OU becomes 'home of the brave' again as Sooners welcome Air Force (Berry Tramel - NewsOK.com)
The recent controversy over the fans at the University of Oklahoma football games changing the last word of the national anthem from brave to Sooners is a perfect example of the media choosing to take the wrong perspective on an event. Because of this people nationally are beginning to think of Sooner fans in a very negative light. Now that we have the Internet this story is able to spread like crazy.
The biggest thing that the media has forgotten is that Oklahoma is not the only program with fans that have made this change to the national anthem. I have been to sporting events at other schools and almost all of them have done this. The biggest reason why this story has gotten so big is because Bob Stoops and the University has made an effort to make sure that it didn’t happen before the game against Air Force. That should be a good thing.
Instead, the media has made it look like this is a tradition unique to the University of Oklahoma. The timing was also horrible. All of this came out after the word ‘brave’ was left out again during a game that just happened to be played on the anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy. Oklahoma fans should have been more aware of the anniversary and I do believe that saying ‘Sooners’ instead of ‘brave’ is disrespectful regardless of the date. However, I do not think that it is a product unique to our fan base. I think it is a product of a society that is not as patriotic as we used to be.
The online media helps to feed this unfairly negative image of the Sooner Nation. Because most online media, such as blogs, are written by people that do not write with the same integrity of print media and other traditional media sources, a writers personal feelings are more evident in their writing.
The level of competition for online media is also much stronger. Writers don’t have to wait until print time to get their story out. They can post it immediately. Knowing that other writers could beat them to the story and have their story posted at any moment leads to some stories being posted with less thought and deliberation than those in the print or even television media.
This particular story is actually a great story for online media because it causes so much debate. Most online media allows for comments from its readers. This could be a positive thing. The readers are able to give their opinions which can be read by other readers. This allows for more aspects of the story to be told. In this manner online media is very similar to radio media which also allows the listener to contribute to the story.
It is just my wish that in this case the media, online or not, would have discussed this issue as being shared by most fan bases. Not just in Oklahoma.
Response to Jake Keyes Home of the Brave
ReplyDeleteIt seems apparent that you are a Sooner fan. But, here’s my question, are you a USA fan? I do agree that the media made this into a much bigger issue than it should have… to a certain extent. You’re right. The various media outlets, especially the national media, made this seem like an isolated thing, like OU is the only school that does this. And we both know that that isn’t the case. I would argue that it only came to national attention because of a fan who doesn’t normally attend games or just someone with a more patriotic spirit than school spirit.
In my personal opinion, the main reason why the Star Spangled Banner is not televised before the start of the game (it used to be) is just that. Fans want the other team to know exactly who they’re up against from the moment they enter the arena.
I perform the National Anthem at many sporting events and I know that there are a lot of people who feel offended by anything other than the traditional version. Someone once told me that I made a mockery of the anthem by creating a jazzy version.
People are entitled to their own opinions. I would have loved to know where you stand on the anthem. I know where you stand on the Sooners. Sooners Rock!
I am guilty of shouting out "home of the Sooners" at a game or two. This is just a simple tradition and something that I learned and thought to be normal and just part of the game experience. I love our country and I understand why this would cause non OU fans to be upset. I do feel it was important for this to change at least for the Air Force game. The reason being we had many special guests from the armed forces and it would have been disrespectful for us to change the song on that day. Beyond that I feel it is just something that makes us who we are. A proud group of fans that get so amped up for the start of a game, that feel so passionate about our team, that want to cheer so loudly and cant wait for the actual game to start that we express ourselves by saying "home of the sooners".
ReplyDelete