My latest post is up at This Land Press. In it, I celebrate the last-minute rescue of the Big 12 from the jaws of oblivion:

Things looked bleak for the Big 12 for awhile there. Then the Pac 10 came a-courtin’, like a giant Katamari looking to roll up some new teams.

My fellow Oklahoma alumni were apoplectic. “I’d rather die than be in a conference with USC,” one posted to Facebook. Promises of seppuku abounded. One might think people in this part of the country don’t like California or something.

All is well in God’s Country, however, as it seems the Big 12 will stay together. To my mind, this is how it should be. It’s almost easier to describe Oklahoma’s geographic location in terms of its athletic conferences than in actual geographic terms. Are we in the Midwest? The Southwest? The Southeast? My Texan friends – God bless their pea-pickin’ little hearts – like to say we’re just their big back yard.

Note to self: next trip to Texas, bring along a tire iron, a bag of cow manure compost and some hilarious fireworks.

No, Texas people, I love you. I don’t love your Longhorns. Just so we’re clear.

I’d love some comments; what do you guys think of college football’s realignment? Do you hope, as I do, that the Big 12 can scoop up Texas Christian and Arkansas? My dad’s a rabid Razorbacks fan; it’d be nice to be a one-conference family for a change.

My latest post is up at This Land Press, in which I discuss how I’ve taken up running in my neighborhood as opposed to on a treadmill:

I hated playing sports. I hated having to pay close attention to something I was terrible at. I was small, allergic, and would rather read or draw than chase around after some ball with people I didn’t like. Most boys spent their recesses on the soccer field; I spent mine on Neptune, with dinosaurs.

It really has been a lot of fun. But it’s also been hard. I run more or less every other day whether I feel like it or not. What I didn’t say in the article is that on my non-running days I’ve taken to doing a short weight training workout at home. I’m going to go this week and get a better set of dumbbells to make this workout a little more robust. What I also don’t say in the article is that, this past Saturday morning, I did my 3.5-mile run through the neighborhood while hungover. I was pretty proud of myself for that one.

I don’t have dreams of running a marathon – in fact, that sounds awful. Maybe as my endurance increases I’ll change my mind, but I doubt it. I did have fun doing the Redbud Classic and the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon 5K runs two years ago; and this one sounds like more fun than I can handle, so I may decide to go for it. A 5K run through a buffalo-filled wildlife preserve and up one of Oklahoma’s tallest mountains? Okay!