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Name:
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SeaRayMan
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Subject:
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Not all idiots are here!!
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Date:
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9/14/2007 8:08:29 AM
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- To some Oklahoma football fans,
there are things that just aren't done in the heart of
Sooner Nation, and one of them is to walk into a bar
wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt.
That's exactly what touched off a bloody skirmish that
left a Texas-shirt-wearing fan nearly castrated and an
Oklahoma fan facing aggravated assault charges that
could put him in prison for up to five years.
The shocking case has set off a raging debate in this
football-crazed region about the extreme passions
behind a bitter rivalry. Some legal observers have
even questioned whether this case could ever truly
have an impartial jury.
"I've actually heard callers on talk radio say that
this guy deserved what he got for wearing a Texas
T-shirt into a bar in the middle of Sooner country,"
said Irven Box, an attorney in this city 20 miles from
Oklahoma's campus in Norman.
According to police, 32-year-old Texas fan Brian
Christopher Thomas walked into Henry Hudson's Pub on
June 17 wearing a Longhorns T-shirt and quickly became
the focus of football "trash talk" from another
regular, 53-year-old Oklahoma fan Allen Michael
Beckett.
Thomas told police that when he decided to leave and
went to the bar to pay his tab, Beckett grabbed him in
the crotch, pulled him to the ground and wouldn't let
go, even as bar patrons tried to break it up. When the
two men were separated, Thomas looked down and
realized the extent of his injuries.
"He could see both of his testicles hanging on the
outside of his body," said Thomas' attorney, Carl
Hughes. "He was wearing a pair of white shorts, which
made it that much worse."
It took more than 60 stitches to close the wound, and
police interviewed Thomas at a nearby hospital
emergency room.
Beckett's attorney, Billy Bock, concedes that his
client commented about Thomas' shirt, but said it was
just good-natured ribbing and that he apologized to
Thomas when it appeared to upset the Texas fan. Later,
Bock said Thomas approached his client at the bar and
threatened him.
"My client is a little man, and this guy [Thomas] is
30 to 40 pounds bigger than him," Bock said. "He's
bigger, stronger, younger and probably faster, and he
aggressively leaned in and touched my client and
threatened to beat him up. ... My guy was defending
himself and just took control of the situation."
Thomas' attorney disputes Beckett's version.
"That's total malarkey," Hughes said. "My client never
said a word to him. He got up to pay and when he paid
and left a tip, the guy grabbed him."
Beckett, a 53-year-old church deacon, federal auditor
and former Army combat veteran, has pleaded not
guilty. His next court appearance comes Oct. 4, two
days before the Sooners and Horns tangle in their
annual football game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Thomas, who once lived in Houston and became a Texas
fan during the heyday of star running back Earl
Campbell, is still recovering from his injuries but
has returned to work as a meat cutter at a Sam's Club
warehouse store.
Like Beckett and Thomas, many fans of the two college
squads never attended either university, but have come
to identify so closely with these teams that they
attach banners to their cars, wear team colors on game
day and even have programmed their car horns to play
school fight songs.
Dallas police Sgt. Andy Harvey, a 12-year veteran of
the force, said it's not uncommon for fights to break
out between fans of the two schools.
"People are passionate about their teams and their
universities, and that's a good thing," he said, "but
when you mix a real passionate sports fan and then get
a little alcohol in there, sometimes it's not a good
mix."
On both Texas and Oklahoma fan Web sites, boosters
trade familiar tales of having their car tires slashed
or windshields smashed for sporting the opposing
team's sticker in enemy territory.
Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said the
rivalry will have no bearing on the way the case is
prosecuted.
"It appears that it played a part in the fight," he
said, "but that won't play any more of a role in our
handling of the case than would a fight over a girl or
a car or a song on the jukebox."
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