Tickle a reindeer and wave a turkey leg!
After years of misery and anguish, Oklahoma State finally gave its students, fans and Eddie Sutton something to cheer about yesterday afternoon when the university announced that booze will flow at The Boone for the upcoming football season.
According to Robert Allen, it's the best news to come out of Stillwater since OSU won the 1945 National Championship a couple of years ago.
Here are the details via the Stillwater News Press:
After a successful trial run of beer sales this past spring at home Oklahoma State baseball and softball games, the university has voted to extend the sales to home football games inside Boone Pickens Stadium this fall.
Exactly seven weeks away from the start of the football season – a home game against Missouri State at Boone Pickens Stadium – OSU athletics announced Thursday of beer sales starting this fall "at Cowboy and Cowgirl sporting events."
Oklahoma is a funny state. We prohibit something dangerous and deadly like "smokable" medical marijuana due to public safety concerns, but have no problem selling beer to adults who want to watch 20-year-old kids play a dangerous, crushing, violent game on an autumn afternoon. It's nice to see we have our priorities straight.
Here's the University's attempt to rationalize things.
“The feedback that we got from the fans was very positive about it,” said OSU Deputy Director of Athletics Chad Weiberg of the pilot program. “They enjoyed having the option of having that available to them, generally. Also, it did not have an impact on the fans that chose not to partake in it, either.”
“That was a decision we did not take lightly,” Weiberg said. “… One of the things that come into play with that is safety, first and foremost. That certainly played into that decision."
I have no problem with booze at college sporting events. One reason why I stopped going to OU football games is that I got tired of having to mix a Captain and Coke in a filthy, polluted men's restroom stall during the third quarter. But don't say that safety is "first and foremost." If it was, you wouldn't let people drink beer in the stadium. Don't lie. Be Honest. Admit that you're willing to dabble in hypocrisy and compromise your values to make an easy buck.
“… We also firmly believe that our fans are part of our team, and we need them to be in the stadium at kickoff, and we need and want them to be in the stadium at the start of the second half. When our team is taking the field at both parts of the game, we want them to look up into the stands and see the Cowboy fans there cheering them on.”
Yeah, I'm sure football players can't wait to look up into the stands in the 4th quarter and see a bunch of angry, shit-faced fans crying over another Bedlam loss. OSU may want to watch what they wish for.
