The Sooner Schooner is Oklahoma University’s horse-drawn wagon that comes out to rev up the crowd in Norman. Traditionally, a RUF/NEK (male spirit squad) hangs out of the back while holding up a flag, as demonstrated on the RUF/NEK Wikipedia page:
Today, things didn’t quite go according to plan, though it started out normally enough, with the ABC broadcast going to break right as the Schooner made its turn back for the tunnel:
But then things started to go wrong, as the dangling RUF/NEK was forced to put the roughness of his actual neck to the test when his partner’s grip slipped.
HOLD ON! HOLD ON! 🤕 pic.twitter.com/MYN1QYmyUr
— ESPN (@espn) November 10, 2018
Fortunately everyone seemed fine in the end. Apparently his neck was plenty rough after all.
Bonus discussion question: what would be the funniest possible college football tradition-related accident? There are plenty of live animals to choose from, but there has to be some possible disaster looming with Purdue’s giant drum, too.
If Ralphie the Buffalo got loose on the field he could take out a whole sideline