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Berry Tramel profiled the Texas fan with the torn scrotum…

2:52 PM EDT on June 1, 2015

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This past weekend, The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel penned a follow-up story about Brian Thomas, the Texas Longhorns fan who made "News of the Weird" Internet fame in 2007 when his scrotum was ripped off during a bar fight at the Henry Hudson's on NW Expressway.

The tale of redemption may contain the most disturbing lede in Berry Tramel's entire repertoire:

Every time Brian Thomas unzips his pants to urinate, he is reminded of that night eight years ago. The scars won’t let him forget.

Rest easy, Tom Rinaldi. You don't have to worry about Boomer Tramel taking your job anytime soon. The story continues...

Thomas’ torn scrotum required 60 stitches to repair. His testicles hung down almost to his knees. Even after a four-hour surgery, Thomas’ blood drained for a month. His testicles swelled for two months. He wore so much gauze, his thighs would chafe.

The physical scars were bad. The emotional scars were worse. Ridicule on social media. A bombardment of interview requests. Paranoia. Anxiety panic disorder. Thomas descended into severe alcoholism...

You don’t know Brian Christopher Thomas. But you’ve heard of him. This is the story of the Castrated Texas Fan.

I have no problem with Berry sharing Thomas' story, but isn't the timing a bit random and odd? Why not wait until October when it would be more relevant, topical, and reach a larger audience? I figured Berry would put together a list of nicknames for the Norman student who finished third in the Scripps National Spelling Bee ("Kid Acritarch" would have been number one). Instead, we get a Jenni Carlson-style article about a recovering alcoholic who got his testicles ripped off in a bar fight.

After describing Thomas' history with alcoholism and how the fight may or may not have started, Berry threw a couple of shots across our bow:

We don’t know why the fight occurred. But we know what happened in the fight. Beckett, older and smaller than Thomas but a 22-year Army veteran, grabbed Thomas’ scrotum and pulled. Blood spewed. Thomas said he staggered to the bathroom, saw his dangling testicles and passed out. Some people helped the girlfriend get Thomas into her Yukon, and she rushed him to Baptist Hospital.

The story eventually broke. Thomas became known as the Castrated Texas Fan. He made Sports Illustrated. OU fans had a field day on social media. Idiots turned cruel, with some on Facebook showing themselves dressed as Thomas for Halloween, with blood in all the appropriate places, or pontificating that hopefully, his injuries would keep him from reproducing other Longhorn fans. The Austin American Statesman offered to take up a collection for Thomas.

Berry should get his facts straight. The idiots didn't put the pics on Facebook. They used MySpace. Remember, all this stuff happened in 2007. That was before the MySpace empire died off like The Oklahoman's subscriber base.

Also, The Oklahoman's refusal to give us credit for anything has reached a pathetic new low. I know where the photos were posted because I'm the one who posted them! Check out this pic from 2007. I've covered up the faces of the people involved so they will not be cheered and applauded the next time they step foot inside a bar on Campus Corner...

ou texas fan halloween

Yeah, that's disgusting. Who do you think is the biggest asshole in that group? Is it the Texas fan with the torn scrotum, the OU fan holding the torn scrotum, or the loser who re-used an old costume from 2006 and dressed up as The Crocodile Hunter? I'd probably vote the guy wearing overalls who obviously didn't try for Halloween. He's probably from Chickasha.

Anyway, we owe Brian Thomas an apology. In hindsight, dressing up like him for Halloween was a dick move. It was inappropriate. We failed to see the human behind the story, crossed the line and made light of something that should have been left alone. That was wrong. We are really sorry and hope Thomas forgives us. He probably should. I mean, we were the ones who outed the Scrotal Assassin and suggested he be named one of Oklahoma's Top 100 Embarrassments.

Since I can't buy Thomas a beer as a peace-offering, I'd encourage people to visit his butchery on NW 160-something and N. May. And no, I'm not being ironic. There's no need to get testy. The guy really is a butcher. He also has a good sex life:

Thirty months sober, and Thomas’ life certainly is on the rebound.

“I had to hit my rock bottom,” Thomas said. “Once I hit rock bottom, I’ve never had a drop since, and I never will again. I feel like I’m a better person every single day. I don’t think about my injuries as much. The physical scars are still there. Of course, there’s still mental scars, but it doesn’t dwell on me like when I was drinking. Drinking just made it worse.”

He was out of work almost four years but returned to meat-cutting last December for Homeland, and now excitedly talks of The Butcher Shop the way a ’49er talked of finding gold.

Thomas is engaged to Maria Young; she is partners with him in The Butcher Shop, and for the voyeuristic among us, Thomas says his sex life is “amazing” and that Young brought him out of his shell.

What the Hell, Berry! T.M.F.I. I guess this is what happens when the Thunder miss the playoffs and Berry doesn't have travel blogs to keep him occupied. Let's pray something interesting happens in the Women's College World Series championship series, otherwise he'll write a profile on Ms. Sunni Kate Golloway. I doubt we'll get credit for that one either.

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