This ain't easy.

I'm an OU fan. Growing up in Tulsa, Okla., I lived and died with the Sooners. Mostly lived, since the early '70s of my youth coincided with one of their many eras of national prominence.

Few outside the state had even heard of the team's wishbone-happy offensive coordinator -- a headstrong guy named Barry Switzer -- when he became OU's head coach in 1973. In his first seven seasons, his teams ran roughshod over opponents, bursting scoreboard light bulbs, going 73-7-2 and winning two national titles. He added a third in the 1980s and left Oklahoma with 157 wins. His parade of star players included running backs Joe Washington and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims, and the vaunted defensive wall known as the Selmons -- brothers Lucious, Dewey and Lee Roy.

Barry Switzer's Sooners dominated well beyond the in-state rivalry. George Gojkovich/Getty Images

Oklahoma State? Please. The school located just 82 miles north of Norman, in Stillwater, might as well have been in Kansas. As much as 'Bamans, for instance, have to "pick a side" in the Auburn-Alabama rivalry, or Floridians must choose between Florida, Florida State and even Miami, so do Oklahomans.

As a youngster, my choice was simple. I picked OU -- and have been wearing (and bleeding) crimson ever since.

Frankly, I can't even recall a single Cowboys star during my years in the state. Perhaps because there weren't any! (Barry Sanders, the school's first -- and only -- Heisman winner, didn't arrive until the mid-'80s.)

By the time another relatively unknown first-time head coach (Jimmy Johnson) took over in Stillwater in 1979 (I had long gone west to attend Stanford), the Cowboys had been a struggling-to-be-.500 program for decades.

Rivalry? Please. Our (I mean, OU's) "biggest" games were not meeting Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Series -- but against Big Eight rival Nebraska and Red River foe Texas. And I remember games against the Longhorns. I remember battles against the Cornhuskers. (I still say the refs missed at least two clips on Johnny Rodgers' heart-breaking punt return in the 1971 matchup between No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 OU!)