In the year 2008...

Two days in a row. Shocking I know. This is no times for jokes though, I'm more mad and blood thirsty than Denzel Washington's character in Man on Fire. And I'm in more pain than Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart. I've got a lot of fuming to do. Here's the deal: I came here to Oklahoma State for 4 reasons...

1. God called me here
2. The Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball Program
3. Eddie Sutton called me here
4. Thunderstorms

God's been nothing but faithful. I find His blessing and His conformation all over this place. My spiritual life is healthy, pull of promise, freedom, mystery, and sometimes it's chilling. It's right. God's brought me to a very special place in my walk that I could never ever begin to properly explain to you through blogging. God's too big for a blog. But this isn't a blog about God; not about reason number 1. This one's about reasons 2 and 3.

The past month has been real tough for me, but the past 6 days have been the worst. We lost to Oklahoma, lost in a buzzer beater to A&M, and lost to Kansas. On the third day, the worst news of all, the Jesus of College Basketball was involved in a car accident. Isn't ressurection supposted to happen on the third day? Not in Stillwater. Today Eddie said he would be on medical leave for the rest of the season because of it and his chronic back pain. The ultimate defeat. I've held it in, I've kept silent. No more. I can't keep my mouth shut about this pain anymore. My therapist said that the best way to get over stuff is to let it out. So this is me "letting it out." (I don't really have a therapist). We all know I'm a huge sports fan, especially when it comes to the sacred game of college basketball. I've watched this game since I was freed from the womb, probably watched it while I was in the womb, but I'm not sure. I don't really remember the womb, but that's irrelevant. So when I made my decision to come to Oklahoma State, when I decided that I wanted to make myself an official OSU Cowboy; when i decided it was time to graduate from "fan" to "student-fan," I was more than just excited, I was already prepared. My heart, my soul, my spirit; they were all ready. I was ready to experience what I had only seen on TV- Oklahoma State Basketball. November 8th couldn't have gotten here sooner. And when it came, it came. It was beautiful, unexplainable almost. I stepped foot into a hallowed hut built by the great spirits of this sacred game. I stood, screamed, cheered, laughed, and cursed at times inside a holy temple; inside the mecca of college basketball, inside the the tabernacle of the NCAA's round rubber ball. The temple, Gallagher Iba Arena, a place so hallowed that shoes shouldn't be worn in there. I took it in; breathed better air than I ever had before. Everything was bliss. Lets fast forward to January 7, 2006 and relocate to some joke gymnasium in Columbia, Missouri. The Oklahoma State Men's basketball team had earned itself a 10-4 record. They were on the verge of becoming a member of the nations top 25 teams, a place that the Cowboys had been very familiar with in the past. I was ready, my friends were ready, the team was ready, the school was ready. We all were ready. Then conference play came and screwed up our young, hopeful dreams. What happens next is terribly difficult more me to write, so please, bear with me. A Dove was wounded, and so went our dreams. We clung to our wounded dream, held onto like a 4 year old does a teddy bear. Tonight, about 2 hours ago, I let go of my teddy. I grew up and faced reality. The past month has sucked for an OSU basketball fan, for college basketball fans unless youre one that goes to school about 40 minutes southbound on 35 from Stillwater. I don't even want to talk about you dirty STDs. You aren't worth my words. It's been real hard to watch this season go down the way it has. Losses against Gonzaga and Captian Stache, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M, all by two points or less, in the final seconds, or in overtime. We suffered a humiliating loss against Texas, bullcrap against OU, and then tonight against Kansas bringing us to an uncomfortable, unfathomable 13-12 record. Eddie was supposed to win 800 this year. We were supposed to atleast make the big dance. We were atleast supposed to finish 3rd in conference. After all, didn't we have the top recruting class in nation? I don't understand. I'm full of mixed emotions right now. Don't get me wrong, I love this team. I'm head over heals for everyone of them, even Luke the lone white kid. It's just for so long I've looked forward to making memories at this school, inside that temple, with this basketball team: with Eddie, Jameson, Coop, Byron, Torre, Mario, you know, all the guys. All i want know is to forget everything that's happend to us so far this season. I'm ready to look forward into the year 2008. Let me tell you something about destiny. Destiny is always better when it blossoms from the mud. That's the way our story will go. Destiny is on our side. It will dust itself off from the dust and muck its covered itself in this year. It will look clean again next year, but it will look holy in 2008. Destiny holds up the roof of Gallagher Iba. It is there inside that sacred place, inside our hearts, our souls, inside the places where we make our dreams come true. That's what destiny does, it makes our dreams come true. So I will ride this train down this bumby track because I believe in destiny; because I believe in Oklahoma State's destiny. I believe in hope. Hope is a beautiful thing. Hope is on our side. It won't be next year that this world will see destiny at its finest, but the year after. You'll see, 2008 will be the year of the Cowboy. This school, this team, and yes even you Eddie will ride a beautiful black and orange horse into the National Championship game where we will walk away with a trophy that reads: 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball National Champions. And Eddie will hop off after that, he'll desaddle from that stallion. But we'll keep riding till the end. You'll see that destiny has a name in the year 2008, and its name is Pete. I leave you with one of the best movie quotes of all time... "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." -Andy Dufresne

Your 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball National Champs.