NMSooner'80
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I'm not talking about competing fan bases in this case. I am talking about how excellent it is that the programs and the fan bases at OU do so well at coexisting. I've honestly never heard a die-hard fan of the OU women's basketball program ever badmouth the OU men's team, or vice versa.
That seems like a no-brainer, but it wasn't the case where I lived for several years (Albuquerque). Back in the early 90's, the UNM women's program was awful, mainly due to an awful hire. They hired a local high school coaching legend who turned around the program fairly quickly, including a game at OU's expense in the last pre-Sherri days. It was an impressive turnaround, but those who gravitated more toward the women's game really got carried away with things. They started badmouthing not only their nationally ranked men's team, they also started trashing the men's version of basketball itself as an inferior product. I guessed that they thought it was a way to boost the women's game (trashing their own men's team, etc).
In fact, it got so absurd that some of the Lady Lobo die-hards pretty much rooted against the Lobo men, and they also even claimed their women's team could beat the UNM men's team straight-up. That got so old that some of my friends who followed the Lobo men's team for generations really got turned off of that attitude and never attended a women's game at the Pit.
So I think our OU fan bases can be proud of coexisting and supporting each other's teams, not tearing one down for petty reasons.
That seems like a no-brainer, but it wasn't the case where I lived for several years (Albuquerque). Back in the early 90's, the UNM women's program was awful, mainly due to an awful hire. They hired a local high school coaching legend who turned around the program fairly quickly, including a game at OU's expense in the last pre-Sherri days. It was an impressive turnaround, but those who gravitated more toward the women's game really got carried away with things. They started badmouthing not only their nationally ranked men's team, they also started trashing the men's version of basketball itself as an inferior product. I guessed that they thought it was a way to boost the women's game (trashing their own men's team, etc).
In fact, it got so absurd that some of the Lady Lobo die-hards pretty much rooted against the Lobo men, and they also even claimed their women's team could beat the UNM men's team straight-up. That got so old that some of my friends who followed the Lobo men's team for generations really got turned off of that attitude and never attended a women's game at the Pit.
So I think our OU fan bases can be proud of coexisting and supporting each other's teams, not tearing one down for petty reasons.
