the half we started to think upset. By the end of the third quarter those feelings started to form into a solid confidence. The Sooner fan base is amongst the most rabid in all of college sports and we heard them at their most loud and their most subdued. We executed the "right" game plan to near perfection. I will be the first to admit that the Sooners are probably the better and more talented team. They failed in exploiting some mistakes and some holes in our defense. But the courageous efforts of an underdog is what makes College Football what it is. BYU has tightened the noose around the neck of the status quo fools running the BCS.

After the game all we wanted to do was revel in the moment and run to the nearest sports bar to watch endless highlights of the game. We all wanted to hear if this win validated the program in the minds of the national press. En route to the sports bar we were congratulated by throngs of Sooner fans. They were absolutely classy given the circumstances. I have a new found respect for their fan base and hope they recover and run the table in the Big 12.

So in short, the game that got us together exceeded our expectations to the wildest degree. We came to catch up with friends with little realistic expectations for a victory. The game itself was the most exquisite cherry on top of an absolutely tasty weekend. My heart goes out to the true blue Cougar fans that didn't make the trip. You will be very, very hard pressed to find a BYU moment that surpasses what we experienced down at the Palace that Jerry built.