Crazy week nearing an end
This was one of the crazier weeks ever around The Oklahoman sports department. Typical October week, except history kept dissecting everything we did.
It was like Oklahoma City itself, which once was served by highways 66 and 77, then all of a sudden — Boomtown! — here came Interstates 40, 35 and 44.
I know those freeways weren’t built overnight, and the events that came calling this week weren’t built overnight, but they blossomed at almost the same time:
1. The Thunder nears its opener, next week at the Ford Center. That means this Sunday comes our special preview section, appropriately named “Boomtown.” The writers had to have their stories turned in last week, but the editors and page designers had to work into this week producing this section. Plus we all are in the midst of planning next week for the historic opener against Milwaukee.
2. OSU-Texas has turned into college football’s game of the week. The Cowboys’ ascension, No. 6 in AP this week, prompted us to produce the special four-page preview in Friday’s Oklahoman. We called it Red River II; I nominated “Red River, Too” because I thought captured the spirit that this OSU-Texas game rivals some of the great OU-Texas matchups in terms of national importance. But the best name I heard was “Orange Bowl.” I think I’ll steal that for my Sunday column on the OSU-Texas game. Anyway, the extra coverage on the Cowboys added to the week’s demands, though it was well worth it.
3. Finally, we had Big 12 basketball media days this week in Oklahoma City. That’s two days of wall-to-wall work for some writers and two extra pages of coverage in the sports section, increasing the work load for everyone back in the office. The winner was readers. The Thursday Oklahoman sports section was one of the best I can recall, and I assume Friday’s is equally outstanding, I just haven’t read it yet.
So think about that. For only the second time, Big 12 basketball came to Oklahoma City to kick off its season (it comes to OKC next March for the tournament). For the first time in at least 20 years, OSU is front and center on college football’s game of the week. And for the first time ever, we are days away from Oklahoma City’s NBA debut as a permanent franchise (even if you want to count the Hornets, it’s just the third time).
And by the way, the fourth-ranked Sooners still are out there making news, with Sam Bradford and the BCS.
A convergence of history, all within the span of a few days. I hope The Oklahoman was equal to the task. I believe we were.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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