Column-To Storm or Not To Storm: OUt of the Question

With seconds left on Boone Pickens Stadium's scoreboard, I could feel the shift in the stands behind me. It wasn't overwhelming, but I knew what was going on behind me. I turned around. I saw OSU students and I believe even some high school students filling the stairways. I pointed at them with one of my "Poke" emblazoned paddles and said, "Get the hell away from my wall. There is no way we are storming for this game." I got some puzzled looks by those that were creating the surge. I again said, "There is no reason to storm the field, no one on this front row is going to let you through, you're just wasting your time." In the heat of the moment, it was understandable why the didn't fully receive the message I and countless others were sending. The bottom line that this fan base has to understand.... Act like you have been there before.

Coaches preach it to their teams when they win the "big game" so why shouldn't the fans do the same? Oklahoma State is becoming a national power in football and traditionally has been a power in basketball, so this school and its athletic programs have "been there before."

I was witness to one of the oddest spectacles I have seen in my short life, last February. The court storming against OU. Yes, it was an overtime game against this schools arch-rival, but remember this was an unranked OU versus a top-20 Oklahoma State team. If anything, the crowd should have been so disappointed in the performance that they didn't know what to do. There should have been a 16,000 collective sigh of relief, not dancing at center court. The students of OSU were called out by ESPN's Jay Bilas last Tuesday due to a "Overrated" chant started by a few students towards the end of the Memphis game. Bilas said that it took away from the big victory that the Cowboys had earned and made the students look ignorant.

Now take that to the next level. Imagine if OSU students had stormed the court Tuesday? The national media would have crucified OSU's students. The very same thing would have happened if students had stormed the field Saturday. The Cowboys were picked to win the Big 12, they are in line to do just that. There is nothing shocking about that.

So moving forward to this Bedlam football game, I know that there is already a lot of people saying that no matter how much OSU wins by, they will storm the field. Why? What reason would a person have to justify storming? Yes, OSU will win the Big 12 with a win, but they have done that before. Yes, they would win Bedlam, but anymore it doesn't have the same zeal since OSU is no longer the little brother to OU. OSU has grown up metaphorically speaking. Storming the field is a "childish" act in terms of power programs.

So no, there should not be a field storming after Bedlam. OSU has to win first, but if they do, there should not be a single person that touches that field other than the ones that are already on the field. Oklahoma State has grown out of storming the field as a football program, and is back to that way in basketball. Students, do yourself a favor and stay in the stands. Nevertheless, be rowdy, be proud of your universities' teams, but stay of the playing surface. The students did a great job after those that tried to surge were told to step back. We celebrated that win the way it should have been celebrated. Now let's do the same when it comes to Bedlam in a couple of weeks.