Happy Holidays from OU Athletics (via soonersportscom)

This was something that was simply too good not to share. A native of Oklahoma City who has made quite a name for himself in Graham Colton has been a Sooner fan for life. So, the Athletic Department and Colton joined up to bring us this video filmed and produced by OU's own SoonerVision. Needless to say it has everything Sooners in it that an Oklahoma fan could want. If it has not been said enough today, I will echo what Matt has already said in the Christmas Post and once again say hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

No. 19 Oklahoma State (32-9) at No. 15 Oklahoma (32-11)
Game Info	Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | 7 p.m. CT
Location	OU Softball Complex | Norman, Okla.
Tickets	Available: $10 reserved | $8 general admission
Television	Cox Channel 3 in Oklahoma City and Tulsa
Radio	KREF 1400 AM
Online	Live Stats | Webcast | Game Notes | Twitter

Consider this your official Bedlam Softball game thread for tonight's game against the hated Lady Pukes.  OU is looking for a big win at home to close out a three game home stand before traveling this weekend to face a very tough Mizzou squad.  As you all know a win over the Pukes, no matter the sport, is always a good thing so if you think you're up for it join me in the comments.  Now a little history on the series.

• The series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State is tied 69-69. OU leads 32-21 in games played in Norman.
• Gasso is 40-11 against Oklahoma State. OU took the previous non-conference meeting this year (7-0) in Oklahoma City on March 5.
• Oklahoma is 8-2 in the last 10 series meetings and 10-0 in the last 10 meetings in Norman.
• Oklahoma State has not won in Norman since May 17, 1997 (5-3). OU’s home streak against the Cowgirls is 13 games

That was about the most civil way I could come up with to describe my feelings toward our rival this morning and still respect CC's no cursing policy.  Believe me, I could think of a number of different ways to more appropriately describe my feelings but rules are rules and I will respect them. 

I can assure you this will not be as thorough or eloquent as Redhawk's story from earlier in the week, so fair warning.  This is 100% from a die hard OU fan who is flat out sick and tired of watching Texas run roughshod over my Sooners (and the rest of the conference for that matter).  I'm tired of watching UT do this (see video) to every team in the conference.

And more than anything, I'm beyond disgusted that Joe C., President Boren, Bob Stoops, and whoever else is in a position to do something about it, just continues to let it happen.  I mean when Castiglione came out this summer and basically said "We'll do whatever Texas does" I wanted to puke.  You could argue, and he has, that was not what he was saying but in the immortal words of George Costanza "It's not a lie if you believe it" and sorry Joe but I have a hard time buying that you actually believe it.  The fact of the matter is you gave up any and all leverage we might have had when you admitted publicly that you were hitching OU to the UT wagon no matter what.  Now they have done what you and we all knew they would do and yet here we sit having done nothing about it?!?

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Some interesting programming decisions here and they went in a couple directions I really didn't see coming.  I think the one minute format on a couple of their programs is a really progressive idea that whorn fans will be a big fan of!

Midnight Replay of the 2006 Rose Bowl

2:00 The Most Interesting Man in the World: Mack Brown

2:30 This is Oklahoma Football: The John Blake Era!

3:00Our Greatest American Heroes: Mario Edwards, defensive end, Denton Ryan High School

3:30 Mad Money: Have we mentioned how dang rich we are?

4:00Who Stole Vince Young’s Heisman? Live Interview with Lloyd Lake

4:30 Remember the Alamo: Panel discussion on remembering the Alamo

5:00 Walker, Texas Ranger: Chuck Norris wears Mack Brown pajamas

5:30Bevo: Our mascot will kick your mascot’s ass

6:00 Bored to Death: Lubbock

6:30Our Greatest American Heroes: Cayleb Jones, wide receiver, Austin High School

7:00Around the Longhorn: Panel of ESPN journalists discuss how Texas has the world’s greatest football program. The least enthusiastic gets fired

7:30Did you know Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley were roommates? (Hosted by Brent Musburger)

8:00 Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Live from College Station

8:30Football’s Greatest Minds: 5. Parcells 4. Belichick 3. Walsh 2. Lombardi 1. Mack Brown

9:00 Replay of the 2006 Rose Bowl

11:00 Fair and Balanced: ESPN Investigative Journalism

11:01Our Greatest American Heroes: Trey Williams, running back, Spring Dekaney High School

11:30Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Bob Stoops, Gary Patterson, T. Boone Pickens, Jack Mildren

NoonJersey Shore: Galveston: Sammi screams at Ronnie behind the oil refinery

12:30 The Complete Anthology of the last 20 Red River Shootouts (1991-92, 1994, 1997-1999, 2005-06, 2008-09 games only)

1:00This is Your Life Tom Osborne: 2006 Nebraska Governor’s Race

1:30Don’t Mess With Texas: Panel discussion on why you don’t mess with Texas

1:45 Leaders and Legends: You need an entire conference to have a network? How quaint

2:00 The Rick Barnes Show

2:01 The Mack Brown Show

4:00 Replay of the 2006 Rose Bowl

6:00Our Greatest American Heroes: Jonathan Gray, running back, Aledo High School

6:30 Unsolved Mysteries: Wait, we let Cam Newton get out of Texas?

6:45The Longhorn Network’s Sexiest Man Alive: Mack Brown

7:00Today in Texas Women’s Sports

7:01 Today in Texas Football Recruiting

8:00 Last Comic Standing: Aggie Jokes

8:30 Weather Center: Do you realize how dang cold it gets in Norman?

9:00 Our Greatest American Heroes: Thomas Johnson, wide receiver, Dallas Skyline High School

9:30Mad Men: I’m a Man! I’m 40! And other possibly mentally unstable people from Oklahoma

10:00 Mad Money II: Have we mentioned how much dang money this network is making us?

10:30 Can you believe the NCAA is going to allow us to show high school football games? Panel discussion on how great it is the NCAA is going to allow us to show high school football games.

11:00The UT Cheerleaders: Mississippi State ain’t got nothin’ on us

11:30 Replay of the 2006 Rose Bowl

I simply must give credit where credit is due, a heaping boat load full of kudos to you Mr. Dan Wetzel

Dysfunctional or not, the Big 12 is staying as one big family, except for Nebraska and Colorado who bolted for seemingly greener pastures. This was quite the soap opera for the past week, and it feels good to finally have it resolved. Like any family battle, it left us with some good things and some bad things. For instance, you have to be happy that we are planted in a conference that is in our region, and that we won't rack up huge travel bills. We have preserved a lot of traditional rivalries, and a lot of teams that don't carry a huge stick will get to stay in a BCS Conference and play with teams they are familiar with. The power brokers - Oklahoma and Texas in football, and Kansas in basketball, are still in place and will ensure that our conference gets at least some measure of respect.

But there are definitely some negatives that have emerged from this whole process. The one I have the biggest problem with is that we publicly admitted that we were Texas' little brother, and that we would follow them whereever they go. I appreciate their efforts to preserve the Red River Rivalry, but in no way do we need to publicly admit that we are the #2 team. Another negative is that we just rid ourselves of two solid schools, something that will definitely act as a detriment to the conference's prestige. Certainly, Colorado and Nebraska have not been "superpowers" lately, but they carry with them a long history and solid academics. You can't argue that Nebraska hasn't had above average teams recently, and it seems that Bo Pelini has that team on the right track.

With the cavity that is left by the departure of said teams, the question becomes does the Big 12 add two more teams, or do we simply swap names with the Big 10?

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UPDATE - MY QUESTION IS A MOOT POINT:

OU Press Release: “The decision to stay in the Big 12 represents a consensus position which resulted from a collaborative effort with our colleagues in the conference. We value the strong working relationship that has been reaffirmed during this process among the conference members. We intend to work very hard to make the conference as lasting and dynamic as possible. We appreciate the respect and interest that has been shown to OU during this process.”

We are staying.

UPDATE:

6:26 PM - Texas A&M also announces it will stay.  6:12 PM - Texas is going to stay in the Big 12 officially. I guess that means we are too.

ORIGINAL STORY:

This "tweet" from Billy Liucci of Texags.com:

Was just informed from sources that OU is 100% all-in with Texas, whether it's Big 12 or Pac-10

But the question-du-jour is whether or not that is the correct thing to do? Does OU have to lump itself in with Texas and blindly follow? I think not. My original story on conference realignment suggested that I thought that OU would follow either one of its rivals, but I've been having a debate in my head for the past few days wondering whether or not we should be following Texas. What do you think?

Poll

Should OU be following Texas without question in the realignment process?

32%

Yes

97 votes

15%

No

47 votes

51%

Why on Earth would we let Texas dictate what we would do?

151 votes

295 votes | Poll has closed

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via www.big12sports.com

Congrats to the Oklahoma Sooners softball teamwho beat Missouri on Sunday afternoon to capture their fourth Big 12 championship!  Freshman pitcher Keilani Ricketts earned Most Outstanding Player honors following her third consecutive impressive performance in the title game.  Ricketts was joined on the all tournament team by her teammates Amber Flores, Jessica Shults, and Lindsey Vandever.  Nice job ladies!!!

Much like the picture of The King over there implies, all this conference realignment mumbo jumbo just gives me a headache.  At this point in the process, there is WAY too much speculation about what could/should/will/ happen.  However, it has lead to an interesting topic that originated in the comments of another story here on C&C Machine.  There has been some talk about if OU were to leave the Big 12, whether or not the state of Oklahoma would dictate that OU and OSU be a package deal (much like it's believed Texas would do with the whorns and aTm).  Now I'm really not interested in getting into the legalities of it, but I am interested in what my fellow Sooner fans would think about possibly splitting up OU and OSU.

Poll

If you had to choose one, which rivalry game would you prefer OU had on the schedule every year?

80%

OU vs. Nebraska

392 votes

19%

OU vs. Ok. State

92 votes

484 votes | Poll has closed

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