Being an Oklahoma State football fan is hard work. It’s not for everybody. It requires a certain level of eternal optimism.
“How can this be?”, you may ask. Just a few days ago, the Cowboys achieved their highest ever BCS ranking at #3. Anybody can be optimistic when your team is 7-0 and ranked third.
0-10-1. That’s what I’m talking about. During 1991, Oklahoma State played an entire season without winning a single game. The high point of that season, a 6-6 tie at Iowa State, was played 20 years ago today, on 10/26/1991.
My wife and I were at that game. Stephanie had a college friend who was living in Iowa, so we made a road trip to Ames to see her and our team. Little did we know that we would see the highlight of the season.
Being at that game has been something akin to a badge of Cowboy honor for us. When Poke fans get together and become giddy about our current situation, it is not uncommon to contrast that with the way things used to be.
Over the years since 1991, a solid season or two was quickly followed up by a return to sub .500 football. That is when that Cowboy fan characteristic – optimism – would come into play. There’s always next year.
Well, we have finally arrived. This is next year.
All those years where it would just be me and 25,000 of my closest friends at an OSU football game are long gone. Earlier this month over 58,000 fans showed up for a game with Kansas. Kansas! It would have taken 2 to 3 games in 1991 to get that many fans through the turnstiles.
Now is not the time for Cowboy fans to get anxious and lose sleep over the few remaining games on the schedule. Now is the time to exhale and realize that OSU is producing a season that we would not have dared to dream about 20 years ago.
We need to enjoy our moment. And to be clear, I’m not predicting this is a fleeting moment. But things change very rapidly. Just ask Michigan. Or Texas.
Justin Blackmon said it best, “We’re not OSU history. We’re OSU now.”
Cowboy fans, enjoy the now. You’ve earned it.
Eternal optimism. I’m an OU fan, but I have quite a good amount of OSU friends. Back in 2003, I went to my first OSU game; it was against Texas, when Vince Young was a redshirt-freshman. The Cowboys lost, but I told them they’ll at least finish at 9-3 (they were playing Kansas & Baylor next, so you can see why it was easy to make that prediction). After the season, while chatting up with them, I told them that within 10 years, the Cowboys will be in a position to at least contend for a BCS bowl game; they probably thought I was insane… LOL.
By: thejosiah on October 26, 2011
at 6:46 am
[...] a different topic, this is an ABSOLUTE MUST READ for the eternal OSU fan by Steve [...]
By: Been sayin’ this about Weeden all year… | MY FAVORITE COWBOYS on October 26, 2011
at 9:46 am
Love this post! Spoken by a true Cowboy Fan! Go Pokes!
By: Tammie Thompson Barham on October 26, 2011
at 12:05 pm
Love this: “This is next year.”
By: Kyle Porter on October 26, 2011
at 4:17 pm
AMEN!
By: rwhetsell62 on October 27, 2011
at 8:34 am