Oklahoma, not OK
Forget what the Pope said about Muslims. You know which religion is the most violent?
The religion of college football.
Take Saturday’s Oregon vs. Oklahoma game. If you don’t know anything about it, here’s a brief recap: With less than two minutes remaining in the game, Oregon made the most of one, if not two, blown calls, in addition to a couple of pretty incredible catches and a blocked field goal, to overcome a two touchdown deficit to beat Oklahoma 34-33.
Having heard about the game before actually getting to see it (we were at a wedding and didn’t actually watch the end of the game until we got home late that night to take advantage of our new DVR capabilities), I was pretty shocked after watching the onside kick. It seemed perfectly clear to the announcers and to GTB and me that it was Oklahoma’s ball. The pass interference call a few minutes later could be debated until the cows come home; I’m not even going to go into that here.
Fast forward a few days, and we hear this: the replay official only saw one frame of film of the onside kick, and it showed no conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field.
Calls get blown all the time. Some of them make an immediate difference in a game’s outcome. Others are so minor, you’d have a hard time arguing about what series of events they might have set in motion if they’d gone the other way. But because they are so universal, you pout about them for a few hours, then you get over them. Because you’re a grown up. And that’s what grown ups do.
The replay official has apologized and admitted he made a mistake and been suspended. And still, Oklahoma fans are calling for his blood.
I went to a small, private college. There were many things I didn’t like about it, but one thing I did like, and still do like, is that it precluded me from giving too much of a shit about Pac-10 rivalries, or any of the madness that accompanies any NCAA sporting event. Is UW better than UO? And where does WSU fit in? Ask me and I’ll give you this answer: I couldn’t possibly care less. (This makes GTB crazy, as you can probably guess, not to mention my Husky step-father and Couger sister.)
Which means I’m probably not the best person to make comments on the fervor felt by Sooner fans right now. I admit that. I also understand that the loss to the Ducks probably ruins their chances of a national title, or even a regional title. But seriously Oklahoma fans, and I say this with all of the sincerity I can muster:
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Football is important. I love football. But the only guy I ever wanted to kill over football was the kid from Adna who was purposefully trying to tackle my brother in a way he (the kid from Adna) knew would fuck up Joe’s knee. Now that kid deserved to die. (I find peace now in the thought that he’s probably a janitor at a casino somewhere.)
But calling in death threats to a guy who messed up one call? Seriously, SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Let’s all move on now, shall we?
September 19th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Maybe Oregon wasn’t as far our of their league as Oklahoma thought. Oregon played a great game regardless of the score. It makes me wonder why schools like Oklahoma agree to play teams they don’t consider thier equal. An easy win maybe? Never underestimate the underdog or, in this case, the underduck.
September 21st, 2006 at 9:59 am
Did you know that the University of Texas HATES Oklahoma? In fact, a day after the game our waiter in Austin–after checking our Oregon id’s– actually thanked us. (It took us a while to figure out that he was talking about beating Oklahoma.) Just as long as UT doesn’t start hating Oregon, we won’t have a problem.