st. mary's of bethlehem was an insane asylum in london. the word 'bedlam' derives from a corruption of the word 'bethlehem.' 'bedlam' came to be a descriptor of chaos and insanity similar to what was rampant in that asylum.

fast forward to oklahoma territory in 1904 (i think) which was the first football game between ou and oklahoma a&m. the story i've heard was that the ball went into a creek at one point and players from each team dove in to recover it. it was chaos. hence the game was dubbed bedlam. the name stuck.

-M