November 23, 2018, my dad and I set out on a journey to Morgantown, West Virginia to watch our team, the Oklahoma Sooners, take on the Mountaineers on the road. We started out in a local Morgantown Texas Roadhouse where we grabbed some grub. The waitresses were very friendly, as we cracked jokes at each other about each other’s teams. On the way out we even ran into parents of an Oklahoma player.
Getting situated in the parking lot, we walked through a tailgate and were greeted by shouting and drunk West Virginia fans. Darkness faded quickly, as we walked through the stadium to our seats. We got really close seats at midfield, as my dad was snagging photos of some of the star players like Kyler Murray, CeeDee Lamb, Hollywood Brown and head coach, Lincoln Riley.
The West Virginia Mountaineer atmosphere was electric. Reasoning being, the side of the stadium I was on would yell the words “Let’s go!” while the other side would say “Mountaineers!”. It would take a second for the words to make it across the field in such a big stadium. As the game went on we started chatting with some Mountaineer fans and they were shockingly respectful and talkative with us, in comparison to the one’s at the tailgate.
It was like lightning watching that scoreboard light up with touchdowns on both sides as the contest went on. Mountaineer fans were in disbelief when they saw how fast Sooners QB, Kyler Murray, could run. Shocked, they turned to us and asked if they always play this good. The defenses were continuously letting touchdowns fly left and right. One specific touchdown saw Oklahoma receiver, Hollywood Brown, breaking loose to the near sideline. The dark blue stadium went so quiet, except for those that were Oklahoma fans. On the video board after the score, was the cousin of Hollywood Brown, and NFL star, Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was electrified for his cousin and was jumping up and down like a mad man on the Sooners sideline.
All is said and done, Oklahoma won the conference showdown 59-56. A bucket list item for both my dad and I was a blast and a win for our Sooners. Seeing all the players that are now NFL talents is memorable.
