Earlier this week, the local media went full aw-shucks when they learned a dentist from Stroud was giving an OU fan from Chickasha who’s seen too many visits from the tooth fairy some free dental work.
Here’s the setup…
Last Friday, Brahstool Sports shared an image of the fan – and his rocking OU jacket – on Xitter during the TCU game. The internet trolls quickly pounced on fan’s teeth and fashion tastes, or lack thereof:
I don’t think it’s very nice to make fun of the lack of calcium and enamel in someone's mouth, but let’s be honest – if you were going to ask ChatGPT to create an an image of OU fan from Chickasha at a football game, that’s probably what it would come up with.
Or, well, this:
I guess some dentist from Stroud felt sorry for the fan.
In an apparent effort to A) be nice, B) get some free publicity for his dental practice, and C) spread and reinforce negative stereotypes of OU fans, the dentist offered to “fix” him up for free:
At this point, the magic of the Internet took over. The fan was identified, he drove to Stroud to meet the dentist, and before you could say “Open Wide,” the local media had a heartwarming story to share with viewers:
First of all, that sound you just heard was former OU offensive coordinator Gary Nord yelling, “I TOLD YOU SO!”
Back in the lost Schellenberger year of 1995, Nord made headlines when he joked about the OU fans he met on a bus tour through the state:
"I should've taken a dentist with me. I didn't see a full set of teeth the whole time I was on the road. Rednecks."
The comments caused quite a stir at the time. David Boren even wrote an open letter demanding an apology, to which Nord obliged.
Well, I guess it’s now okay for Nord to fully retract it!
Once again, I think it's cool the dentist is helping this Chickasha fellow out, but couldn’t the media have kept this more on the down-low?
Like, I know it’s a feel-good story and everything, but OU fans already get enough grief for not going to school there. The last thing we need is to reinforce the long-lived and apparently very true stereotype that we don’t have teeth!
Plus, this sets a weird precedent where medical professionals are now going to scroll through social media looking for fans to help in exchange for earned media and free publicity.
For example, the next time an OSU from Holdenville is mocked online, I wonder how many neurosurgeons will offer to fix his brain!
Zing!
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
