If it’s Patterson, can we bring Purple Jacket Guy to the Intro ??
For those who weren’t there…
Purple Jacket Guy —
It was December 14, 2007 at the Athletics/Alumni Center.
We had just lost Arthur “Nothing Has Changed” Briles to Baylor and we were pretty bummed.
But “Uncle Dave” (AD Dave Maggard) had come up with Kevin Sumlin, an impressive replacement from Bob Stoops OU staff.
Maggard introduced Sumlin as new head coach. Sumlin spoke. Big crowd. Everyone pumped. And Dave asks “Any questions?”
Before anyone, including a sizeable press corps, can ask anything intelligent, this guy in a purple windbreaker near the front looks at Coach Sumlin and says “How many hands does it take to catch a football?”
Sumlin doesn’t know what to say…
So Purple Jacket Guy repeats his question forcefully “HOW MANY HANDS DOES IT TAKE TO CATCH A FOOTBALL?” and he leans into it holding his hands in a basket like he’s catching a pass as if he needs to show Sumlin what he’s talking about.
And Sumlin looks around for help like “Wha-a-a? Is this some weird Coog lore I don’t know yet?”
Then Purple Jacket Guy turns to Coach Yeoman in the front row and asks HIM… “Coach! How many hands does it take to catch a football?”
Yeoman says “Two?” And Purple Jacket Guy says “NO! It takes TWENTY-TWO hands to catch a football.” (i.e., eleven men — the whole team.)
Everybody groans.
Needless to say, it was a major buzz-kill on the whole event. It wrapped up shortly after that, and we’ll never forget Purple Jacket Guy.