The raging fires of rivalries.(My Turn)

Jack Mildren and I both ran for statewide public office in Oklahoma in 1990. Any football fan over 40 doesn't need to be reminded who Jack was--the first wishbone quarterback at the University of Oklahoma. Assistant coach Barry Switzer instituted the wishbone in the middle of the 1970 season, and Jack literally ran with it. The Sports Animal--Oklahoma City's sports talk radio station--calls Jack the "Godfather of the Wishbone."

Before the birth of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, we at Oklahoma had two big games every year. We played Texas for bragging and recruiting rights along the Red River. And we played Nebraska in a matchup that usually determined the Big Eight champion and a trip to the Orange Bowl.

On occasion, Jack and I will hear about our shortcomings in the "big games" Jack never beat Nebraska as a starter, and I never beat Texas as a starter. Fortunately for both of us, these shortcomings didn't hurt us at the ballot box. After all ... it's just a game, right?

There really is no way to describe these great rivalries; you have to experience them yourself. OU-Texas is at the Cotton Bowl during the Texas state fair. Located about halfway between the two campuses, this venerable 68,252-seat stadium is split symmetrically down the 50-yard line for the game; each half of the stadium is filled with either the most rabid crimson- or burnt orange-clad fans known to man. There truly is nothing like it.

OU-Nebraska was a different story; we traded home fields, and the game used to be on the weekend of Thanksgiving. Memorial Stadium in Lincoln is the equivalent of the third largest city in Nebraska on game days, and to the visiting team, it feels like the coldest city in America.

Jack and I can tell you from firsthand experience what The Big Game can do to a young athlete and to his team's fans. So can anyone who has played in Michigan-Ohio State, Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, Army-Navy or a handful of other rivalry games.

While I was playing, OU's preparations for the Texas game were extraordinary. Although we weren't competing with Texas for a conference ...