Saturday, October 17, 2009

Insufferable in Victory and Inconsolable in Defeat

Texas beat Oklahoma today in Dallas. Despite having a battered roster, including an injured Heisman Trophy winning quarterback that sat out the last three quarters, OU battled and kept the game close. OU's defense played possessed the first half, but Texas was able to adjust at half time and eek out a three point victory.

Next week, OU fans will call into sports shows, and post on sports forums suggesting that it is time for the coach to move on, while blaming the referees for their defeat. I once heard a guy say that OU fans are like Daffy Duck, insufferable in victory and inconsolable in defeat. That guy happened to be an OU fan.

Sooner Nation is the only collection of fans that I know of that have co-opted another school's logo by giving it a disparaging twist. Thousands of Longhorn stickers are bought every year, and stuck upside down on Sooner fan's vehicles.

When the cameras are upon them, jam-packed in the stands, OU fans extend their index and pinkies on both hands and point them to the ground--the upside down hook-em'-horns--even if they happen to be playing a team other than Texas.

In Norman, in 1994, OU was playing The University of North Texas. A player for North Texas went down with an injury. I witnessed something I have never seen before, or since. The stadium boo-ed the injured player as he was helped off the turf by the trainers and assisted to the bench. OU won handily.

In September of 2007 a man walked into a bar in Oklahoma City wearing a Texas Longhorns t-shirt. A 53 year old Sooner fan gave him some lip. In the process of leaving, the Texas fan was counting out a tip when the Sooner fan grabbed the Texas fan and pulled him to the ground, by the scrotum. The Texas fan was given sixty stitches to re-attach his genitals. The 53 year old Sooner fan was, among other things, a deacon at his church.

Today, at the end of the game, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy (Oklahoma's and Texas's starting quarterbacks) embraced each other in a show of good sportsmanship. As things should have it, they happen to be good friends. According to the on-field announcer, they bid each other good luck for the remainder of the season.

2 comments:

  1. Is it just my perverted mind or does the upside down hookem horn look like one of the kama sutra chapters??

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  2. Or some cultish symbol. I have lived in other countries and different places around the U.S. I lived in Norman for 3 years. Central Oklahoma is the most violent place I have ever lived. It is an odd culture there. It makes Central America look like a big hippy commune in comparison.

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