Jan. 7, 2009
PHOTO GALLERY
(Written by Nicole Mitchell, Sports Information Graduate Assistant)
Whenever I hear the word Oklahoma, I think of cowboys and horses and the Broadway play with the big finish song; O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A , Oklaahoooomaaaa YEA!! In my mind I wondered if the people of Oklahoma have the play memorized word for word, and have the songs set as ringtones on their cell phones. Well, they don't have the play Oklahoma on their minds, but they do have another... Sooner sports!
Trip number eight brought us about three hours west to the oil rich state of Oklahoma. The first thing we see leaving the airport are numerous oil well pumping machines. It was almost like instead of having trees in random places, there were these HUGE machines moving oil, pretty cool. Day one is pretty mellow. We settle into our hotel, grab a good ole family style meal at the Olive Garden, then settle into our beds to prepare for game time.
Day two - Wakeup call 7:00 a.m. We have an 8:00 a.m. shoot around time. A short bus ride and we reach the Lloyd Noble Center and what a sight it is to see. The inside of the center is amazing. The first things you notice when walking through the tunnel are the amazing pictures lining the wall from the top to the bottom of different coaches and players. On the ceiling are three banners hanging with the words: Relentless, Preparation and Family with a camera set up to catch the team coming out of their locker room down the tunnel to the court. Next up is the HUGE jumbotron/scoreboard stationed above us center court. It's pretty massive, but when it's lit up, holy Soonervision! (Be sure to check out the photo gallery for some shots of the arena).
GAME TIME! Now I know many people have school pride, but when I tell you I felt like I was at a bowl game except they were playing basketball would be an understatement. The Sooner fans LOVE them some women's basketball! (Just ask the group of ladies that walked into the Cracker Barrel where we were having breakfast, decked out from head to toe in women's basketball apparel, and then asked what WE were doing here all the way from North Carolina! Then they read our t-shirts and realized they were dining with the competition! Classic moment!) With an official attendance count at 7,797, I think this was the biggest women's basketball competition I've ever attended. It might have had a little something to do with the Paris twins, but both teams put on quite a show. Our Lady Eagles battled through, but were unable to finish on top. Hey, I was proud to be an Eagle!
On Monday, we had just enough time to gain some knowledge and education. We visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. "The memorial honors the victims, survivors, rescuers and all who were changed forever on April 19, 1995. It encompasses the now sacred soil where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood, capturing and preserving forever the place and events that changed the world".
The indoor and outdoor exhibit tells the story of the Oklahoma City bombing that took 168 lives in 1995. The two floor museum takes you from the exact day and time of the bombing up to the many months of search and rescue, and finally the building of the memorial. In the first portion of the exhibit, we were led to a room that where we could sit and listen to and official recording of an Oklahoma Water Resources meeting on the morning of April, 19, 1995. The meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. Just two minutes we hear the explosion of the bomb over the recording and a door opens on the other side of the room where we are led to the chaos and confusion moments after the bombing. Walking through the rest of the top floor, we saw the testimonials of survivors of the blast as well as some of the pieces of evidence that became vital in the investigation.
The next level holds one of the most amazing rooms, rightly called the Gallery of Honor, this room honors the lives of the 168 lives lost. In this room, the families display personal photographs and artifacts of their lost loved ones. Each photograph is enclosed in a clear case with their name engraved on a gold plate. Centered in the middle of each group of persons are the cases with the 16 children who also lost their lives. Very heartfelt and moving, this room was by far one of the most memorable. The last section of this floor tells the story of the investigation of Timothy McVeigh, how they captured him, the evidence that was used and finally the outcome of the trial.
The outside portion of the memorial is centered around the "Gates of Time" and the "Reflecting Pool" The gates are the official entrance to the outdoor memorial. With the times of 9:01 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. the Gates of Time symbolize the time period between peace and chaos. Centered between the gates in an open field are 168 bronze chairs symbolizing the lives lost. Lastly, there is a huge 90+ year old American Elm tree that survived the bombing and from then on symbolized the hope the people of Oklahoma City never lost. Check out the photo gallery for pictures of the outdoor memorial.
Next up for the Lady Eagles is a trip to the Windy City of Chicago and I checked the weather it's going to be W-I-N-D-Y!!
Be sure to visit the official site for NCCU Athletics for more Lady Eagle news.
Until next time Eagle fans!!!
