I went to the Big 12 Championship game in Arlington, Texas, to watch Oklahoma play Baylor on December 7. I had never been to the AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, so I was curious about what it was like.

I had seen the stadium on television many times. Of course, I have been to the historic Cotton Bowl in Dallas many times for the OU-Texas game (but never for the Cotton Bowl Classic). And I had been to the old Texas Stadium – former home of the Cowboys – a few times.

I got credentials for the press box and my son Brian got a sideline pass to take photos. (He is an excellent action photographer and has accompanied me many time to shoot football.)

This stadium is big. Really big. And it has a gigantic scoreboard/screen. I think it may be the largest one in the nation. It is so big that very few reporters used binoculars during the game but just relied on the animated scoreboard.

No. 4 OU beat No. 7 Baylor 30-23 in overtime. It was an exciting game. Waco, Texas, home of the Baylor Bears, is a lot closer than Norman (or Tulsa) but it looked like there were a lot more OU fans than Baylor fans in the crowd of 65,000-plus. It wasn’t a sell out, which surprised me because I thought Baylor fans would flock to see their team have a shot at the Big 12 Championship.

Both Baylor and OU brought their bands and they were impressive. The sound in that stadium is wonderful and the bands put on quite a show before kickoff and at the half.

The Big 12 Conference really knows how to stage a championship game. We had great instructions. We got a parking pass right next to the stadium. They served a hot breakfast in the press room and then gourmet hot dogs for lunch. They had a computerized coffee machine that made great lattes, regular coffee, etc. They had homemade cookies for snacks.

And they workers were really friendly. I have been to a handful of bowl games and sometimes the workers can be aloof and a little condescending.

Brian and his wife Shelby and I arrived in Arlington on Friday night before the game. We booked a hotel room across the street from Six Flags over Texas (which is open on weekends this month).

On Friday, night I watched Oregon beat Utah in my hotel room. That helped OU in their chase for a playoff bid. Utah was ranked No. 5 and OU No. 6 at the time. It was unclear who would get the No. 4 spot in the final ranking should No. 4 Georgia fall to No. 2 LSU. Oregon beat Utah. LSU beat Georgia. OU beat Baylor and therefore OU got the No. 4 spot and will play now No. 1 LSU on December 28 in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Ohio State/Clemson game for the national championship in January.

Before I got to the hotel Friday, I stopped in Frisco, Texas, a Dallas suburb, and ate dinner with my friends, David and Teri Hollingsworth. They are both from Tulsa but they have retired and moved to the Metroplex to be close to their children and grandchildren.

We ate at a nice restaurant and a little after 7 p.m., I left Frisco to drive to Arlington. It’s about 40 miles and it’s not a fun drive.

The Friday night traffic was horrible. My route took me past DFW International Airport and it was 10 lanes of bumper-to-bumper cars for as far as you could see. I don’t rely on GPS navigation systems but instead use paper maps. For awhile, I wasn’t sure I was on the right road.

Saturday, after the game, I headed for US 75 for my trip back to Tulsa. There was road construction on my route and apparently a big accident that was slowing traffic. It took me more than an hour to get back to McKinney, Texas, just north of Dallas. And it was a white knuckle experience throughout the Metroplex.

Traffic can be difficult sometimes in Tulsa but traffic nightmares are the norm in Dallas. Drivers are rude. They won’t let you in when you try to switch lanes and they tailgate like crazy, especially if you aren’t going at least 10 miles faced than the posted speed limit.

Lord willing, I will never live in a city like that.

It’s probably good that the Big 12 has its championship game in such a big city inside such a great stadium. It does seem a little unfair that OU had to play Baylor twice in the State of Texas, but the big OU crowd negated that advantage.

The Peach Bowl will be packed with SEC fans screaming for LSU. There will be a group of devoted but outnumbered OU fans in “Hot-lanta.”

I hope Big 12 fans will support the Sooners as they try for the first national title in 20 years.