In 1970, three buses left the Skelly Building (now Boulder Towers) on an early Saturday morning filled with Skelly employees plus me and one of my brothers.
For $25, we got a ride to and from The University of Oklahoma in Norman and a ticket to an OU football game including a sack lunch. I suspect that the oil company subsidized the trip. My late Dad had a barber shop in that building and even though he was not a Skelly employee, they all liked him and they let us go on the bus trip.
(By the way, my brother and I don’t drink and I have never seen so much liquor that people brought on that bus. More than a few riders were pretty well loaded as we got back on the bus to come home).
That was the first time I ever went to a Sooner game.
Since then, one way or another, I have been to a game in Norman – mostly as a reporter and sometimes as a fan.
But not this year.
OU is cutting down on attendance at games because they are frightened of the Chinese coronavirus. So they are limiting attendance in the stands to 25% (about 21,000) of the “most important” fans and there is no chance of a weekly newspaper getting a credential for press coverage under current OU policy.
My 50-year streak of going to OU games will probably come to an end in 2020.
The 63,000 fans who normally attend but can’t due to university policy will be joined with the thousands of fans that collect on the OU campus for tailgate parties.
You can bet a lot of folks are upset.
Football is king in Oklahoma and now it has given way to favoritism and questionable medical science.
It’s not just OU. Oklahoma State is limiting fans and has banned tailgating. There has been a wave of political correctness including a failed attempt to force Eskimo Joe’s to change the name because a handful of nuts want them to.
Because of the coronavirus, the BOK Center has canceled Monster Jam, on September 26-27; Vampire Weekend on September 30; and Def Leppard (this is a band) on October 3.
The OU vs. Arkansas basketball game on December 12 has not yet been canceled but don’t bet on it.
The ORU Mabee Center canceled the True Girl Pajama Party on September 12 but so far, Kris Kristofferson & The Strangers will be at the Mabee Center on November 20.
The Brady Theater canceled Bill Maher (thank goodness) on September 13 and the next scheduled event isn’t until May 8 of 2021.
The Tulsa State Fair has been canceled (except for the Junior Livestock Shows). The Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City was canceled as was the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.
You can bet a lot of folks are upset.
I haven’t been to see a movie at a theater since February. Most of the movie theaters have closed through much of the pandemic but now they are reopening. I am out of the habit of going to a theater so I don’t know what it is like.
My family has not gone to restaurant dining room for over six months. We normally get takeout food about once a week but now we get takeout at least twice a week.
Eating out is a social event for a lot of folks. Bringing home a bag of food from a restaurant is not the same experience.
In New York City, the dictatorial mayor has ordered that no one eat inside a restaurant. This is really wreaking havoc in a city that celebrates its fine dining and ambiance. He’s backed off that a bit now.
You can bet a lot of folks are upset.
Stein Mart is going out of business. (I never really shopped there).
Village Inn has closed all of its restaurants except the one at 2745 S. Harvard Ave. Village Inn serves a great breakfast at a reasonable price but now they are selling their buildings on 71st Street, on Yale Avenue and on Memorial Drive.
Walmart stores have only one set of doors open and the have employees posted their to make sure you are wearing the mask that Mayor G.T. Bynum has ordered all Tulsans to wear in public. You have to wear masks at Reasors, Sams Club and Costco, too.
Because of the pandemic, American Airlines is threatening to lay off 16,000 workers on October 1 unless the federal government prints more money to bail out the airlines. American has already dropped at least 15 destinations. We don’t know if any of the maintenance employees at the Tulsa plant will get a pink slip.
The airlines preach about cleanliness and “social distancing” and then they pack their flights full of passengers.
You can bet a lot of folks are upset.
It seems like the “new normal” involves limited selection, lousy service and preferential treatment.