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October 10th, 2008 • 21:10

Sooner Fan’s Embarrassing Behavior

As a student of the University of Oklahoma I feel I can speak on this with some authority.  I have been a Sooner football fan my whole life.  I love football in general.  This being said, I have never been one of those people that walks around with my chest sticking out yelling “Texas Sucks!”  I never quite understood this craziness that goes on with shaping one’s mood depending upon the outcome of a game.  I work with many of them and they are an embarrassment.

Where I work, we have many people that were relocated to Oklahoma City from San Antonio when Kelly AFB closed down.  These people endure endless harassment from rabid Sooner fans that have put a ball game as the single most important event in their lives.  I watch with sympathy on these relocated Texans for the treatment they endure when they were moved here against their will.  They have loyalty to their home team but not to the extreme extent some on our side do.

I love the Sooners and always love to see them win but let’s keep things in perspective.  It is just a game…that is all.  If we win, that is great…if we do not, then we did our best.  I have seen some at work that walk around all week before the game and tease unwilling participants with arrogance and then walk around with their head hung low when the Sooners lose.  I am not saying that there is something wrong with being a fan but anything to the extreme is just scary.  Some of these Sooners fans are just that…scary.  I find that Oklahoma State University fans are just as bad but they are even worse.  They are happy with losing every game in the year as long as they beat the Sooners.  They walk around work with the same arrogant attitudes when they win that one game and lose four or five other games.

One thing that has always embarrassed me as an Oklahoman is the fact that our fans act this way and then on national television you can see one third of the stadium is empty with 10 or more minutes to go in the fourth quarter with a stream of people heading for the gates.  They are so loyal that they are going for the gates before the game is over.  One more thing that I see is the people that do the upside down longhorn gestures on national television when we are not even playing the longhorns.  This is just embarrassment.  I have been accused of not being a true fan but they have it all wrong.  My problem is that our national image is seen as being backward and uneducated.  This type of behavior just solidifies this perception.  Be a fan but have some common sense.

  • Well again, I apologize for coming across a little harsh. I am known for dealing with things with sarcasm and then regretting things I say later. I really was disappointed with today's game results.
  • Trey
    Great comments, and I agree for the most part. but the pokes and jabs at opposing team's fans is part of being a fan. Do these people not speak up for themselves? I've seen people that were fans for whoever didn't want to hear, all they have to do is speak up for themselves.

    Yes, I am a huge fan to say the least. I have the OU sticker on my Jeep and the upside down longhorn under that. I have family in Texas and every time we go it's a fun trip to jab back and forth the people passing, that usually instigate it.

    Your comments on fans as a whole bother me though, because I've talked to people from around the BigXII and almost all of them say how OU fans are the best fans they have ever interacted with, not that they are ignorant and annoying. I've also seen comments from you calling for a certain player to be kicked off the team, but yet "It's just a game." What if being a Sooner is this kids dream? What if this is the best time of his life? Just because you do not like the way he plays, which isn't all his lack of skill.
  • I've also seen comments from you calling for a certain player to be kicked off the team, but yet "It's just a game."

    I was a poor attempt at using sarcasm to be humorous. I forget sometimes that in this type of venue sarcasm is not always received with the meaning it was meant. I apologize for that. Honestly for the record though, I do not think Halzle should be kicked off the team. I sometimes forget that some people take these games as more than games.

    In the spirit of it being just a game, I do not think our Sooners are a number one caliber team. I think they are very good but I have been disappointed with their ability to move the ball on the ground and cover kick off returns. I am very proud of our team and their abilities bu I do think the better team won today. I do not say this as a slam on our team because I do think it is only a game.

    As far as the perception of our fans, I am sure it is subjective. Maybe you have had good experiences with them but I have had some bad ones. I have had to work with supervisors that we had to wait and see how the game turned out to know how to approach them. Maybe I was painting with too broad a brush to say all OU fans are messed up but you would have to admit there are some that are over the top. I will give you this and say that I guess there are good and bad in every organization including ours.
  • Trey
    Of course it can be varied, I was just trying to point out that you can't say just a game, and constantly jab at Halzle like I've seen, and if you say it was just sarcasm, I accept that, but it honestly didn't seem like it due to the repeated comments. Thanks for posting my comment, I was worried you wouldn't. I'm glad to encounter people that can have an adult conversation without it getting out of control, like a lot of NCAA football conversations go.
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