Cardinals
calendars. It helped that it was in Arizona — Ashley Adams lives out here. It was the group’s third trip to Arizona, and their seventh reunion in 10 years.
They weren’t the only Sooners there for the Dec. 15 game. State Farm Stadium in Glendale was peppered with crimson Oklahoma gear mixed in with all of the Cardinals’ red.
It was the last home game for the Cardinals, and perhaps the second-tolast game for Murray this year. He is questionable for Sunday’s season finale with a hamstring injury.
A Sooners party in Glendale
But game status aside, Murray has put up impressive stats in his rookie campaign and led in other ways, too. He’s helped pull together the Cardinals — “This franchise goes as he goes,” coach Kliff Kingsbury said last week — and pulled in new fans, as well. He was able to soak in some of that when he faced Mayfield, his former teammate.
“I tried to look around when I had the time,” Murray said after the game. “But the red was kind of just blending in with each other.”
And this group blended a little more. They had matching crimson and cream shirts, with “MURRAY 1” on the front and “BAKER 6” on the back, above their sorority letters, for Delta Delta Delta. They had a party bus for the weekend, complete with Oklahoma flags. And they had a blast just spending time with each other.
Most of the group also has season tickets to Oklahoma games, so they had a chance to watch Murray and Mayfield play in college. And for those not at the games, or when the team is on the road, the group text is there.
“Through the thick and thin, and the ups and downs of head coaches and assistant coaches — we’ve gone through many since the ‘80s when we were in college together,” Walsh said. “And that’s kind of like our friendship. We’re here for each other. We pick each other up, build each other up.”
Thirty-five years after their college days, their updates have changed. And they’ve needed to. “As you get older, things happen,” Adams said.
There have been deaths and near deaths. There have been severe illnesses and the more routine hardships that come as parents, friends, kids and the group members getting older.
Through it all, that friendship was there.
Laughs, tears and another big game
“The texts are usually hilarious, unless one of us, our kids, or are dogs are sick, and I mean really sick. Together, we been through divorces, affairs, a spouse’s death, cancer, neuropathy, children in the hospital, pets dying, losing or taking care of our aging parents, and financially hard times,” Adams wrote, ahead of the game. “We have cried on each other’s shoulders, and lifted up another, when a lift was all that was needed. We bicker about whether it is the offense or the defense’s fault, and sometimes we might get a little snappy. It is always in good fun.”
And even outside of wins for the 12-1 Sooners, there are flurries of happier texts, too. The week after the MurrayMayfield matchup, Adams texted her friends a picture of her teenage daughter holding a letter -- she had just been accepted into Oklahoma. She knew immediately who she needed to tell.
“I’m just a big advocate of women’s friendship groups and support groups,” Adams said. “(The group has) been a big part of my life, and it just brings me an enormous amount of gratitude.”
They text nearly every day, but on Saturdays, the “OU Deltas” group starts with a “Wake up! Wake up!” text from Sally, and goes from there.
There are mullet memes for when they play Oklahoma State and jabs at other prominent programs. There are Tinkerbell claps throughout. And there will certainly be plenty to text about Saturday, when the No. 4 Sooners take on No. 1 LSU in the Peach Bowl.
“We love sports so much, so we don’t just text about Oklahoma. We text about other sports, other teams,” Adams said.