Bad sports, good sports: Students injured rushing the field at Oklahoma State

Posted on December 5th, 2011 by Alan Spoll

For many of us, our college years are a time to do things we have never done before, and may never do again. New experiences are necessary in order to learn what we want out of life, and being open to those experiences is a key to maximizing the value we get out of a college career. Unfortunately, many of the things we do at that age are things that we will look back on with a cringe when we have reached a more mature stage of life. The event from this week that has made me think about this happened in Stillwater, Oklahoma, after the Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated their nemesis, the Oklahoma Sooners, for the first time in nine tries. They won in style, spanking the Sooners by a score of 44-10. At the end of the game, thousands of fans rushed the field, intending to bring down the goalposts. In the long melee that followed, thirteen people were injured, one of whom had to be airlifted to a local hospital.

My freshman year at Penn State was 1986-1987. For those who follow college football, you may recall that the Nittany Lions won the national championship that year, finishing an undefeated season by beating the Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2, 1987, a game that still holds the record for the most watched college football game of all time. A little over a month earlier, Penn State closed the regular season against the Pitt Panthers, the team that was Penn State’s closest rival at the time. At the end of a huge 34-14 victory for the good guys, the scene was very much like what I imagine things looked like in Stillwater on Saturday, and I was right in the middle of it. My friends and I, along with tons of other crazy students, jumped down to the field with the intention of yanking down those goalposts. Campus police were trying to keep order, but were not having much luck at it. The south end zone, where I was, saw its goalposts quickly knocked off-kilter, although they did not actually come all the way down. The police managed to get everyone pushed back several feet. After having had my hands on one of the crossbars, I was shoved away with everyone else. I was about two rows deep when I suddenly felt a terrible burning in my eyes. That’s right, the police had sprayed mace or pepper spray or something like that into the crowd. I completely lost interest in the goalposts at that point, as I stumbled away with my hands trying to rub my eyes out of my head. I hadn’t even gotten a direct shot of the stuff, so I couldn’t imagine how bad that must have been for those who did. The pain faded after ten or fifteen minutes, and my group made its way back to our dorm, shaken but still ecstatic over the victory.

Twenty-five years later, I am sitting here wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I know it had not occurred to me that there would be police on the field at all, let alone police that would hit people with billy clubs and spray mace at the crowd. Once I was on the field and saw them, though, why on earth did I not get out of there immediately? Sure, I guess I was caught up in the moment, sharing in the jubilation with thousands of my fellow students. Yes, there had likely been a bit of imbibing before the game that hadn’t quite worn off by game’s end. Still, what an idiot. When I see what happened at Oklahoma State, I see how much worse it could have been for me all those years ago. My daughters are seniors in high school, and will be headed off to college in less than a year. They are smart, level-headed kids, but then my parents would likely have said the same thing about me back then.

The students at Oklahoma State had a lot to celebrate. This was a huge win for their program, and it comes on the heels of the recent tragedy that took the lives of two of the basketball coaches from the school’s women’s team two weeks ago, so I imagine there was a lot of pent-up emotion looking to get out. Unfortunately, the celebration got out of hand and people got hurt. Hopefully those kids will know better next time.

Bad sports, continued:

2) The BCS has made a mess of things yet again. Rather than match up LSU, the consensus number one team, with Oklahoma State, Stanford, or one of the other one loss teams that don’t play in LSU’s conference, the BCS has set up a rematch between the Tigers and Alabama. These two teams played back in early November, with LSU winning a defensive battle by a score of 9-6. Actually, I think Alabama is likely the second best team, and probably deserves to be in the game, and I also have an appreciation for great defenses. I don’t automatically dread low scoring games like the one between these two teams last month the way most people do. I do hate the BCS, though, and I love the fact that most of the country feels that a championship game between two SEC teams, and a rematch at that, is the worst thing that could have happened. Whatever contributes to the eventual demise of the BCS is good in my book. The truth is that it shouldn’t matter whom I, or anyone else, think is the second best team. There should be a playoff so that no one needs to guess.

3) Jack Del Rio became the first NFL coach fired this season on Tuesday when he was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars after nearly nine seasons.

4) Oakland Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain was arrested on Thursday in Alabama, where he was attending his grandfather’s funeral. He was charged with assault, among other things, after reportedly holding a gun to the head of a man during an altercation and firing the gun skyward in close proximity to the person’s ear. To make things worse, the Raiders let McClain play on Sunday.

5) Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall was detained by police on Monday in Florida after allegedly trying to skip out on a $142 cab fare. I guess a $9 million average salary does not go as far as it used to.

6) There is a thing in football known as “icing the kicker.” This is when the opposing coach calls a timeout before a kicker gets a chance to make a critical kick, usually just as the kick is about to happen. The kicker then has a chance to over-think things and get nervous, or at least that’s the intention. On Sunday in Arizona, the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Jason Garrett, actually iced his own kicker. As Dan Carpenter was about to attempt a 49-yard field goal to win the game with seven seconds left in regulation, Garrett called a timeout. He was apparently concerned that the play clock was going to run out. Carpenter made that kick, although it did not count due to the timeout. When he attempted the kick again after the timeout, he missed it. The Cowboys went on to lose in overtime.

Good sports:

1) I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the way Denver’s Tim Tebow continues to lead his team to victories this season. Based on pure quarterbacking skill, he is one of the worst I have ever seen, but the guy finds ways to get it done. I believe the league will catch up to the gimmicky offense that Denver is running, and that will end this experiment, but it would be dishonest for me to not give a little credit where it is due.

2) It took two years, but Tiger Woods finally got back into the win column this weekend, winning the Chevron World Challenge in California by one stroke over Zach Johnson. After his recent third-place showing in Australia, things are finally looking up for Woods.

3) Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Cam Newton may not be leading his team to a winning record, but he is certainly putting up some numbers. He scored his thirteenth rushing touchdown on Sunday, setting a record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, and he did it with four games still to be played.

Bad sports, good sports appears every Monday

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02