Rain pours down before an NCAA college football game between Oklahoma and Texas Tech Saturday in Norman. The game was delayed because of lightning in the area. SUE OGRICKI/AP Photo
As that song that they used to play before football games at Oklaohma Memorial Stadium goes, "Hate to say I told you so."
That chance of rain forecast for Saturday night in Norman turned out to be a very powerful storm that hit other parts of the state as well, including Tulsa (we had 1.04 inches of rain Saturday!).
I just spoke to a National Weather Service meteorologist in Norman's office. At a Mesonet site just two miles east of OU's stadium, they reportedly received 1.5 inches on Saturday!
Here are some videos some people posted from the weather delay on Youtube:
Here's another photo from the Associated Press' Sue Ogrocki from the lightning delay:
(SUE OGROCKI/AP Photo)
The rest of these are from the Tulsa World's own Matt Barnard:
I wish I could say that my beloved alma mater got a raw deal, that they were thrown into a unique and terrible situation, but honestly, this is neither unique nor terrible.
First, as you regular blog readers might realize, this is not unique. My first "lightning strikes college football" entry was back on Sept. 5 (check it out
here!), when Notre Dame's home game against South Florida, Michigan hosting Western Michigan were both delayed by lightning and one was even cancelled for safety reasons.
Then, I came back on Sept. 20 with yet another lightning/football entry (
here!) when Baylor postponed, then cancelled its home game against Stephen F. Austin... and of course, here in Tulsa, the OSU-TU game didn't start until after midnight because of lightning delays!
And then, I came back a third time when lightning (and apparently dragonflies too) descended on Miami (Florida) when Kansas State visited "The U" for its upset victory. Check that one out
here.So, not a unique situation. We were not the first team to have a lightning delay this season, nor were we the first team to lose a home game after a lightning delay.
And, is it really such a bad thing that a state in such desperate need of rain in the midst of extreme and exceptional drought finally receives some precipitation?
I am not a selfish Sooner fan. Please don't hate me for saying this, but as much as the loss pained me as a fan, we probably needed the rain more than a Sooner victory this weekend.
--Althea Peterson
