One of my
fondest memories of my days at the University of Missouri were football
Saturdays.Columbia, normally a sleepy college town of
50,000, would transform into a hustling city of twice that on game days.College game days would make or break local
merchants, eateries, and hotels.
What was most
notable about home football games in the heyday of the old Big 8 in Columbia wasn’t just the
influx of people into town, but where they came from.As the only major college in Missouri, the university
drew from all corners of the state for games.Not only did games draw from throughout the entire state of Missouri, they drew
throngs from the neighboring states whose schools we played.Anytime mighty Nebraska
or Oklahoma
came to town, fully half of the stadium was Nebraska Red or Oklahoma
Crimson.During the annual grudge match
against the hated Jayhawks, Columbia
was inundated with Kansans.Because of
the schools’ close proximity to each other, the fans not only traveled to home
games, but away games, as well.It was
these fans that the merchants of Columbia
counted on the most.In state fans would
travel to the game in the morning and then travel back home in the evening, not
sticking around town to spend much money or help the local economy.It was the Iowans, the Kansans, the
Nebraskans, the Coloradans, the Oklahomans, that were
the cash cows that kept Columbia’s
economy buzzing, as they would tend to stay around town longer, and with the
longer stay, pump money into the local economy.
What would have
happened if Missouri
didn’t play teams from adjacent states?What
if the university had played its home games against teams from across the Rockies?I think
it is safe to say that instead of 30,000 rabid fans following their team to Columbia there would be
one-tenth of that.The loss of 27,000
people visiting a city of less than 50,000 would have been catastrophic to the
local economy.
College towns like
Columbia are an
interesting creature.College towns have
a split personality – they love the college and they hate the college.Without the college, the town wouldn’t exist,
but the town hates the college because of it.College towns are one-trick ponies, so whatever the college wants, the
college gets, even if it means that townspeople are harmed.Townspeople are replaceable; colleges are
not.In Stillwater, Oklahoma
State University wanted to expand their athletic facilities, even at the cost
of relocating lifelong residents from their properties.In Stillwater,
Oklahoma State is
king, and what the university wants, the university gets.No exceptions!
My wife grew up
in Stillwater.She confirmed what I always suspected from my
days in Columbia
– “townies” don’t like the university, and vice versa.As a Stillwater
native, she has relayed to me the horror stories of the rude and boorish
behavior of college students and other associated with the university towards
the rest of the local population – the “townies”.As with Columbia,
the local populace had to grin and bear it, as their livelihood depended on the
university, a sort of modern day feudal system, with the university as the lord
and the local populace as the vassals.
Feudalism works
when both parties, lord and vassal, understand that it
is symbiotic relationship, that each has an obligation to the other.In medieval times, the vassals worked the
land and fought for the lord whle the lord provided the land and security for
the vassals.When the lords no longer
cared about the well-being of the vassals, the vassals’ resentment of being
mistreated turned into out-and-out rebellion against or abandonment of the
lords.History has shown that arrogance and
indifference has brought down many mighty empires.
With the
proposed move of the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, the
University of Texas, and Texas Tech University to the Pac 10 Conference, I
believe that the universities, like the great kings and lords of medieval times,
have forgotten the responsibilities that they have to the towns that support
them, and that such a move will irreparable damage the delicate symbiotic relationship
they have with their communities.When I
first met my wife, I joked that she was from “Backwater, Oklahoma”, and after she moved away she
realized why I call it that – it is between nowhere and nowhere.It is 30 minutes from the nearest major
highway, and an hour from the nearest major city.You just don’t pass through Stillwater; you only go there if you want to
go there, and the only reason to go there is because of the university.Ten of thousands of Kansans will drive the
ninety minutes to get to Stillwater
to see there team play.Tens of
thousands of Nebraskans drove the four hours to see theirs.If the university joins the Pac-10 Conference
(currently Washington, Oregon,
California, and Arizona),
how many thousands of fans will travel to Stillwater
to see their team?If 30,000 Nebraskans
becomes 3,000 Oregonians, that means big trouble for Stillwater.
What I don’t
understand is why universities whose mission is to improve the opportunities of
Oklahomans is willing to destroy those opportunities
for a few million dollars for the football team?I thought the purpose of state universities
was to help bring economic development to the state, not to take it away.The university is ready to sacrifice 50,000
people for a football team.Sad.What is even
sadder is that the university doesn’t understand is that it is as dependent on
the town as the town is on it.Prospective students don’t want to attend a university out in the middle
of nowhere where there is nothing.The
first impression that prospective students get of a university is the town
surrounding it, and if the town is a dump, it becomes much harder to attract
students.How many successful
universities do you see in dumpy areas?It is in a university’s best interest to ensure that its environs are
attractive and safe.After all, it is
ultimately the students, and not the football team, that sustain the
university.
I have already
decided that if the University of Oklahoma and OklahomaStateUniversity decide that it’s
all about money, then I will not be sending my children there, now or in the
future.I also won’t buy their
memorabilia.If may
state universities only care about what’s best for the football team, then they
can have the football team.However, they shouldn’t be upset when their greed destroys the towns
that helped make them great, and that this cancer destroys them in the end.
