After Baylor had run up a 31-10 lead, two things happened:
One, Baylor University showed on their scoreboard video screen the Sooner Schooner crash on Owen Field from earlier in the season — to the delight of the Bears’ crowd who whooped and hollered.
Two, Baylor did not score any more points after that.
Sometimes there is such thing as bad karma. And the Baylor Bears found that out when the Sooners came storming back in the second half to take a 34-31 victory over the Bears in Waco.
Of course the stellar second-half play by QB Jalen Hurts, who shook off any negative vibes from early fumbles, and an angry defense lead by LB Kenneth Murray (along with important adjustments by DC Alex Grinch that forced much needed turnovers), probably had more to do with the greatest comeback win in Sooner history than anything else.
I have to say, that second-half turnaround was the darndest thing to witness in person from my seat in a mostly Sooners section in the upper deck.
But, hey, a game in Waco, Texas has its oddities.
Beginning with the pre-game prayer.
Since most of the Big 12 universities are public institutions, there are no longer invocations before kickoff. Two schools are private colleges– TCU and Baylor — so any constitutional prohibitions against official prayers do not apply to stop them from having prayer before the game.
Unfortunately, Baylor has no prohibitions against turning the pre-game prayer into a pep rally.
On Saturday night the invocation began with the minister declaring that most people hoped heaven was decorated in green and gold (the Baylor colors).
OK, that was cute.
But by the end of the prayer God was being asked to strike down the Sooners.
“Sic’ em Jesus!” was the call of the minister.
Now, for the uneducated (which included me before my trip to Waco on Saturday), “Sic ’em Bears!” is the Baylor rally cry. It’s like the “Roll Tide” of Alabama or the “Boomer Sooner” of Oklahoma.
It is a catchy, although strangely irrelevant, saying that is plastered on the walls of McLane Stadium. I say irrelevant because “Sic ’em” is a phrase used to command canines to attack somebody or some thing.
The Baylor mascot is not a dog. It’s a bear. (Maybe the Georgia Bulldogs should use “Sic ’em”). Bears do not respond to commands, unless I suppose you keep them in a cage and train them like circus animals.
More importantly, I had a problem with the pre-game prayer minister asking Jesus to “Sic ’em” the Sooners.
Since when did Jesus become a dog. Or, a bear?
I’m sure the minister’s prayer was meant to be lighthearted and playful.
Still, it trivialized Christianity.
Now, I’m not usually one to get too bothered by that, since some religious groups — particularly the extreme Evangelical wing of religion that threatens damnation in order to raise money on TV — tends to occasionally do that a lot anyway.
But I’m wondering, given that Baylor’s rug was pulled out from under them in the second half, if maybe God had a problem with it.
Laughing at OU students getting thrown to the ground when the Schooner crashed might not have set to well either. (Frankly, showing the video on the official stadium scoreboard was shocking coming from a professed Christian school).
Barry Switzer tells the story of how Sooner great QB Steve Davis, a minister himself and at the time a regular speaker at Fellowship of Christian Athletes gatherings, once gave a team prayer before a big game in which the Sooners were an underdog. It went something like this:
“God, please don’t let the best team win.”
That might have worked better for Baylor.
A game in Waco, Texas has its oddities.
A game in Waco, Texas has its oddities.
I suppose if the minister for Baylor had said that over the stadium public address system I might have chuckled and not had a problem with it.
But, “Sic ’em, Jesus!” ???
The Baylor minister could have taken a few lessons from the late J. Clayton Feaver, the University of Oklahoma professor of philosophy, who gave invocations before OU football games in Norman from 1968 until 1995, when the practice ended.
Each prayer was a message for a higher power to watch over the young men who risked their health in the spirit of competition.
And, the prayers often recognized the fact that sporting events such as OU football games are on their face just games, but manage to bring together people who care about each other.
And that is a good thing. It is the glue that connects the Sooner Nation. Or the Roll Tide Fans. Or the Buckeyes. And, presumably, even Baylor Bears.
When Prof. Feaver gave his invocation, there was no call for that higher power to smite the opposition.
There was no “Boomer Sooner, Jesus.”
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I was in the house myself, another Sooner fan, and I initially rolled my eyes at the prayer, too. However, I’m pretty sure you misunderstood the ending, Mike. The minister was at pains to say that we should treat one another not as enemies, but as opponents in a game we all love. “Sic ‘em Jesus” was intended for the forces of sin and evil, not for the Sooners. I agree that the Schooner footage was in poor taste, along with the tagline “Okay, Boomer.” I also wish Baylor would quiet the obnoxious music booming out of their giant end zone speakers, but the prayer was fine.
LOL this is a horrible article. I was there… You left out the fact that after the pastor said “most people in this stadium probably hope that heaven is decorated in green and gold” he went on to elaborate that God loves us all, and is partial to “crimson and creme as well”. He also noted that we should “remember it’s just a game” and that we are “opponents, NOT enemies”
Also worth noting is the lack of any sort of sense of the culture of being a Baylor Bear. Sic ’em isn’t a term we use just to say go after somebody or beat them. We use it as a sort of way to encourage or cheer on one another, he wasn’t asking Jesus to “sic the sooners” he literally just got done saying Jesus loves the sooners as much as the bears…
He was saying for lack of better words, “You go Jesus, do your thing” if anything he was talking about Jesus going after the world/satan, he wasn’t talking about the game… lol It was his replacement for “Amen”. It was a little weird, but harmless.
As for the video board showing the wagon crashing, that was pretty funny and surprising that they played it, but I’d like to remind you that no one was hurt in that wagon crash and it has become a huge meme all over the internet and is very relevant and comical to most people. Even some sooners around me were laughing at it. One of my friends who is a huge sooners fan said it best, “it is totally fine, but probably a little bush league.”
I guess your university president didn’t agree with you, Zach. The Baylor president issued an apology after the game.