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Foodie Page, Stockyards City Cookbook

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, Lots of Food and Easy to Make

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Editor’s Note – Okay, everyone…this post is from Jani, Whitni’s mother.  Recall that we kicked off our Stockyards City Cookbook Cook-Through last week.  Here’s their second entry!

***

I would like to begin by saying that after reading her first post I think my daughter, Whitni, has shown me up!  Unfortunately there will not be a slide show with my post.  I’m not even sure I know how to do that.  Maybe if I am really nice she will teach me how to set up a slide show when she is home for Thanksgiving.

I looked through the Stockyards City Centennial Cookbook several times before I chose my first recipe. I ended up picking Natalie Browne’s recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice     Casserole.  I did make one omission to the original recipe, the mushrooms.  We are not much on mushrooms at our house.  In fact when I asked my husband if he wanted me to put the mushrooms in he said he only wanted mushrooms ‘…if they would give him hallucinations,’ – such a kidder!!

The recipe was very easy to make and the ingredients were easily found.  For our family of three (my husband, our 17 yr. old son, and myself) there was plenty of food.  In fact, we only ate half of the casserole and that was with everyone having seconds.  Which means leftovers will come in handy for dinner another night when we have had a hectic day (translates to: Jani doesn’t want to cook) .  Oh wait, my family doesn’t eat leftovers! Well, maybe if you decide to prepare this for your family there will be enough to keep you out of the kitchen an extra day.

We had green beans, salad, and rolls with the Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole.  I loved the fact that the recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, this saved a tremendous amount of time.  I will definitely make this casserole again.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole
from Natalie Browne
1 box Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice Mix (fast recipe)
1 (8oz) sour cream;  1/4 C Italian dressing
1 pkg. sliced mushrooms
1 rotisserie chicken
1 sm pkg sharp cheddar cheese
1 can chicken broth

Shred chicken meat.  Cook rice in chicken broth, last 5 minutes add mushrooms.  Mix chicken, rice, sour cream and Italian dressing together.  Put in a greased 9×13 inch pan. Sprinkle cheese on top.  Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

The only other change I made to the recipe was I used mild cheddar cheese instead of sharp.  For the cheese I bought a 2 cup package of finely shredded cheese and did not use all of it.

If you are looking for an easy dinner this one fits the bill.  I think you could even make this ahead of time, freeze or refrigerate, and pop it in the oven when you get home from work.

Happy Cooking,
Jani

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole - easy, lots of food and tasty!

Music Scene

Real Men and Waking Up Early

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As I sit here basking in the glow of my 13 inch computer in an otherwise dark room this morning, I’m reminded about one of what I consider to be one of the great tenets of manhood; that is, waking up early.

As a child and then a teenager, I was always amazed each morning at how early my dad woke up. No matter how early I got up each day, without fail, he would already be awake and laying on the couch wearing his Nike hoodie, reading the paper.

The funny thing is… the man is not an early to bed kind of guy. This is a man who regularly stayed up late to watch Letterman in its entirety. The even more amazing thing to me, that I’ve only learned in the past few years, is that he never uses an alarm clock.

I never understood that facet of my dad’s life until recently. You see, for most of my life I’ve told myself a story that wasn’t true. And while I’ve definitely told myself many stories that aren’t true, the story I’m talking about right now is the that I was not a morning person.

For most of my life, I’ve been a snoozer. When I was a kid, my parents had to institute a 10 a.m. reverse bedtime during the summers and weekends to prevent me from sleeping all day. And boy did I ever balk at that one. In college, if I didn’t have early morning classes, I could (and often did) sleep until 10:40 or so no matter how late I stayed up.

That was my sleeping in pattern for most of my life.

A few months ago, that all changed. A guy who’s blog I read, posted about the idea that each of us has several internal stories (plural) which may or may not be true that we tell ourselves which make up our STORY (singular).

I’ve always been a firm believer that our lives are stories, and his post got me thinking about my life and the stories I’ve told myself that maybe weren’t true.

The timing of that post couldn’t have been better. Just a few days earlier, I’d heard a man speak at a luncheon who’s own story really resonated with me. A very successful business man and person of faith, the speaker spoke on the importance of being a man of discipline. A man of discipline himself, he spoke about how men of discipline wake up early: A) because it’s difficult; and, B) because life is short and sleeping through too much of it really is a waste.

The combination of the post about the stories we tell ourselves that aren’t always true and the idea that men of discipline wake up early couldn’t have intersected more perfectly in my life. I left the luncheon thinking to myself, “Self… I want to be a man of discipline even if that means waking up early.”

And so that night, I set my alarm to go off the next day at 5:00 a.m. When it went off, I got up. I read a few chapters of a book I was reading at the time, I prayed, I sat in silence, and I ran a mile. Despite the fact that I was exhausted by 2 p.m. that afternoon, it was a great experience.

It wasn’t until a few days later when I read the aforementioned blog post that I was really able to articulate what I’d already been feeling about my own story as a morning person. Since that time (it was last November) I’ve been re-telling myself that story almost every day when my alarm goes off and I stumble out of bed at 5, 5:30, or (on bad days) 6:00 a.m.

As Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Waking up early has been a great help in my attempts to stop and look around every once in a while.

Some mornings I go for a run. Some mornings I take a walk. Some mornings I read. Some mornings I write. Some mornings I reflect on who I am or what I’m accomplishing. Some mornings I think about my marriage. Some mornings I talk to God. Some mornings I just listen for his voice. And some mornings, (rarely but still occasionally) I waste almost 2 hours perusing the Facebooks, or the Twitterz, or my Google Reader RSS subscriptions.

I’m hesitant to say that waking up early has changed my life, but honestly, I can say I’ve seen a marked improvement in my quality of life since last November when I started waking up early.

As a man, I think there’s something deep in my core that calls me toward self-improvement and challenge. Waking up early, though really a small thing, has been a challenge that I’ve taken on successfully. Not only have I had more time to myself each morning for personal and spiritual reflection and development, but each day I get out of my bed before the sun comes up, I reinforce the idea that I have control over and can change the stories I tell myself.

The little victory I’ve had over my sleep story has started to make me question other questionably “true” stories that I’ve been telling myself for too long. It’s amazing how one little victory combined with a few more early morning hours of introspection each day can make all the difference in helping us become the men we want to be.

For me, realizing I could wake up early was not only a victory over a very real physiological and mental myth in my life, but it was also one of many early steps in my realization that I still had a long journey toward becoming a real man… a journey I’m still learning from and enjoying almost every day before most people are even awake.

Sometimes a real man does things that are difficult simply because of the discipline it takes to do so. I want to be a real man. I want to be a man of discipline. For me, a big part of that means I wake up early.

What about you?

Reading Room

NaNoWriMo: A Primer

~by Joey Rodman

For the uninformed November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. Every November across the nation and around the world there are thousands of people who sit down and write an entire novel. It’s a competition against yourself. If you write 50K words in 30 days you win.  If you don’t… well, you tried to win. When you think about it, there’s never a loser. I’ve been participating since 2005 and look forward to it every year.

Click photo to visit Sara Gonzales' webstie from where the graphic was derived.

Before you start thinking the things I know you already are, stop and breathe. It’s not as hard as it sounds. It’s almost as crazy as it sounds, but we’ll leave that part aside for now. Deep breath, open mind, positive thoughts…..and GO.

If you’re like most people I know, you want to write a book. I hear this from people often when they find out I write. They say “I’ve always wanted to write a novel but I never have the time.” Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s time. I know some of you are thinking: “Is 50K words really a novel?” Yes.  40K words is a novella, and 50K is a novel. While there are many novels that are much longer, many novels have about fifty thousand words. One of my favorite books of all time, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is about fifty thousand words long. (Also included: Brave New World and The Great Gatsby.)

National novel writing month started in 1999 with a group of 21; last year there were just under 170, 000 participants. In the Oklahoma City area alone we have almost 1000 participants according to the NaNoWriMo website. When you choose to write a novel in November you’re not alone. Writing a novel with the support of others makes it much easier than writing a novel alone. The accountability alone is empowering, but the social aspect really helps to move things along.

Now, down to the nitty gritty. If you’re really considering this, here are 10 things you should know:

  1. It doesn’t have to be good. The point of NaNoWriMo is to come out of November with a first draft, or if you’re a perfectionist like myself, a “pre-first draft” because first draft connotes some level of completeness that I feel I can’t be expected to do in a month.
  2. It’s okay to fail. Nobody really can say anything to you if you don’t finish. They can try but your retort should be “Oh yeah?! Well, how many books did YOU write this month?!”
  3. It’s only 1667 words a day. That sounds like a lot, but it’s really not much. Right now, at the end of this sentence I have over 600 words….that’s about 35% of your daily word count.
  4. When you come to meet-ups it’s not a competition, unless you want it to be. We have all won and lost before, and the ones who haven’t are in their first year too… it’s all about succeeding together. Every once in a while a “word war” will break out which is a short burst of writing frenzy where the timer starts and you write as much as you can before it goes off. Whoever gets the most wins, and who ever doesn’t win got a LOT of new words typed.
  5. You don’t need a plot, characters, outline or plan. Write whatever you want, you can fix it later.
  6. You can’t/shouldn’t edit in November. You’ll never win if you edit while you write. Leave the mistakes in (it’s hard!) and go back later (after November!) and fix them. Be sure to let us know about the really funny ones, we call them NaNoisms. NaNoism: a typo the detonates and takes out the entire sentence around it. See: “the dragon escaped by flapping its enormous wigs,” or “he bowed to thundering applesauce.”
  7. Write now. Since the “rules” say from November 1st to the 30th and it’s already November, start now. Don’t worry about missing a day or two. Head over to the NaNoWriMo website, sign up and start writing. Open up a word processing document, type “Chapter 1” , save it, close it. Go to the NaNoWriMo website and update your wordcount, 2 words. You have officially done better than many people who sign up. Now close your browser and go write your novel.
  8. Come to meet-ups. Jasmine Brothers (our municipal liasion) says: The meet ups happen during November primarily so people can socialize, get away from writing for a bit…or brag, or complain, or run over plot details to try to make them make sense. Some folks chose to write in good company, and word wars have broken out. Someone behind the scenes with NaNo actually ran the numbers once, and it turns out that more than half of all the people who sign up each year never enter a word count. Among the half who do, those who participate in the forums are more likely to make it to 50,000 words than those who don’t…and those who go to meet ups are even more likely than those who only hang out on the forums. I personally think that has to do with the support and companionship you receive…hitting that 50,000 isn’t a solo effort anymore.
  9. Write anywhere. Whether you have a laptop, a spiral notebook, or an old Smith Corona you can write anywhere you are. I take a notebook with me to sort out my plot bunnies and write down ideas when away from home. Plot bunny: a random idea that comes hopping up and demands your attention. These are known to go on to spawn lots of cute little sub-plots, and so can be said to ‘breed like bunnies.’
  10. Whatever you do, have fun. Life is too short to have regrets. If you get stuck come to a meetup and we’ll help you.

Final word count for this entry? Nearly 1000 words. See? I told you it was easy.

 

Homestead and Garden, Oklahoma culture

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: Keep on Farm Truckin’

My very first car was a red, 1967 Ford Mustang.  Red dust (old paint) clung to every individual who attempted to lean against it.

The vinyl top was mostly gone, and the condition of the seats….well, they were bad.  I was taught how to use a screwdriver on the starter to start it.  Piece by piece the car was revived to it’s almost original state and accessorized with a collection of B. Kliban Cat pillows.  It lasted the rest of high school and most of college then I wrecked it.  Bummer.  It had the coolness factor.  As punishment for wrecking the cool car, my parents bought me a beige Chevy Citation and told me I would be paying them for it.  Definitely not cool. Protection Plans by Nova Warranty keep your vehicle secure.

Fiat Spider

I declined the offer and purchased a little silver Fiat Spider convertible before the month was over.  The convertible top had to be duct-taped in the winter.

The next phase of my car purchases was not as exciting.  My current Saturn Vue has cloth seats, and yes, there are days when I miss those heated leather seats.  It’s not the coolest car I’ve ever driven, but it’s pretty reliable and gets me back and forth to work.  It’s just not exactly what I need on the weekends. If you’re looking for affordable used trucks, then you may check out some used trucks in dallas here.

Dually

Enter the farm truck.  Ours is a 1993 Chevrolet 3500 known by us as “The Dually.”  It belongs to my father-in-law, and he is proud to drive it to do “farm-type” errands that involve more filth than usual.

The farm truck is essential to life in the country.  Need some lumber?  The farm truck can haul it.  No trash pick up?  No problem.  There is plenty of room on the farm truck.  Wearing muddy boots?  Hop in the farm truck.  The inside is trashed anyway.  No one will care.   When it comes to cool, there is nothing cooler than driving a farm truck…unless it had some cute pillows in the back.

I’m going to work on that.

Man Cave

A Plea To Dez Bryant: Don’t Screw This Up.

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Good morning Mr. Bryant.  You don’t know me, you’ve never even met me.  I’m just a guy from Oklahoma who wants to see you succeed.  This will only take a few minutes of your time.

Dez Bryant scores one of his three touchdowns vs. the Giants (courtesy espndallas.com)

First of all, let me say I’m in awe of your talent and potential.  The performance you put on against the Giants on Monday night was nothing short of spectacular.  There are maybe, maybe a handful of guys in the league that could field a punt over their shoulder, retreat inside the ten yard line, then turn up field and go untouched for 93 yards.  As if that wasn’t jaw dropping enough, you caught four passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns.  You were a one man show and the entire country took notice.  You are the only bright spot on a Cowboys team in complete disarray.  You’re making Jerry Jones look like a genius for drafting you, and let’s face it, that’s not easy.  After all, he’s the guy who thought Wade Phillips was the answer.

I hope you become known as one of the best receivers in the game.  And I hope that’s all you become known for.  I guess I’m a little nervous because, honestly Dez, you’re kind of a knucklehead.  Your track record of decision making isn’t exactly sparkling.

Last season at Oklahoma State, you lied to NCAA officials about your relationship with Deion Sanders.  Yes, you admitted your mistake and you came clean, but the NCAA saw fit to suspend you for the remainder of the season.  It shows you thought of yourself before thinking of your teammates. I know, the penalty was way too harsh for telling a little fib, but like it or not, it’s still a blemish on your record.

Dez Bryant works out for NFL scouts at his pro day in Lufkin, Texas on March 30th, 2010 (courtesy Associated Press)

You couldn’t workout at the annual NFL combine, so you scheduled a pro day in your hometown of Lufkin, Texas.  Scouts and coaches gathered to see you; a huge opportunity to improve your draft stock and maybe even silence some critics.  You showed up with a 10-man entourage.  Having friends is a good thing, but you could have saved the entourage for after you got drafted.  Pro day was an opportunity for humility and performance.  You should have kept your head down, mouth shut, and gone to work.  NFL teams didn’t appreciate the attitude and the ego.  On top of that, you forgot your shoes.  Possibly the biggest day of your life, a day that could earn or cost you millions of dollars.  You put such little thought into it, you couldn’t even show up with the right footwear?  What the scouts saw was an impressive specimen on the field, but they also left with questions about your character.

In February, you signed a contract with Under Armour.  The company paid you good money to wear its shoes and clothing.  But in May, you showed up at a workout decked out in Nike apparel.  Needless to say, this didn’t go over too well with the Under Armour execs and they dropped you faster than a football off the hands of Roy Williams.  What part of “under contract” didn’t you understand?  See Dez, it’s another incident that shows lack of intelligence, thought, and maturity.

When training camp started, the aforementioned Mr. Williams wanted you to carry his pads off the field.  It’s a rookie ritual, it’s been going on in the NFL for decades.  You refused and made it clear that you weren’t at camp to be carrying anyone’s pads.  That refusal turned into a full-blown media circus.  Yet another chance to be humble and accept your role.  Instead you made it all about you Dez.  It didn’t matter whether you agreed with the ritual or not, because it was an opportunity for you to earn the respect of your teammates.  An innocent rite of passage, turned into a divided locker room and brought unnecessary attention to you and your team.

Dez Bryant is already known for catching the football, will he be know for anything else? (courtesy espndallas.com)

Your effort to make it up to Williams and other teammates also drew the wrong kind of attention.  In September, you paid $54,896 for dinner for you and your boys at a Dallas steakhouse.  No question, you can afford the filet.  One dinner is just a small chunk of your 8.3 million dollar signing bonus.  Affordability wasn’t the issue here Dez.  There are millions of Americans who would love to make 55K in a year and who struggle to feed their families.  How about donating a chunk of change to a local charity?  Or, if you’re going to have a dinner with teammates, why not do it discreetly and privately?  It’s no secret that athletes spend exorbitant amounts of money on things they don’t need, but those purchases aren’t always rubbed in the face of the public.  This didn’t have to make headlines Dez.  Again, attention for the wrong reasons.

I know these sound like little things.  I know you didn’t hurt anyone, and you weren’t convicted of any crime.  But Dez, you strike me as a guy who loves the limelight, a guy who wants the headlines, no matter what they might be.  I know you had a rough upbringing and unstable family life.  I give you all the credit in the world for making it out of that situation and achieving your dream.  Now that you’re in the NFL, I’m pleading with you Dez, surround yourself with the right people.  Think before you speak and before you act.  Don’t go down the same roads as Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.  Their careers have turned into sideshows.  They’re barely taken seriously as football players.  Don’t let it happen to you, Dez.

If you want to have a long, successful career in the NFL, it’s going to happen because of talent, not because of foolish antics.  As an Oklahoman, I want to see more of what I saw on Monday night.  I’m rooting for you, and I believe in you.  I know I’m not the only one.

Thank you for listening, Mr. Bryant.

Foodie Page, Stockyards City Cookbook

Cooking Through the Stockyards Centennial Cookbook – Kickoff!

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Editor’s Note:  We’re SO glad to have Whitni and Jani kicking off our Stockyards City cookbook cook-through.  I think I gained two pounds just reading this post…and, I’m making one this weekend!  A big thanks to the Stockyards City team for allowing us to print the recipes on the RDC.  The cooks are allowed 5 passes throughout their work in case they run into a recipe that just doesn’t fit their palate.  Whitni, “the daughter,” is kicking off the series.  Next week, you’ll meet the “mom” part of the culinary duo…enjoy!

– Red Dirt Kelly

*****

What can I say? I love to eat!

Its a good thing I learned how to cook in college so that I am still not surviving on Ramen Noodles. And for me, it is definitely a challenge to cook for just one person.  So through my posts I will give you pointers on how to make your meals in smaller portions, or to extend their life a bit further. Here we go…

Every Monday is girls night for my group of friends. We choose a cheesy reality show or a chick flick to watch (that we usually talk over),  and then pile into the living room with dinner around the TV. I chose to make the Banana Split Cake for our dessert this week. I got nothing but rave reviews. I did double the graham cracker crust and the pineapple and in exchange for the cherries I put strawberries. I will warn ya though, its enough food to feed a small army!

Banana Split Cake

by Patricia Parent

2 C Graham Cracker Crumbs (I used 4 C)

2 sticks butter (I used an extra since I made extra crust)

5  Bananas

1 can Pineapple, drained ( I used 2 cans of crushed)

1 (8oz) Pkg. Cream Cheese

2 C Powdered Sugar

1 Carton Whipped topping

To make the crust, mix together graham cracker crumbs and 1 stick of melted butter. Mash into a 9×13 dish. Refrigerate until chilled. Put sliced bananas on top of crust. Spoon 1 large can drained pineapple on top of the bananas. Mix together cream cheese, remaining butter and powdered sugar. Spoon over fruit. Add container of whipped topping over the top of the fruit. Sprinkle with nuts and maraschino cherries.  Chill and serve.

Check out the slide show I made so you can see the progressive steps come together. Great summer dish to take to a friend’s pool party!

Happy Cooking!

Whitni

Man Cave

No Man is an Island Jack

In 1986, Robin Williams starred in a movie of great acclaim, Club Paradise. The title of this post, a line from that movie, is my homage to the film and to the fact that real men need other men.

This line has stuck with me through my life mainly because of its humor. There’s a scene in the movie where one of the characters tells Robin Williams (whose name is Jack) that, “No man is an island, Jack.” Another one of the characters hears this line, doesn’t realize there’s a comma in there or that it’s a famous quote, and immediately makes a song out of it. “No man is an island, Jack.” becomes “No man is an Island Jack” and Island Jack is born.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNHQn2B-hd8]

While the Club Paradise movie may or may not be the best inspiration for a blog post on what constitutes a real man, that famous line from it certainly is.

While times of solitude are certainly important for real men, a real man knows that he is not an island and that he needs friendships with other men if he’s going to make it in this life.

The problem with our culture in the U.S. is that too many of us are caught up in the false notion of independence as a virtue. If you don’t believe me, just take a few minutes and think about the title of the document that kicked off the revolutionary war that started our country. (The funny thing about the Declaration of INDEPENDENCE was that it actually required a great solidarity among men to make it happen and carry it out to fruition… but we forget that today sometimes.)

In today’s world, and for the last couple hundred years, men have been taught to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and to make their own way. It’s the whole, “Go west young man, go west!” idea played out to its worst extremes.

And yet the reality remains that men need other men. The earliest people to inhabit this earth knew this instinctively. As a matter of fact, for most of human history, with the last few hundred years being the exception, people lived together in tribes. In the grand scheme of things, the idea of the independent and self-made man is a relatively new (and largely unproven) idea.

Life is going to be difficult at times and the people who depend on us need us to be strong men who go to bat for them and get us through those times. When life goes to crap, we only have so much inherent strength within us that we can draw from to make it through. When that strength is depleted, where will you go to replenish yours? Don’t put that on the woman in your life. It’s not her burden to bear. No, when life requires more strength than we as individual men can muster, we need to draw from the fellowship of other men who have been through whatever it is that’s depleting our strength.

When life get’s tough, we need other men who know us to the core. We all have friends who know us to some degree, but when life requires great strength, we need men who know our strengths as well as our weaknesses. Men who will call us out when they see us on the verge of making a colossal mistake. Men who will lift us up when we fail and stand beside us in adversity.

Do you have men like that in your life? Does your life look more tribal or more nomadic? If you answered nomadic, I encourage you to find other men who also realize that life is a journey and that journeys are not meant to be taken alone.

I think this idea is part of what made the men of the Greatest Generation so great. The men of that generation went to war together. They fought the enemy and the elements together. At times they slept back to back in foxholes at night supporting each other. They never left another man behind. And despite how the horrors of war impacted many of them in negative ways, they developed a great appreciation for the value of fellowship with other men.

I want to be the kind of man who has deep bonds of friendship with other men. I want men in my life who know my struggles, who know my strengths, and who aren’t afraid to run out onto the battlefield and pull me back to safety when they see me wounded. And I want to do the same for them.

No man is an Island Jack but a group of islands is an archipelago… think about it.

*Thank you Jimmy Cliff for the sweet reggae.

You can find more “Finding Manhood” essays here.

Man Cave

Wading Through the Wackiness of College Football

It’s a good thing I don’t gamble on sports.  I’d have better luck picking Powerball numbers than predicting the outcome of college football games much less how the season is going to play out.  This year on the gridiron is like a science experiment gone wrong.  There is no hypothesis to be made, because there are no trends, no consistent data, no rhyme, no reason, only random chaos. 

Baylor QB Robert Griffin has the Bears bowl eligible and in first place in the Big 12 South.

How else can you describe what’s happening in the Big 12?  Baylor, yes Baylor is in first place in the Big 12 South.  This is the same Baylor that’s been a doormat of the conference for more than a decade.  Eight games into the season and the Bears are bowl eligible for the first time since 1994.  Right now, Baylor looks every bit as good as Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State.  Maybe better.  I can’t believe I just typed that sentence. 

Try to wrap your brain around this:  Oklahoma blasts Iowa State 52-0; the Cyclones then dominate Texas in Austin, the same Texas team that just came off a convincing road win at previously unbeaten Nebraska.  Those same Huskers that were locked up by the ‘Horns, go to Stillwater and hang 51 on the undefeated Cowboys. 

But the wackiness isn’t limited to the Big 12.  The number one team has now fallen in three straight weeks.  That hasn’t happened since 1960.  Maybe the most bizarre part of it all is the fact that a computer gets to decide how an eventual champion will be determined.  Ever try arguing with a computer?  I’ve yelled at, sworn at, and pleaded with my computer, but it can’t be reasoned with.  The folks at the BCS obviously think computers are smarter than humans.  I won’t win that debate, so let me just make some general comments and predictions that will surely go wrong because they come from my feeble human brain.

WHAT HAPPENED TO OU AND OSU?

Sooner fans, let me be clear.  Your team was badly exposed and outplayed the other night in Columbia.  OU was not, is not, and won’t be the best team in college football this year.  To think otherwise is simply delusional.  The Sooners were not worthy of the number one BCS ranking, and there is a laundry list of reasons. 

Landry Jones and the Sooners got sacked by Mizzou.

First, the best team in the country doesn’t turn the ball over twice inside the opponent’s 20 yard line.  Second, a team that can win a national title is a team that can rush the quarterback effectively and tackle in the secondary.  The Sooners can do neither.  Third, the quarterback for the best team in the country doesn’t continually pull this Jekyll and Hyde act.  Landry Jones is one player at home, and a complete mess on the road.  Staring down your intended receiver is not a trait of the leader of the best team in the land.  Fourth, the last time I checked you are the University of freaking Oklahoma.  With your history and tradition, you are one of the powers in college football.  Why in the name of Bud Wilkinson can’t you find someone who can kick a 30 yard field goal?  Please tell me why the coaching staff isn’t bringing in one of the country’s best high school kickers year after year?  A big time football program like the one in Norman has no excuse for this.  None.  Fifth, and maybe most importantly, the best team in the country doesn’t quit.  How else do you describe what Bob Stoops did when he elected to punt with two minutes left?  No, you’re probably not going to win the game, but what kind of message does punting send to your players and to your fans?  It says we’ve lost, we’re done, let’s get this over with please.  

Nebraska ran away from OSU, piling up 540 yards in a 51-41 victory.

The message to Oklahoma State fans is much simpler.  If your team is ever going to contend for a South title or a conference title, you must have a defense.  The last decade in Stillwater has seen a carousel of coordinators with very limited results.    Right now OSU ranks 97th in the country in total defense, but 3rd in total offense.  Sadly, it’s the same song, different verse for the Cowboys.  Oklahoma State hasn’t had a defensive player drafted in the first round since Kevin Williams in 2003.  There just isn’t enough top-notch talent on that side of the ball coming through Stillwater.  Put a halfway decent defense with the Pokes’ offensive talent, and there’s a team I will believe in.

WHO WINS THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP?

Maybe it’s too soon after the weekend, but I have very little confidence in OU being able to run the table.  The Sooners are abysmal on the road and tough tests remain in Waco, College Station, and Stillwater.  On the other hand, I can’t pick OSU because the meat of the Cowboys’ schedule is still ahead, and did I mention their defense?  Texas is done, and Baylor might just be the best team in the South.  I’m going to repeat this sentence three times: “Baylor wins the Big 12 South.”  Every time I say it, it sounds more absurd.  I’m not ready for it.  Sorry Bears, I’ll go with OU by default. 

Is Bo Pelini the man to lead the Huskers back to prominence?

My gut tells me Nebraska is the best team in the conference, and I see a massive let down for Mizzou when the Tigers invade Lincoln this week.  I love Bo Pelini’s coaching style and his intensity, no way the Huskers are dropping two straight at home.  Nebraska takes its first step back to being the program it was in the 90’s by winning the Big 12 championship.

WHICH TEAM IS REALLY THE BEST TEAM IN THE COUNTRY?

Not an easy answer, but I believe Alabama is the most complete team I’ve seen.  Sure, the Tide lost to South Carolina, but the loss was early enough in the season for Nick Saban’s team to recover.  Alabama has two of the criteria I’m looking for in a title contender.  Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson makeup the best backfield in the country, and if Saban will just stick with the ground game for four quarters, the Tide can roll all the way to a championship.  ‘Bama also plays great defense, a defense that will be meet it’s toughest test when Auburn comes to Tuscaloosa on November 26th. 

Auburn won’t get past Alabama, and I don’t see Oregon going unscathed either.  The Ducks go to USC, have to get by Arizona at home, then survive the Civil War against Oregon State in Corvalis.  Chip Kelly has done a phenomenal job with that team, but a one loss Oregon team isn’t going to pass a one loss Alabama team.

I can’t convince myself that Michigan State is for real (maybe if the Spartans win at Iowa this week), and even though Boise State and TCU deserve to be highly ranked, I can’t label them as the best because of the competition they face. 

‘Bama plays Boise for the national championship and the Crimson Tide, improbable as it may sound, finds a way to win back to back titles. 

(I can’t wait to come back to this column after the season and see just how far off I was!)

WHO WINS THE HEISMAN TROPHY?

Sadly this award has become a trophy for the best player on a front running team.  The number in the loss column matters more than all the other stats combined.  That said, right now it’s Cam Newton’s to lose.  If the Auburn quarterback leads his team to victory in Tuscaloosa, there’s no way he’s not hoisting that bronze statue.

WHICH TEAM IS MOST OVERRATED?

Missouri.  Major props for beating a mistake prone and highly overrated Oklahoma team on your home field, but I’m not ready to buy in to the Tigers just yet.  Mizzou’s non-conference schedule featured a long list of puff pastries, and again the toughest game to date was at home.  I’ll maintain that OU lost that game more than Mizzou won it.  I’d also like to see Blaine Gabbert complete a pass over 15 yards.  The Tigers have a chance to prove me wrong this weekend at Nebraska.  Win in Lincoln and you’ll get rid of the overrated tag in a hurry.  But for now, I’m not a believer.

WHICH TEAM IS MOST UNDERRATED?

Utah.  Nobody is talking about the Utes even though they’re undefeated.  Kyle Whittingham’s team is 14th in the country in total offense and 5th in total defense.  In other words, the Utes are getting it done on both sides of the ball.  You want style points?  Utah is beating up the opposition by an average of 35 points per game.  This team shouldn’t be under the radar because of what its accomplished over the last few years.  The Utes haven’t lost a bowl game under Whittingham and have two BCS bowl victories to their credit.  If the Utes get through this current gauntlet of games (at Air Force, vs. TCU, at Notre Dame), there’s no way they should be ignored.

Take that computers.

Oklahoma culture, The Stage

And if THAT Doesn’t Work for a Halloween Costume, Try This…

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by Joey Rodman

Having trouble deciding what to be for Halloween?

Broke?

Apathetic?

Expected to wear something to work or a party? Here are my very best ideas for last minute super cheap costumes:

For Men ~

Cereal Killer:  Wear your every day wardrobe, carry around a box of cereal that’s been maimed.  Add fake blood.

Arthur Dent: Wear your bathrobe (wear sweats underneath!) and carry around a tea-cup.  Look confused…

Ghost Hunter: Wear sweats and a hoodie, carry around an old remote control, wave it around while talking about *EMF fields.

For Women~

Your Mother: Embrace it.  Say all the things she says. Wear the dorky clothes she wears; borrow an outfit from her if you can.  Just be sure not to make the parody too close or she’ll never forgive you.

80’s Girl: You know you want to…good thing they still make Aqua-Net.  Embarrass everyone around you, it’ll be great! Bonus points for attempting a “Cyndi Lauper.”

Cat, mouse, dog, or other animal: Cut out said animal’s ears from construction paper and tape it to a headband. Wear whatever you want and pin a tail to your butt.  Growl, snarl, hiss, etc. at anyone who says you’re not wearing a “real costume.”  The sell is all in the threat of rabies; be sure to look a little mad.

~Joey Rodman

*Electromagnetic Fields

Homestead and Garden, Oklahoma culture, Uncategorized

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch: Back In The Saddle

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hugh
Hugh sittin' proud on his new horse Andy. It's only a matter of time before Hugh outgrows this saddle he has had since he was eight months old.
saddle
Judy's saddle purchased for the second time. I'm the lucky one who got to use it on this trail ride.

I’m sure there is a story behind Gene Autrey’s old song “I’m Back In The Saddle Again.”

I’m not sure what it is… but from now on I’m going to think about this one:

When Judy Hart Nelson was nine years old, she convinced her dad that riding a horse was not just a passing fancy.  She wanted a real saddle.  They went to a local horse tack auction near Chickasha, OK and purchased one for her.  She used that same saddle on her horse, Cupcake, until it was time for her to go off to college and then Cupcake was sold.  The saddle went into the attic.  A few years later, thinking that her horse-riding days were over, Judy also sold the saddle.

Twenty five years passed.

Circumstances allowed Judy to return to the countryside where she could own a few horses.  After Judy’s dad died in 2007, she recalled the special memory of their trip to the horse auction.  It made her wonder about that old saddle.  Amazingly, the man who purchased the saddle entered Judy’s workplace on business and Judy decided to ask him about the saddle that held so many special memories for her.

The saddle had been used as an elk hunting saddle in Colorado.  It was sturdy and had carried many elk for this avid hunter.  Judy didn’t care what shape it was in.  She asked to buy it back, and he let her.

Judy’s son, Hugh Hart Nelson, is nine years old and is just about to outgrow the saddle he got from his dad before he even reached his first birthday.  Soon he and his parents will make a trip to an auction or tack shop to purchase the saddle he will use for the rest of his life.

No doubt this saddle they choose for her son Hugh will not get to see the same adventures as Judy’s old saddle unless it’s with its owner.  Judy has learned her lesson.

“Whoopi-ty-aye-oh

Rockin’ to and fro

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-yay

I go my way

Back in the saddle again.”

Back In the Saddle Again lyrics/ Gene Autry (click link to enjoy the song)

Man Cave

Are Our Sports Becoming Wimpy?

1 Comment

America was once thought of as a tough, gritty nation.  A country of sweat and hard work.  Our men were men, and nowhere was that better reflected than on the football field.  Names like Butkus, Kramer, Nitschke, Bednarik, and Ditka were known for their blue-collar mentality.  Guys like that would clothesline their own grandmother if it meant getting a stop on fourth down.  Mess with them, and you got messed up.  They relished every hit because contact is at the very core of football.

Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus, not the man you want to meet in the open field.

Now I’m afraid the NFL is trying to change the nature of its great game.  This week, the league issued a statement saying players will be suspended for “head shots” and “devastating” hits.  The announcement came on the heels of a particularly hard-hitting weekend.  Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison sent two Browns players to the sidelines with head injuries.  Falcons’ defensive back Dunta Robinson leveled Eagles’ receiver DeSean Jackson and both men sustained concussions.  Patriots’ safety Brandon Merriweather went helmet to helmet with Ravens’ tight end Todd Heap, snapping Heap’s head back and leaving him prone on the turf for several minutes.

Yes, these hits were vicious and violent.  Yes, there is a chance one of these collisions could have life-altering consequences.  But the NFL overreacted and failed to even define what constitutes a “devastating” hit.  Robinson’s hit was certainly devastating, but it was clean.  The league disagreed however, and fined Robinson $50,000.  Merriweather will also have to pay fifty grand for his hit, and Harrison will be docked $75,000.

Steelers' linebacker James Harrions levels Browns' receiver Mohamed Massaquoi in the second quarter of last Sunday's game. Massaquoi did not return after the hit. (courtesy bleacherreport.com)

Nobody wants to see serious injuries or concussions that could lead to brain damage.  But in case the NFL wasn’t aware of this, nobody is playing football against their will.  Every player on every NFL roster is fully aware of the risks and potential for bodily harm when they step onto the field.  Contact is at the very heart of football, and if players didn’t expect it or want it, they’d take up golf or tennis or bowling.

Dolphins’ linebacker Channing Crowder summed it up perfectly when he said, “A garbage man is going to stink after he gets out of work, because he deals with garbage all day, right?  If you play football, you have a chance to get hit in the head. You’re going to get a concussion because you have on a helmet and people are going to hit you with their helmet. So if you don’t want to get hit in the head, don’t play football.”

Brian Urlacher is known as one of the sports true tough guys, and the Bears’ linebacker echoed the sentiments of Crowder. “It’s freaking football. There are going to be big hits.  I don’t understand how they can do this after one weekend of hitting. And I can’t understand how they can suspend us for it. I think it’s a bunch of bull (crap).

“You know what we should do? We should just put flags on everybody. Let’s make it the NFFL — the National Flag Football League. It’s unbelievable.”

This new policy is much easier said than done for the NFL.  How do you change a defensive player’s mentality?  A player is taught to do whatever it takes to separate an offensive player from the football or prevent him from making a catch.  Does the safety need to run full speed at a receiver then pull up at the last second?  In a league where split second decisions make the difference between stops and touchdowns, can you really expect these guys to forget their training, forget their instincts, and contemplate the consequences of a hit.  It’s ridiculous.

Oklahoma City sports radio host Jim Traber likes to rant on what he calls, “the sissification of America.”  Well, here’s exhibit A for you, Jim.

The people who want to make football less violent are the same people who want to take fighting out of hockey.  Sorry, no can do hippie.  Fighting is part of the game, always has been.  Hockey players are men who stand up for their teammates by dropping the gloves.  It’s the way scores are settled and there’s nothing dirty about it.  Every team has players known as “enforcers” who know their roles and know how much that role means to the energy, enthusiasm and overall attitude of their team.  You can tinker with other rules all you want, but you can’t take fighting out of hockey because you would be changing the sport at its core.

Scraps like this one have always been part of hockey. Let's hope it stays that way.

I don’t see boxing changing its rules.  I don’t see the UFC doing anything drastic to protect its fighters.  Why?  Because these are violent sports.  It’s what the fans expect and want to see, and again, the participants know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.

Why doesn’t the NFL look into changing the overtime rules, or the absurd rule that allows coaches to call time-out right before a kicker attempts a field goal?  Why doesn’t the league re-examine pass interference or how a receiver has to possess a ball all the way to the ground?  Better yet, how about rethinking health insurance and benefits for players after they retire.  Right now the NFL only provides medical coverage for five years after retirement.  Why not invest some of those billion dollar profits into better insurance or toward improving helmet technology?

Cheap shots and deliberate head to head hits should continue to be fined.  Go ahead and suspend players if you want to send a stronger message.  But please NFL, don’t ask these players to dial it down a notch.  Don’t change the fundamental thing that makes football great.  America is a tough country, let’s play our football the same way.

Man Cave

6’4″, 29, 220

Editor’s Note: For two months now, we’ve featured “Finding Manhood” on our Man Cave page as one of our partnership blogs we recommend.  We’re pleased to announce that beginning each Wednesday, we’ll now have a feature from their “Best Of” archives to share with our community.  Finally…regular Man Cave stuff AND Sports stuff!  I loved this post, and am glad it was chosen to kick off this weekly segment – Red Dirt Kelly

***

It could be said that I am a big college football fan. It could also be said that I’m an even bigger University of Oklahoma (OU) college football fan.

My dad started taking me to games in Norman when I was a little kid and that tradition has continued into adulthood. In those rare occasions when I’ve been unable to make it to Norman for a game that is not televised, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to be a part of Bob Barry’s play-by-play color commentary on the radio for the better part of my life.

While there’s a lot I could say about Bob Barry and his style of radio announcing, the one thing that has stood out to me over the years is the way he introduces the players at both the beginning of the game and as they check into the huddle. After saying a player’s name and usually his hometown, Bob most always follows it with three numbers. For years I had no idea what the numbers were until one day a good friend cleared it up for me.

Each time a new player comes on the field, Bob says their height, age, and weight after announcing their name and the town they are from. Because I didn’t realize what that was until later in life, I always find it really amusing anytime I hear it now. For example, if I were walking out to the huddle for my debut as the starting left tackle for the University of Oklahoma, those listening to 107.7 KRXO FM in the greater Oklahoma City area would hear: “Michael Mitchell subbing in for the Sooners from Oklahoma City. 6’4″, 29, 220.”

Amusing though I find it, those 3 numbers really do matter in the game of college football… sometimes (see story about Darren Sproles below). If you tell me a guy’s age, his height, and his weight, you’ve told me a lot about him as a football player. I can generally gauge by his age the level of maturity and in-game instinct he’s going to have on the field. Obviously, his height and weight tell me a lot about his physical development and strength… how much power he’s going to pack. I like Bob Barry’s system because I like making snap judgments and it gives me a very quick, very simple shortcut to size a guy up.

As men, many of us are a lot like Bob Barry in that respect. We carry around numbers in our heads that are important to us and that we compare to the numbers of other men we know.

As we get older, the numbers we carry around in our heads are no longer our height, age, and weight…though for some men all three of Bob Barry’s numbers remain a big part of their identity.

And while it’s likely that you probably don’t care too much about your own height, age, and weight (unless you’re extreme in any of them to the point of medical danger), you probably carry around other numbers that you think ARE important.

For some men, it’s our salary. The more zeros at the end, the better, right? For other men, the number that matters is the number of letters we have after our names. For some of us, it’s the square footage of our homes or the number of toys our kids get on their birthdays. For others, it’s our golf handicap. And for some of us, it’s the dollar amount of our retirement account. (I do enjoy a good rhyme.)

No matter what numbers you carry around in your head, the fact remains that as men a lot of us have a hard time being comfortable in our own skin without comparing ourselves to others. We place way too much value on numbers that really don’t matter.

The problem with the numbers we carry around is at least two-fold.

First, much like the game of football, no matter what number we use from which to base our evaluations of ourselves and comparisons to other men, there’s always going to be someone with a better number than us. In football, it’s usually the left tackle.  But even the biggest left tackle always has someone coming up behind him that is: A) younger; B) probably taller; and, 3) heavier.

Maybe my income has 6 zeroes in it. (It doesn’t), but if it did, there’d be someone else out there who has 7. The same goes for my golf score (I don’t play), the number of fish I caught the last time I fished (less than my limit), the size of my home, the value of my investments, the horsepower of my car, my kid’s IQ, etc. etc. etc. The list could go on forever. And just like in the game of college football, there will always be someone with a better number.

The second way our numbers as men are similar to Bob Barry’s college football numbers is that often times they are both misleading and flat-out DON’T MATTER. While age, height, and weight are a quick way of sizing up a college football player, often times they are actually not the most important factors. We’ve all seen those guys who dominated the game of college football despite seemingly meager numbers. As an OU football fan, the name Darren Sproles comes to my mind. Sproles, who now plays on Sundays for the San Diego Chargers, is listed at 5′ 6″ and 185 pounds. He’s beefed up since his college days.

In 2003, despite his tiny stature, Sproles (who played for Kansas State) shredded the undefeated and highly touted OU defense in the Big Twelve Championship game leading to a 35-7 upset. Since then, he’s gone on to have a pretty good career in the National Football League. And yet, if you look at the guy on paper, his numbers betray him. And while I’ve never met the guy, I get the feeling that the one thing that REALLY sets him apart is a number that is impossible (at least for us non-medical professionals) to judge… that is, the size of his heart.

As men it’s really tempting to get caught up in the game of evaluating and comparing ourselves to other men based on whatever numbers we, or they, have deemed important. However I’ve recently started to meet and read about men that don’t fit the mold in this area. Men who may or may not have impressive numbers, but who just flat-out don’t give a damn.

These are men who evaluate themselves on intrinsic things that can’t easily be sized up with a quick number. Things like the amount of passion with which they face life, the way they treat other people, their own level of self-discipline, etc. These men have a sort of strength that draws other people to them. Call it resiliency, call it the mountain man persona, call it whatever you want to call it – but men like this don’t need numbers.

Despite the fact that these men probably have impressive numbers to boast, they find their value in simply being what they were created to be. Living life with gusto. Holding doors for little old ladies. Trying risky things even if it means failing more than they succeed. Taking care of their physical, mental, and emotional health. Taking care of their families. Making the decision to live a life of discipline. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day just because it’s difficult.

That’s the kind of man I want to be. Until then, I’m 6’4″ 29 220.

***

Michael Mitchell is a new daddy and the husband of a friend.  I’ll let him introduce more of himself as he sees fit.  Afterall, I don’t want to be puttin’ up some wrong “numbers,” yo! – RDK

Homestead and Garden

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere

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big goat
One of our regulars.

 

It’s the end of a long work week, but my work day is not over.

At 5 o’clock I’m the most popular (and only) person working at The Goat Shed.  The thirteen patrons belly up to the bar consisting of three feed troughs.  It’s not peanuts and beer….it’s water and sweet feed….but these customers know what they want, and part of what they want is good customer service.

They have come to the right place.  Let’s get this party started.

 

Julie and the kids
We love kids at The Goat Shed.

 

Man Cave

Laying Blame for College Sports Scandals

As a sports fan, I am no longer shocked or surprised by anything.  I’m guessing I’m not alone here.  Athletes get arrested at an alarming rate.  Rarely does a day go by without hearing of some sort of cheating, whether its performance enhancing drugs or marital infidelity.  Suspensions, violations, and probations are now expected during the course of any professional or college sports season.

Manny Ramirez got busted for taking a female fertility drug.  Yawn.  Brett Favre allegedly sent pictures of his privates to a woman while playing with the Jets.  Whatever.  Ben Roethlisberger had an “encounter” with a college student in the bathroom of a bar.  Double yawn.  Tiger Woods led a secret life, and slept with who knows how many women in who knows how many states.  I give it a shoulder shrug and a raised eyebrow.  Even if Lance Armstrong, the last hope for integrity and truth in sports, is proven guilty of doping, will we really be blown away?  I might bat an eyelash, but I’m not going to be floored.  In fact, my initial thought will probably be something along the lines of, “that took longer than I expected.”  Sad but true.

Scandal has become synonymous with sports.  It’s like acne on a teenager, it’s assumed.  We’re not nearly as appalled at the sports landscape as we used to be.  When was the last time you really gasped at a scandal?  It’s been a while hasn’t it?  There’s no more surprise, no more shock, no more asking “how can this be!?”  American sports fans are desensitized and apathetic toward all of it.

Former NFL agent Josh Luchs confessed to paying players (photo courtesy of SI.com)

 The latest example came this week when Josh Luchs, a former NFL agent, admitted to Sports Illustrated that he broke NCAA rules and regularly paid college football players.  In his first person article, Luchs says he gave hand outs to players in hopes they would sign with him.  I appreciate Luchs’ candor and the glimpse behind the scenes of what really goes on between agents and college players, but am I stunned by any of his revelations?  No. 

This is simply another kind of behavior that has come to be expected in the world of college athletics.  At this point, if you’re like me, you’re almost completely numb to any kind of NCAA violation.  Big schools cheat.  Small schools cheat.  Coaches have impermissible contact with recruits.  Players take money.  And the world turns.

Sure, there have always been schools out there breaking the rules, but today these violations are so pervasive it’s hard to find a university that doesn’t have a blemish on its record.  Our alma mater may cheat, but as long as we’re winning, it’s pretty easy to look the other way. 

I think I’m ready to come out of my scandal induced coma, and propose some real changes.  Not because I’m angry or disappointed or betrayed, but because I’m just so sick and tired of hearing about it.

There is plenty of blame to go around here, but a good chunk of it lands right in the lap of the NCAA.  It’s an archaic, poorly run bureaucracy that needs to be fixed.  When I think of the leaders of the NCAA, I think of a group of old men sitting around a table in a dimly lit room.  They are wearing glasses, suspenders, and bow ties, and they’re churning out new rules so quickly that their typewriters are smoking.  They are so far removed from what life is actually like on a college campus.  They know nothing of what a coach has to deal with or what it’s really like to be a “student-athlete.”  And they don’t care.

Listen up NCAA…there are TOO MANY rules.  How much time, effort, and money do you spend as an organization just investigating infractions?  I’m willing to bet it’s a bunch.  Why?  Because you’re creating rules faster than you can enforce them. 

Why not lighten up on the recruiting rules?  There are hundreds of rules coaches are expected to follow, and I can’t blame them for slipping up from time to time.  There is a limit to the number of phone calls and number of texts a coach can send.  There are only certain times of the year when recruiting is “open.”  It’s kind of like deer season.  There are certain periods when the recruit can sign a letter of intent.  There are rules for how a coach can recruit a high school junior and different rules for a high school senior.  There are rules for when and how a recruit can take a visit to a campus, and there are rules for what can and cannot happen during that visit.  Try reading the NCAA recruiting guidelines for division one football.  Go ahead try it.  It will make your head spin. 

A simple logo for a complex organization (courtesy ncaa.org)

The NCAA could do away with most of these rules.  The NCAA will tell you there must be a level playing field, and the kids have to be protected.  Remember the NCAA really cares about the kids.  Since when is a high school kid incapable of turning off his phone or throwing away his mail?  Let coaches pursue the kids, and let the kids decide when and how they want to.  Less red tape would mean fewer violations, fewer probations, and maybe coaches could get back to coaching.

Not only do these silly rules cost the NCAA money to enact and enforce, they cost the universities millions of dollars every year.  Every school now has to hire a compliance staff to keep up with the ever-changing NCAA legislation.  These compliance officers are paid to make sure players are eligible, see that no violations are occurring, and educate the coaching staffs to the new rules.  Have these compliance staffs solved the problems?  Are there fewer violations now than there used to be?  No and not even close.

This isn’t to say that some rules are needed.  I don’t think players should be allowed to take money from agents or have contact with agents.  But it’s the agents who deserve the brunt of the punishment, not the players, and certainly not the entire program.  Should the current players on the USC football team really suffer because Reggie Bush accepted benefits from an agent?  It’s absurd.

Why should current Trojans be punished for Reggie Bush's transgressions? (courtesy renovomedia.com)

The NCAA seems to think more regulations will equal cleaner programs.  It’s a nice concept, but it’s wrong.  There are more regulations than ever, and there’s more cheating than ever before.  Everyday brings a new headline.

UConn Men’s Basketball Team Admits Major Violations, Florida Football Misuses Facebook Commits Four Minor NCAA Violations, NCAA Accuses Michigan Coach of Violations, Memphis Forced to Vacate Wins from Final Four Season, NCAA places Alabama football on Probation, Trojans Hammered for Lack of Institutional Control…

And on, and on, and on we go.

I’m not naive enough to think that cheating can be eradicated from college sports or any sport for that matter.   Coaches and players will continue to come up with ways to cut corners and gain a competitive edge.  Those that do should be punished.  However, I’m exasperated by the callous nature of the NCAA and the complete refusal of this institution to look inward and recognize that widespread changes need to be made.  I don’t think we have to be so far away from cleaning up the landscape of college athletics.  I’m frustrated by the stubborn refusal of an organization to change.

I think I will remain mostly numb but I don’t want to feel this way anymore.  So please NCAA, please help me change.  Help me to see violations as the exception, not the norm.  Help me to care, help me get rid of the cynical sports fan inside of me.  That way if I am shocked, it will mean that scandal is rare instead of prevalent.  I want to feel again, I want to care, I want to be the sports fan of my youth.  Please NCAA, look deep into the blackness that is your soul, and try to change so I can change.

Homestead and Garden

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch: Playin’ With Fire

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Do you remember being intrigued by ants as a kid?  They were usually associated with summer, picnics, ant farms, and that red and white checkered tablecloth.  For me…not anymore. The intrigue is gone.

I love Saturdays.  I took advantage of my husband’s solo trip to the lumber yard to give my dusty horses a much needed bath. Completing the task and holding the lead rope of the last horse in one hand, I stepped over the to the water faucet to roll up the water hose with the other hand.  Within seconds I felt something…like tall blades of grass at my ankles.  Weird.  I’m not even standing in tall grass. A quick glance at my shoes revealed the unexpected….hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny little red fire ants had swarmed onto my tennis shoes.

 

The Enemy

 

Fire ants. They have been in the U.S. since the 1930’s, coming to us via ships from Brazil.  They build nests near water and have been known to take down small animals.  This ain’t no picnic ant, people.  These guys are tiny and if you see one, you may think it to be harmless.  Don’t look away.  Within seconds the rest of the army will join the attack.  And the sting?  That’s where the ant gets its name.  You feel like you’re on fire. You’re safer holding a lighted match near a pile of dry wood drenched in gasoline than standing on a fire ant bed.

Jumping up and down didn’t shake them.  I was still holding onto a horse, so I had to use my only free hand to wrangle the end of the water hose back into reach.  I sprayed my feet which removed most of them.  I swatted the tenacious ones crawling on up my legs and got the horse safely back to the pasture.  Then I ran like I had never run before to the pool and jumped in up to my knees.  I could not believe the pain.

Fire ants had tried to ruin my Saturday.  Instead, they ruined my Sunday.  I woke up with what looked like Poison Ivy on my hands and ankles.  Oh yeah.  It itched like Poison Ivy too.

***Sign on for more “Back at the Ranch” soon.  Julie mentions she’s got quite a few entries on the back burner.  Oops…I wrote “burner!” – Red Dirt Kelly

Foodie Page, Homestead and Garden, Oklahoma culture, Travel

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: OKtober

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We have a little gem of a bakery out here in the country.  Backerman’s Bakery and Cheese Shoppe is a small Mennonite Bakery owned and run by a local Mennonite family.  The bakery is a fairly popular stop on Highway 64 and is one of the ways I get my friends to come visit me…I promise to take them to the bakery for a fried pie.

A brief amount of research on Mennonites in Oklahoma revealed that this group played a role in the Land Run of 1889.  They were key to helping Oklahoma become a major wheat-producing state.  Currently there are three Mennonite churches in the tiny town of Corn (formerly Korn) which only has about 591 residents.  Corn is located on the western prairie range, about twenty miles or so south of Weatherford.

Our local Mennonite community raises funds the first weekend in October in order to support their Mennonite school.   The Mennonite Oktoberfest celebrates German heritage treats (without the beer) and the goodness of community.  Of course, anytime I see an “O” and a “K” together, I think of Oklahoma; nothing screams “goodness of community” like my home state.Mennonite Girl

See more pictures from the most recent Oktoberfest, 2010.

Oklahoma culture

Body Check This: Locals Play Hockey, plus Barons Season Opens TODAY

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by Joey Rodman

Anyone who has ever met me realizes pretty quickly I’m a die hard baseball fan. From the beginning of spring training until the lingering days after the last game in the World Series, it’s almost all I think about. When postseason starts, I get a little sad. Okay, I get a little sadder. My original depression starts when my team gets mathematically eliminated, which – depending on the year, can be several weeks before postseason. That’s another story though.

Life as a baseball fan gets a little boring in the early fall when your team hasn’t made it to the World Series in over 100 years and likely won’t for another hundred. So, how do you fill the gap between October and Spring training? The logical answer in Oklahoma would be football. There’s only one problem though, I hate football. I tried to like it. I really, truly tried. And I failed. So, now I’m trying something new.

I found out a few months ago that Oklahoma City has a brand new hockey team. I began to research information about the sport. I first found that the only calendar day in the summer when nothing happens in baseball, something happens in hockey. This was looking good to me…then:

1. Hockey starts about the time that baseball ends, and ends about the time that baseball starts;
2. We have a local team, and;
3. It’s not football.

Hockey is my new off-season sport.

I looked around trying to figure out the rules and this website is the best one I’ve found. I still wanted to know more about the sport, however, so I set out to dig deeper. I found some local fans who play hockey for fun and went to one of their games. A few days later I sat down with the captain of the team and two players (who happen to be husband and wife) to ask some questions.  Nick is the captain; Paco and Pook are married:

How did you get started playing hockey?

Nick: The only reason I got into hockey was I married a Canadian. In a land where football is king, really hockey is the same thing as football. You have to be that skilled, but you’re doing it on two knives on ice. That’s why it amazes me that people say “I don’t like hockey” because it’s really like football on ice. I’ve hit a lot of home runs, but I think the best thing I’ve ever experienced was getting my first goal. I was shocked that I made contact with the puck, to be honest.

Paco: I’m from Sayre, Oklahoma – out West. When I was about 10 my parents built a roller rink in the town. About a year later we’re going to skating conventions in Las Vegas and there’s information about roller hockey. Eventually I convinced my parents to buy skates for me and my brother and we started our own roller hockey team.

Pook: Mine is actually totally different, I went ice skating with my friend in Thailand. I’m from Thailand. This guy came up to me and said he was trying to get a girls’ hockey team together. I played for a while in Thailand and then I came over here to go to school. When I finished school I wanted to play again and I met Paco on a hockey team.

Everything seems to happen so fast, I had a hard time figuring out what was going on. One second everyone would be going one direction, and the next second everyone is going in completely the opposite direction at full speed. How do you work together as a team when everything changes so quickly on the ice?

Nick: It’s really fast, in other sports like baseball, basketball or even football you have time to think. In hockey, you either have the puck or you don’t, it’s so fast paced you can’t think you have to rely on instinct. It’s hard for me because I can barely skate. I played almost every sport growing up. I like to think of myself as halfway athletic; I got most of my school paid for playing baseball. Hockey is one of those sports that you can’t play just because you can walk. Baseball, basketball, football, you’re basically running to get around. Hockey is a different beast – there’s an art to it.

Paco: I think a lot of it has to do with playing together, hockey is the only sport I’ve heard of that talks about chemistry with other players. You have to know who is going to be where and when.

Pook: Sometimes you think [a teammate] is going to be somewhere but they aren’t and you have to figure out quickly what to do about it.

I noticed the teams are co-ed. How does that work out?

Nick: What’s funny is this is our second season; we played in the summer and the winter. We had another woman in the summer, she was in her 50’s and she’d been playing for 20 years. She could skate and stick handle and she was really good. The women tend to hold their own; we haven’t had any problems. I’ve seen two other teams with women too. In our league, it’s a non-contact league because we’re all beginners. We don’t have a separate league for women and men so whoever wants to get out there and play can.

If someone reading this wanted to get involved in hockey how would they do that?

Nick: For an adult, the hardest part is getting out there. The first time I ever played hockey was in Canada against my wife’s 9 and 10 year-old cousins. The hardest part was swallowing my pride and getting out there, listening to them laugh at me – and they did quite a bit of laughing at me. There are some good websites out there like OKChockey.com and Dailyhockeydeal.com

or you can visit one of the local ice rinks and tell them you want to play.

As a kid, the best part of Oklahoma is they have a “learn to play” program called “Kids First”. Just take them to a rink and tell them you want your kid to learn how to play hockey. They’ll give them the equipment for free and let them play for 30 days, teach them the rules and let them try it out. If they want to play after that you just pay for the equipment (about $200 for kids) and they’ll put them on a team. If you don’t want to play then you just give the equipment back. It’s pretty easy for kids to get started.

Barons Blue & White Scrimmage - curteousy of OKC Barons Website

For those of us who are still a little too scared to play, you can always just watch the games. The OKC Barons season opener is Saturday (TODAY!) and as I’m typing this, tickets are still available. It’s also going to be broadcast on the radio.

"Pook and my girls, after the game" - photo by Joey Rodman
Man Cave, Oklahoma culture

The Little Things I Miss The Most

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More than a road sign, a sign of home and being back where I belong.

A few days ago I came back to Oklahoma for the first time in a couple of months.  I felt at home before my truck tires even touched the driveway of my parents’ house.  A comfortable feeling washed over me as soon as I crossed over the state line and saw that big “Welcome to Oklahoma” sign.  It was a sense of familiarity, belonging, and identity.  My license plate no longer says “Native America” but my head and my heart say I’ll always be an Okie.

 Sports is part of that identity.  It was so good to stop at a Loves’ station outside Sallisaw and see the t-shirts for sale.  Two choices, orange or crimson.  Back on the highway, the car in front of me showcased an upside down Longhorn sticker in its rear window.  A few miles more and another driver had his OSU car flags furiously flapping on both sides of the car.  Then the best of both worlds, when a car on the exit ramp displayed a “House Divided” license plate frame.  After shuffling through radio stations for hundreds of miles, the scanning stopped when I heard the familiar voices of my favorite sports talk hosts.   These are the little things I took for granted when I lived here for so many years.  People ask, “what do you miss about Oklahoma?”  The usual answers always come out first, family and friends, my house, my church, blah, blah, blah.  Crossing the state line the other day made me realize, it’s so much more than that, it’s the sports culture in this state I miss. (I miss you too Mom, no need to get offended here.)

If you’re from this state, you likely have a fierce allegiance to OU or OSU.  Pick a side and don’t turn back.  So many states are watered down with loyalty divided between several major universities and multiple professional franchises.  In Oklahoma, its simpler.  Our way of life is simple, our sports landscape is simple. 

Even though we may be divided along college lines, we can be united behind the Thunder.  I used to think pro sports wasn’t a good idea for Oklahoma.  We’ve got the great college atmosphere, we don’t need the NBA to enhance our status.  Let’s just say I’ve digested large quantities of crow.  This whole state has Thunder fever.  Even though I’ve never been a huge NBA fan, I miss the sense of pride that comes from proving the rest of the country wrong.  There’s room here for more than just college football.  Not only is Oklahoma worthy of the a team, it is quickly becoming one of the most respected franchises in the NBA.  The fan base is energized and unified by a team with players and coaches that represent our values and want to be part of this community.  Maybe this is silly or over the top, but in my mind, Thunder fans see the success of their team as a big slap in the face to the East Coast, West Coast, big cities, and so-called elites.  That’s the mentality of Oklahoma sports fans.  I love that mentality.  I miss that mentality.

The teams here are the major parts of Oklahoma sports culture, but again, it’s the little things I miss the most.  I miss reading the fishing report in the paper, seeing that largemouth are good on crankbaits at McGee Creek, then thinking about which one of my lures I’d use.  I miss Thursday night high school football.  Every week, a handful of games played before the rest where the schools get showcased and the kids feel that much more special.  I miss the public golf courses here.  You’re never far from a teebox in Oklahoma, and you can usually get in a round all the way into November. 

I miss the subtle jabs exchanged by Sooners and Cowboys over the airwaves.  I miss living and experiencing Bedlam every single day.  It’s not limited to the football field or the basketball court, Bedlam is alive and well at Wal-mart, at the bank, at the grocery store, and yes, even in the church sanctuaries. 

A rivalry that splits the state and even splits families, one of the best parts of our sports culture.

I miss the sports personalities here.  Like them or not, guys like Bob Barry Jr., Jim Traber, Al Eshbach, John Holcomb, and Al Jerkens are practically institutions in this state.  We come to expect those voices and those faces delivering our sports news, telling our sports stories, and asking questions on our behalf.  Why are guys like that popular?  Because they’re loyal to this state and can’t possibly see themselves living or working anywhere else. 

I miss hearing Bob Stoops say “in a good way” in every other sentence.  I miss Pistol Pete’s freakishly large head.  I miss hearing Bob Barry say “Touchdown Oklahoma!” and a high-pitched “pistols firing!” coming from the pipes of Dave Hunziker. 

One day maybe I’ll once again be a full-time resident of this great state.  I hope so.  No matter where I might lay my head, I will love Oklahoma and consider it home.  I will always know that there’s a bass to be caught in a farm pond, a Bedlam debate to be had, and a simple sports culture that suits me just fine.  The little things will stick with me.

Don’t worry Mom, I’ll miss you too.

Cents and Sensibility

Hey, Hecklers: Common Sense May Not Equate with Comment Cents

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Editor’s Note – I’d like to welcome guest contributor Jennifer Wallis to the Red Dirt Chronicles this morning.  Personal finance is an important area of our lives, and having someone like Jennifer around will be a great asset for both the readers AND contributors to the RDC.  Jennifer, I used “asset” as a word…can you tell I just read your post? –

Red Dirt Kelly

Most days, the audiences I teach in our financial education classes are open-minded and eager to learn. But, every once in while, I come face to face with that person sitting in the back of the room, arms folded, head tilted, apparently being held against their will who asks smugly, “Isn’t it just common sense to spend less than you make?”

This question conjures up feelings from long ago Trivial Pursuit games with one of my best friends, Marcy. While I love her like a sister, she has a white hot competitive streak. The girl hates to lose. I discovered her love for winning the hard way. Back in college, we were playing Trivial Pursuit and it was her turn to ask the question. She would look at the card, read the answer to herself and scoff, ‘Oh my gosh! This is SO easy!”  The question would invariably be something that I could never answer even if all of my brain synapses were firing perfectly.  “Who became the President of Kazakhstan in 1991?” she would ask as she rolled her baby blues at me. Of course, I would have no idea. She would then exclaim, “Wow! I can’t believe you don’t know that! It’s obviously Nursultan Nazarbayev.” Yes, of course, Nazarbayev. I can’t believe I didn’t get that one…

It’s something that we laugh about now. But, after her competitive trivia streak was revealed, we decided that for the sake of our friendship, Trivial Pursuit may not be the best idea. While I won’t kick the smug person out of their back seat in my financial education class, I do have a message for him/her.

First of all, saying that spending less than you make “is just common sense” implies that anyone living in debt has none. If you happen to be one of the Americans that owe a chunk of the $950 billion dollars in credit card debt or if you are one of the 17,787 Oklahomans that filed bankruptcy last year, you know that common sense has little to do with it. Those living with the dirty little secret of debt are probably already beating themselves up about it and they don’t need anyone kicking them while they are down.

The answer to any question is obvious when it’s written on a little card in your hand. Money management may be easy when you know how to do it. So, for those great money managers out there that have never struggled with debt, paid a bill late, or overdrawn their checking account, I say, “Way to go!” A truly an amazing accomplishment.

But, for the rest of us with whom money management does not come easy, let me say this: Your view of the financially challenged as unintelligent or lacking in common sense really doesn’t help. If someone takes time out of their life to attend a money management class, learn to budget and develop a plan to become debt-free, they should be commended. The easy thing to do is to go into ostrich mode, bury our heads, and ignore the mounting pressure of debt. But, if someone admits that they need more information and tries to make a life change, they need support – not contempt.

Everyone’s financial life consists of stages. Needs in college (pizza, beer, books…check) are quite different from those when you get married (buy a house, have a baby, have another, plan for retirement and put your own kids through college). It isn’t easy to navigate those changes without some additional support and education. When life throws in other factors like illness, divorce, job loss, the death of a family member, or an unpredictable economy, it can be downright impossible to make your income stretch in order to cover it all without some help. Yes, let us not forget that some do wind up in debt by their own poor choices and failure to plan. But, it’s never too late to change the road you’re on.

So, if you’re financially secure, let me challenge you. Instead of telling the debtors in your life that they have no common sense and that money management is (eye-roll) easy, try to remember that you probably don’t know all of the financial challenges they are facing. Try to help, offer support, encouragement, and accountability to anyone trying to make their life better.

If you are struggling financially, please know that your money management skills are indeed something that you can always improve. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t be too ashamed to seek it.

Common sense doesn’t always translate to managing dollars and cents.

Homestead and Garden, Oklahoma culture

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: LMIRL — Let’s Meet In Real Life

Jet
Jet is a rescued Mustang. She got her name because she was a "frequent flyer" in the Mustang adoption circuit.

When did it happen?  When did I become so dependent on technology?  Even in the country, we are not without “city luxuries” like Internet, satellite radio and a DVR.  However, the other day I had to turn in my work computer for an upgraded version.  I was without the machine in my classroom for only a couple of hours, but I noticed a shift in the awareness of my surroundings.  I should have taken that as a sign of how my evening at home would go.

No computer.  Phone turned off.

It was a beautiful evening in the country.  As soon as I entered their pasture, the animal migration began: the goats head to the shed, but the horses came to me.  After all, I have the carrots and they know that.   After feeding everyone, I took advantage of Jet’s lingering.  She let me groom her from mane to tail while Roxy stood by and simply watched.  I was able to brush her thick black mane; it’s so healthy now that she is living with us and away from the horses that used to tear out chunks with their teeth.   As I ran my hands down her leg to remove the fly bots that had accumulated in just one week, I noticed crimson highlights right above her hoof.  Wow.  My horse is not just brown.  She is brown, crimson, auburn, and black.  She is gorgeous.  Her Mustang brand reminds me that she was captured and taken from her home, but I take her head dropped near my chest to mean that it’s okay.  She let me run my hands over her eyes and scratch under her halter, and for good measure I kiss the soft flesh of her muzzle.  This is it.  This is what life is all about.

I’m sure none of this would have happened with a phone in one hand.

Roxy
Roxy is a beautiful gaited saddle horse. She was purchased so my husband would have a horse to ride. She also holds the title of "Alpha Mare" in our small goat/ horse herd.

I wanted to write about it.  No computer.  I scrounged up a legal pad and took some notes.  This is hard without my computer; the task can wait.  I checked my email from my phone and remembered I had a DVR’d television show to watch.  Technology habits sure die hard, don’t they?

Somebody, please, don’t let me forget what it’s like to live life with my hands on something other than a keyboard.