What Orange means to me

[Pokes28]

Today I was sitting in my office daydreaming a little bit about the upcoming weekend. Of course I'm wearing my orange. It is homecoming week after all. I starting thinking about orange and why it means so much to not only me, but the all of the Oklahoma State fans across the United States.

Is orange a particularly pretty color? no. Yet we all find it beautiful. Is it a popular color? fashion right now has a lot of orange in it, but normally, it isn't. Is it a powerful color? it is eye catching, but not really considered a power color. So why in the world do I and the other faithful love it so much?

The color is a symbol. It is all we remember of our Oklahoma State experiences. To us it not only symbolizes all the national championships, but also 0-10-1. It is Theta Pond, it is Fraternity Row, it is the student union. It is Barry Sanders, Walt Garrison, and even Dexter Manley. It is Eddie Sutton, Leonard Hamilton, Les Miles, Pat Jones, and Henry Iba. It is meeting your friends at Joes or the Hideaway. It is illegal dorm parties. It is Pistol Pete. It is the Waving Song or the Alma Mater. It is the Walk, it is tailgating. It is that girl you always wanted to ask out but never did. It is that guy you wanted to leave you alone. It is late night Pizza Shuttle runs. It is no air conditioning in the dorm or getting tickets from campus police. It is not understanding your chemistry instructor or that really nerdy English grad student. It is signing up for a 5 hour class at 7:30 in the morning as a Freshman. It is learning to never do that again. It is hating OU. It is Bedlam. It is showing our recruits how much we appreciate them, it is feeling disappointed when some choose to go elsewhere, or the elation of them deciding to come to OSU and join our family.

We can't talk about our feelings for our school without going into stories that would make people's eyes glaze over. It is hard to explain to people that the reason we wear orange isn't just because of sports. It isn't because of any one thing or even 100 things. Orange is pride in all things OSU. Be they good things or bad things, they are all part of why I love OSU. When I see people wearing OSU hats or shirts, most of the time no words have to be spoken. Just a nod or a smile and we both know that orange is something special.

I'm wearing my orange - are you?

David Harrell - Pokes
dwh

 

[okstate5968]

David,

That was great!

 

[duckstreet89]

It is standing at the OSU Plane Crash Memorial last Friday afternoon with about 9-10 other orange wearing OSU fans....

and knowing that they are still hurting as much as you are...

But we were there to honor those lost souls...

and now everytime I go to Colorado....I will stop and do the same...

The concept that we share as an OSU fans / alumni will always be the bond that will hold us together....always has...always will...

and a lot of schools and their fans can't say that.....

 

[okstate5968]

Every time I think of the plane crash, I remember exactly where I was, and how it felt like I'd been sucker punched as I watched the coverage on it. I remember how the entire OSU family came together, and complete strangers became tied together forever. I remember the crowd at GIA as we all came to let Eddie and the boys know that we felt their pain too. And for now and ever more, when I think of the song "One more day", I will remember sitting in GIA watching the families file in, and thinking how lucky I am to have one more day.

There was alot of orange that day too.

 

[OSUjon]

It is also getting tears in your eyes when you read posts like the ones above...and i am wearing my orange.

 

[perrycowboy]

greatest post of all time!!!
it is OUR memories of OUR school!
thanks all for making my day

 

[PokeHopper]

That's why after only being there for a single semester 29 years ago, I am still a diehard fan. It's goes so much futher than the football field or basketball court. Great post!

 

[osueyedoc]

This would be a great article

in the O'Colley!

 

[CaliforniaCowboy]

Her name was Julie Bruns, I'm not sure why I never asked her out.

 

[MO-Poke]

Great post, all of this brings a little tear to the eye. I love OSU and that's why I wear orange and have the alumni and posse stickers on all my vehicles. So----Proud to be a cowboy.

 

[FWPoke]

I'm glad no one else has made it in to work yet, so they can't see me tearing up like a little girl. Damn you, 28! sniff, sniff

 

[Okstate81]

I'm wearing orange very proudly!

 

[orangeatty]

Thank you very much for the post. You got the feeling just right.

 

[bleedaggie]

Crap dude. You brought a tear to my eye too. That was better than any "come to Jesus" post I've ever made in my life. Great post.

I moved to Texas from Oklahoma, and it only took me about a week to be homesick. Now, I'd do anything to get back. I get chills every time I hear the song "Oklahoma," even during the Red River Shootout when that "other band" played it. That brings up my couple of additions to your already fantastic list:

It's going to "Oklahoma" on Broadway, and being one of three people in the audience who know to scream "STATE" at the end of the song. It's Christmas Carols on the Library Clock, and Preacher Bob. It's camping out in the snow before basketball games. It's the Rrrrowdiest Arena in the Country. It's good for a Cowboy, first down and ten.

 

[PokeWilson@Work]

Orange is a way of life

Cheese fries and a fowl thing...

A whole cabinet full of plastic cups...

Coney Island as a teenager on friday nights when the East End Zone was cool

Calf Fry at "The Weed"

"Miller Time Buttons"...still have mine!

 

[poker]

Orange is all about Pride! to me!

I wore my windbreaker black with orange stripe down the sleeve.

A gooner co-worker walked in beaming and said he was impressed with the pokes. Then went into his little arrogant self. But he never and I mean NEVER gives it up to my beloved POKES!

"Proud and immortal"

 

[King Argonaut]

Orange RULES!

I wear orange all the time! My wife and I even have a giant OSU quilt on our king-size bed! I can't be comfortable without wearing it, or at least having some OSU paraphanelia around me (desk, wall, somewhere).

Some really good/bad memories from this post, but they help me to remember what Orange means to me: FAMILY. Extended family, but as meaningful as any relationship I have with physical relatives. Recently at the Philadelphia Int. airport, I saw ONE guy out of thousands wearing an OSU shirt. I was suprised, went up and introduced myself and the next thing I know we're talking about his sister's family that I have known for years! He rode to Chicago w/ me, then back to OKC and we went on and on about the memories. A new relative for life that I didn't even know! No matter where you go, family is family, blood is thicker than water, and ORANGE blood is the thickest of all.

When you go to the FB games now, you better understand what Orange means to OSU. When you go to a BB game, look at our success and remember what happened in Colorado a few years back, you better understand what Orange means. When you see players and coaches turn down multi-million dollar contracts to stay "just one more year" to see the project through, you better understand. When you see people who choose to live in small-town america because of the Orange family they feel so close to, you better understand. When you see young people get 2nd chances, and witness them turn their life around before your very eyes, Orange all makes sense. When you see coaches of other programs completely embarrass their universities and players with all manner of behaviours, you begin to appreciate what Orange means.

Orange=family and loyalty. Orange is more than a color, to a true Cowboy it reflects a way of life not only towards your University, but to other's that have shared it with you. I can look at my life, and quickly realize that without a few key elements (God, wife, family, friends) I wouldn't have gotten far. Family is a big part of my life, and any OSU fan anywhere is my family. IMO Orange is the best color in the spectrum, and the OSU family is the best to be a member of.

 

[Poke4Life]

What does orange mean to me? Well, my story is the opposite of Bleed's. I moved from Texas to Oklahoma as a junior in high school. So naturally I hated everything that had to do with Oklahoma. I just wanted to be in Texas. I grew up an A&M fan (guess that's part of the reason I have so much respect for them). When I began class at OSU, I was just getting a relataively inexpensive education so that I could get back to Texas. Then an amazing thing happened, I began to FEEL the OrangePower. I feel like every alumn is part of my family. We all have stuck together through the good times and the bad. I was not around for the 0-10-1 days, but I was here in the Simmons era where the reverse was ran on just about every down . I remeber hating basketball, and my friends talked me into buying tickets because GIA was the "Roudiest Arena". I remember my first game when Gotlieb threw an alleyoop pass to Mason. The rest is history, and I'm one of OSU biggest basketball supporters. I remeber being in bed asleep when my dad came in to tell me one of the planes was missing coming back from Colorado, I remember crying for days at the loss of 10 beautiful people, I remember going to the memorial service at GIA, I still have a hard time thinking about it because they feel like family. I have been to every home game with the exception of two and have stayed from start to finish. When my mom was in Nebraska for a liver transplant, I remeber not being able to watch the OU-OSU game in Stilly when we beat the snot out of them. I would run from the hospital to the apartment we rented for me to sleep at just to check the score while my mom was napping. I'd call my Unlce the die hard OU fan to rub it in his face. I caught so much crap from my mom's doctors about being from OSU (her transplant was the day after we beat Nebraska--how ironic is that?). But I held my ground. Now, when we go up there for annual check-ups, they tell me how good we are, DUH! I respect my school and everything it stands for. I tell everyone with pride that I am part of the OSU family. My Texas buddies used to give me grief about going to OSU, now they tell me that I go to a great institution--which is something we all already knew. I am wearing orange today--I wear something orange or OSU everyday, my cell phone cover has OSU on the front and Pistol Pete on the back. Heck, I've even taught my 5 year old that the Sooners "stink", and he now refuses to own anything red and wants his room painted orange I am proud to wear my orange because it stands for unity, family and pride. Things we should all hold dear everyday. That is what orange means to me.

 

[DJediPoke]

28 Thanks for putting into words what so many of us feel but can't always express. The feeling of pride swelling in me right now is undescribable. I remember all those things from my first try at school. I am in my second and final attempt currently and it means so much more to me now. I could have gone to school somewhere else but the idea of getting my degree from somewhere other than OSU wouldn't mean near as much to me.
ORANGE is what it is all about. To put all the emotion, pride, heart breaks, joys, the anger, and jubilation into one catigory, Orange will do just fine in my book.
Great Job 28 and thanks

 

[pokesports]

Luckily i was far removed in distance from the University the night of the plane crash, but even being 11 hours away, it was, as has been said before, a sucker-punch when i heard the news. One of those never-forget moments. I locked my door and cried when the memorial service was on TV. Now that I think about it, that was my first "orange" experience. The fact that no distance was too great to grieve with my family.

It sunk in further what Orange was all about my first year at OSU (my sophomore year). That was the year of 16-13. That's all that even needs to be said. Just the score, but the school and Orange-blooded famliy bonded together more on that night. The fact that complete strangers were running up to each other on the street, hugging and high-fiving and yelling. The atmosphere in stillwater that night was oneof the coolest experiences of my life.

To me, Orange is that instant connection with anyone in the country. Knowing you have something BIG in common and are instantly best friends. Orange is traveling to Houston in such a crowd that people take notice and ask why everyone is wearing orange. Orange is going to Houston, or Dallas, or San Antonio with 30-40 thousand of your closest friends. Orange is the Family atmosphere that has won so many people over to the Bright side. Orange is the fact that when you are walking to class you can smile and say hi to anyone and everyone you see because they are just like you, and if you need something, anything, someone will always be there to help you out.

Now that i'm far removed in distance again, I realize how dependant on Orange that I am/was. I realize how much it all means to me and how much of a part of me it is. No matter how long i'm away, no matter how much ridiculing i take, I was, am, and will always be Orange!