Nighttime twister devastates my hometown

April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City Bombing

May 3, 1999: Moore, Okla., Tornado

September 11, 2001: World Trade Center, Pentagon, Terrorist Attacks

There are always dates in our lives when disasters happen, whether it is natural or man made, that we will never forget that what we were doing at that time. Around 12:15 a.m. on Sunday morning (April 15, 2012), I will always remember sitting in my living room in Bartlesville, Okla., listening to live coverage as my hometown of Woodward was being struck by an EF3 twister.

Woodward tornado report on KWTV's sister station KOTV in Tulsa.

As I am sitting here typing this, I am trying to completely put into words what I have been feeling over the past 24 hours. I know it may seem strange, not being directly affected by the event that took place nearly three and a half hours from where I currently live, but it still seems surreal (and I know I’m not along with people outside of our hometown).

Photo via News9.com

All weekend, as I usually do, I was keeping a close eye on the weather all around Oklahoma. After a long day of keeping close watch of tornados that skipped across Woods country, I thought my weather watching was over until a developing squall line in Western Oklahoma makes it way over to “Green Country.” As I was winding down, my Weather Radio app sent a tornado warning alert for Woodward. This really shouldn’t have been a surprise as super cells can break away from a separate line of severe storms and spin up quickly.

Within a minute, I quickly pulled up the KWTV live stream up on my computer. It wasn’t much longer after getting the stream going a sickening feeling began to come over me.

Usually when I am watching weather coverage on “Channel 9,” I hear Gary England talk to Marty Logan about a wall cloud, funnel, or a tornado touchdown in some obscure field in Oklahoma. Not this time. This time I heard Mr. Logan giving an emotional play-by-play of a nighttime twister ripping through my hometown. Logan was truly a hero to many people in the path, as his live reporting of where the tornado was gave many an idea of the severity of the situation. (Logan interview by Kelly Ogle following a brief report.)

My next several hours were spent keeping and eye on Facebook and Twitter, concerned about many friends and family that may have been in the path. Every time I would see a report about a house or a business that was damaged, I was able to narrow down who was in the path.

I know I have friends who have had their hometowns hit by a tornado in the past, and some have even lost their homes in previous events. But as I have gone through the day after, away from Woodward, seeing national news reports with people I know personally with their homes in piles of rubble, my heart aches so bad. I finally know the true meaning of feeling helpless. 

Woodward is a place that is special in my heart, and I know those that lost their homes and belongings will bounce back. Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers.

#WWTornado2012

Petrino fired as top Hog; praises go to Long

Breaking news: The Cubs still suck. Oh yeah, and Bobby Petrino was fired as the football coach at the University of Arkansas.

Photo via ArkansasRazorbacks.com of athletic director Jeff Long
 during his on Tuesday evening.

This was basically a text I sent to a buddy of mine tonight as I watched the university press conference in which Arkansas director of athletics Jeff Long officially announced that they had cut ties with the controversial coach. As much as I would like talk about how bad the Cubs seem to be this year, this post is about my thoughts on the firing of Petrino.

Most of you who would actually care to read this probably know the specifics of the Arkansas football situation over the past week. Basically, Petrino was in a motorcycle accident with a female he was having an inappropriate relationship with. He lied to the university, and Long, about the specifics of the accident. Long then found out that the young lady was an employee under Petrino who he had recently hired.

When Long placed Petrino on “administrative leave” last Thursday, I had a conversation with the same buddy about the situation. I told him then that I didn’t think Petrino should be fired on the grounds of an inappropriate relationship with the young lady, but things could be a lot different if they find issues in the way she was hired. Well, buddy…I was right.

Jeff Long press conference video through ArkansasRazorbacks.com. 

(More details are given about the situation by Long in the press conference. If I find a YouTube video, I will embed that at a later date.)

Petrino was not fired because he was hooking up with someone under him, and as Long said in the presser, that was a personal matter between the parties and their families (loosely translated). He was fired “with cause” because he lied to Long initially about the details of the accident and the original hiring.

If this was just about a man having an inappropriate relationship with someone else and he was fired, I would have completely disagreed with Long. That is a personal situation that, if it didn’t affect his duties to the university, should be left between him and his family. However, even though the initial relationship was a factor, his insubordination in misleading Long on the detail of the hiring of the young woman and the accident are legitimate grounds for termination.

Most know that I’m and Oklahoma State fan, but I am also a fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks. But as far as the battle between the two athletic directors, Long is way ahead of Mike Holder at this point. As Long said tonight, no one person is bigger than the Razorback football team or athletic department. It says a lot about him that he is willing to cut professional ties, as well as potentially hurt close friendship, with a coach who has obviously done a lot for Arkansas athletics.

I also want to praise Long for his candidness with the situation, not doing what many universities do when there is a embarrassing situation such as this. Instead of remaining silent about the situation and leaving room for more speculation and controversy, the Razorback athletic department (including the media relations office) addressed the situation with “forward motion” and attacked the issue.

Petrino did a lot for the Razorback football program. He helped make the Razorbacks a program that was a conference contender. I understand he was trying to save his own butt, and a lot of people would do the same thing in a situation such as this. But as we all know, when you lie to those in authority, there are going to be consequences.

Here is a link to Petrino's statement following his termination. PETRINO'S STATEMENT

What I (want to) do...athletic communications

The past couple of months have been some of the greatest of my life. Last semester I made a tough decision to not pursue what I THOUGHT was my dream position as the Sports Information Director at my alma mater, only serving as an interim from September to the end of December. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was able to spend most of my time walking through the final stages of my wife’s pregnancy with her.

Now that our lives are returning to “normal,” I am starting to think more and more about my career. As most of you know, there have been many up’s and down’s along the way in my “professional” life since I graduated with my undergrad. I have applied for all kinds of positions in different types of companies and at several different universities. I have been in situations that I loved but it didn’t work out, and in situations that I couldn’t get out of quick enough.

Recently, in an interview for a part time job, I was asked the question, “where do you see yourself in five years?” Thank God I didn’t say what came to mind when I was asked that. But it really got me thinking about where I really wanted to be.

Of course I really don’t know where, as in location, but I know I want to be serving a college/university as an athletic communicator. Early in my college career when I got an opportunity to help out during football games, I became fascinated with the role these individuals play in college athletics.

About a year ago, I had someone tell me that the only reason I was a sports information director was because I wasn’t good enough to be an athlete. Even though this person was trying to insult me, I find it as a source of pride (despite it actually bothering me a little). As a sports fan who has never really been skilled at a particular sport, I realized this was my opportunity to serve, and make my staple in athletics.

Athletic communications is more than being a sports fan though; it’s about the student-athletes, coaches and the institutions. Many of the student-athletes would not receive some of the awards they receive if there wasn’t an athletic communicator behind the scenes nominated them (many times for the coaches). It is about recognizing the accomplishments of the athletes, coaches and teams.

I understand that I may not be able to hang with 99% of the participants of college athletics, but I love what I do behind the scenes, despite the stress sometimes. Ha!

I may not get recognized for being the guy that updates the website in a timely manner after the game with a score and recap, or the reason the stats are at least mostly accurate, but the joy some student-athletes get when they are recognized makes it all worth it.