Goodbye OKC… (And Good Riddance)… Part 2

Here is the “much anticipated” conclusion to to my “wonderful” trip to Oklahoma City to see the Jayhawks fall flat, and the Wildcats rise to greatness. As I mentioned in the last blog, this one will be focusing on the non-game related events of the weekend in OKC…

Oklahoma doesn’t really care about their roads.

Growing up miles away from the Missouri border, I always thought Missouri had the absolute worse roads to drive on. Whether it be the main highways in Kansas City or some of the smaller highways connecting to Ozark region, they were really bad roads. But then I drove through Oklahoma this weekend.

First, I got the experience of driving through the panhandle (for those complaining about western Kansas being barren, need to take a trip south into the OK panhandle, YIKES!). I had to attempt to avoid potholes the size of small children and got motion sickness (and getting it again now just thinking about it) as the roads acted like harsh waves for miles at a time. Just BAD!

But then, my theory was proved correct on Sunday when we were heading home. Hours after a snowstorm dumped a pile of snow on the roads, the highways were still very, very, very poor just west of Oklahoma City. We went about 20 miles in nearly TWO HOURS, because every couple of miles traffic came to a standstill because there were still large patches of rough ice and snow covering the highway. This was at 1 p.m. on Sunday, with the sun shining bright and the temperatures in the 40s — and not a single snow plow in sight!

Support for the Thunder is growing — except from the retailers.

Talking with my girlfriends uncle and cousin, the support from the community is growing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. I was even told that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State basketball is suffering to bring in crowds because of the liking for the Thunder. (“Why go to a college game, when we have Kevin Durant and other professionals?”) I was blown away when my girlfriend’s uncle told me that. I never would have thought that a professional team could take away from the long-lived relationship between a person and their college, but apparently its doing that Oklahoma City. Thanks to its one and only professional sports team in the state.

But despite the lovefest from fans, apparently retailers aren’t falling in love so easily. On Friday, we hit up the mall in Edmond (a suburb on the north edge of Oklahoma City) and I went on a search to find Thunder apparel to purchase. In the two large sports apparel shops in the mall, I found just one Thunder hat — and it was in youth size — and just a few T-shirts — including a very ugly shirt with the likeness of Durant on the front.

When I found the “Hat World” aka “Lids”, I thought I would for sure find a section of Thunder hats to choose from. After spending five minutes searching the store, I gave up just before my girlfriend found them. Two rows, on the bottom, below MLB hats were the Thunder hats. And while there were two rows, there were only about three or four different styles of hats. In comparison, I found five different styles of KU hats.

That’s pretty sad, that the ONLY pro sports franchise in the state has such little pull in retail stores!

I’m good at Cranium. But maybe too good!

So to cap off our Friday and Saturday nights, we played the board game Cranium at my girlfriend’s cousin’s house where were staying. Friday night, it was me and the girlfriend vs. her cousin and his girlfriend. We played two games, both won by me and my girlfriend.

On Saturday, with my sister staying over, she joined the cousin’s team since they had lost the night before. The three-player team knocked off me and the girlfriend, though not in a 100 percent fair way. They were using my clues, humming and drawing, in order to win several head-to-head contests within the game (known as Club Cranium games). Apparently, I’ve got such a knack for the game that opposing teams will simply use me to get the victory.

Needless to say, it was VERY irritating to lose, knowing that the opposing team had to cheat off of your clues in the process!

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