Thursday, March 24, 2005

One reason I love OSU...

From today's Daily O'Collegian (ocolly.com), our campus newsletter:

Letters to the Editor

Thanks to the OSU Spirit Band

Dear editor:
On behalf of the Bucknell Bison from Nowhere, Pennsylvania, I want to offer a huge thanks to the OSU Spirit band.

I am a faculty member in the Department of Family Medicine at the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa. My son, John Clark, happens to play for the Bucknell basketball team.

Being the only Okie on the team (most of his teammates are from the Northeast; few had ever been anywhere near Oklahoma), he was thrilled to learn his team would play their NCAA tournament games in his home state. Being so far away, however, the school was unable to bring along their band.

It was such a joy to have our friends from the Northeast experience the warmth of Oklahoma hospitality through the graciousness and generosity of the OSU Spirit band.

The band members had to be tired and ready for a well deserved break after playing their hearts out for an emotional and intense OSU game. But they stayed at their post, put on orange T-shirts from a small Pennsylvania school, and played on with enthusiasm, as if for their own team. They even got the remaining OSU fans — already in Bucknell orange — involved in cheers and chants.

We are so grateful to the OSU Spirit band for voluntarily sacrificing their time and energy on our behalf last Sunday.

Go Cowboys (and Bison)!

Laurie C. Clark, D.O.
The true meaning of sportsmanship

Dear editor:

This weekend, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament produced a wonderful Cinderella story. Bucknell University’s Bison defeated the mighty Jayhawks of Kansas. As an alumnus of Bucknell, I was thrilled to see my team compete on the national stage. I was also heartened by a great story of sportsmanship.

I must thank your students and fans for giving my team a lift during our game against Wisconsin. Bucknell is a small school in central Pennsylvania with alumni based largely in the Northeast. For most of us, Oklahoma City was a bit of a trek. As a result, we were widely underrepresented in the Ford Center. However, your fans and band stepped in and showed that sportsmanship really does exist. To have the OSU faithful rooting for my team and the OSU band playing our fight song was an amazing sight and sound. Your fans did the sports world proud this weekend.

Thanks again Oklahoma State. For those of us who only see our team in the big dance once in a long while (once in 110 seasons for us), getting a boost from a generous fan base like yours makes our day. Best of luck to Coach Sutton, the OSU team, and all your fans as you play on in the tournament. Count on us to be rooting for you.

James Leahy
Chatham, NJ
Original report here: http://www.ocolly.com/new_ocollycom/show_story.php?a_id=25947
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