Satire: Fan Who Never Wears Orange To Games Upset OSU Is Striping The Stadium

Come every home game, Oklahoma State faithful regularly fill the stands wearing the brightest color at the school’s disposal: orange.

However, all that will change this week in the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

OSU administration, in an effort to further involve the fans in the festivities, have announced that fans sitting in designated parts of the stadium should wear orange or white, giving the crowd a striped appearance.

While many support the move, some fans are outraged by the change in tradition.

“It’s a travesty!” said Joe Marion in the stands during the Central Michigan game, wearing his usual tan fishing shirt. “We’re the ‘sea of orange’! It’s just not right.”

Other fans agreed with Marion.

Cheryl Williams, who attended the Central Michigan game with Marion, said she can’t understand why OSU would want to stripe the stadium after all this time.

“I’ve been going to games my entire life,” said Williams, wearing a black shirt with “ΔΔΔ Mom” printed in lime green on the front. “We’ve always worn orange. It’s a tradition! I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to wear anything other than orange to the game or even on campus on gameday.”

Life-long season ticket holder and only man to ever willingly own a gray OSU jersey, John Reynolds said he could understand striping the stadium orange and black, but not white.

“White’s not even one of our home colors!” said Reynolds, Barry Sanders bobble-head on his dashboard. “How can you ask us to wear away colors at a home game? The football team doesn’t even do that.”

Some members of the student body are also unsure of the change, especially since students may not be able to afford to purchase new OSU gear like other fans who have full-time jobs.

“I mean, good luck getting a bunch of students to go along with it,” said sophomore Sarah Rashad, dressed in a tiger costume. “We’re definitely all way too busy to go out of our way to go buy or borrow a white outfit just for one game. I mean, come on.”

Rashad and her roommate, Katie Fenrick, both find the idea frustrating considering that they already pay a substantial amount to the school in tuition and fees.

“We’re already giving the school so much and now they want us to buy another shirt or dress?” said Fenrick. “Seriously?”

When Fenrick was informed that the first 7,500 students in the stadium will be given an appropriately colored shirt, she said she found it doubtful that all students would cooperate.

“I guess they’re free, which is nice, but that doesn’t mean we’ll wear them,” said Fenrick, wearing a College of Arts and Sciences T-shirt. “We’re not obligated to do that unless we want to.”

Even some staff at OSU are concerned that the striping the stadium may be too much too fast. Blake Myers, who works in the Office of the Registrar, said he fears OSU is trying too hard to keep up with the trends and not worried enough about maintaining its own gameday culture.

“Being too trendy isn’t always bad, but I don’t think that’s something we try to cultivate here at Oklahoma State,” said Myers, with at least ten replica OSU helmets displayed on a shelf behind him. “Not that we aren’t setting trends because we are. But striping the stadium just feels like following everyone else, and I don’t think we should have to do that to get everyone excited.”

Despite the questions from fans, athletic director Mike Holder said he feels confident in going forward with the plan to include another color for just one game this year.

“We think fans will ultimately join in on the fun and see this as an opportunity to support our team and celebrate OSU in a unique way,” said Holder. “Besides, it’s gonna look really neat, right?”