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Bully for OU and OSU? Absolutely.
Published: 9/21/2011 4:36 PM
Last Modified: 9/21/2011 4:36 PM

You may not want to hear this, but Oklahoma and Oklahoma State need Texas.

Could the Sooners and Cowboys survive in a conference without Texas? Sure.

But OU and OSU need to share a neighborhood with the Longhorns because, plain and simple, sports is more fun when you get to take a poke at a bully every now and then.

And -- big bonus -- when the bully falls, they sing about you in Valhalla.

Remember the Miracle on Ice? It wouldn’t have meant anything if the U.S. hockey team had beaten, for instance, Morocco instead of the invincible Soviet Dream Team.

The most climate-changing of all Super Bowls? That would be III. The NFL powerhouse Baltimore Colts were taken to the woodshed by the AFL’s New York Jets and a quarterback who made good on a guarantee.

The most memorable Final Four? Houston was so heads-and-shoulders above N.C. State in 1983 that there was really no reason to play the championship game. Oops.

As far as bullies go, Texas hasn’t won as many Big 12 titles as Oklahoma. But Texas is perceived as a bully (or, at least, the poster child for greed) because the Longhorns seemingly have every advantage and want more.

Big 12 schools got feathers ruffled because showing high school content on the $300 million Longhorn Network may give Texas a recruiting advantage. But doesn’t UT already have its pick of players? How much gravy can you put on one biscuit?

This should be as satisfying as watching your favorite college football team do well: Watching a school like Texas squander its resources. Despite having more money than OPEC, the Longhorns won all of five games last year and failed to gain a bid to even the Immodium Bowl.

What happened? When you’ve got everything, and you know it, it’s easy to develop a sense of entitlement. There were likely uber-talented players in Austin last season who wanted the lifestyle of being a UT football player without the dues-paying that goes along with it. Probably, the hunger is back this season because five wins makes you damaged goods on Sixth Street.

OU and OSU need Texas like the NFL needs the Dallas Cowboys or the New England Patriots. Without a team you love to hate, the drama level flatlines.

Don’t run from the bully. Get in the ring and take a shot at beating the bully, even if it's named Bevo.


Reader Comments 3 Total
jim trickett (last year)
Why is everyone wanting to save the Big 12? OU and OSU need to join A&M and Missouri in the SEC. Both schools would make more money than they ever will in the Big 12, just ask Arkansas.
An SEC West of OU, OSU, A&M, Mizzou, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State would be much better than staying in the Big 12.
Also, speaking as a former sports editor of a small-town newspaper, you would not have to worry about trying to get your story in by the 12 or 12:30 a.m. deadline. You'd easily get it in with not only the game story, but at least one to two added stories to boot.
If Mike Slive comes calling OU and OSU, take his offer immediately and smile all the way to the bank.
Sancho (last year)
Jim Trickett has it right. Dump texas, continue to play aTm and Mizzou, and join the premier football conference (SEC) in the USA. If you asked me a week ago I would have thought a move to the SEC was a bad idea. Now it's looking pretty good.
Pete51 (last year)
"How much gravy can you put on one biscuit?"

That's my new favorite saying.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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