‘We’ll meet at the tailgate’: OSU, OU football fans send off Bedlam with one last party
Hallie HartThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — In a sea of tailgating tents and ordinary vehicles, Berry Keeler’s overhauled vintage truck boldly wore the identity of his favorite team.
When the Oklahoma State alumnus bought his 1939 Dodge and fashioned it into a game-day party venue, his first priority was covering the red paint with orange.
He didn’t stop there.
Glowing orange lights spell “Cowboys” atop the rustic roof that extends from the back, shading a compact sports bar complete with television screens. A throwback “OSU” symbol is painted in an intentionally worn style on the truck’s side.
An engine-powered shrine for all things Pokes, the iconic tailgating site had a magnetic draw for orange-clad fans during Saturday afternoon’s Bedlam football game in Stillwater.
And they weren’t alone.
“There’s people that are OU friends of mine, and they’re coming up here just because of it,” said Franki Keeler, Berry’s daughter-in-law from Sand Springs. “They drove just to come up and spend Bedlam, and they don’t even have tickets.
“We’ll all sit here — all these chairs, we put them out — and everyone’s welcome to them. There’s a lot of game talk and stuff like that, but it never gets out of hand.”
This odd coupling of orange and crimson epitomized the side of Bedlam many fans will miss when the Sooners depart for the Southeastern Conference next season.
Year after year, the in-state rivalry has served as the centerpiece for a rollicking social event.
Inside Boone Pickens Stadium, the sold-out crowd of Sooners and Cowboys remained vocal throughout OSU’s 27-24 win. The amped-up environment spilled beyond the stadium and into parking lots, where “Boomer, Sooner” chants echoed along with country music drifting from Cowboy tailgates.
Sporting jerseys of their favorite Pokes and Sooners, children tossed footballs and played cornhole. Even dogs arrived at tailgates dressed in team apparel.
Fans on both sides bid adieu to Bedlam with one grand party.
“I think it’s cool, all the interaction between the orange and red,” said Chad Brumbaugh, an OU fan at the Keeler tailgate. “It’s awesome.”
Not every fan had sentimental feelings about the rivalry. Near the Keelers, a tent displayed a flag showing a TV screenshot of Caleb Williams wearing a defeated expression following OU’s 37-33 loss to the Cowboys in 2021.
How did this group of tailgaters want to send off the Sooners?
“Don’t go away mad,” one fan said. “Just go away.”
The in-state feud has undoubtedly carried tension over more than 100 years, and the Cowboys have often entered matchups with a chip on their collective shoulder since OU holds the all-time advantage.
Orange and red, adjacent shades on the color wheel, are meant to clash.
But as strange as it sounds, the Cowboys and Sooners have historically united over one point: their distaste for each other. Watch parties often include fans from both sides. Bedlam rivalries permeate friend groups and cross family lines, something non-Oklahomans have also experienced.
Reginald and Sharn Barbarin from Trophy Club, Texas, tailgated Saturday for their first Bedlam, recognizing it was also likely their last. The couple donned matching “House Divided” T-shirts, sharing a neutral approach because of the Cowboy and Sooner ties within their family.
Courtland, their elder son, attends OU. Younger son Brice is an OSU student, so the Barbarins jumped on the chance to buy tickets early.
Reginald and Sharn, both LSU fans, didn’t have to spend much time immersed in the Bedlam atmosphere before sensing the unique nature of the in-state rivalry.
“At the same time, it’s something that brings the state together, too,” Sharn said. “So I love that.”
And the last Bedlam brought plenty of fans out of the woodwork as if they were characters from past seasons returning for the finale of a long-running TV show. Jerrod Raglin said he hadn’t attended Bedlam since he was an OSU student in 1999, but he tagged along with a few of his Sooner friends Saturday. An orange dot in a crowd of crimson, he sat in the OU section, enduring the constant “Boomer Sooner” blaring from the band one aisle away from him.
Naturally, the group of pals also ended up at the Keeler tailgate.
A smorgasbord of food, from chili to desserts, was arranged on a table, and old friends constantly greeted one another.
Franki observed the lively social scene, knowing this was likely the last time to see this friendlier side of Bedlam.
“With (the schools) not having Bedlam anymore, it’s gonna be a huge disappointment,” Franki said. “I think that’s why this is such a big turnout, because this could be the last one. There’s gonna be some tears, I know.”
Maybe, she said, the group would have a Bedlam party at someone’s house in the future even without a game just so the Cowboy and Sooner fans could catch up with one another. Year after year, her father-in-law’s bright orange tailgating truck has served as a gathering place, showing that a Cowboy and a Sooner can, in fact, be friends.
“They have OU and OSU (fans), and nobody gets out of hand,” Franki said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, we’ll meet at the tailgate; we'll meet at the tailgate,' so everybody just meets here."
