Ticket Scalping

This ticket that is valued at $125 was bought by
a scalper for $75. A scalper was asking for $100 just
30 minutes before kickoff and eventually sold the
ticket for $60 10 minutes before kickoff. [PHOTO:
Joseph Truesdell]

Ticket scalpers have long been an attachment outside of sporting events, concerts, and other big events, but in Oklahoma it’s all about the Sooners’ and Cowboys’ football games.

Ticket scalping has become a fixture in our culture at nearly all sporting events and concerts. In Norman and Stillwater specifically, the scalping business is booming when both football teams are among the top 10 in the nation.

In some states, it is written that ticket resale is against state law, but in Oklahoma the state leaves the decision for each city to make. Scalping rarely occurs anywhere other than Norman, Oklahoma City, Stillwater, and Tulsa.

“Currently the city of Norman does not have an ordinance that prohibits someone from selling their tickets to a sporting event or some other event for more than face value,” said Norman City Attorney Rick Knighton.

City ordinances allow ticket resale in Norman and Stillwater, where in years like 2011, football tickets can carry outlandish prices.

In Oklahoma City where there are multiple concerts, NBA games, and other attractive events like Big 12 basketball tournaments, the city code states that it is illegal to sell a ticket for more than 50 cents above face value.

In 2006 at the University of Oklahoma, the OU athletic department and ticket office combined to form an online ticket exchange through the sooner sports website.

“The ticket marketplace was formed to provide a safe and secure place for fans to buy and sell tickets,” said senior associate athletic director Kenny Mossman. “If a fan purchases tickets from outside the stadium or from another vendor, there might be some question as to the validity of those tickets and by providing tickets through our website we have given fans the opportunity for fans to purchase tickets that way.”

Ticket scalping outside of venues on event will never go away due to the amount of people searching for good priced tickets during the last minute. However, the ticket-scalping world has slowed in past years because of online vendors and advertisements such as Craigslist and StubHub.

[VIDEO: Joseph Truesdell, runs: 1:30]

OU Feature Twirler Awes Crowds

University of Oklahoma feature twirler Megan McGeary has been impressing crowds at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium at every home game this football season and will continue her twirling during the basketball seasons.

The junior multi-disciplinary studies major grew up in Altoona, Penn. in what she called a “hotbed” of twirlers.

“There are several twirling studios, it’s had a couple Miss Majorettes of America, and everyone twirls there because they dream of twirling at PSU,” McGeary said.

Because the twirler at Penn. State is allowed to twirl all four years of her college career, McGeary was unable to be the feature twirler at PSU and was set on being a feature twirler, rather than being on the majorette line.

Though she originally wanted to be at PSU, McGeary loves OU.

“If I had to do it over again and got the opportunity to twirl at PSU, I would pick OU every time, 10 times over,” McGeary said, “I was meant to be at OU.”

McGeary enjoys OU, the area, and the state so much she plans to start her career here after graduating. McGeary intends to open her own twirling studio to teach and coach young twirlers while also performing at events and games.

In the immediate future, McGeary will twirl throughout the OU basketball season and will train for the Miss Majorette of America competition in which she has finished first runner-up the past two summers.


[VIDEO: Joseph Truesdell, runs: 1:25]

Investigative Journalism

Britten Follett talks to students at Gaylord.
PHOTO: Matthew Shaffer

The book “Who Killed Kelsey?” written by Britten Follett and Cherokee Ballard is an investigative report about the abuse of a two-year-old girl and neglect of those working her case.

Follett and Ballard were TV reporters at the time of Kelsey Briggs murder and were covering the case for their respective stations.

The two former reporters recently met with OU students in the Gaylord College. The talk was centered on their careers in investigative journalism and specifically the Kelsey Briggs case.

The two reporters’ incentive for writing the book and digging deeper into the case was to hold everyone involved in the case accountable, mainly judges and the Department of Human Services caseworkers.

“When you try to hold a state agency accountable you get a lot of doors slammed in your face, you get a lot of no comments and you don’t get phone calls returned” Ballard said.  “It was so important, I think, to us as journalists but also to newsrooms around the state. When they would continue to get calls about dead children and DHS involvement and another case I really think that DHS perhaps one day will either be revamped or reorganized.

The two reporters do believe that something was brought to justice following all of their reporting. Ballard noted that the reporting over Kelsey’s case did hold the judge accountable and that she was to blame for him not being re-elected.

“He blames the coverage and me specifically for him losing that seat,” Ballard said.

The book and case led to the passage of “Kelsey’s Law,” which changed the way judges are held accountable in child-abuse cases and also gave the state and DHS the ability to hire more caseworkers.

“I think both of us are one hundred percent responsible for putting Raye Dawn in prison. I do not believe that the district attorney would have ever filed charges against the mom had we not been doing the stories asking why she wasn’t charged,” Follett said.

Ballard and Follett want to hold others accountable in the hopes that it will change the positions of judge and caseworker in the future.

“You’re getting the word out, you are getting the story out there to the point where perhaps it could help save another child’s life,” said Ballard

Cherokee Ballard answers questions from prospective
journalists at Gaylord. PHOTO : Matthew Shaffer.

Both women have moved on from the broadcast journalism field. Ballard held a job at the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office but is now the communications manager at the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company. Follett has moved on to her family’s company, Follett International, to be the marketing manager.

Sooners' Student Section Rebuilds with Team

For the past two seasons, the University of Oklahoma men’s basketball team has been below par and expectations. After the firing of head coach Jeff Capel and hiring Lon Kruger, the Sooners look to be back on track for greatness.

Top Daugs secretary Jared Schmidt (Right helmet) cheers
on the Sooners in their second exhibition game of the
2011-2012 season. PHOTO: Joseph Truesdell

In 2009-2010 the Sooners went just 14-18 and didn’t make it past the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Last year the Sooners improved one game in the win column and went one game further in the Big 12 tournament but finished at 15-18 and again missed out on the NCAA tournament.

Following Naismith Award winner Blake Griffin leaving OU early to be the NBA’s number one draft pick, the Sooners have suffered and student attendance has taken a hit with each loss. The Sooners posted a 33-6 record in that 2008-2009 season but following the Elite 8 appearance in the NCAA tournament the program suffered under the direction of Capel.

The Sooners new head coach Lon Kruger has rebuilt programs in the past and since his arrival in the 2011 spring semester he has done the same. Kruger took care of recruiting in the spring and then focused on how to rebuild the fan base that had once thrived during Blake Griffin’s playing days.

The Sooners’ new head coach has met with multiple groups of people about how to get the students and community more involved with the games. Kruger met with over 20 fraternity and sorority presidents about how to get more students to attend games. The coach has made the everyday practices open to the public. Coach Kruger made an announcement just weeks before the season that student season tickets would be discounted by 70 percent, making the tickets only $40 for 16 home games.

The OU student section has undergone a renovation of its own. The name for the past five years has been Capel’s Crew, which obviously doesn’t work now that Capel is gone. The group gathered together and decided to rename the group Top Daugs in memory of OU’s mascot from the 1980’s to 2004.

President of the Top Daugs, Matt Wormus, was a freshman in the 2009-2010 season when the Sooners began their downfall.

“College basketball is one of the few sports where the casual fan can make a difference in the outcome and I wanted to be a part of that here at OU,” Wormus said.

Though Wormus started his OU cheering career while the Sooners were under Capel’s direction, he has noted that he doesn’t mind the change to Kruger.

“Kruger is just a much more open man to the public,” Wormus said, “With Capel it felt like it was dealing with the man behind the curtain, but with Kruger you get exactly what his personality is made of.”

Kruger has been open to the fans about getting them to practices and to the games, but has asked for help from the Top Daugs as well.

“Coach Kruger comes and talks to us before the start of every game,” said secretary of the Top Daugs Jared Schmidt, “Normally talks about the excitement of the game, asks if we are ready to cheer loud and we will discuss ways to get more students into the student section.

The fans that have been to practices or the first two exhibition games realize that the OU program is on the rise, but there are many who don’t.

“Kruger brings a much faster defensive style of play which will be much more popular with the fans. Just have to get the fans to realize that this will not be like the last two years of basketball here are OU,” Wormus said.

Guadalajara Native Eduardo Castiello Adds Diversity to OU Golf Team

University of Oklahoma golfer Eduardo Castiello was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico where, unlike countries such as Ireland or the U.S., few pursue a future in golf.

Eduardo Castiello hits the golf course with a more dressy casual
look than his fellow Sooner teammates. The look is a reflection
on his Guadalajara style. PHOTO: Joseph Truesdell

Three Big 12 teams, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas A&M, are currently ranked in the nation’s top 10. No. 1 OSU’s roster includes two Germans and one native of Denmark while no. 6 Texas has three international born players coming from Finland, South Africa and Venezuela. Texas A&M, on the other hand, has no players from outside the U.S.

In the past four years international competitors have dominated the PGA tour. From 2008-2011, of the 16 major golf tournaments, international players have won 11. Three from South Africa, three from Northen Ireland, two from the Republic of Ireland, and one each from Germany, South Korea and Argentina.

OU men’s golf head coach Ryan Hybl mentioned that the international success in pro golf has influenced the way college coaches recruit in the U.S.

“What we see in pro golf, the success by international guys, does influence the way coaches recruit,” Hybl said, “you want to win no matter where you are and you’re going to get the best players to do that.”

The OU women’s team has four international golfers spanning from Thailand, Australia and two from Canada.

Eduardo Castiello began playing soccer at age seven and it wasn’t until four years later that he picked up golf as a hobby.

“I played soccer all my life, when I was 11 I just started playing golf as a hobby with my parents in the summer and I really liked it so I just kept playing,” Castiello said.

Castiello continued to play for fun, but began to realize his potential in golf

“I was pretty good at it so I just kept playing and I was getting better and I was excited about it.”

Eduardo, known by his OU coach and teammates as Eddie, wasn’t highly recruited by colleges and universities in the U.S. but wasn’t bothered because he knew OU was the right place.

“I got a couple of letters from San Antonio University and New Orleans, but after OU I just stopped looking at schools because I knew this was the one.”

The players and coaches all agree that Castiello is as good for the team as the team is for him.

“Everybody loves Eddie. He’s happy go lucky and really funny,” teammate and future roommate Ben Klaus said.

Other than his attitude and his attributes on the course, coach Hybl says Castiello will help them down the road.

“He has helped us get in touch with some other guys in Mexico and I think it will help more down the road,” Hybl said.

Though his teammates enjoy having Eddie on the team, they do notice little differences in things such as his clothing style.

“The international style is a little different but somewhat the same with an accent.” Klaus said.

Aside from his OU teammates and parents, Castiello has played with friends in Guadalajara who have also come to play golf in the U.S.

“I have a cousin that plays for Texas State here and I usually practiced with him everyday in Mexico,” Castiello said, “my cousin and also Carlos Otiz who plays for North Texas. We were pretty comparative.”

Eduardo noted that his decision to come to OU was somewhat due to the lack of colleges that provide golf as a sport in Mexico.

“Here you have a lot of sports and it’s the only way to keep playing golf as an amateur so I just came here. Kept the dream,” Castiello said.


In the below video, Eduardo Castiello talks about why he decided to come to the U.S. to pursue a career at OU in golf.

[AUDIO: Joseph Truesdell, runs: 1:25

OU Golf's Dynamic Duo

University of Oklahoma golfers Ben Klaus and Will Kropp have been friends and a golf tandem since a young age. The two grew up in Edmond, OK and went to high school at Edmond North where Ben graduated in 2007 and Will in 2008. The two golfers have a never-ending list of awards and honors including all-state and all-american individual honors and members of seven total state championships and both were a part of the 2006 McDonald's High School National Championship team.

After graduating from Edmond North in 2007, Ben became a Commodore at Vanderbilt University while Will entered his final year at Edmond North.

In the 2007-2008 school year, Ben competed in four events at Vanderbilt and Will won his fourth straight state championship at Edmond North. Following his graduation, Will attended Georgia University. Will was recruited to Georgia by former Bulldog assistant coach and current OU head coach Nate Hybl.

Though the two longtime friends were at different universities, one in Tennessee and one in Georgia, the friends were still close.

In 2009, Hybl was hired by OU to restore the winning tradition that they had lost in the years since the Sooners’ 1989 national championship. When Hybl came to OU, Kropp followed.

Klaus started to consider the idea of transferring after he heard of Kropp’s full release. Klaus played the 2009 fall season at Vanderbilt after coming off of an ACL injury. Though he felt improvement in his game, his scores weren’t showing. His family, swing coach and he all felt he would be happier and more succesful at OU.

Klaus was released to talk with Coach Hybl and both agreed it would be better for Klaus and the team to transfer to OU.

The two friends were reunited at OU in the spring of 2010 and have been roommates since.

[Slideshow: Joseph Truesdell; runs, 2:02]

OU Crew and Rowing test the waters

Women's eight rowing team at the Head of 

Oklahoma regatta. Photo courtesy of 

Soonersports.com

At 5:30 a.m. on weekday mornings, many University of Oklahoma students are still sleeping. Most student-athletes are even still asleep. The OU crew and rowing teams are at the Chesapeake Boathouse on the Oklahoma City River in Oklahoma City.

Unlike many sports at OU, the crew and rowing teams don’t have the luxury of on-campus facilities to practice. The disadvantage doesn’t end with having to drive north on I-35 Monday through Friday, but because of scheduling conflicts they have to practice from 5:30 to 7:30 every weekday morning.

The Rowing team is sponsored by OU but the mens and womens crew teams are not. The crew teams are club sports, meaning they have to pay dues every semester to pay for travel expenses, uniforms, boathouse fees and regatta entrances fees.

The crew teams are comprised of athletes many of whom have never rowed before coming to OU. Only one of the 10 men on the crew team had rowed before college.

Rustenhaven, who played football and baseball at South Grand Prairie High School in Texas, missed playing organized sports during his freshmen year at OU.

“It’s one of the best workouts I’ve ever done and I missed being part of a team and competing,” Rustenhaven said.

Aside from the rowers, coaches and others involved with the program have experience on the water.

Robin Urquhart works at the Chesapeake boathouse. Urquhart teaches basics and is a coxswain for a corporate program. Urquhart is also a coxswain for one of the men’s crew teams and unlike her Chesapeake boathouse duties; Urquhart doesn’t receive anything for her services with the crew team.

“I compete with the crew team because I love rowing and being in charge of the boat,” Urquhart said.

The team competed in their first regatta in Oklahoma City this weekend and will travel to Austin, Texas and Wichita, KS for their final two later this semester. The fall season is composed of 2.5 mile, 5000 meter, and 4000 meter races while the spring events are made up of 2000 and 500-meter sprints.

Map of the Head of Oklahoma regatta on the Oklahoma City River. Map courtesy of oklahomariverevents.org

Slideshow

This slideshow is conducted of the sights and sounds from the group tables in the Bizzell Memorial Library.

Roddick Brothers to Play in Oklahoma City

OU men’s tennis coach, John Roddick, and his brother Andy will play as a doubles team in the Oklahoma Tennis Classic on Sunday, September 25, at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.

The Roddick brothers, unlike other tennis siblings Venus and Serena Williams or Bob and Mike Bryan, were unable to play doubles matches growing up. The Williams sisters are separated by one year in age and the Bryan brothers by just three minutes while the Roddicks are six years apart

“When you’re 18 and he’s 12 it’s just too hard to play. As far as juniors go the age difference was just too extreme.”

The two started their doubles endeavors in 2001.

“We used to do some of these when I traveled with him full-time as his coach. We did several of these, usually against the Bryan brothers. We played doubles in Washington D.C. in one of the U.S. Open series events in 2001.”

The two will play against Mardy Fish and David Martin, both of which have been coached by John Roddick.

The Oklahoma Tennis Classic is a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls club, but is also designed to bring awareness to tennis in the Oklahoma City area.

“They do these in a lot of cities. For here I think it’s important for the city and for the awareness of tennis. They don’t get a ton of tennis events. I think this is the first kind of big time tennis event since Davis Cup in 2002.”

Though the match is an exhibition, the Roddicks have a passion for tennis and share an intensity to win.

“Andy and I had a similar playing style as far as our passion, but I see it as you have two choices: you can either win or lose and I want to win,” Roddick said.

"Definition of Marriage" Lecture

Photo Courtesy of JohnCorvino.com.

On Friday, September 9, the OU department of philosophy welcomed speaker, writer and philosopher John Corvino to speak at OU’s campus to address an audience of around 100 students and faculty members.

The department of philosophy invites four or five speakers per year as a part of their colloquium. Graduate students and faculty members of the department choose the speakers.

“We had two people suggest Corvino and that’s what brought him to our attention,” said Martin Montminy, philosophy department professor.

Montminy added that 45-50 people typically attend an event made up of mostly philosophy faculty and grad students, but they expected more of a general audience to attend Corvino’s lecture and were surprised by the turnout.

Corvino’s lecture was over his paper called “The Definition of Marriage,” which was taken from an approaching book he is co-authoring with Magie Gallagher, “Debating Same Sex Marriage.”

According to his website, Corvino has produced books, multiple columns, a DVD and lectured for professional organizations, government contractors, churches, and hundreds of college and university audiences.

Though he has spoken at multiple venues, some close to Corvino had shown uncertainty about him speaking at OU.

“Some friends of mine expressed concern that I was speaking about issues related to gay marriage in Oklahoma. To which my respone was ‘well, how bad could it be, their state song is a show tune,’” Corvino said in his opening remarks.

Corvino’s lecture over the subject of same-sex marriage is a thought provoking one. Corvino says it is his goal to get people to think more clearly about the issues of same-sex marriage.

“With this paper, I want people to understand that while the "Definitional Objection" raises some interesting philosophical questions, ultimately it is a distraction from the more pressing moral question of how to treat gay and lesbian individuals, couples, and their families.”