Emily Barron

Sooner Born, Sooner Bred.

[Josh Callaway @JoshMCallaway]

Great stuff today from Skip Johnson on Brent Venables speaking to the team last night in the locker room:

"I thought it was electric. I'm not much on rah rah speeches, unless I get really pissed. I'll give some of those, but those are pretty rare. When I walked around the corner, I don't know who was more excited that we won: Carly (Murray) or Brent (Venables). He hugged me and I thought I was going to get a concussion. He gives me a fist bump, and he lifts a little more than I get to lift."

"I said 'Hey man, you're talking to the team.'"

"To see that fire and that tenacity and, whatever you'd say, the enthusiasm that Brent Venables showed yesterday just shows you what our school is about. Because we love each other like that. It's a family-owned business. That's what the University of Oklahoma is all about."

#Sooners

[ESPN Insights @ESPNInsights]

Oklahoma throws its first shutout in the Men's College World Series in over 50 years 🔥

Cord Rager is the 3rd Oklahoma pitcher to throw 7+ IP and allow 0 runs in the MCWS!

[NBACentral @TheDunkCentral]

Russell Westbrook is an investor in OKC’s new multipurpose stadium 👏🔥

Legend in the O ❤️

(Via @joe_mussatto )

[Pat McAfee @PatMcAfeeShow]

"Oklahoma City was the best road environment that we played in last season..

It's unbelievably loud in that building" ~ @Hali

#PrimetimeSports

[Enes Kanter FREEDOM @EnesFreedom]

To my Oklahoma family;
this piece comes straight from the heart.

I hope you’ll take a moment to read it and feel what I felt.
Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of it.

I came to @okcthunder to play basketball. I left carrying 168 lives.

When I was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, I was thinking about basketball, nothing more.

I didn’t know that before I ever stepped on the court, this place would show me something that would stay with me far longer than any game.

Like any player, my mind was on the game. A new team, a new city, a new opportunity. I expected the usual routine when I landed in Oklahoma City. Physicals, practices, meetings, and a jersey waiting in a locker.

But before any of that, Sam Presti pulled me aside and told me there was somewhere we needed to go.

He didn’t explain much, and I didn’t think to ask. I was focused on the next step in my career.

What I didn’t understand was that, before I could represent the place I was about to play for, I needed to understand it.

So instead of heading to the facility, he took me to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

I walked in without knowing what I was about to see, and within minutes, everything slowed down.

There are 168 chairs at the memorial, each one representing a life lost on April 19, 1995. They are arranged in quiet rows, each engraved with a name, each standing where a person once stood in that building. Then you notice something that is impossible to process the first time you see it. Some of the chairs are smaller.

They belong to children.

There is no speech that prepares you for that, no headline that captures it. You simply stand there, and the silence carries a kind of weight that is hard to describe but impossible to ignore.

As you walk through the memorial, you pass between two gates marked 9:01 and 9:03. At first, they seem like simple numbers, but then you understand what they hold. One marks the last minute before the attack. The other marks the first minute after. And in between those two gates is 9:02, the moment when everything changed.

That minute does not feel like history when you are standing there. It feels present.

The reflecting pool stretches across what used to be a city street, its surface calm and still. When you look into it, you do not just see water. You see yourself standing in a place where unimaginable loss occurred, and for a moment, everything else in your life becomes quieter.

Nearby stands the Survivor Tree, an American elm that was damaged in the blast but endured. It is not untouched. Its scars are part of what it represents. But it is still standing, and in that, it carries a kind of strength that does not need to be explained.

We did not speak much while we were inside. It did not feel like a place for conversation. Some places ask for words. This one asks for reflection.

When we stepped outside, Sam Presti looked me in the eye and said, “This is what this state has been through.”

Then he said something I will never forget.

“Every time you step on that court, you are not just playing in front of fans. You are playing for a state that carries this with it. Give them everything you have. They deserve that.”

In that moment, basketball felt different.

Not smaller, but clearer.

Because what I had just seen was not only about what was lost. It was about what remained. A state that had experienced unimaginable pain and still chose to come together, to rebuild, and to move forward without losing its humanity.

From that day on, every time I stepped on the court, I carried that with me.

On the nights when I was tired, when I was hurt, when I was dealing with challenges that felt heavy in the moment, I would think about those chairs, about that minute, about the people behind those names. And I was reminded that what I was going through did not compare to what this state had endured.
https://t.co/XfNLliRVaO

[Oklahoma Basketball @OU_WBBall]

March Madness is coming to Norman!

As a top-16 team, we’re officially hosting first and second round games at Lloyd Noble Center 🏟️

@OU_Athletics // @MarchMadnessWBB

[Emily Barron @BoomerEm]

@KREFsports Somewhere around 160 ish

[Emily Barron @BoomerEm]

Dear Sooner Nation,
The next 12 days are not the time to get cute or fancy. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Do not change it! It takes all of us!
Sincerely,
A Superstitious, loyal fan
Boomer!

[Oklahoma Football @OU_Football]

This isn't just another game.

Scene Setter presented by @FollowMercy

[Brian Bosworth @GotBoz44]

Just when I thought I’d seen everything…#NissanHeismanHouseRoadTrip #NissanPartner

[Emily Barron @BoomerEm]

@KREFsports 👎🏻

[Emily Barron @BoomerEm]

@JoshPateCFB @QuikTrip @OU_Football Stop by Boots Sooner Tailgate at 1341 Asp Ave! Just a block south of the stadium 🫶🏻

[Emily Barron @BoomerEm]

From a fan experience perspective:
- phone service was better
- functionality of concessions= still 👎🏻
- trying too hard w/Hey song…just not sticking w/fans
- did away w/TK 3rd Q anthem & replaced w/something anticlimactic

We can do better.

#oufootball #Sooners

[ESPN @espn]

RT for a chance to win one of 30 exclusive Lee Corso collectibles in honor of Coach’s final College GameDay 🧡

[College GameDay @CollegeGameDay]

From colleagues, to guest pickers, fans and beyond, those around the college football community share what Lee Corso means to them.

We love you, Coach 🧡

[Emily Barron @BoomerEm]

@CunninghamPU3 my best friend lives in your building and wants to go on a date with you! I had to go major Sherlock Holmes to find you 🥲 Pls message me back

[Oklahoma Football @OU_Football]

Soon ⏰

[The REF @KREFsports]

It’s July 28th, so we’d like to wish happy 7-28 day to every OU and Texas fan out there!

Let’s celebrate by remembering the BIGGEST comeback in OU-Texas history.

[Oklahoma Football @OU_Football]

5️⃣0️⃣ DAYS

🎟️ https://t.co/V5do51ARv9

[Eddie Radosevich @Eddie_Rado]

Perhaps my favorite part is they are just really really good people. We’re lucky.