Tag Archives: sports as spectator

Tenacious D (G?)

My neice, Grace Parker, whose Fort GIbson Junior High basketball team never lost a game, recently made her debut with the high school varsity and JV teams.   They won both games, but her uncle’s indoor no-flash sports photography wasn’t very productive (Obviously, I need more-expensive lenses).  Here are a handful of shots, though.  Grace is the one with the blue headband.

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Austin (or, “If you can beat them, join them!”)

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I’ve watched OU play the Longhorns at least a dozen times.  But it’s always in Dallas, so I’d never been to a game in Austin.  By happy coincidence, I was in Austin to go to a reception at the law school honoring Robin Gibbs (the founder of my law firm) on the night before a UT/Texas Tech game.  Robin had tickets galore, so I got to see my first Longhorn ballgame in Austin.  Actually the most striking thing about it was how eerily similar it was to games in Norman — just change the colors.

Notice my hideous orange costume — I was undercover and/or trying to be at least modestly gracious to my burnt orange hosts, who somehow love their ‘horns every bit as much as we love the Sooners (Reminds me of the Police song from the 1980s — “The Russians Love Their Children, Too”.).  The “couple” in the stands is a friend and Gibbs & Bruns partner Jeff Kubin, with his sister Jennifer.  The happy family pics are the Reasoners; the pretty girl in the picture with me is my goddaughter, Olivia Reasoner.  By the way, the Longhorns won the game easily; but the Texas Tech band killed the Orange band.

Another OU/TX game, another big Sooner Win…

The arguably-#1-ranked Sooners took on the absurdly-#10-ranked Longhorns on a perfect fall day in Dallas.  Shane put together a good crew to converge for the game.  The Sooners didn’t disappoint!  55-17.  Actually I WAS a little disappointed we didn’t break 60.

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Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race 2011

First, you should know that less than a year ago, neither I nor any of my friends rode mountain bikes.   And you should know that the Leadville 100 is perhaps the most “epic” mountain bike race in the U.S.  Lance Armstrong won it a couple of years back.  It’s a 100 miles, and it starts at 10,000 ft. elevation.  And when I tried to ride just a portion of the course, there was a five-mile stretch during which I crashed (hard) three separate times (to say nothing of the thin-air climbs up bumpy trails).

There’s a lottery to get in, and Shane and Ned wound up getting “slots” in this year’s race; for better or worse (almost certainly better), I didn’t.   They trained like crazy, especially Ned, who spent about six consecutive weekends in Colorado (ask him about the oxygen tent over his bed in Houston – no kidding).  They both rocked it!  At least I got to tag along, drive the chase car and take pictures.

Oh:  And it all took place on my birthday.  So I got a nice present from the gang — a Payday (candybar).  Long story.

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Final Four

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