Tag: okc2014

OKC – ENERGY!

On By HanneIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Looking for the Mark Harmon post? Click here.

Looking for the Tornado post? Click here.

So while the main reason for my trip to OKC the past four years has been Mark Harmon, this year I lucked out by having TWO legit reasons to brave the heat, humidity and crazy southerners. Soccer!

As most of my friends know, I’m part of a new soccer podcast call the Soccer Talk Show (find us on facebook OR @soccertalkshow on twitter). We’re pretty much Sounders only, but I have always been of the belief that ‘once a sounder, always a sounder’ – except Shalrie Joseph. I hope he doesn’t see that.

Or maybe I do. Meh.

photo 3I met up with Philip Lund (2013 Sounder & fellow Dane- hollaback with the diggitydansk) at their Fri am practice for my first ever interview. I had zero clue as to what I was doing, and probably looked less than legit with just my iphone to record, but overall I think it went pretty well. Jay and I have some recording to do, but once the podcast is up, I’ll link to it here and on social media. We had a great chat for the podcast and an even better chat after I stopped recording and let loose a bit with my own pet peeves on how the team is run. I mean, most everyone knows that I’m #teamschmetzer – but it was nice to get more of an inside perspective.

Saturday after the cancelled baseball game, the weather picked up and I made my way to the Energy FC game. photo 4Nice to chat with Philip again, and meet a family who has spent some time living in Wa (and are also Sounders fans – small world). Funny to find those connections. I sat in the ‘fan zone’ – remember, I’m legit now with my Energy tee – complete with Philip’s name/number on the back in Zebra duct tape (because supplies are limited in OKC, apparently). It was fairly disorganized, but with a few ‘leaders’ in the group. I give them props for having some decent chants, though they rarely run through more than 1-2 times. It doesn’t give people much time to learn them and jump in. And at one point they were ragging on the east side for not cheering. Um, encourage, not discourage them to sing. But it’s only their first season – they’ll grow. Look at the ECS.

photo 1The game was good, but I was worried the first half. The Energy were much slower than Sacremento, but the biggest thing was size/force. Whenever it was 1 v 1, the other team almost always came away with it. They were much bigger size-wise, so OKC has to find a way to be faster and get in there and take the ball away.

But, I must’ve been decent luck, because they ended the game with a 2-0 win!

Funny to see Jimmy Nielsen as coach. I want to like him. He’s Danish and did very well in MLS. But totally still bitter about the Open Cup that Salazar handed them. Sorry, club over country. But I’m sure he’s nice?

After the game I met a  SKC fan and we talked about that game, and the fact that they were just kicked out by Portland (and then beat Portland a few days later in a regular season match.

 

 

<– me in my okc gear. which looks like sounders gear. I like.

Mark Harmon in OKC

On By HanneIn Travel3 Comments

(looking for the tornado post? click here)

(looking for the OKC Energy FC post? click here)

Ah yes, the main reason for my year trek to Oklahoma…

It’s funny, because the newness and excitement of ohmygodmarkharmon has worn off, but the trip seems to be 2getting better and better. I (of course) missed road tripping down (and my road trip buddy – Cait), but this was probably one of the best times yet. I had a great time with a couple different groups of people – some of them not even from the event, we just started chatting at the hotel. It was a little crowded at the event, but other than that – no complaints. I think I most look forward to seeing my friends who otherwise live across the country, and meeting new ones (hi skid).

Ok, it is cool though to be having a drink at Flint and have ‘Gibbs’ walk in and sit just behind your table. A little surreal, but… we’re bff‘s now, remember?

I did get to have a few words, which was nice. I’m much more interested in a legit conversation than going through the autograph line three times to have everything I own signed (yes, I saw people do that – ugh, the riff-raff).

The baseball game was called off due to rain, but as I am not a baseball fan, I can’t say I was super disappointed. I was more concerned about the weather myself, and made friends with a cop – Officer Cunningham. She was very helpful and when the lightning started, she was quick to assure me that the conditions weren’t right for anything more than some lightning and maybe thunder. I half believed her at the time, but saw her again at the soccer game and she had been right.

1I do want to say how impressed I was with Mr. Harmon, signing right through the downpour. Several times, people offered him an umbrella, but since they weren’t allowed in the stands, he didn’t want one either. If the fans stood in the rain, he was going to stand in the rain too. It didn’t rain the whole time, but with a professional game scheduled for right after, they just didn’t have time.

I did get the chance to chat about the new Jurassic Park movie with Frank Marshall. He said it’s coming along nicely – apparently he just came from the filming location.

That said, people only come to this post for the photos. This year I put my website address on them. I don’t mind them being sharedbut they should be linked back to my blog. Last time they were snagged, cropped, edited and not linked, so… I’ll probably post a few on FB for those that are FB friends as well.

 

“My Oklahoma home is in the sky…” – Bruce Springsteen

On By HanneIn Uncategorized2 Comments

I’ve decided to post about OKC in parts:

If you’re looking for Mark Harmon photos/info, click here.

If you’re looking for OKC Energy FC info, click here.

I had to get up early this morning. With an 8 hour drive ahead of me, plus wanting to stop at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, I knew I needed to get a good start to the day. I also wanted to take a drive through Moore, OK, where Cait and I toured the day after the El Reno tornado and only a week or so after the Moore tornado. I wasn’t sure if I could find the same place, but Moore isn’t big, so I figured I’d just circle a bit and see what was left of the damage. As I drove, a few things started to look familiar and suddenly I was turning into the same neighborhood we saw last year.

photo 4
Same tree, nearly a year apart.

As I turned off the main road, I started to feel really, really overwhelmed. I think I was riding so high on adrenaline last year, esp. with the continuous storms the entire drive home, I didn’t really get the chance to deal with the enormity of it all.

Then Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah  came on my playlist and I just lost it.

I have zero idea how these people continue to live there and just rebuild and move on with life. I spent the whole weekend with one eye to the sky, and I saw someone out planting in their front yard like it won’t blow away again (the house, who cares about the flowers). Many homes were still being repaired, some finished and some were just empty lots.  The roads are still cakes with dirt, though the debris are gone.

I think it was really good to drive through the same neighborhood. In a way it was oddly reassuring that, even after the worst of things, life goes on. Even if it seems impossible. I look at the top photo, and I wouldn’t even know where to begin with a massive pile of rubble. I remember seeing families just standing at the end of the driveway, staring at the mess and then just digging in.

While I won’t claim to be ‘over it’, maybe a little healing was done today.

*The house in the photo to the left no longer exists (just an empty lot).