OK State Proves It's Better Fit for SEC
STILLWATER, Okla. – If anyone needed more proof that the SEC is bringing in the wrong partner with the Oklahoma Sooners, one only needs to put on the tape of this NCAA regional baseball series between Arkansas and Oklahoma State.
Yes, all SEC fans know Texas will mosey its way into the conference for one reason, and one reason only, – its checkbook. The league made a deal with the devil in the name of greed, and now it appears schools are stuck with the world's worst roommate.
But now that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has the spoiled rich kid squared away, it's time to turn attention to bringing in a school that actually brings a bit of fun and personality to the conference, along with a cultural fit that makes sense.
It's been easy to watch Oklahoma State and Arkansas go at it from a fan's perspective. Run any team from the SEC into O'Brate Stadium and their fan base will easily be swept up with disdain for what might be the most unlikable team in the history of college baseball.
SARAH PHIPPS – USA TODAY Sports
For all those Cowboys fans who reside restlessly just a few miles beyond the current SEC borders, that's unlikable in a good way. Oklahoma State is an arrogant, brash team that is unapologetic about how good it is.
I have covered baseball for 25 years from high school to the Major Leagues, and never have I seen a team come close to hitting on level with the Pokes from Stillwater. They're great and they REALLY want you to know it.
Their poorly bleached hair that generates an odd blend of white, yellow and orange that could only be accomplished by teenage boys, the gorilla pounding of their chests, and that awkward prance by freshman Roc Riggio around third that looked like a baby deer playing in a puddle of water, all contribute to making the Cowboys a group opposing teams want to delete from baseball existence.
SARAH PHIPPS – USA TODAY Sports
Throw in an ESPN announcer who sells OK State so hard and with such exuberance that it feels like if you don't date a member of the Cowboys then his mother won't let him go to prom, and the atmosphere between two titans of college baseball is set.
But here is where the respect for Oklahoma State kicks in. In the midst of the intensity between two teams trading haymakers is a battle that has emerged between fan bases.
There are no fan bases in college baseball that can hang with the Arkansas Razorbacks outside of Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs just don't travel well enough to claim the top spot. With Stillwater being a short drive from Northwest Arkansas, there have been plenty of Razorback fans and the Hog calls have been loud.
Most fan bases fold after being drowned out and overwhelmed by Razorback fans. The new bunkmates to the Southwest would simply start crying and filing petitions to the league office because drinks being held on top of heads, yelling too loud, and holding "hook 'em" signs upside down triggers them.
But that's not how the Cowboys roll. They're not soft in Stillwater.
After several rounds of Hog calls became too much, Oklahoma State began counter-programming with their own equivalent to the Hog call.
It was a battle back and forth. Razorback fans began dancing and pounding on the outfield padding, so OK State fans and players danced and pounded too when things swung their way.
It should be noted that the dancing was so uncoordinated that the announcer who shall not be named even called out Cowboys fans for its unsightliness and demanded they do better. Inability to "wobble" aside, it was fun to see the locals try to throw a little energy back at the Arkansas faithful.
Oklahoma State could easily find its place in the SEC West. The cowboy hats and stick pony rides after each home run fits in just as well as the coon skin home run cloak over at Tennessee.
The idea of infamous Cowboys football coach Mike Gundy staring across at a pirate-hatted Mike Leach in Starkville while cow bells drown out declarations of Gundy's manliness is too much to pass up.
Yearly battles in all three major sports between Razorback fans and Cowboys fans is something the SEC needs. There's got to be some way David Bazzel can imagine the borders of Oklahoma and Arkansas forming into a pistol or some other object so that Battle Line trophy can be dumped into Buffalo River where it belongs.
Sankey knows it feels weird laying out Boba and green tea with hints of ginseng on the conference table every time the Sips come to talk business. A jug of sweet tea and a stack of Solo cups is the heart of the SEC brand, and no free agent school fits more in line with the SEC brand than Oklahoma State.
If the rest of the league has to marry the stick-in-the-mud Shorthorns for money, then at least let everyone have a fun best friend in Oklahoma State to hang out with on the weekends.
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