Thunder Up

My latest post is up at This Land Press. In it, I wax a little schmaltzy about the effect the Thunder’s presence has had on Oklahoma City:

There are the renovations to the Ford Center, of course, and the MAPS3 plan that followed. But what’s more exciting is the feeling that we no longer live in a city defined by disaster. We’re not that place where that bombing happened, or where those tornadoes are constantly robbing toothless meth addicts of their trailer parks. Or worse, that place that’s … well – what is there in Oklahoma?

And I tell a story that I *think* I’ve told on this website before, but that bears repeating, just because I think it’s an experience we’ve all had to one degree or another. Also, Okies, keep an eye out for the print version of This Land that is coming out soon, because I wrote a piece of short (very short) fiction for it about how Brett Favre is my lover. FICTION, people!

About Last Night…

On Saturday afternoon I sat through an entire showing of the movie Twister; it’s my favorite terrible movie, not least because it was shot in Oklahoma and uses the plains’ beautiful scenery to great effect. I was thinking, while watching it, about how, three years after that movie came out, that exact situation played out over my hometown of Moore, Oklahoma. On May 3, 1999, one of the strongest tornadoes ever recorded struck a half mile from my mom’s house, hit my high school and went on to devastate a huge swath of the city.

Then last night, we had our first big tornado outbreak of the year. I left work when the tornado sirens started going off at about 4:40; I knew from watching the news online that the tornado was far off, and I took a chance that I wouldn’t get in trouble in the half-mile drive from my office. Brian and I sat and watched the outbreak play out for several hours after we both got home. We like to joke about how Okies go out in the yard when there’s a tornado to get a look at it; this is true, but the fact is that we’re raised with tornado safety precautions, and we know when it’s safe to look and when to get the hell underground.

When I was a graduate student I worked with a whole lot of meteorology students in my time in OU’s broadcasting department. I found them to be intelligent – brilliant, actually – and capable, and they were always some of my favorite broadcasting students. I know from thirty years of calling this state home that severe storm broadcasts do more than give us compelling footage of these awesome storms; they save lives. The death total from last night sits at 5; even ten years ago it would’ve been higher. The goal is to get it to zero; let’s hope that happens. KWTV’s Mason Dunn captured the night’s most compelling footage, of the largest tornado of the night as it formed over Lake Thunderbird.

The 89ers

My latest post is up at This Land Press. In it, I give in to a bit of nostalgia:

I enjoyed the last little league team I played for. My mom was one of the coaches, and we won second place in the league tournament that year.

We were the 89ers.

After we won our trophies, all the coaches and parents chipped in to take us to All Sports Stadium in Oklahoma City to watch our namesakes, the Oklahoma City 89ers.

That night stands out in my mind as a highlight of my childhood; it was one of the first times I remember truly enjoying sports. Every time I hear the Don Henley song “Boys of Summer,” I think about that night.

I had such a great time playing for that Little League team. When I went to college, my mom signed a baseball for me – "From the best coach you ever had." I still have it. I need to find the trophy that I won and some pictures to show you guys. Does anyone else miss our city’s minor-league baseball team being called the 89ers? 

Also, I’m not allowed to say anything more than this, but last night I heard a first-hand account of an encounter with The Tebow that not only validates everything I wrote about him, but almost makes it seem like I was maybe going a little easy on him.

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