Fun times in Dallas for the OU Caravan

The Sooner Caravan in Dallas on Thursday night was a good time. Coaches, players, a little humor, a good meal, lots of optimism. You had three teams represented; one played for the national title (football), one reached the Final Four (women’s basketball), one played for a trip to the Final Four (men’s basketball).

Anyway, there were some funny moments I thought I’d pass along along.

OU tailback DeMarco Murray, with a straight face until the crowd erupted, talked about playing for a coach who played “back in the ’60s.” Bob Stoops soon enough corrected Murray, saying, “I was born in ’60. To these guys, if you’re over 25, you’re old.”

Whitney Hand talked about how the Sooners will sit in the locker room and discuss Sherri Coale’s outfits. “I need to come in five minutes earlier and talk about nothingness,” Coale said. “They’re not paying attention while I’m talking about the game plan.”

Coale talked about how much national publicity the Sooners received last season and even referred to the OU-Tennessee game, when Bobby Knight served as ESPN’s color analyst and raved about Hand. “Getting Bobby Knight to say something nice about a women’s basketball player? That isn’t easy,” Coale said. “I thought lightning was going to strike in Oklahoma City.”

And Stoops did a mea culpa on calling out the fans before the Texas Tech game, when he basically said the Sooner crowd wasn’t loud. That Tech game turned into the loudest in Owen Field history. “Anyone have fun at that game?” Stoops asked. “I sure didn’t mean to offend anybody.” Stoops said he just wanted to make sure the fans impacted that game, and “boy, did you.”