OU Football Starts Second Week of Spring Practice

 Now that Basketball season is over Oklahoman’s can focus on what is truly important in this state and that is Football. And, as quietly as springtime rolled into the Sooner State, so has OU spring practices. I hadn’t heard much out of camp last week so I decided to take a look and find out what Coach Stoops was saying about this years team. And of course, in typical Coach Stoops verbage, said “It was a really good practice”, speaking of practice on March 27.

Coach went further this time and pointed out some individual players who were glowing on the field. Let it be noted here, if you land on Coach’s radar screen in a positive way, then your activity in the field must be something special. He noted that Ryan Reynolds, the 230 pound sophmore linebacker out of Las Vegas, Nevada, was doing well stating that he (Reynolds) ”can run, he’s physical, and understands the game.” He must be something special if Stoops is saying he “understands the game.”  Being a linebacker at OU takes tremendous skill and knowledge since OU’s defensive schemes can be complicated.

Another notable on Stoop’s radar was Quentin Chaney, the 6-5, 200 pound wide out from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Coach said that he has “been very good the last couple of days.” Which probably means that OU recievers are catching the ball better this year. Lets hope!

And finally, on the defensive side, Stoops commented on red-shirt freshman DeMarcus Granger, 6-3, 305 pounds, out of Dallas, Texas (Kimball High School); and Junior Steven Coleman, 6-4, 291 pounds, from Dallas, Texas, (Skyline High School). Both play defensive tackle, a position that OU has to really shine at if they are going to be successful this year.

If you are in Norman, or if you have been wondering what has been going on with the team as of late, practices are on Wednesday and Friday this week beginning around 3:45 pm. Most of the practices are held just south of the Stadium. However, if the weather is bad they will go indoors. In that case, practices are closed to the public.

The spring game is slated for Saturday, April 8 and will be televised to the nation by ESPN. Tickets are on sell now at the OU Athletics Ticket Office. If someone is going down to practice let us know and we will give you a whole page to write about it. Let us know on this Weblog or e-mail us at localokads@sbcglobal.net

Soonerred84

858 comments March 28th, 2006

Merkely’s Driver Ed. Making it Safe to Get Out on the Road Again.

 I want to give a shout out…                                                       

…to Scott Merkely and Merkley’s Driver Education Inc. with schools located in Edmond and Oklahoma City. I have known Scott for a few years now and want to tell everyone, especially in Oklahoma, what a terrific organization he has put together. Scott and his staff do a great job in instructing and training Oklahoma’s youth in driver’s training. According to “DriveHomeSafe.com” a teenage driving website that tracks teenage driving statistics, says that “More than any age group, teenagers are likely to be involved in a single vehicle crash.” I am assuming that the age group here is 16 to 20 years of age. Another interesting fact is that this teenage group “makes up 7% of licensed drivers, but suffers 14% of fatalities and 20% of all reported accidents. The website goes on to tell what may contribute to the cause of accidents; pointing out that “immaturity” and “inexperience behind the wheel” are contributing factors to teenage vehicle accidents. Any of you Moms and Dads out there, who are now faced with the thought of your son and daughter sitting behind the wheel of “your” car, may want to check out this website http://www.drivehomesafe.com/ .

Anyway, if you are looking for a great drivers training school for your son or daughter give Scott a call at 405-348-6686 or at 405-720-6686 or you can go to the website at http://www.localokads.com/merkley. He is out on the big board under, you guessed it, “Merkleys”. Before opening his own business, Scott worked in the Edmond School District and with youth groups in his church and has a great ability to relate to his students.  Now Scott does more than just teenage driver courses. He also offers defensive driving and court ordered driving instruction. Keep up the great work Scott

New Blog? New Look!

Well, by now, you have come to notice we have stepped up, and hooked up, with WordPress, a terrific blogging script. I am pretty proud of myself. I was able to set this whole thing up by myself. Thanks to some great instructions by WordPress. After a lot of sweat, tears and late nights I finally launched this blog to the world last week. As I said a while ago, the Internet is hardwork, and we are working hard to make http://www.localokads.com/ a huge success in Oklahoma. We are still getting the word out to Oklahoma to come to our site and look at the ads on the pixel board. The folks who have chosen to advertise with us are great people, and the products they sell are even better. These folks are proud to be working and living in Oklahoma. Although the main feature of our site is our “Big Board”, we have other reasons to come to this site. Each month we spotlight one of Oklahoma’s towns or cities in a feature we call “Spotlight on Oklahoma” you will find some interesting things there. We also have local news and sports from KOCO Channel 5. They are the folks who give us our news feeds and they do a great job of keeping them updated. And Of course we have Diary of a Pixel Queen the ranting and raving of a self-made pixel queen from Oklahoma. There is no login requirement, anyone can leave a comment on any topic. Also, we offer in this blog an event calendar for Oklahoma City and Tulsa Events. If you have an event you would like to get published for free e-mail us at localokads@sbcglobal.net

So, untill then…Stay Great Oklahoma!
Laura

938 comments March 27th, 2006

Duncan’s Adventurous Spirit Still Found Along Chisholm’s ‘Old Trail’

Many cowboys made their mark along this dusty old trail; bringing with them thousands of longhorn cattle to the Kansas railheads during the late 1800s. However, before it was a commercial trail, buffalo traveled upon it, then by Native Americans that followed the buffalo. The U.S. Army used the trail to travel between Texas and Kansas. Finally, in 1864, trader Jesse Chisholm blazed the trail that bore his name; Cowboys call it the ‘old Chisholm Trail’.Comfortably nestled alongside the Chisholm Trail is the city of Duncan, OK.

You see, it began with William Duncan, a Scotsman, who brought his wife and family to the area after discovering that the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was extending its railroad line from Kansas to Texas. Then foreseeing a lucrative niche in the market, Duncan built a store to service train passengers that would be traveling through the area, as well as settlers. By the time the first train arrived in June of 1892 Duncan (named after the Scotsman) had found its identity on the edge of the western frontier.Duncan’s strength and rich heritage would not be what it is today without some early growing pains. Despite experiencing a severe tornado that nearly destroyed every store and building on Main Street in 1898, the city of Duncan also endured four fires in 1901 to the downtown area. Through it all, in the true sprit of Oklahoma, the residents forged on and the harden town continued to grow adding new businesses along the way. Beside William Duncan is another “adventurous spirit” who left a legacy in Duncan, his name: Erle P. Halliburton, a young businessman who changed the oil industry by perfecting a method of cementing wells, thus making oil production much easier. He established the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company in 1919, and his method of oil production became very popular. Today, the company, now called Halliburton, has many offices throughout the world.

Famous People from Duncan, OK 

For more information regarding the city of Duncan please visit http://www.duncanok.org

Next Month: Edmond, Oklahoma

880 comments March 23rd, 2006