Tribute to Big 12 Fanbases, Part VII: Oklahoma State

If you've hit this page looking for something about the "Best of the Big 12," scroll down or hit the link in the list to your right. Further, if you haven't read one of my other fanbase tributes, I suggest you read a few of them, as well as the original, to understand what this series is all about.

Anyway, onward and southward today to the land of still water. Unfortunately, this is one Big 12 town I've never had the privilege of visiting, and it's high on my list. However, maybe it's not so unfortunate that I haven't been there, as we shall see...



Now far be it for me to criticize anyone's state (I'm a NebrasKansaTexan), but for some reason I've never been fond of the state of Oklahoma. Maybe it was being raised in Nebraska during the height of the NU-OU rivalry. Maybe it was going to K-State after Bob Stoops and company bolted with recruiting database in hand. Or maybe it's living on the south side of the Red River now. I don't know, but it's certainly possible that any or all of those have combined to lower my perceptions of the state. I should say one positive thing about good ol' OK...no cop there has ever given me a speeding ticket.

I also think Oklahoma has gotten a reputation, rightly or wrongly, as a viciously redneck dump of a state. Like I said, I have no room to talk about that, given where I'm from. But here is my basic perception of Oklahoma...



I've always had a decent perception of Okie State, though, because I had a professor from there and it's a peer institution of K-State. One man speaks not for an entire university...



...but a whole crowd cheering a (weak) headbutt does.

I also see that Okie State hasn't bought into the state of Oklahoma's bigotry with regard to homosexuality, which also raises my perceptions of its culture of acceptance.



Wait a second...I've just received breaking word that this photo refers to Okie State's strong wrestling program. Uhh, nice depiction.

Anyway, it was recently established by PB at Burnt Orange Nation that the "molly" (X) is pure in Manhattan, due to some excessively strange YouTube videos made by (presumably) a K-State fan. I also empirically established there's some serious overuse of the wacky tobaccy in Lawrence, because they have a guy over there who dresses up as a boxer to play rock, paper, scissors. Thus, there seems to be a clear drug problem running through the Big 12. As you can see...



...Stillwater is no exception. Apparently this is some sort of counterculture Okie State logo, leading me to believe Stillwater is in the throes of a severe heroin or cocaine epidemic.

Poke fans probably don't care much what I think, they have their own multi-billionaire...



...building them beautiful new sports playgrounds. I'm still scratching my head as to why the money will be spent increasing capacity at Pickens Stadium. Why they need more empty seats at each game, I don't know, but Boone Pickens is way richer than I. I'm also not sure why the Oklahoma athletic department needs $165 million, while the academic institution (my former prof informs me there actually is some book learnin' at OSU) gets none.



But again, Boone Pickens is way richer than I.

So there you have it. We'll make a quick pit stop in Norman tomorrow to fill up on NCAA violations before we make the dangrous crossing of the Red River and begin our assault on the state of Texas.