[theurbanfiles]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

Welcome to Oklahoma!

The weather is supposed to be beautiful. I'll be there at the game too with a bunch of other Sooner fans and I know the Okies are excited to have some new blood and Floridians in the conference. :-)

It will be fun for you as Oklahoma puts on one of the best gameday atmospheres in college football, at least within the stadium. Many folks who are into the tailgating thing say that OU's tailgating culture is lacking. That will have to change when we move into the SEC as those folks don't mess around with their college football. We're a good fit overall culturally and because of our history and tradition.

As for the food and things to do, if you could somehow go to the art museum on campus while everyone is filtering out that would be ideal. It usually takes a good hour to hour and half to get out of the traffic and even then it can be longer as you hit I-35 to go back to the city or Sooner Road to go back to the eastside. If the art deco isn't open (not sure as I've never tried to go on gameday) then I would head over to the Mont and enjoy some relaxation. Best chips and queso in the metro I think and a great representation of our brand of TexMex---outdoor patio area will be open and available (although the inside will be packed).

If you want a little scenic hike/walk to wait as the traffic filters out of town you could hit 12th street and go north to Sutton Wilderness. About 2 miles or less from campus. I've walked it many times and it's a relaxing jaunt with a lot of trees and shade.

Lastly, on the geographic and culture thing of Oklahoma it's been spoken of endlessly, kind of like West Virginia (sometimes Virgina and North Carolina, et. al). Most Okies prefer not to be labled as such...so if you ask them they're probably gonna pull the "I'm an Oklahoman, I don't have to choose" card. But if pressed many if not most will say Southern. Some might say midwest but they generally mean it as a different "midwest" compared to the actual midwest if that makes sense. Some Okies who speak of Oklahoma or texas or even Arkansas as "midwestern" usually mean it almost more in the Cowboy sense, like ranching culture. The actual most accurate in my view is Southwest or Southern Plains. (I think many older Okies like me see Oklahoma as the Old Southwest...which is a brand of Southern but much more frontierish and Western. We like it that way. We were also charter members of the Southwest Conference which people often forget or just don't know.) As you alluded to, the Census has us in the West South Central which is right, but not something we're hung up on. The only people you hear clamoring for the midwest appellation usually are not from Oklahoma or they are from Tulsa Yankee Oil Baron Stock. It happens but it is not common and not representative of the vast majority of the state which is made up of small towns and good ol' downhome living. Having said that, now that we have Casey's gas stations everywhere (based in KS or MO?), they do advocate having a "Midwest Breakfast" in a lot of their promotional stuff so there is that. :-)

My personal opinion is that Oklahoma is actually much more Western than Midwest. Oklahoma really is an outlier like texas---we're definitely Southern culturally but we're not really proud of that as our Native culture and state history is very different. We are culturally (speech patterns, food, Southern Baptist mania, etc.) like texas without all the fake texas pride. We obviously had many reject Southerners move here after the war so that is still prominent in the hearts of some old timers but it's not a pride thing at all. I don't think. Most Okies I know who do the Southern Pride thing get looked down on a bit for obvious reasons. But I think it's mostly that Okies just prefer to be Oklahomans. And while we hate to admit it, there is a lot of cultural affinity with texas first and then the western side of Arkansas. These locales feel most like Oklahoma to me. Obviously the far northern and northwestern part can feel like Ks (still with the classic Oklahoma twang throughout) and the panhandle of tx and the northeastern part over in Green Country can feel very Ozark like Arkansas and Missouri. Also, people (like Hollywood) refuse to acknowledge that a huge chunk of our state which is the most populated is actually Crosstimbers topographically. Not just RedDirt and tumbleweeds on the Southern Plains.

Hope this helps and have a great trip! I think you'll enjoy the hospitality. Ignore some of the idiot fans. Every fanbase around here has them.

\

Thanks again! I really appreciate this, as it's a sound breakdown both of gameday, and what things to check out after, plus my Q's about Oklahoma as a whole. That is interesting, your perspective about it being part of the west, and in a sense, it is more "away" from the rest of the southern or midwestern US in a way that would allow it to have that independent identity. It's certainly worth pointing out in that discussion that Oklahoma, even if only at the far western end, shares a border with both New Mexico and Colorado, and so probably at least a little bit, that factors in. What "west" has been previously defined as, has significantly evolved, with Michigan's proclamation of "Champions of the West", St. Louis being the "Gateway to the West", and the fact that the historic Southwest Conference (which existed until 1996, so really right before I started remembering sports as I was 5 then), had teams including Arkansas and Houston which even still were well east of Norman/OKC. There's no reason why it can't be some mixture, and also be it's own thing.

In visiting 3 of the Big 4 Texas cities, plus El Paso, my impressions were:

Houston: Felt like the "state capitol" of Florida/Gulf Coastia (?) lol, if that makes sense. Somehow it felt, even though I'm coming from Tampa Bay, like I had barely left home. It just felt like a more cosmopolitan, larger scale version of Tampa Bay while also sharing a lot with some other southern cities like Jacksonville, and in some ways Atlanta.

Austin: Felt like a western city more than southern, definitely. Not unlike portions of Denver, suburban San Jose, and maybe Phoenix in parts.

Dallas-Fort Worth: Really felt like a unique beast from any other American city I visited, in the sense that while there was maybe a little bit of southern, little bit of midwestern/great plains, little bit of western... it was so large and different that it just felt like a host unto itself in a way that it couldn't quite be any other city in the US.

El Paso of course, felt like a Northern Mexican city that we just happened to annex lol. Not in a bad way, just how it felt lol!

I'm figuring OKC, though smaller scale for sure, would have some characteristics of DFW and some of KC, though also of course having some of it's own unique elements, and from what it sounds like, more overall similarity with TX.

Thanks again, all!

[eddie gein]

Just a couple of things.

If you are on the press box side, you will be able to access the bottom part of the stadium on the west, north and east sides. But you won't be able to access the upper decks on the east side very easily. The south side is limited access as well since that is where the football operations/Switzer center is located. I think you can get on the concourse level there.

Also, a couple of things on Bass and Cat's post. Getting into Norman from the east side is MUCH easier than trying to access I-35 on game day. It is sort of a "back door" to Norman. If you take I-35 to I-240 east and down to Sooner Road exit. Sooner Road south into Norman to Alameda. Alameda will take you to Porter/Classen street. From there you can find your parking place either north of campus corner or by Lincoln school. On the way down Sooner you will pass the Sutton Wilderness thing B&C was talking about as far as walking. To be honest, coming from Florida it may not look very impressive. LOL.

When I lived in Gainesville it just so happened that my swim instructor was a former OU swimmer. He was originally from South Carolina but was actually at OU when I was there in the 1970s. One time I asked him how he described Oklahoma to people in Florida...

Here was his response. "Oklahoma is a place where they call shrubs... trees." When I moved back to Oklahoma I had been used to the North Florida pines and when I first got back it took me a while to get used to the shorter trees. The nice thing about "short" trees though is they provide a low canopy to some degree. And you get some of that on the OU campus (mostly between the student union and library/admin building area.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Thinking about the western (wide open space and independent spirit) elements of Oklahoma I was also reminded by OU’s alma mater song mentioning “neath a western sky.” So the writer/composer 100 years ago considered Oklahoma more western/southwestern which is more in line I think some of the distinctions OK has with the Deep South and certainly the Midwest.

Here are ehe lyrics:
O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A

Our chant rolls on and on!

Thousands strong

Join heart and song

In alma mater’s praise

Of campus beautiful by day and night

Of colors proudly gleaming Red and White

’Neath a western sky

OU’s chant will never die

Live on, University!