Welcome, Oklahoma State fans, foes and friends in low places, to the Brightest Orange Channel that Roundtable Sports’ has to offer, where the wheat will wave, the pistols will be firing, and we’ll be diving into in all things Oklahoma State Athletics each and every day. 

Thomas Bridges, your resident Oklahoma State editor, Eskimo Joes Cheese Fries aficionado and Willies Saloon gameday beer pong player, here officially with you. 

You may be thinking “Joes cheese fries and a few $4 Willies Vegas Bombs doesn’t qualify you here”, so let me give a bit more of a background.

I began attending Oklahoma State University in 2011 as an international business major and, along with my older sister, am a first-generation student and Cowboy. Before arriving in Stillwater, I had been raised in a Sooner household, though there were no real ties to that team in Norman. I lived in West Bennett Hall, where, every morning, I gazed upon historic Gallagher-Iba Arena and Boone Pickens Stadium.

The 2011 football season, as you know, may be the peak of Oklahoma State football and, as a freshman on campus, I could’ve not asked for much more. That season saw the “Weeden 2 Blackmon” connection, a Cowboys thrilling win at Kyle Field, a win at Texas, the “Earthquake Game” against Kansas State (loudest I’ve ever heard Boone Pickens Stadium), and, of course, a 44-10 shellacking of OU and Bedlam win that gifted Mike Gundy his first Big 12 Championship and an eventual BCS Fiesta Bowl birth and win over Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal. 

By the time Christmas break rolled around, I declared I would be Loyal & True forever. They say all roads lead back to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and almost 15 years later, I’m here writing to you on OkState Roundtable. 

Though, the aforementioned isn’t why I’m here blabbing about Hall of Fame Avenue nostalgia. No, it was until my second semester at Oklahoma State that the groundwork was laid. Towards the end of February 2012, as March Madness brackets and bubble teams loomed, a Tulsa, OK sports radio Twitter account dropped me a follow, we conversed back and forth and I was invited on the show to chat about college basketball. 

That account (I believe @DR_THUNDER_JONES at the time) was ran by a, unknown to me at the time, 15-year old, Broken Arrow, OK high school kid. That kid, Tyler Jones, now writes and is the Publisher for Sooners Roundtable and for the NASCAR Roundtable channel.

Since around March of 2012, I’ve joined Tyler Jones on The Jones Report podcast, where we’ve been fortunate enough to cover NASCAR, college football and basketball, the NFL, and many more sporting events. In the summer of 2012, Tyler asked me to stop by the “Tyler Jones Radio Headquarters” outside of Tulsa, OK. I was greeted at the door of those headquarters by his parents, Charlie & Lesa. Though we had chatted on the phone many times, him only being a sophomore in high school was never disclosed. Cue the shock on my face right before his parents asked me several questions. I thought I was on Punk’d while his parents were making sure I wasn’t meant to be on Chris Hansen’s To Catch a Predator.

That was over 13 years ago, and Tyler and I have continued to do The Jones Report since that first Twitter message. When Tyler presented Roundtable, we both agreed this would be a great opportunity to write and provide coverage for the teams in our home state of Oklahoma and I couldn’t be more excited.

I have plenty more stories to tell on OkState Roundtable, from my years as a season ticket holder, or playing pickup basketball at the Colvin with Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon, sharing popcorn with Eddie Sutton, or sitting courtside next to Boone Pickens, to swimming in Theta Pond, and even about the time I was headlining DJ for Outlaws on Stillwater’s Strip. 

Much more to come from your new friend in a low place, 

Thomas Bridges