It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
After beating the Sooners, 44-10, in the most lopsided Bedlam victory for Oklahoma State since 1945, 13 Cowboys fans were injured storming the field.
Two were airlifted to Oklahoma City hospitals — one unrelated to the postgame celebration — and Stillwater police believe more people could have been hurt whom they don’t know about because the injuries weren’t treated.
What a way to end your team’s most successful football regular season ever.
Many of the injuries were sustained as fans jumped down from the walls around the field, which is almost a 10-foot drop, leading to sprained or twisted ankles.
From the safety of a couch at home, fans pouring onto the field to celebrate after a big win sure seems like a warm-and-fuzzy expression of emotion.
But just like any other time in life thousands of people are stampeding in a frenzied state (remember Black Friday?), it can be very dangerous.
But don’t worry yourself, dear OU fan — I doubt you’ll ever get the chance to be involved in a similar situation, so I won’t bother warning you to be careful.
Sooner fans would need very good reasons to storm the field because there’s little uncharted territory for a program with seven national championships, 43 conference titles, an 82-17-7 record against its in-state rival and a nearly even record against its top rival, Texas.
The last time OU fans charged the field was in 2000, when No. 2 Oklahoma powered back from a 14-0 deficit against No. 1 Nebraska to knock off the Huskers and pave the way to OU’s seventh national championship.
The circumstances were just right. OU was coming out of one of the darkest points in its history (read: the Howard Schnellenberger/John Blake era) and topped its longtime traditional rival at Owen Field.
Don’t expect the stars to align again any time soon.
The Pokes are on top of the world right now. OSU is headed to its first-ever BCS bowl fresh off an 11-1 regular season and its first outright conference title since World War II.
Everything was right for an OSU field-storming after Saturday.
Unless OU descends into another slump of three- or four-win seasons for several years, Oklahoma fans have to act like OU’s been there before — because it has.
James Corley is a journalism senior and the sports editor for The Daily. You can follow him on Twitter at @jamesfcorley.
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