Sportsmanship...

[DeltAlum]

As many of you know, our son attends the University of Oklahoma, and so I occassionally take a look at the Oklahoma Daily online -- just to get a feel of what's going on in Norman.

I ran across some letters to the editor which really struck a chord with me regarding the college football experience -- particularly sportsmanship.

While I'm sure this is true at many schools, it is not at some.

Some of the things people mentioned included scoreboard messages from the university president and head coach, The Pride of Oklahoma (band) playing the visitors fight song, personalized (logo) stats on the scoreboard, graciousness in winning, lack of insults and just basically a welcoming atmophere.

As an O.U. dad, it made me feel pretty good. This is the way all intercollegiate athletics should be.

Here are some edited comments from the paper from a fan from Houston and one from Bowling Green:

To the Editor,

"I attended the OU vs UH football game last Saturday, and in spite of the lopsided score, I came away having had a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The OU campus is beautiful and the football stadium is not only beautiful, but is one of the best I've ever been in. But, lots of schools are beautiful and lots of stadiums are nice.

The main difference is I encountered a graciousness and hospitality that was genuine and refreshing. This is how I always thought the college football experience should be -- good sportsmanship on the field and in the stands.

I can't count the number of people who welcomed me before the game and were gracious after the thrashing of our young team. There was none of the nastiness and gloating I've encountered elsewhere.

Your students, alumni, and fans are justifiably proud of your team and University and it shows. These same folks also know how to be good winners, which sometimes is harder to find than good losers.

I also hope your team will someday come visit us in Houston. But regardless, thank you all for restoring my faith that true sportsmanship in college sports is not a thing of the past."

--University of Houston alumnus

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"This game was perhaps the best experience I have ever had at any game we have played. The very worst thing I heard from a Sooner fan was "How ya doin?" I have never been in a stadium, including ours, that was as welcoming and friendly to visiting fans. The Sooners have every right to be proud of their team, but I don't think the team realizes how proud they should be of their fans. I learned a valuable lesson this weekend -- big-school programs do not have to be intimidating off the field. A good team holds its own without a bunch of smack.

Before the game we were treated to a tour of the campus. Mary Ann, a Sooner through and through, invited us to meet her at 9:00 to take a look around the campus. She took us through the library, through several beautiful gardens surrounding wonderful sculpture, and through the rec hall. We were able to see parts of the campus that we would never have thought to look for. OU is a beautifullly kept campus. She explained some of the Sooner history and some of the projects in process. Every Sooner fan we met throughout Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was nothing but pleasant, helpful, and interested in BGSU..."

There were also some great notes from Oregon fans, but this is too long already.

In the end, it's great to know that this kind of atmosphere can still exist on a Saturday afternoon in the Fall at a big time football school...

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArti...0&ATCLID=76587

[RACooper]

I have to say that that is classy....

I'm a big supporter of Sportsmanship in all level of games; it's just to bad that there isn't more of this going around.

[sigtau305]

very cool.

[Kevin]

I've been to all but one of the home games so far this year (okay, that means two) . I've likewise been impressed with the graciousness of the visiting people. It can be intimidating to walk into such an environment.

The only time OU fans aren't gracious winners is when Texas is involved. Even the OU-NU rivalry is one where there is nothing but respect for the opposing team/fans.

While I never went to OU due to the academic program I chose, I've been a fan of their athletics ever since my dad started taking me to games in the mid 80's to see such greats as Jamelle Holliway and "The Boz".

I even got to be in a commercial once with Coach Switzer, Jamelle and the infamous Charles Thompson (pre-coke bust) in an ad promoting Boy Scout popcorn.

I agree with DA though, OU and I'd also throw in NU from the Big XII are wonderful representatives of how fans should behave when they are spectators for collegiate athletics.

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by ktsnake
I agree with DA though, OU and I'd also throw in NU from the Big XII are wonderful representatives of how fans should behave when they are spectators for collegiate athletics.

I'm going to have to disagree w/ adding Nebraska to this list - the games I've seen them play have all been road games, obviously, but their fans have come across very poorly in many of them, with fights, arrests, and etc at many ISU games and the like. Maybe it's an unrepresentative sample, but they don't have a great reputation, around here anyway.

Congrats to OU, though - that's impressive, and very cool to hear. OSU was exactly the same when we went last season - it was incredible, not a single negative thing said to us all day (and we prob deserved it, as loaded as we were). Definitely not something that is the norm, even if it should be.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KSig RC
I'm going to have to disagree w/ adding Nebraska to this list - the games I've seen them play have all been road games, obviously, but their fans have come across very poorly in many of them, with fights, arrests, and etc at many ISU games and the like. Maybe it's an unrepresentative sample, but they don't have a great reputation, around here anyway.

Congrats to OU, though - that's impressive, and very cool to hear. OSU was exactly the same when we went last season - it was incredible, not a single negative thing said to us all day (and we prob deserved it, as loaded as we were). Definitely not something that is the norm, even if it should be.

Never would have thought I'd hear that about NU fans. Well, too bad for them.

Surprised you had that kind of experience at O-State. It's probably a little different with the in-state rivalry and all, but if you go up for the game during Bedlam, it's advisable to remove ALL OU paraphenalia from your car. It will almost certainly be destroyed and it's very likely your car will end up keyed -- at least I've hard of this happening to many people on many occasions.

But as I said, it's a pretty heated rivalry at least for them. There probably won't be too many Sooners at the next Bedlam game (we usually fill about half of their stadium) b/c their athletic office is requiring anyone that buys an OSU ticket to also buy tickets to 3 lesser games which brings it to about $150/ticket or so if you only intended to go to that one game.

Of course it works both ways, so their fans have to get the tickets that way as well. It'll be interesting to see whether or not they can sell out their stadium now that it's been expanded to the 70K range -- they were having trouble before the expansion just filling their 44K seat house.

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by ktsnake
Never would have thought I'd hear that about NU fans. Well, too bad for them.

Surprised you had that kind of experience at O-State. It's probably a little different with the in-state rivalry and all, but if you go up for the game during Bedlam, it's advisable to remove ALL OU paraphenalia from your car. It will almost certainly be destroyed and it's very likely your car will end up keyed -- at least I've hard of this happening to many people on many occasions.

But as I said, it's a pretty heated rivalry at least for them. There probably won't be too many Sooners at the next Bedlam game (we usually fill about half of their stadium) b/c their athletic office is requiring anyone that buys an OSU ticket to also buy tickets to 3 lesser games which brings it to about $150/ticket or so if you only intended to go to that one game.

Of course it works both ways, so their fans have to get the tickets that way as well. It'll be interesting to see whether or not they can sell out their stadium now that it's been expanded to the 70K range -- they were having trouble before the expansion just filling their 44K seat house.

no no no - the real OSU, the one in columbus, they were awesome. OkState has an even worse reputation around here than NowledgeU.

[DeltAlum]

A quick comment.

Having televised Colorado football for a number of years, I've dealt with all of the Athletic Departments in the old Big 8 at one time or another.

I won't mention names, but the guy who is now the Athletic Director at Oklahoma has always been the proverbial "class act."

Unfortunately, the folks at Nebraska were very hard to deal with and had a real superior attitude.

I will grant that I'm talking about ten years ago, but Nebraska was the toughest Athletic Department I've ever had to deal with.

Never had problems with the fans, though, that I can recall.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KSig RC
no no no - the real OSU, the one in columbus, they were awesome. OkState has an even worse reputation around here than NowledgeU.

lol

Thank you for validating what I thought I was aware of

Okie State has a slightly better overall record than Baylor. They just don't know how to act when they are winning. Strangely, with all the practice they've had, they never got the losing part down either

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by KSig RC
no no no - the real OSU, the one in columbus, they were awesome. OkState has an even worse reputation around here than NowledgeU.

That's nice to hear about Ohio State fans (another reason to use names instead of letters). It wasn't always so. I grew up and left Columbus during the Woody Hayes era -- a great coach who let competition go too far.

I have the impression that sportsmanship begins with the demeanor of the coach and the team and spreads from there. Both Ohio State and Oklahoma have coaching staffs that appear to have their heads squarely screwed on. The head coachs are both pretty impressive as people -- not just coachs.

I don't even know who the president at Ohio State is these days (kind of a revolving door), but Boren at Oklahoma is also pretty instrumental in overall campus attitude. I have to say that when I met him when son started at O.U., I was very favorably inclined.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by KSig RC
I'm going to have to disagree w/ adding Nebraska to this list - the games I've seen them play have all been road games, obviously, but their fans have come across very poorly in many of them, with fights, arrests, and etc at many ISU games and the like. Maybe it's an unrepresentative sample, but they don't have a great reputation, around here anyway.

I attended a Pitt/Nebraska game in Pittsburgh last week and there were a huge number of Nebraska fans there. The only obnoxious ones I ran into were the two sitting next to me who didn't stand for the National Anthem. Well, not until I fixed my deathray stare on them.

[DeltAlum]

Hey Rose,

Your post got me thinking about service academy football (didn't Mr. KR attend The Naval Academy?

I had a wonderful opportunity one season to direct a different service academy football game every week -- three at Annapolis, three at West Point, three at AFA and the final one at the Meadowlands.

First, you can't imagine three more beautiful settings in the Fall. Breathtaking.

Second, the pageantry and traditions -- march on's, flyovers, mascots, drum and bugle corps, salute cannons -- and especially the inter-service games are (in the literal, not the overused coloqial use of the word...) truely awesome.

The beauty of looking at the multi-colored hills and old stone buildings across the Hudson from Michey Stadium, or the tops of sails on the Severn River above the treetops from Navy, Marine Corp. Memorial Stadium, or a flyover against the backdrop of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at Falcon Stadium is line nothing else in sports.

But the sportsmanship is like none other I've ever seen either.

At the end of home games, when the bands played The Navy Blue and Gold or the Army or Air Force Alma Maters, as the players and fans stand at attention, it really put a lump in my throat.

These men play the game for the love of the sport much more than most -- because they realize that, with very few exceptions, there isn't an NFL career waiting down the road. Instead, at the end of their playing days is an obligation to the country and its armed forces.

With only a very few exceptions, the opportunity to televise those games was one of the highlights of a very lucky career.

[KillarneyRose]

DeltAlum,
Yes, Mr. KR is a USNA alum (So I guess I should call him CDR KR?) We have season football tickets and will be in the stands tomorrow watching the Mids take on Vanderbilt.

Thank you for your kind words about the Academies! I agree that the students are, for the most part, class acts. I am very proud that Mr. KR graduated from Annapolis although he will always say that "it's not a good place to BE but a good place to be FROM."