Like most kids, I learned during my elementary school's 89er Day festivities that the Sooners snuck into Indian Territory before the Land Run, while honorable, law-abiding Boomers waited at the starting gates until the pistol was fired. As a result, I was always confused by OU's use of "Sooners" as a nickname. Why'd the school name itself after a bunch of cheaters and thieves? Was it their way of honoring Barry Switzer and the football program?
I bring this up because the student group Indigenize OU is pressing the University to change its nickname. They're mad that it references the 1889 Land Run, which the PC Police has determined is now a bad thing that can't be remembered, honored or an inspiration to University nicknames.