Yesterday, KOCO Channel 5 stirred up a little bit of controversy when they reported that classy Westmoore High School students decided to make fun of other people's misfortune by holding up yellow "We Buy Houses" signs during Friday's game against Southmoore. Apparently, the students were poking fun at Southmoore students who lost their home during the Moore tornado.
Well, at least that's what KOCO Channel 5 wants you to believe:
Crosstown high school rivals collided on Friday night, but Southmoore parents said Westmoore students went too far.
Several described hearing Westmoore students chanting, "We buy houses," and saw many holding signs with the same message. The students also chanted, "At least we have houses."
The signs and chants were said to make light of a May 2013 tornado that devastated the city of Moore.
Wow, that's shocking. Who would have thought that high school students, who are known for their excellent judgement, decision-making and taste in humor, would do something so callous and despicable. Who do they think they are? OSU students?
The answer is no. There are always two sides to every story, and there are even more sides when you're dealing with the sensationalistic local news media.
According to just about everyone who is not an angry Southmoore parent who likes to overreact, rush-to-judgement, jump-to-conclusions and call the local news channel whenever they see something they do not understand, the signs had nothing to do with the making fun of tornado victims.
In fact, despite how the article makes it sound, photos from the game only show one student even holding a sign. Here are a couple of pics:
See, it was just little Ug Jr. promoting his father's business. Nothing wrong with that, right? Here's another pic:
In all seriousness, the kid isn't really named Ug. His name is Hunter Southerland. According to NewsOK.com, he "is a standout catcher on the baseball team and is verbally committed to play at the University of Oklahoma." He tweeted this after the game:
"I sincerely apologize if Southmoore thought that sign dealt with the tornado. It honestly did not. It was just something random and stupid."
From the people I've talked to, the sign wasn't 100% totally "random and stupid." I heard from one Mole that it was a strange reference to famed former OU football and drug dealer Charles Thompson. I guess he has kids that play for Southmoore even though he doesn't live in the district of something like that, so they'll, uhm, buy his home so he can move there??? I don't get it, but as mentioned, high school students are known for their excellent judgement, decision-making and taste in humor. I'm lacking in all those areas.
Anyway, regardless of the point or intent of the stupid sign, I think we're all in trouble. Once Paulette with 1.800.2SellHomes gets wind of this, expect her to hand out her signs at every high school football. Maybe she'll even sponsor next year's Moore War. Thanks for nothing, Channel 5.
