23 Things I’m Thankful For (Part I)

Photo Attribution: KT King

One for each of Joseph Randle’s touchdowns…

1. The consistent Twitter barrage on game day of “wow, Justin Gilbert really should get some sort of uniform Heisman award” I see fluttering about the internet. I’ll drive, all of you are welcome to hop on board though.

2. The emergence of Joseph Randle as Oklahoma State’s most complete tailback since Thurman Thomas. He’s probably going to have a 1,000-500 season before he’s done in Stillwater, something that’s never been done, and he’ll still, inexplicably, be underrated. The number 1 is becoming pretty legendary in Stillwater.

3. Thayer backlash. I wish he’d write another column, that was a fun week.

4. Gina Mizell – Remember all the negative rhetoric thrown her way at the beginning of the season? “She’s too young!” She’s not experienced!” “She’s too she!” Well, for having been thrown in the fire two weeks before the Louisiana game to cover the most spectacular season in school history, I’d say she’s done a wonderful job.

5. That deep group of receivers we talked about before the season started. With Anyiam down and Cooper and Harrison missing at least parts of the season, it’s a good thing this team is more than Weeden2Blackmon.

6. This interview from Monken.

7. The Oregon model. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until PFB doesn’t exist, nobody understands how important and relevant this is to OSU’s success.

8. The Kansas State game. My heart is not thankful, but I am. I’ve long been a believer that the 12 games before that last one of a championship season are where all the fun is encompassed and that dizzying display of aerial fireworks from Weeden countered by an equally ballsy performance from Collin Klein were enough to make you fall in love with college football all over again (especially because OSU won).

9. That legendary second half from Weeden in College Station. It gets shuffled in the stack now because it was in September and we can barely remember who played last weekend, but look at these second half stats: 30-37 for 296 yards and 2 TD. That’s insane.

10.The uniforms. Partly because I think they look terrific, but mostly because I got to break the story and there might be hundreds of you reading this sentence because of that.

11. Josh Stewart and his upper ear earring (is there a name for that?)

12. That Sunday morning game against Tulsa. At the time I was not enjoying myself, especially when Monken was calling 4-yard outs at 3 in the morning and Isaiah Anderson was dragging his toes on the sideline with a 35-point lead in the 4th quarter. The box score says it only lasted three and a half hours but I remember it being more like thirty and a half.

13. You guys, my readers. This season has been a blast. I’m not really one for recognition from players or the acceptance of mainstream media or anything like that. If you guys and gals are enjoying the site and having fun, intelligent conversations and maybe like and/or appreciate OSU a little bit more because of these posts (always keeping things in perspective, of course), well, that’s pretty much all I ever wanted.

Here’s Part II