Bedlam! In! Stillwater!

America's best-named college rivalry is back tonight. My beloved No. 3 Oklahoma State Cowboys face the line-jumpers from Norman---those degenerate ball-suckers---the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners for the Big 12 conference title. A substantial enough win here could also send the Cowboys to the BCS championship game.

The story of Bedlam:

In the Year of our Lord 1900, Oklahoma A&M veterinary medicine professor Dr. L.L. Lewis brought together a group of students to participate in the first Oklahoma Territory Track and Field Meet. Held on May 4, 1900, the event included Alva Normal College, Central Normal of Edmond, Kingfisher College, and the Old Enemy, Oklahoma University.

The prize of the tournament was a silver cup donated by a local jeweler named Douglas. A&M won the meet and returned to Stillwater with the traveling trophy.

In 1901, A&M won again, and a third consecutive win would mean permanent retirement of the Douglas Cup in Stillwater. The third meet was held on May 23, 1902, with the Aggies winning the most points. Oklahoma, sore at their drubbing, filed a protest based on the pole vault competition not having been completed due to darkness. Nevertheless, A&M claimed the Douglas Cup and returned victorious to Stillwater.

The next day the Sooners held their own pole vault competition and declared themselves the victor of the tournament. Several weeks later, the Douglas Cup was stolen from its place in a glass case at the A&M chemistry lab. Suspecting that Sooners had taken the Cup, a group of A&M students made a daring raid to Norman. They retrieved the Cup and buried it under Old Central for safekeeping.

Ten years later, when excavation was being done for Gundersen Hall, the trophy was found. Today the Douglas Cup resides safely in OSU's Heritage Hall.

Bedlam football starts in Stillwater in an hour. You can get the game on ABC.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 07:00 PM

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