A Fair Experience

DALLAS- Oct. 17, 2009. Thousands of Oklahoma and Texas fans flock to Dallas every year for the continuous tradition of the Oklahoma Texas football rivalry. Students, alumni and locals make their way to the fairgrounds for the festivities, the corn dogs and the competitive spirit of the day. Almost every person is labeled with either the Longhorn or the Sooner logo and school chants are yelled throughout the fair.

With an 11:30 kickoff the challenge of the day becomes clear very soon; how to get to the fair in enough time to take in the atmosphere and make it into the stadium for kickoff. For University of Oklahoma junior Lanie Bishop, the day started early with an 8:00 a.m. alarm.

“My friends and I had a hotel room that was close to the Dart, a rail that goes through Dallas. We knew that we had our transportation taken care of but we still wanted to get out to the fair early enough to hang out before heading into the Cotton Bowl Stadium.” Bishop said.

Bishop and her friends made it to the Dart station which was connected to their hotel by 10:00 ready for the game. Bishop’s friend Jackie Lustig, another OU junior, shared her excitement for the day while waiting to board the Dart.

“It’s Lanie’s first time to go to the game so we wanted to make sure and get there early enough to get her a fried snickers or something before we go in and kill Texas!” Lustig said.

When the Dart finally arrived to the station the entire group of eight girls climbed on board and sat back for a quick ride to the fair grounds. One hour later, kick off had come and gone, the Sooners had points on the board, and the girls were still on the Dart.

The large amount of people in Dallas for the weekend made for a much longer journey than anticipated. Oklahoma and Texas fans found themselves stuck together on the never ending train ride. Cell phone updates allowed fans to keep up with the game and despite the disappointment of missing kick off, the Oklahoma and Texas fans made an atmosphere of pure rivalry in the compact Dart.

“It was a pretty intense ride, every time OU would make a good play some Sooner fan would yell out what happened and everyone in red would cheer; same with Texas. It was frustrating not knowing what was really going on but it made for an interesting experience.” Bishop said.

Despite the fact that the fans weren’t even to the fair yet, the train was split in half with red and orange. With every stop came 15-20 minutes of stand still and more and more fans would opt to get off and walk to the fair. While the girls considered making the walk, the fact that they were still three miles away put them right back on the Dart for more waiting.

Finally, the Dart made it to the fair grounds and for the first time all morning, every fan was cheering in unison; they were finally there. The doors opened and people went running for the stadium. Half of Bishop’s group ran with the large group from the train while Bishop and two others opted to stay behind and take in the day.

“It was my first OU Texas, I already missed kick off and I wanted to get the fair experience before running into the stadium.” Bishop said.

The girls were lucky to find short lines everywhere outside of the game. Getting tickets, corn dogs, turkey legs and seeing alligator amusements were all done in a fraction of the time due to everyone already being in the stadium. Frequently, a rumble of cheers would explode from the Cotton Bowl tempting the girls to save their tickets and run for the game.

Finally, Bishop was satisfied with her fair experience and the three Oklahoma juniors made their way to the stadium.

With no lines to get into the game it was only a matter of time before they were inside looking for their seats. Upper deck, five rows from the top, 50 yard line is where their ticket stubs led them and finally they were united with all of their college friends.

“I had never seen anything like the inside of the stadium. I had heard about how cool the game was but being there put it all into perspective. It was literally split down the 50 yard line with red and orange.” Bishop said.

The girls joined the game at a great time. Despite the fact that Bradford was already out, the Sooners were playing like champions and Texas was fighting for a chance.