Bandwagon Fans Need Not Apply ~ Vida Bonita

Welp, the big game has come and gone. Of course I’m referring to Bedlam. Where OSU and OU go head to head and dole out bragging rights for the next year. What’s a little interesting is who actually gets the bragging rights. Is there really a “we” when you didn’t attend the university? Maybe never even saw the town where the university resides? I mean, there’s a few exceptions. You can be a die hard fan if you didn’t go to the school, I’ll give you that. But I think that to be “die hard” you have to do a little more than contribute to the university through a couple of t-shirt sales throughout the year. If you’re going to talk the talk, you need to go ahead and walk the walk. For example, my mother-in-law didn’t go to OSU, but after 30ish seasons of OSU football attendance (and I mean attendance, not watching on TV), and sending three kids there, I’m not going to try to take that away from her. She earned her “we” in a pretty serious way. But this is all really just a side note and some ramblings that have been wandering around in my head for a while.

The truth is, I really didn’t have the time to go to Bedlam this weekend. It could not have fallen on a more terrible weekend! What happened to Thanksgiving weekend? You know, the one where we’re already in town?? I just looked at my odometer and it says 12824.9 and we bought the car at the end of July. We’re dedicated. Well Matt is, He’d go with or without me (and actually did for the K-State game!). This week is finals week and it’s going to be a trip, but how could I justify missing the biggest game in OSU history? How would I explain that to my kids? So we packed up early Friday morning and headed to God’s country (I sincerely miss Oklahoma). We got to watch Joe play the first home game of his senior year, where I thankfully held it together (if you think I’m proud of the Cowboys… let me tell you how proud I am of that kid). They won! Great start to the weekend (furthermore, my Aunt came so that was a bonus!).

Then it’s time to head to Stillwater. My little brother is planning to attend OSU and went with some people from Inola to go to the game. He watched it at the tent at Eskimo Joes. What a game for his first OSU football experience! Wish he could have actually been there. Next year though! He’ll probably be one of those nuts in the freezing cold painting their bodies orange. I’ll be so proud. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings (is there a better game day location?) and met up with my cousin and her friend. We decorated Pistol in his best game day attire and walked around campus where it was confirmed that we have the cutest dog on the planet. He even did his infamous trick! Pistol, would you rather be a Sooner or a dead dog? Then he rolls over and plays dead. He's so smart.

We met up with Matt’s parents and headed to the game. The nerves started setting in. But at lunch my cousin had told me so matter-of-fact-ly, “We’re going to win.” No questions about it. She had made up her mind and our bad attitudes weren’t going to help the situation. So I decided to take her lead. So we took our seats and watched senior night and thought about how much the season had meant to us. Those guys, win or lose, had worked their behinds off and played with nothing but determination and heart.

Now, let’s talk about what happened after that. I struggle with my thoughts on OU and typically feel that the actual people of OU are pretty decent and it’s their rotten fans that are in no way affiliated with the school that give them a bad rap. One of my bridesmaids was an OU graduate and her husband made an excellent point that people in Oklahoma treat OU as their pro team because we don’t have one. See? Rational people. Great people. Well, I read an article in the O’Colly this week that was in the OU newspaper that was nothing short of arrogant and rude which made me think that maybe I’m giving OU too much credit. THEN, before the game started, OU came out and ran all the way down to our end zone where our players were about to come out. They kneeled down to what seemed like praying (but why would that in our end zone? Isn’t prayer kind of a personal thing and a humbling experience before the Lord? Isn’t respect the point?). Maybe they always do that (Matt edits me), but I don’t get it. THEN after their [fake?] prayer, they move themselves in front of the gate where our players were about to come in, I guess to make a statement. Well I hope the statement was, I just wanna give you a good look at my face before you whip our behind. The arrogance! Why, why, why can’t OU be classy? WHY???????? I want to like them! I want to be one of those, I always root for Oklahoma people, but if they keep giving me reasons not to, then why would I? I was just appalled from the get-go and that’s 100% on them.

We all know how the game turned out, and it was the most fun game that I have ever, ever been to. I am so blessed that I got the opportunity to be there. Watch the goal posts come down. Sing the Alma Mater with my family in unison with 50,000+ people. That’s a memory I’ll never forget.

The next 7 days are going to be miserable. I have a mountain of work to do. But you know, I’ll always have work to do and experiences like this only come along every once in a great while.

But I don’t think I speak for just myself when I say, listen Sooner fans. Don’t give up on “your” team. You stand by them and be who you need to be. Here at Oklahoma State University, we uphold a standard that you’ll never understand and frankly, we don’t want you to.

See ya next year.