A report from The Oklahoman, citing multiple unnamed sources, claims the person underneath one of Oklahoma's mascot costumes has been relieved of duty after allegedly harassing Oklahoma State fans, including the wife of OSU coach Travis Ford, during the Bedlam basketball game over the weekend.
Oklahoma easily won its home rivalry game over OSU, 82-65, but in the midst of that victory came some unwanted behavior from one of the mascots, which reportedly repeatedly bothered a section of visiting Cowboys fans.
"The individual involved has been dismissed from the mascot program for unsportsmanlike behavior," the school said in a statement. "The University of Oklahoma apologizes for this occurrence, which in no way reflects the standards of hospitality and sportsmanship of the University of Oklahoma."
OU's mascot setup is unlike most schools. It has two of them -- the horses are named Boomer and Sooner -- and students who get to parade around in them change throughout the season.
Here's a segment of NewsOK.com's story:
According to multiple sources familiar with the incident, Heather Ford -- the wife of OSU coach Travis Ford -- was among the OSU fans being harassed. In a prepared statement, OU did not identify the dismissed mascot or specify what happened. ... OU sources said the dismissed mascot was told multiple times not to return to the section where he was causing trouble. The mascot blocked OSU fans' vision of the game, taunted them and spilled popcorn on a group of them that included Heather Ford, sources said.
Every few years we get some sort of a mascot dust-up. In terms of rivalry stories, this is one of the weirder/bizarre ones, but it can't possibly touch the CAN'TSTOPWON'TSTOP fight the Saint Joe's Hawk had with Rhody the Ram back in 1998.
