You know football season is near...

When, as a Sooners fan, you see a story with a headline like this - "How rivalry became violent" - and somehow you aren't surprised. (A Texas paper puts a little different slant on the story.)

Either way, it brings all new meaning to the the old "Tuck Fexas" T-shirts and bumper stickers that pop up each October in Norman.

This, of course, comes just as people here have stopped asking me whether I knew any of the Oklahomans who were making death threats against the Pac-10 official who blew the call in last year's OU-UO game.

The whole deal, though, makes me scratch my head over how crazed some people get about their teams. Out here in Oregon and Washington, there are some loons, for sure, but I don't think anyone takes their football that seriously. One, their teams just aren't that good. Two, there's so many other things than football to be caught up in.

Oh, well. The season starts a week from today. Let the madness really begin.