The stands were filled with OU students, alumni, and football fans. The east side of the stadium yelled boomer and the west yelled sooner at the top of their lungs to show their school spirit. As the OU chant began to play the stadium bleachers filled with the echo of every word that was sung. I even saw a few people shed a tear while they sung O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A.
But all I heard was the sound of trumpets and My Old Kentucky Home playing. Everybody else in the stadium saw the football players on the field but I envisioned horses walking towards the Churchill Downs starting gate.
I got chills as I saw everyone in the stadium bounding over a four hour football game. Everyone felt as though they were apart of the OU culture, even the fans that had never been on the University of Oklahoma's campus until that day. I pictured Churchill Down's grandstand filled with people that had never set foot on the backside of a racetrack, cheering on the Kentucky Derby winner. They were apart of that horse's story just like everyone in that stadium was apart of the football players' stories. The fans would be telling the story to their grandchildren about the time they went to the Derby or the time they went to the OU/FL game.
I did not see what everyone else in the stadium saw that day, but I finally understood why everyone loved football so much once
I saw it through the lens of my passion.