HD: Cotton Bowl has been great, but sort of terrifying too
IRVING, Texas -- As the Sooners go through their final walk-thru today in Cowboys Stadium, the focus starts to turn completely toward Texas A&M and Friday night's Cotton Bowl matchup.
It's been a fun week, and sometimes scary, for the Sooners in the Dallas metro.
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One of the best stories surrounds senior defensive end David King and sophomore quarterback Blake Bell.
SCOOPHD: TERROR AT COTTON BOWL, BUT LOTS OF FUN TOO
The story starts with a trip to Main Event, a kind of play land for kids where you can do just about anything. Play arcade games, skee ball, pool tables, etc., and they even have a virtual reality roller coaster machine.
For some reason, King (listed at 286 pounds) and Bell (listed at 254 pounds) decided they would test the 500-pound weight limit of the machine.
Even junior linebacker Tom Wort knew that was a bad idea when he took his turn in the machine.
"I went in that machine at the start as soon as we got there," recalled Wort. "I went in with coach Kish's son. We were upside down and that thing was creaking and I thought we were about to fall out and I really thought this thing was about to break."
The machine completely engulfs the passengers while spectators outside the pod can watch the riders on monitors outside the ride. Cameras inside the pod broadcast their reactions of the ups and downs to those waiting to follow them.
But what the players on the outside caught on the cameras was sheer terror from two of Oklahoma's most physical players.
"The ride was over and I thought we were going for a round two and the thing just flipped over and we were hanging upside down," King explained. "I thought it was the ride and then I heard people outside yelling, 'Ya'll are stuck!'"
King said Bell immediately started freaking out when he realized the gravity of their situation.
"He was freaking out," laughed King. "He was freaking out real good."
King was able to keep his calm, but only for a little while.
The operators finally got the capsule right side up, but then it flipped over again. That's when King lost it.
"The worst part was we got it level and then we were about to come down and I guess somebody moved and then it flipped back over," said King. "That's when I started freaking out."
Eventually Chuka Ndulue had gathered a crowd to help get the pod righted. But after the ordeal was over, teammates turned on King and Bell.
"It was five minutes. It felt like 30 minutes but it was only five minutes," King explained. "We got out and half the team were over there laughing and making fun of us."