On the extremes, fans say good riddance to Bedlam football, but the moderates understand what is lost.

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The calendar keeps bringing Bedlam requiems. Football in November. Basketball in February. The baseball finale comes in April; and softball in May.

Wrestling, the originator of the phrase and the sport that first brought mayhem to the rivalry, gets a pass, since the Southeastern Conference does not sponsor the sport and the Sooners still will compete in Big 12 wrestling. OU can’t very well duck the Cowboys being in the same league.

We all will miss the Bedlams — wait, that’s not true. Not all will miss the Bedlams. Some will not.

And sure, we don’t know what iteration of Bedlam will endure in some of these sports. Basketball likely will figure it out and play. Baseball, too. Softball, I don’t know, even if it’s silly to think that a series matching two programs 85 miles apart, one the nation’s best and the other a World Series regular, would go dark.

But football is dormant. OSU’s non-conference schedule is full up until 2029. OU’s non-conference schedule is in flux because the SEC is taking forever to decide how many conference games to play starting in 2025.

However, let’s be clear about something. Bedlam football is headed for hiatus and not because of logistics. As the pandemic proved, college football schedules can be changed somewhere between the snap of a finger and a simple phone call.

Who killed Bedlam football? The rivalry's blood is on many hands - and just like in “Murder on the Orient Express,” they all are guilty.@BerryTramel presents the evidence for Sellout Crowd - thread below! 🧵 https://t.co/apMzNbjSjU pic.twitter.com/CWmVOpIdNY

— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) October 30, 2023

The scheduling challenges at each school are something akin to a bicycle blocking the driveway. 

Bedlam football is headed for hiatus because certain people don’t want it. And I’m not even talking about decision-makers, necessarily.

The Bedlam demise actually is a political game. On this Super Tuesday, look at it this way.

American politics is heavily influenced by extremists, on each side. Extremists generally run the show during the primaries; the dug-in, don’t-compromise crowd has a huge say in party politics. Then we get to the general election, and the voters in the middle decide a winner.

Football scheduling is the primary.

Lots of fans on each side are glad to see Bedlam end. For different reasons, obviously.

OSU fans are weary of the Sooner dominance and think it just fine that Bedlam goes the way of the wind, especially since the Cowboys have found some footing, winning two of the last three.

Most hard-core OU fans see snubbing Bedlam as their latest fix for a superiority complex. They like to lord over the in-state rival, and going to the SEC gives the Sooners the ultimate thumb-nose to the Cowboys. The SEC is many things, and its vanity is near the top of that list. The SEC thinks highly of itself, and the Sooners, for some good reason, will fit in nicely.

Most hard-core OSU fans see ending Bedlam the way a family sees a boorish uncle leaving Christmas dinner. Glad that’s over with. The Sooners have dominated the series to ridiculous ends, often in heartbreaking fashion for the Cowboys, and O-State’s loyal posse has had plenty of Bedlam misery, thank you very much.

A couple of my long-time readers responded to my recent Bedlam basketball column with declarations stating exactly what I just described.

“Let me let you in on a poorly kept secret; the majority of OU fans and donors can live without Bedlam, perhaps regrettably,” said Greg Davis. “But OSU coaches, principally (Mike) Gundy, their AD (athletic director Chad Weiberg), administration and certainly their fans, have just run their mouths too much.”

That’s a delusional view, of course. In the eyes of OSU people, Gundy, If anything, has been far too deferential to the Sooners. And Chad Weiberg runs his mouth too much? See what I mean about extremism? Reality takes a holiday.

The image of Javian McCollum’s game-winner for Oklahoma on Saturday in Stillwater is seared into the memory of everyone who witnessed the Sooners’ 84-82 overtime win. @BerryTramel explains why it won’t be the last for the Bedlam basketball rivalry.https://t.co/PyzgZuRk00 pic.twitter.com/xEupKE1M02

— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) February 28, 2024

Now, the OSU counter.

“Bedlam basketball at Paycom (Center) would probably be pretty good,” said Andrew Neikirk, who calls himself the OSU psycho. “That Big 12 tourney game played at the Ford Center all those years ago was amazing. Bring back the All-College (Tournament) and make Bedlam part of it. But I’ll die on the hill of never playing Bedlam football again.”

Think about that statement. Throw out the series that has provided OSU its grandest stage (frequent Bedlams on ESPN’s College GameDay) and some of its favorite victories (2011, 2014, 2021, 2023).

But if you go closer to the middle, a more rational view develops. Why discard a series that is so interesting and entertaining? A series that brings so much acclaim to the state? A series that the combatants on both sides annually acknowledge as important and passionate.

In the middle, fans would support playing without facemasks before they would support dropping Bedlam. In the middle, football is not seen as identity, but as fun — a lovely diversion from bills and housework and the 9-to-5 grind.

And when primary season ends, and autumn arrives, and the games begin, and OU is playing South Carolina but not Bedlam, and OSU is playing Arizona State but not Bedlam, and the moderates start paying more attention to football, the Bedlam requiem will return, lamenting the loss of something quite special.