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.