Lonnie Brickman is a stand-up guy.
The 33-year-old Stillwater man hit a half-court shot -- one of four skill challenges in a timed halftime promotion at a recent Oklahoma State University women's basketball game -- and momentarily thought he had won $10,000.
But when officials looked at the tape, it turned out Brickman had stepped over the half-court line, unintentionally breaking the rules. So, he didn't get the cash.
As a consolation prices he got two round-trip American Airline tickets to anywhere in the United States.
Did Brickman cry? call a lawyer? whine?
No, he did not.
"Rules are rules, so that's the way things go," Brickman told Tulsa World reporter Jimmie Tramel.
Complaining about the situation might be the easy way, but it wouldn't be the Cowboy way.
Unless, that is, you want to be the head Cowboy, like former OSU regents and soon-to-be President Burns Hargis.
Hargis seems like a wonderfully talented man and I suspect he will do a marvelous job as the new president at OSU.
But he was literally unqualified for the job. State law said a former regent couldn't be hired for at least a year after he left office. Hargis stepped down as a regent in July.
The law was there for a reason. Regents should be regents. They should be doing the jobs of regents, not setting themselves up for a job.
There's no reason to suspect Hargis was doing that, but listen to the words coming out of Brickman's mouth: ''Rules are rules, so that's the way things go.''
Instead, the Oklahoma Legislature and Gov. Brad Henry have simply changed the rules to make Hargis eligible immediately.
I wish him well in his new job, but wonder if the Legislature will be now vote to move the half-court line half a foot forward for Brickman's sake.
