MONDAY,AUGUST 18,2003
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 15F
SPORTS
Bedlam Bell trumps all other OSU traditions
By Jared Janes Daily O'Collegian (Oklahoma State
08/13/2003
STILLWATER, Okla. - Few Oklahoma State traditions could accurately sum up the way that OSU students love their university more than the Bedlam rivalry.
Throughout the year, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State compete in various sporting events, and fans from both schools show up in droves to help support their favorite university's student-athletes.
But before 1999, fans had no way to measure their school's success against its in-state rival.
Enter the Bedlam Bell.
The Bank of Oklahoma Bedlam Bell, which is sponsored by Oklahoma Ford dealers, provided a way for fans to find out who was winning the rivalry war. Using a simple point-based system, the Bedlam Bell series put into numbers what the fans already knew--their school was a billion times better than that other one in the state that's just "taking up space."
Based on the point standings, the university that ended up with the most points at the end of the year brought a massive crystal bell back to their school, signifying that for the past year that school was the best in Oklahoma.
The Bedlam Bell has been around for three years, and two of those three years the Bedlam Bell has been in Stillwater, Okla., -- including last year when it was triumphantly brought back from Norman, Okla.
Last year marked the first time
The Bedlam Bell is back where it belongs in Cowboy country," general manager of Cowboy Sports Properties Larry Reece said. "We're happy about that. What an outstanding year it was; it was a great first year for the new athletic director Harry Birdwell. We're excited about what happened here at Oklahoma State last year, and I know our fans are fired up about it."
Oklahoma State took home the Bedlam Bell last year by a wide margin, 12-7. In previous years, the schools could pick up major points for winning sports that counted for only a half-point, such as men's and women's golf.
that the university that had won the football game and won the two points allotted for victory during football had actually carried home the Bell.
" This
year, oddly enough, was the first year that the team that won the football game, a two-pointer, has actually won the overall Bedlam Bell. The first year, we lost the football game and came back and won the Bell. The second year we won the football game and they came back and actually ended up winning the Bell. This past year, we won the football game and kept the momentum going and brought it back home," Reece said.
One of the primary benefits of the Bedlam Bell series is that it
brings other Bedlam events into the spotlight beyond football and basketball. The university's hope for the overall Bedlam Bell hinges upon their success in all of the sports, rather than just a few. Last season. OSU ran away with the Bedlam Bell despite only splitting basketball and baseball.
"I really believe that it's brought attention to some other sports," Reece said. "Football fans now are interested in what happens with the soccer teams and what's going on with softball. I really think that some of the sports have benefited even more than football and men's basketball because people who maybe weren't that interested are now very interested in what the outcome is because they know that the overall Bedlam Bell could be on the line."
The Bedlam Bell in the end will belong to the university that wins it. But according to Reece, the best part about the Bedlam Bell is that it gives the overall athletic body something to be proud of and gives the fans something to brag about. Of course, even though the university might not
win the overall Bedlam Bell, the athletes of a particular program can take pride in gaining one in their respective sports.
Last year, Oklahoma State soccer coach Karen Hancock's squad struck first in getting a small Bedlam Bell with the soccer team's dramatic 3-2 victory over OU.
"Every sport has a Bell, so tennis can win their contest and they get to celebrate by having the smaller Bell for a year and show their recruits that they're the best in the state when it comes to the Bedlam rivalry and have the bragging rights," Reece said. "And then you add up all the sports and come up with the overall Bell championship. I think that our student-athletes on both sides have enjoyed and it, and the fans have enjoyed it and gotten into some sports that they weren't paying much attention to before."
The Bedlam Bell is a relatively new idea. The sponsorship for the Bell expired this past year, but the Bank of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Ford dealers signed up for another four years that will start
this fall. Long after a Bedlam match has been fought, the athletes can take pride in their victory and the fans will pay attention because a win or a loss can have possible repercussions for the Bedlam Bell standings. Usually, the Bedlam Bell standings remain close, so a win is important for either school, no matter the sport.
"We could be playing tiddlywinks and if the Sooners and the Cowboys or Cowgirls are there, people are interested," Reece said. "There's not a better rivalry in the country, in my opinion. I know some universities have great rivalries in football like Auburn and Alabama. There's great rivalries out there; Kansas and Missouri in basketball.
"But when you talk about across the board, anytime athletes are taking one another on, it doesn't get any bigger than Bedlam. I think we're very fortunate in the state of Oklahoma -- we don't have Major League baseball, we don't have the NBA and we don't have the NFL -- but we have the best college rivalry in America."
Committee to hold summit about bowl selection complaints, demands
By Chris Dufresne
FSView & Florida Flambeau
via U-WIRE
Florida State University
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In an effort to stave off dissension in the lower ranks and possible legal action, the bowl championship series oversight committee will hold a summit meeting in Chicago Sept. 8 with representatives from non-BCS conferences.
Last week's BCS conference
call with reporters to outline the meeting came the day before Tuesday's planned media tele-
conference call involving several presidents of non-BCS schools, who are demanding changes in the system that governs major college football.
Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman, a member of the recently formed BCS oversight committee, said Monday's offer was more olive branch than preemptive strike.
"Those of us in the conferences that manage the BCS recognize that improvements in the system can be made," he said.
Unlike college basketball, which is governed by the NCAA major college football is essentially run by leaders of the six major conferences — Pacific 10, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East and Southeastern — and football independent Notre Dame, ABC television and the four major bowls: Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.
The eight-year deal involving ABC and the BCS is worth $930 million through the 2005 season.
Members of the five non-BCS conferences — Mountain West, Conference USA, Western Athletic, Mid-American and Sun Belt — are demanding more access to the multimillion-dollar industry.
"This system that has divided Division I-A into two camps: Haves and have-nots," Tulane University President Scott Cowen said. "It essentially prevents 53 universities from competing for a national championship and should be dismantled."
College football has been down this road before. In 1996, after Brigham Young was snubbed for a major bowl despite a 13-1 record and No.5 national ranking, threat of an antitrust lawsuit forced the then-Bowl Alliance to become more inclusive.
After that season, any non BCS school that ranked No. 6 or higher would automatically qualify for a major bowl.
The Bowl Alliance became the BCS in 1998 after the RoseBowl joined a coalition that agreed to match the two highest-rated teams in a national title game rotated annually among the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls
In the five-year history of the BCS, however, no school from a non-BCS conference has played in a major bowl game. The "havenots" argue that economic disparity has put them at a competitive disadvantage.
expires after 2005.
The BCS has insisted that non-BCS schools do have access to the system via the two at-large spots made available to the four major bowls. Officials said Monday that the BCS will have distributed $42 million to non-BCS schools when the contract
"We're quite confident that there isn't an antitrust problem here," said Ohio State President Graham Spanier, a BCS oversight committee member.
Still, the BCS appears willing to make more concessions as negotiations near for a new BCS deal, beginning in 2006.
"We are open to listening to their suggestions and what their concerns are," Perlman said. One way to make the BCS more inclusive could be to add a fifth "BCS bowl" game to the rotation. Perlman said the idea has "been informally discussed."
One idea apparently not negotiable is an expanded college football playoff, a plan proposed by some non-BCS representatives that would include all champions of Division I-A conferences.
Perlman has instructed major conference commissioners to "not pursue, at least at this point, an NFL-style playoff system." That directive does not preclude the chance of a possible limited playoff — the so-called "BCS-plus" plan — that would match the top-rated teams after the major bowls have been played.
Morriss ready for Baylor's challenges
The Associated Press
WACO, Texas — Guy Morriss knew things weren't going to be easy when he became coach at Baylor.
So in taking over a program that's gone 4-52 in conference play since the Big 12 began, he didn't promise immediate results.
results.
"It's going to take a little time to straighten out the problem," said Morris, returning to his home state on the heels of a two-year turnaround at Kentucky. "It didn't get broke over night and won't get fixed over night."
Morriss, the fourth Baylor coach since the league started in 1996, hopes to be the first to post a winning record — or even win more than one Big 12 game in a season.
But football failures aren't the only reason Morriss is taking over during one of the most turbulent times in school history.
When players reported in early August, one of the first things he addressed was the shooting death of basketball player Patrick Dennehye earlier this summer.
Carlton Dotson, a former Baylor teammate of Dennehy's, is accused of his murder. Scrutiny of that saga led to an internal investigation of the basketball team, which produced the Aug. 8 resignations of coach Dave Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton.
Morriss is doing his best to keep his players focused on football.
They lived in a residence hall together the first two weeks of preseason workouts, and he took away their cell phones and car keys. He did the same thing at Kentucky in turning a probation-married program from 2-9 his first season to 7-4 last year.
A former offensive lineman at Texas Christian and in the NFL, Morriss must build more than confidence at Baylor. He also needs to add players to a team that has fewer than 80.
"When we took the job, we knew there were problems," said Morriss, who brought along his entire Kentucky staff. "We haven't seen a problem that we haven't dealt with before or have a good answer to solve them. It's a slow process."