Life Off-Label

Every big school has them. People have different definitions for this term, but I define a t-shirt fan as a fan who obnoxiously supports a school to the point that they lack class, and as a consequence one school will look down on another when they see this behavior. This can include some students, but for the most part it’s people who never attended the school and have a very blind support for the football team. They might like that the school has more championships, or the shirt was $9.99 at Walmart. Sometimes they are simply supporting the largest school in their home state, or they know family and friends that attended there. Whatever the reason, whenever someone puts on their team’s shirt and acts in a way that reflects poorly on that school, it irritates me.

Non-t-shirt fans generally have more than a one-dimensional pride in their school, so we don’t need to shout with someone about who has the best football team. My degree gives me more pride than anything my football team accomplishes on the field. Yes, it sucks we lost that big game this year, but whatever. There’s always next year. Plus, we often know people who attend the rival schools, so we have a general respect for the other schools and their fans.

I’m attending my alma mater’s football rival for pharmacy school, and I’ve sported my old school colors occasionally in class or at the gym. Especially after our performance in the Red River Shootout, I expected a few comments, but for the most part they are meant in good humor. However, I have yet to wear burnt orange at some rinky dink gas station in small-town Oklahoma. Why? I know that those comments won’t be so kind, and I like to avoid that kind of confrontation as much as possible.

To be fair, I have seen a couple truckers do it, but big burly trucker guy can probably hold his own in a fight better than I could.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate the t-shirt fans. Without them, UT wouldn’t sit above every other college football program in annual revenue. I don’t blame people in Oklahoma for deciding to support OU’s football team, especially considering the lack of an NFL team in Oklahoma, and I’m sure it’s great for the local economy. So I’m not going to sit here and condescendingly say that these fans aren’t wanted just because they didn’t go to school there. I welcome any and all support for my school.

I just wish some of those people had a better idea of how much they reflect the school when they conduct themselves in public. I mean I see stories like this and just want to shake my head. 99% of OU fans would never even think of doing something so low, but that reflects on the school now. I cringe when I see UT fans get in bar fights and use expletives in “debates” I’ve never even heard of before. No true fan would do things like that, because a true fan respects the school enough to know how to handle a rivalry with class.