The last go-round

As Keithan Hancock and Kalem Porterie, the old men among the current players on the Demons' basketball team, walked through the lobby of the Quality Inn in Stillwater to board the team bus for tonight's shoot-around at Gallagher-Iba Arena, it really sunk in.

This will be our last visit here, perhaps for a long while, and it's a mid-winter habit I'll hate to break.

OK, granted, the visiting team doesn't win very often at storied G-I-A. Doesn't matter if it's Demons or Jayhawks, Sooners or Longhorns, the ride out of Stillwater is usually a quiet one.

But there are creature comforts, not to mention the thrill of playing in one of the great venues in sport.

Silence has never been more golden than on Dec. 5, 2005, when the Demons held off a Cowboys comeback for a stirring 68-64 win that presaged postseason brilliance by Clifton Lee and Co.

Hearing the G-I-A crowd, which was earlier amped to a level that the floor was vibrating from the energy in the building, go completely silent was as pure a sound as I've experienced. The floor vibrating, however - that was nothing new for us at G-I-A.

The appeal here is tempered somewhat by the long drive to arrive. Even that has become tolerable over the last nine years. As possible, the trip up is cut in half, with a stop overnight in the DFW metroplex and a morning practice there before a four-hour jaunt up I-35 into the Indian Territories of the Sooner State. There's no easy way to endure the long ride home.

There are some ritualistic stops. Must have Hideaway Pizza, preferably the Big Country, a meat lover's feast named for the Cowboys' star center on their last Final Four team. Can't miss Eskimo Joe's, "Stillwater's Jumpin' Juke Joint," which is a great place for a meal and positively a fabulous location to mingle with Cowboy fans young and old, even during the semester break.

And there's the memorial to the nine victims of the horrible charter plane crash involving part of the OSU travel party returning from a game several years ago at Colorado. Among those who lost their lives - basketball SID Will Hancock, as charming and capable as they come, a gentle soul who left behind a young wife, Karen, the OSU women's soccer coach, and a baby boy. The memorial is located in the Gallagher-Iba Arena lobby, and is an elegant and subdued tribute to each of those who perished that night.

There are old friends. Each year, we're lucky to enjoy former Demon assistant basketball coach Jack Hearron, who recruited Coach Mike McConathy while on Tynes Hildebrand's staff when Mike was best known as "Opie" and was a scoring machine at Airline High in Bossier City. Jack played at OSU and works in the administration at the Oklahoma School of Science and the Arts in Norman, about 75 minutes to the south.

Nearly every year, I enjoy reuniting with John Mallory, a classmate of mine at NSU in the late '70s and early '80s. Mallory was very proudly right behind the bench for the Demons' 2005 win, and we posed for a picture afterward that is still in my office and I suspect his, as well.

Almost annually, our friend Cathie Page comes down from Iowa, and she's here again this year, passing out sweet treats to the players and staff. The first round this year was home-baked chocolate chip cookies. Not what I need, but too good to turn down! If you've read her tribute to her longtime friend Coach Mike on the current Demon Dust feature, you understand her connection. If you haven't read it, make it the next click on your computer.

It's always great to work and visit with my OSU counterpart, Mike Noteware, who goes overboard to make us feel at home not only at G-I-A but in town.

And there's the atrium at the Quality Inn. It transitioned from the Holiday Inn family during our annual treks, and has gone through some enhancements, but it's still old school. Witness the fact that I am sitting in the atrium near the front desk to get wireless, which is spotty at best in the rooms the further away you get from the desk.

There is a soothing fountain in the atrium, a collection of the flags of the Big XII schools, a pool table, a small game room, a steam room, a foosball table, a nice pool and a jacuzzi.

Stillwater is the home of the legendary Olympic and OSU basketball coach Henry Iba, and the birthplace of the Demon basketball "Hot Tub Club." OK, they shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, but ...

"The Hot Tub Club" originated a few years ago when the young assistant coaches enjoyed a dip on an especially wicked winter night. The 40-degree temps outside tonight are nothing compared to some of the teens and single-digit weather we've encountered previously.

For the last trip here, our friend Harris Wilson Jr., aka "Coach Black," is along with the team. He and Coach Sless have already enjoyed rekindling the "Hot Tub Club" late this afternoon.

Hopefully the Demons can rekindle some memories of 2005 tomorrow afternoon. It would be a fitting adieu for a series that seems destined to fade away after this meeting.

Doug Ireland, SID

Good news, bad news for NFL Demons

Great news Tuesday for former Demon All-America offensive tackle Demetrius Bell.

There's no coaching change this season in Buffalo. The coaching staff that believes in him so strongly that they kept him on the 53-man roster all year, not the practice squad where other teams could have signed him, is coming back next year.

That's huge for him. No new system to learn, no new coaches to impress, after making the team as a seventh-round NFL Draft pick last spring.

Bad news across the country with the rather surprising firing of Mike Shanahan as the Denver Broncos coach. He apparently would not fire his defensive coordinator.

That certainly puts former Demon offensive lineman Bill Johnson in a high risk of losing his post as the Broncos' defensive line coach.

But there may be an opening for that position in New Orleans. Demon legend Bobby Hebert believes his lifelong friend and NSU teammate Ed Orgeron will leave the Saints and move to LSU to be the D-line coach with a title like assistant head coach.

Expect those dominos to begin to tumble Friday.