Published: October 12, 2008 12:00 am            

Fans: Great game, disappointing score

DALLAS -- When the University of Oklahoma football team lost 45-35 to Texas Saturday, Bob Rogers of Norman spoke for most Sooner fans:

"It was a disappointment, for sure," he said. But, he added, the game was a great one.

The close game gave both sides the thrill they were looking for.

"You don't like to come to blow-outs," Robert Beeson, a Sooner fan from Mustang, said at halftime. "It's a lot more fun like this, I think.

But the goal was to win in the end.

Or maybe it was just to have fun. Sooner fans still seemed to enjoy themselves both at the game and in the Texas State Fairgrounds surrounding the stadium before and after. No one was changing plans as they left the Cotton Bowl and entered the Texas State Fair.

The fair started filling with Sooner and Longhorn fans early Saturday morning because of the 11 a.m. kickoff. By 8 a.m., the traffic was already start and stop on Interstate 35 in Dallas.

No one seemed to mind the early hour at about 9 a.m. at the fairgrounds. The beer was flowing and fried food was selling like, well, better than hotcakes, definitely.

Vanessa Bryant of Midwest City was chomping on a turkey leg at about 9:30 a.m. She said the OU/Texas game wouldn't be the same without the state fair surrounding the Cotton Bowl.

Fans were enjoying themselves before the game. Virtually the only people not decked out in crimson or burnt orange were event personnel. And reporters. But everyone else had definitely picked sides.

Mark Bloomer of Norman said the rivalry between the two teams is what makes OU-Texas the greatest away game of the season. He enjoyed interacting with the Longhorn fans, but said he stayed away from obscene heckling.

"Maybe just an upside down Longhorn or so," he said.

"We're classier than them," his wife Corinne Bloomer added.

For some fans, the OU/Texas hullabaloo began Friday and lasted late into the night with a trip to the West End and then started early Saturday morning. OU senior Derick Dennis said the West End was wild Friday evening.

"Police everywhere," he said. "I saw a couple fights. It was crazy." Dennis attended the President's Associates breakfast Saturday morning that began at 6:45.

Bette and Jim MacKellan of Oklahoma City also attended the breakfast which featured a short address by OU President David Boren. Jim MacKellan has been to 52 consecutive OU-Texas games. He started attending Oklahoma football games with his parents when he was in junior high. The OU-Texas rivalry has stayed strong over the years because both schools have good programs, he said.

"It's a special game 'cause if we beat Texas, we are on the way to No. 1," MacKellan said.

But he looked forward to later in the season, too.

"Beating Texas is very important," he said. "(But) never lose to OSU. You have to live with those guys."

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

        

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