By Riley Rattay
Fall 2023
As most know, for decades Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma have had a rivalry. The name of that rivalry is the one and only Bedlam. This rivalry started on November 6th, 1904. Bedlam is played every year either at Oklahoma State or Oklahoma University. It’s a rivalry like no other. OU is always very favored to win because most years they have a very well put together team. The Sooners hold a winning bedlam record of a whopping 91-19-7. Seven being the times the teams have tied before there was tie breakers. The Oklahomian states that,” The Sooners have won 17 of the last 20 Bedlam meetings.” So, as you can see it has been a very rare sight for a win in Oklahoma State University’s bedlam record. With that, every year fans get riled up and smack talk for weeks to come since this is a very exciting weekend for the state of Oklahoma. Sadly though, Oklahoma University is moving out of the Big 12 conference, which results in the game of bedlam never being played again. This last year in 2023 the game was played at Oklahoma State. Starting Monday you could feel the tension in the air.
Oklahoma University was predicted to win by practically every sports channel that you could think of, so the students of Oklahoma State were on their toes about the week to come. Many people had their doubts about the outcome of the game, but most were very optimistic. There is an app that practically every college student uses called Yik Yak. This app is an app that you can post practically anything you want and it’s completely anonymous. There were so many posts saying how if/when we win the students are taking the goalpost out of the ground, taking it out of the stadium, and throwing it into Theta pond. My first thought when I saw this was
how is that even possible. A couple days before the game,while I was with some of my friends, we started watching youtube videos on how to even take down a goalpost. The videos show it really doesn’t seem to be too difficult. Even some schools have a safe way to lower it to make it safer for the fans while taking it down. I interviewed my friend, Emma Mccollum, about how she feels with the taking down of the goal post tradition and this is how she responded,” I think the tradition is funny and honestly pretty good but I believe it can be dangerous if done in a careless manner.” The statement she made is a very valid point, because the day of bedlam one of my own friends got injured from the taking down of the goal post.
My friends and I actually attended the game. We got there about 45 minutes early and it was already absolutely packed. The student section was filled to the brim with young adults anticipating the game to come. The game itself was one that keeps you on your toes the whole time. Both teams played a very good game, but Oklahoma state simply played cleaner and smarter to secure the win. Once OSU fans realized that the football players actually secured the win on the last bedlam game to be, the feeling in the stadium was absolutely electrifying. The whole stadium was screaming, freaking out, everyone was starting to rush for the field to storm it. With that, the second we won, and people started running onto the field, they ran straight to the goal post. People were trying to jump and grab onto it while police were trying to frantically get people down and they started tazing people that were already sitting on the post. Being on the field at the time and experiencing that was so fun, but also scary.
The goalpost itself is an iconic and necessary part of football. The goalpost has been around practically since football was invented, and without it the game of football would not be complete. For those who don’t know, the goalpost is used in the game of football to score the extra point after the team has scored a touchdown. You may also kick a field goal from however far from the goal post on a 4th down to gain three points if you were to make the ball in between the post. On November 18th, 1876, the first goal post was torn down by the Yale Rooters so that Harvard would not have the opportunity to kick the goal. Since then, hundreds of goalposts have been torn down because of this historic event. Including the goalpost at the last game of bedlam in history.
Once the fans successfully took down the goal post it was like slow motion. Everyone pulled out their phones as fast as they could to video the monumental moment. While a herd of people were rushing towards the stairs with the post. They were trying to take it up to the exit of the stadium. The people walking had absolutely no intention of stopping for anything. I have friends that got trampled, kicked in the face, and stepped on just from all of the people walking with the post. My friend Kamryn Major, who got directly hit with the front of the post and made a huge gash on her head. I interviewed her and this is what she stated,” I had so much adrenaline that when I got hit I didnt even notice I was bleeding until I touched my head. I understand why people aren’t worried about the injured ones but it was still a scary time for me.” As she stated, she was gushing blood and no one was worried about her. All they were worried about was getting that post into Theta Pond.
The fans and students were in so much disbelief that I’m sure they weren’t thinking about anything else since this was such an anticipated event. I can say for myself, I am one of those people. When we won all I could think about was rushing the field and getting to see the goal post go down. Which goes to show that the taking down of the goal post is a cool tradition, but in circumstances where something was so anticipated, it can also be dangerous and can leave people to act carelessly. Especially when it was such an insane and historical moment for Oklahoma State University.
Works Cited
Aber, Ryan. “What’s on the Line for OU Football in Bedlam? Pursuit of Big 12 Title, Playoff & Epic Stat.” The Oklahoman, Oklahoman, 4 Nov. 2023, http://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/sooners/2023/11/04/ou-football-sooners-chasin g-big-12-title-playoffs-rivalry-record-in-bedlam-vs-oklahoma-state-cowboys/71435395007/ #:~:text=Number%20to%20know,the%20Sooners%20against%20any%20opponent.
Major, Kamryn. Personal interview. November 16, 2023
Mccullom, Emma. Personal interview. November 14, 2023
archiveoklahoma.com 