Getting it from both sides

Before I filed my column Monday night, I had received two emails from Bedlam basketball fans. An OSU fan wanted me to address the OU fans who chanted “OSU sucks!” near the end of the game. An OU fan wanted me to address the cheap-shot fouls he thought the Cowboys committed.

Let me be perfectly clear. I am against crowds that chant coarse language and I am against cheap shots. So what did we see Monday night?

Well, the crowd did chant “OSU sucks!” and I’m still waiting for the college president, or coach, who will do something about this ridiculous trend in college sports. All someone has to do is take over the P.A., say cut it out and cut it out now, and glare a little. The crowd will back down. It is classless to chant obscenities or words you don’t want your 8-year-old using, and if you don’t mind your 8-year-old saying suck, then shame on you.

As for the cheap-shot fouls, I saw only one. Martavius Adams’ takedown of Taylor Griffin on a block-out was foolish — and OSU got its comeupance. Adams was whistled for a flagrant foul, which meant Griffin got two free throws and OU got the ball, even though it had just scored. The foul provided OU with a four-point possession; think a four-point possession is big in a 64-61 final? Silly play by Adams.

The other fouls in question? Not cheap. Marcus Dove twice drew the ire of the OU crowd for hard fouls, once on Blake Griffin and once on Tony Crocker, the latter at the end of the game. But you’d better foul Griffin hard if you want him to feel it, and Dove, not Griffin, is the one who crashed to the court on that play. And the final foul came in desperation, with 2.9 seconds left in the game.

So I saw one cheap shot, and it turned out glorious for OU. I heard the crowd chant and longed for someone to stand up and do something about it.