The Red River Rivalry, so called because the Red River is the border between Oklahoma and Texas, is a fierce college football rivalry. In four of the last six years the winner has gone on to play in the BCS Championship game (2000, 2003-2005), with the Okies winning the National Championship in 2000 and Texas in 2005. A game that consistently has national title implications brings with it a serious, tense atmosphere. The game is played at a neutral site, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, which is approximately three hours from both campuses. Tickets are divided between the teams evenly, with 50 yard line being the separation point. Half the stadium is burnt orange and white. Half of the stadium is “crimson and cream.”
While the game atmosphere is tense, the animosity the fans feel for each other isn’t kept within the confines of the Cotton Bowl. The game gives the fans of the winning team bragging rights for an entire year. Be it blow out or nail biter, the loser knows they will have to hear the score repeated back to them thousands of times over the next 51 weeks. This isn’t unique to the Red River Shootout, this is how rivalries work. This is what makes them great. Auburn v. Bama. OSU v. Michigan. These are rivalries that have been around so long ‘hatred’ for your opponent is taught from the time you can talk.
While it’s fun to talk trash to your neighbors, friends or family that attended the other school, occasionally there are idiots who take it too far. Enter Allen Michael Beckett of Oklahoma City.
Bennet is accused of “causing extensive damage to another man’s scrotum just because he wore a University of Texas shirt into a local bar.”
Apparently Bennet was heckling the Texas fan at a bar, and when the guy got up to leave, Bennet grabbed his sack until they heard a tear, leaving the Texas fan covered in a completely different type of “crimson and cream.” It took over 60 stitches to repair the wound. Sweet jebus.
The season just can’t get here fast enough.
