Emails dominated by OU-Chattanooga
Football season has arrived, which means the emails are heavy on the Sooners, and the joke of a game I wrote about in Sunday’s paper.
Craig wrote, “Matchups like that shouldn’t be allowed; 85,000 paying fans deserve better. OU would have a better scrimmage. I will say I was not pleased with the rushing production, off tackle. Off tackles, we should have been literally blowing them off the ball and gaining seven yards per. We actually only averaged four yards per carry, including DeMarco’s long run.”
Good point, but I think this is the truth about Chattanooga. The Mocs stacked the line and dared OU to throw deep. The Sooners, trying to be humane, did so sparingly. I’m not reading too much into anything about this game.Some wuss who didn’t even sign his name wrote, “I actually don’t know why I am wasting good time to e-mail you. I read your Bob Stoops editorial attack for OU’s opening game vs. Chattanooga. OU’s offense utilized their new no huddle offense to perfection, an offense they will need all season. They needed this first game to hone it to perfection. They are on the field to score TDs no matter the opponent. That is the purpose for playing the game. I have witnessed your Bob Stoops and OU Sooner Envy for many years with your trashy make-no-sense editorials, and Berry, it makes no Sooner mad, it just gives us an opportunity to laugh and to pity you. You must be tortured inside to watch OU’s many successes. Thanks for the great laugh, I appreciated it. Please don’t ever retire. You make our Sundays after great Sooner victories even more special.”
I don’t know why I am wasting good time to respond to your email, since this bozo wasn’t man enough to even sign his name. But congrats to him. He just became an honorary member of the Poor Aggies Club, the OSU people who always think the media is out to get them. This guy wrote that “they are on the field to score TDs no matter the opponent.” So explain Bob Stoops’ post-game quote: “You want to move the chains, and you don’t want to score points. That’s always a difficult situation.” This guy was rebuffed not by me, but by his own coach.Roy wrote, “Isn’t it sad that money is the only thing important to our universities. Not only OU but the rest of the Big 12? The only thing that can happen to you is to be embarrassed like Texas A&M. If money is the only thing important, why doesn’t OU play the Central State Bronchos? That way, they could keep all of the money in Oklahoma.”
It’s actually a decent question. Chattanooga is better than UCO, and the jump from Division II to Division I-A is quite a bit (30something scholarships compared to 63), but once you go so far down, it’s all pretty much the same.David wrote, “If in fact an entity such as the Almighty exists, I am quite certain that he/she/it cares nothing about OU football games, including the scheduling of overmatched teams as opponents. I tire of reading and hearing your thesis that big-time football schools are scheduling too many weak non-conference opponents. Many of us may wish for the return of the old days, but the world has moved on; it is time for you to do the same. The financialization and corporatization of big-time college football means that the current situation is here to stay, unless and until someone creates a different business model. It looks as if that won’t happen any time soon. And the most likely alternative would be an NFL style set-up, complete with full playoffs. As much as I hate the creeping big business culture, I would like college football to remain as different from the NFL as possible.”
Well then you should be happy, David. College football is as different from the NFL as possible. Virtually every NFL game is competitive. College football is loaded with non-competitive games.Max wrote, “What a travesty! That game was an affront to everything college athletics stand for. Sportsmanship? Next week we should just feed Christians to the lions. We seem to have needed a win and Rick Hart some money. A group of college players were beaten to a pulp in front of 85,000 fans that for their money deserved something better. I have been going to games since 1945. Have we become the bully? And will that get us ready for the likes of USC?”
Max couldn’t be more wrong. The OU-Chattanooga game was exactly what college athletics stands for. College athletics is about people protecting their status and position. OU is less guilty than most, but that doesn’t make a game like Chattanooga any easier to swallow.Manny wrote, “I paid $29.95 to watch OU and Tennessee-Chatttanooga, I am sure glad it wasn’t up to you to make the decision to stop the game or not. Chattanooga got paid plenty for playing OU. I haven’t had a response on an e-mail from you in a long time, so don’t expect one from you on this one.”
Actually, I respond to every email, including all of yours, Manny. This one, too. But it came back as undeliverable. Here’s what I wrote: I hope you enjoyed that second half, when Bob Stoops admitted the Sooners weren’t trying to score.PW wrote, “So, OU played Chattanooga because they ‘couldn’t find anyone else,’ just like BYU couldn’t find anyone else? Hey, guys, in these days of e-mail and phones and the net, I can’t believe someone somewhere couldn’t have figured out ‘Hey, why can’t we switch. OU will play BYU and Chattanooga can play Northern Iowa.’”
Actually, this is a superb question. It has an easy answer, but it’s a superb question. The reason is, because of economics. Who’s going to give up the home game, OU or BYU? Both have only six home games. Give one up, and that’s only five, which is a total budget killer. Of course, some of the teams that played a I-AA foe have seven home games. But they wouldn’t want to give up a home game, either.Not every college football email centered on the one-sided matchup. Roger wrote about the new 40-second clock rule. “Will we soon become used to a new football stat – S/OP (seconds per offensive play)? OU averaged 22.2 seconds per offensive play: 31.1 minutes of possession time = 1866 seconds; 1866/84 offensive plays = 22.2 seconds per offensive play (22.2 S/OP). Chattanooga averaged 32.7 seconds per offensive play.
Chattanooga used 48 percent more time per offensive play. This seems to be a big difference in a stat I never studied before. With such a lop-sided difference in scored (57-2), there was not much difference in time of possession. Is time of possession still an important factor in determining the winner — or is there now some value in completing more plays per minute of possession time? What other strategy changes should we expect under the new rules? Maybe the 40-second clock makes it harder to keep down the score when the teams are badly mismatched.
This is what makes my readers so great. Some of them think about stuff that the rest of us don’t. I don’t know the answers to Roger’s questions, other than overmatched teams generally will use more of the clock and try to shorten the game. But they are great questions.Dennis wrote, “I read with interest you comparison of Chattanooga and OU. I must, however, disagree on the date OU was established. The Oklahoma Territorial legislature in 1890 passed the organic act which established the University of Oklahoma, but OU didn’t enroll students until 1892, the date that is on my class ring from 1967. My question is that if OU played before 1892 were they Sooners and why didn’t they investigate the use of ineligible players. Shouldn’t those games be forfeited or did you just buy into OU’s misinformation that older is better. You are not a university until you have students, so I would correct everything to 1892.”
Let me get this straight. Your own email says OU was “established” in 1890, which is what we wrote. So what exactly is the problem? OU’s first team came in 1895, so I guess we can cancel the phone call to NCAA investigators.Jim wrote, “Let’s hope your article has some strength to it and the colleges stop playing high schools teams. Not just OU but all top 25 teams. It’s an insult to the season ticket holder and to the players to have to play in such a game. Maybe it is just me, but watching the OSU game, I came away with a dissatisfied feeling. The offensive line needs much improvement, they can not run the ball very well with that line. The defensive backfield got lucky that passes were dropped. Many times people ran by them. And the play-calling leaves much to be desired. How does a team come out of a timeout and then still looks back at the bench for many seconds to call a play while the defense gets settled? Then they can’t score from the 5-yard line.”
I don’t know how OSU could ask for much more than a 26-point road victory over a Pac-10 team. Seems to me a whole lot of good stuff happened for the Cowboys.Richard wrote, “My day isn’t complete until I check out your column and blog, but today’s story about Baylor sucked the life-force right out of me. I grew up in Norman, and I came back to get a masters in the J-school and hung around long enough for a national championship (thanks ‘85 Sooners!). But in between I went to Baylor for my undergrad. Staunch Baptist parents and all of that. When I went there the Bears won the SWC in ‘74, and in my four years there we had an overall winning record. I still have season tickets in both Waco and Norman. I hate it when I hear Baylor people say OU is just a bunch of uncouth rednecks, and I hate it when Sooner fans say Baylor should leave the Big 12. I was at the (Baylor) game last night and you are absolutely correct in saying there is precious little talent on the field. My take is that while Guy Morriss was a good coach, some alums didn’t like him because 1) he wasn’t Mike Singletary and 2) he was more of a beer drinking bubba than they were happy with. As a result, he didn’t get a contract extension the year he went 5-6 and barely lost to A&M and OU. The program seemed to deflate after that — assistants left and recruiting and performance reverted back toward the Kevin Steele (shudder) low point. It seems to me they have to stay with Briles, provide better facilities — the new on-campus practice facility will help, but I realize it is no match for what OSU has done, much less OU, UT and A&M — and recruit as best they can and get lucky with some people others don’t want. Leaving the conference would help in football, but it would be a slap in the face to our other programs who compete fairly well.”
I once was one of those kick-Baylor-out-of-the-Big 12 people. Not anymore. Somebody has to finish last. Might as well be Baylor.Jason took issue with our short story about Rhett Bomar leading Sam Houston State past East Central the other night. “Do you really think Bomar updates are warranted anymore? He is not even from the state, he was a starter for just one season and never was really connected to the state. Why do you need his name in the paper anymore? Just curious what the Oklahoman’s thoughts were on this? This isn’t coming from a sour grapes perspective. This is coming from someone who used to be in the journalism world and curious to know why the paper is still reporting on him when I believe he is no longer a story.”
Rhett Bomar will be a story 40 years from now. He became a Sooner villain, a status that is hard to lose. Bomar’s exploits – succeed or fail – are of interest to Oklahomans.Derek wrote, “I was watching the 2008 Sooner Preview last night, and I was struck by the demeanor of Bob Stoops during the show. This is the most congenial TV format I can conceive for him, yet he came off awkward, stiff and far from dynamic. (Dean Blevins wasn’t on top of his game, either, for that matter.) I must assume that Stoops is so uncomfortable on camera that the TV Stoops and the off-camera, coaching and recruiting Stoops are in essence two different people. Is this the answer? Or am I being unfair? My touchstone, of course, is Switzer, who, in his prime, came off on TV as knowledgeable and charismatic. It was easy to see why recruits would go to OU because he seemed to make everything so fun.”
I would say you’re right on, Derek. Stoops can no more be comfortable with the media than Switzer could be uncomfortable. Switzer couldn’t even get worked up at the Dallas media that was always on his case.And we had the usual solid array of NBA nickname suggestions. Ed, a KU fan, wrote, “Aside from the Oklahoma City Jayhawks, the only name that is really perfect is the Oklahoma City Indians. Do you have the courage to write about that one?”
I’ve already written about it, several times over the years. It’s a name that leads to offensive imagery. Outside of something indefensible like Redskins or Savages, the problem with American Indian names is not the name, but the imagery that comes with it.Paul wrote about the NBA name, “What about the Drillers?”
That certainly would be a shot across the bow of Tulsa.Rod wrote, “OK, I understand we are in the Bible belt, but why wouldn’t Diablos work? It sounds better than anything that has come to the table yet! Tell me our Spanish community wouldn’t love that.”
OK. The Spanish community wouldn’t love a Devils nickname.Hal wrote, “It seems to me the name of the basketball team should obviously be the Oklahoma Wind.”
Out of the hundreds of suggestions I’ve received, Wind is easily in the bottom five percent.Mary wrote, “I really enjoyed your column this morning. Hope Clay Bennett reads it. I like the Oaks better than Thunder, but they would probably wind up being the Okies.”
You’d be surprised how many people endorse Okies. I’m not one of them.Mickey wrote, “Really enjoyed your article several days past regarding team names. If the team is called Thunder, as it looks like, they’re in for it. I can hear it now: “You know why they called themselves the Thunder? They’re loud, make a lot of noise, but they’re not going to do any damage to us.” They should have gone with Thunderbirds.”
My hope is that in five years or so, Clay Bennett sees the error of his ways and adds “birds” to the end of his name.
OSU football: Great win in Seattle
We talked all week about how much was on the line for OSU in its Seattle game against Washington State. Much of that analysis focused on what would happen if the Cowboys lost. But here’s the benefit to playing such season openers: What if you win?
That’s exactly where OSU finds itself. Look at what the Cowboys gained from beating Wazoo 39-13 at Qwest Field. Confidence. Momentum. A victory to add to their already-established five sure wins.
This season suddenly looks different for State. Barring calamity, OSU will get off to a 5-0 start. I lumped Texas A&M in among OSU’s four tossup games this year; the most winnable of the four, but still a tossup. After Saturday, when Arkansas State beat A&M and OSU rolled, we have to adjust. I would make it six automatic wins, plus the victory over Washington State, and OSU is on track for seven wins, minimum.
The tossup games remain at Colorado and home against Oklahoma, which are the two toughest tossups on the original list. So it will remain difficult to get to 8-4 or 9-3. But still possible, especially if the Cowboys improve from was established in Seattle as a solid performance threshold.
Here’s more reason for optimism. Saturday, only two BCS-league schools won on the road. Southern Cal and OSU. Wake Forest did it, too, on Thursday, and as I post this, Kentucky looks like it will win at Louisville. But still, that’s good company for OSU.
2008 suddenly looks much more promising.
New OU video board looks great
OU-Chattanooga is only a few minutes from kickoff. OU’s new video board looks spectacular. Great picture. Large print. Cool graphics.
However, the new intro video has gone away from the “There’s Only One Oklahoma” of recent years. The new video is solid, and Barry Switzer says, “There’s only one Oklahoma” at the end. But the previous theme of old Sooners introducing current Sooners, and current Sooners introducing old Sooners — “There’s only one Keith Jackson,” Jermaine Gresham might say; “There’s only one Jermaine Gresham,” Jackson might say — has been scrapped. Which is a shame.
The new theme: “It’s Time” is OK but not nearly as cool as “There’s Only One Oklahoma.”:
Other observations: the new video spelled Gresham’s first name “Germaine.” Chattanooga is wearing gold jerseys, making this one of the few games in OU history in which neither team is wearing white. The fans booed the Mocs when they came onto the field, which is disappointing. Chattanooga did OU a big favor by agreeing to play.
”
Germaine
OU-Chattanooga: Parking first priority
It’s 7 a.m. Saturday, but I’m already mapping out my Game Day. And the biggest decision concerns parking. Where do I park to get to Owen Field?
Several factors are in play. OU gives some parking passes to media, but I don’t usually take them anymore. Lots of people need them more than I do. I can walk, and I like the adventure. You miss a lot of Game Day if you park right by the stadium.
I generally park north of campus, for a couple of reasons. For several years now, I’ve done pre-game radio on Campus Corner, and I’ll do some today, too, about 3:15 p.m. on the Sports Animal. But today, we’re starting a new enterprise on this very web site. Newsok.com will produce a pre-game show live from Campus Corner, beginning at 4 p.m. We’ll be set up in front of Starbucks on the corner of Boyd and Asp, so some by and say hello.
Anyway, I generally park north of Campus Corner somewhere. I’ve parked as far away as the raildroad tracks just south of the Depot. It’s not a bad walk from there into campus, although it’s a lot better in October than in August, I can tell you that.
Anyway, I wander through the neighborhoods and into Campus Corner and see a lot of things — and a lot of people — I wouldn’t otherwise see.
Today, I think I’ll leave my pass about 2 p.m., go park and walk to the pressbox. That way I can unload my gear, watch about 30 minutes of the OSU-Washington State game and then go back to Campus Corner for the multimedia duties.
After the game, the traffic will be gone by the time I’m through working, so maybe someone will give me a ride to my car. If not, it will be a nice walk.
Here’s my day. I’m going to post this, go outside and grab the newspaper, wait for my granddaughter to wake up and then take her to the Farmer’s Market. As you know, my daughter and granddaughter are living with us while my son-in-law is deployed in Iraq, and this summer Rileybird and I have made a habit of going to the Farmer’s Market. I’ve never been to the Farmer’s Market on Game Day. I think it will be fun.
I hope to get home in time to mow the backyard — the mower conked out on me yesterday after I finished the front — get cleaned up and watch the first wave of college football games. It’s a dud lineup for the 11-11:30 window. LSU-Appalachian State (if you’ve got ESPN Classic; I don’t), Syracuse-Northwestern, Bowling Green-Pitt (ESPNU), Virginia Tech-East Carolina and Florida-Hawaii.
The 2:30 window is packed. OSU-Washington State. USC-Virginia. Utah-Michigan. Of course, I won’t get to see much of that.
If I get home in time, I can catch the end of Oregon-Washington, which is an interesting season opener at 9 p.m. on Fox Sports. I guess that will depend on where I end up parking.
More of the same at Baylor
There will be no Big Bang Briles at Baylor. The Art Briles Era began with a thud Thursday night; the Bears lost 41-13 to Wake Forest at Floyd Casey Stadium, and it appears to be another meager season for Baylor football.
Baylor is void of a winning season since formation of the Big 12 in 1996, and Briles is the fifth coach being asked to win in a league in which every other school in the league has more advantages than does Baylor.
Briles did a solid job at Houston U., but strange why anyone thought Briles would be a big improvement over Guy Morriss. Morriss did a good job at Baylor; he didn’t win enough games, but he was a good coach.
Briles probably is, too, though his choice of quarterbacks was dubious. Briles started Miami transfer Kirby Freeman, who looked awful, which is how he looked at Miami. Freeman played at Owen Field last season and couldn’t throw a lick. So he’s supposed to lead Baylor’s pass-happy offense?
Briles soon went to redshirt freshman Robert Griffin III, a fantastic athlete who was a Big 12 hurdles champ last spring. Griffin can’t throw much better but is a load to bring down. He might have a future. Which is more than we might be able to say about Briles.
Wake Forest is a very solid team, thanks to Jim Grobe, as good a coach as there is in the business. Still amazing that the Demon Deacons made it to the Orange Bowl two years ago. But no way should Baylor lose by 28 points at home to a fellow Baptist school.
Hello, college football kickoff
One of America’s great sporting institutions, college football, kicks off tonight. But you wouldn’t know it.
Something like its basketball brothers, who open the season not in the spotlight but in the shadows, football slips in without making a sound. Six major-college games will be played tonight, including some decent matchups.
North Carolina State at South Carolina. Wake Forest at Baylor. Oregon State at Stanford. Not exactly Ohio State-Michigan, but not bad ballgames.
Yet where is the revelry? Where is the celebration? Even Saturday’s full lineup of games seems void of the party befitting the end of a long, hot summer with no football.
Only two sports launch their seasons with a boom, and baseball isn’t one of them. Baseball once began with a carnival. Parades and parties and opening pitches by presidents. Cincinnati, the oldest of baseball towns, was the traditional season opener. But now, tradition has been trumped, with games opening somewhere on Sunday night, and this season even almost a week before, with games in Japan. Japan!
The only two sports that trumpet their arrival are the NFL and NASCAR. NASCAR cuts out all the preliminaries by going straight to the Daytona 500, the great American race. And the NFL has embraced its product by spotlighting an opener. The NFL season now begins on a Thursday night, with a marquee matchup and a street party and a loud pronouncement that all pretenders can step aside. Our nation’s favorite pastime has arrived.
College football opens its season the way a poor hosts throws a party. Sends out a form letter without making personal contact. College football’s marquee time slot has become Labor Day, with a Monday night matchup of powers. Miami-Florida State held that slot for several years but backed out. This year, it’s UCLA-Tennessee, which isn’t half bad.
But why not set up a showdown on Thursday night? Why not ask Missouri-Illinois or Alabama-Clemson to move their game up a couple of days and take the national spotlight. Throw a party. Both those games this year are in big cities (St. Louis and Atlanta) on neutral fields. Have the world’s biggest tailgate today in Atlanta or St. Louis. Play a game the whole nation is waiting. Even huge games sometimes get lost on a Saturday, because there are so many games. A Thursday night season opener won’t.
Some schools are loath to move games off Saturdays because of campus traditions, but these games already are off campus. And some schools don’t mind playing Thursdays.
Let’s celebrate Opening Day. Let’s celebrate college football. Don’t let the sport come in like a lamb.
Best baseball books
Someone the other day asked me to run a list of my suggested sports books. I did a quick check and realized I was better off compartmentalizing the list. Today, baseball.
The majority of great sports books are baseball-based. Here are the 10 best baseball books I’ve read. Maybe I’ve forgotten a jewel, or something I read 30 years ago and no longer have a copy, but this list is pretty complete:
10. Clemente, by David Maraniss. A superb biography of Roberto Clemente, the great Pittsburgh Pirate and the icon of Puerto Rico.
9. Baseball Managers, by Bill James. As you will soon see, I believe James to be more than the best baseball writer around. I believe him to be the best baseball mind in America. This book analyzes managers in ways that will amaze you.
8. The Armchair Book of Baseball, edited by John Thorn. This anthology has all kinds of great writing, from magazine stories to poems.
7. Babe, by Robert W. Creamer. A no-holding-back biography of Babe Ruth, who lived an adventure matched by few Americans.
6. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton. Forty years later and still packs a punch. You will laugh out loud at Bouton’s irreverant look at the game he loves.
5. Joe DiMaggio: A Hero’s Life, by Richard Ben Cramer. If you never understood DiMaggio’s grip on the America of two or three generations past, you will after reading this. You will also come to believe that the great American hero was the great American jerk.
4. Politics of Glory, by Bill James. A rousing look at the Baseball Hall of Fame. How it works, who belongs in, who doesn’t belong in, how it could be better. Sounds interesting enough, but trust me. It’s more than interesting. It’s fascinating. James’ stories of Junior Stephens, who you probably heard of, and Jerry Priddy, who you probably haven’t, will enthrall you.
3. The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter. A simple, simple technique — transcribing the memories of ballplayers from the early days of 20th century baseball — brings the game to life.
2. Bill James’ Historical Baseball Abstract, by you know who. Every page is a treasure. James breaks down baseball decade by decade, making the history easy to understand. Then comes the funnest baseball read possible. Ranking the top 100 players at each position, with essays, some short, some not, on each player. Don’t ever let anyone tell you James is a stat geek. His observations and writings are funny and insightful.
1. The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn. Fabulous writing, fabulous subject (the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1952-53), fabulous premise (catching up with the graying stars of 20 years before).
Dialing in an NBA nickname
Anything I write about the NBA nickname only spurs more talk about nicknames. The good stuff I get from emails, I share. But sometimes, people pick up the phone and to tell me live what they think.
I got seven phone calls today from people suggesting nicknames, and to be honest, I forgot what one of them suggested. But the other six I wrote down. Some have been discussed before.
Chiefs, which I can’t endorse, since the Kansas City football team has it, and if you’re going to copy another major-league franchise’s name, it needs to be a ballteam on the other side of the country. KC is not that far away.
Okies, which I can’t endorse, since it would offend at least half the Oklahomans who still see it as a derisive term from the Dust Bowl. And the other half thinks it’s silly.
Sky. Oklahoma City Sky. Sorry, but it makes you run back to Thunder.
Arrows. Not awful, but not very good. I don’t see it as being germane to Oklahomans.
Mustangs. Good. Very good. It’s not going to win, but I like it. Good and solid. Ties in with the horse industry and with the Ford Center. Excellent option.
But a new nominee has arrived, which has no chance of winning but is at least interesting. Wrath. Oklahoma City Wrath. Singular. Abstract. Everything a nickname is not supposed to be. But it ties in with John Steinbeck and makes you think. I don’t vote for Wrath. But it’s not the worst name on the list.
Emails on Stoops & OSU schedule
Another week of emails, and lots of discussion about Bob Stoops. And other topics.
Colleen says too much Bob Stoops and not enough Olympics. “I am an OU graduate and an OU football season ticket holder for many years but even I say ‘enough already!’ I think you have devoted way too many pages in the last two weeks to OU football stories with every detail of coaches’ lives. I am expressing my disagreement with the choices of stories when I would have appreciated more stories about the Olympic sports and athletes. There has been a lot of TV coverage of the Olympics but some of the minor sports have not been featured. Such sports as shooting, archery, fencing, wrestling, synchronized swimming etc. are sports in which many Oklahomans are participants in amateur arenas. Please cover a wider range of sports and do not concentrate so acutely on college football and especially OU football.
Well, I appreciate all suggestions, but if we cut back on OU football to make room for archery and fencing, we’ll soon be cutting back on things like employees.
Jim, an OSU fan, did not appreciate the Stoops series. “This endless love affair with a favorite son from a dying rust belt city that seems to go on forever in the paper confuses me on many levels. Purists like myself, and if Bob were given truth serum, he would agree with me I’m sure, that the one national championship he is credited with leaves a sour taste in his mouth since 66 percent of the starting 22 plus two kickers, were recruited by Boo (Blake). Eddie Sutton was so quick to point out, many, many times, that his early success was in great part the result of the great talent that was left by Leonard (Hamilton). Why is Bob Stoops, after a decade of not winning a national title on his own, so loved and revered? Why the weeklong adoration? It’s like Obama in the press. In the quest of coaching to the standards of UO football (national titles), he pales in comparison to legends like Bud and Barry, yet he seems to be equally if not more revered by the Kool-aid masses. It amazes me. Think about it. After his first 10 years Mike Gundy will have just as many national titles while coaching his recruited players as Bob will have. Mike won’t play for any like Bob has, but he’ll have just as many.”
Jim actually had a lot of other creative lines, but I’ve got to condense this post somewhere. All I’ll say in response is that anyone who thinks John Blake deserves partial credit for OU’s national title would say that FDR should share his presidential legacy with Herbert Hoover, because without the Great Depression, where would Roosevelt have been?
OSU fans also wrote about my take on the Cowboys’ home schedule, which lacks meat past Bedlam. Josh, a self-proclaimed OSU psycho, is one of my favorite readers. Always makes a good point, even when he wants to disagree. “I read your blog about the difficulty of OSU selling tickets because of a weak schedule. I am gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there for one simple reason – timing. The OSU Big 12 home schedule this season is probably the weakest it will be in the four-year rotation. It might be overkill to go the Buffs route and schedule ourselves into mediocrity because of our Big 12 rotation. In 2009 we’ll host Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Missouri and, the way it looks right now, Tech. N.C. State, Washington State, Air Force, Arizona and Clemson all appear on future non-conference slates for the Pokes. If the teams remain at a similar strength, the next time this schedule rolls around in 2012, it should be much more enticing with a better non-conference.”
Good points – and that was my point. Next year’s OSU home schedule looks very good. But that doesn’t help sell tickets in 2008 and it won’t help sell tickets in 2012 when Iowa State and Baylor are back in Stillwater with assorted non-conference rumdums.
G.G. also chimed in on the OSU schedule, saying athletic director Mike Holder “has already sold more season tickets then last year. He is already showing his decision was a success. As the team continues to win, the stadium will fill. I think you need to give it time. In regards to OU having a better home schedule??? Wow, I don’t see it…”
G.G. also makes some good points. But no one really wants to address my main theme, which was that OSU might have to upgrade its non-conference to entice more fans. That’s precisely what Colorado has done. OSU’s non-conference schedules isn’t bad. But it’s not attractive. Houston and Troy are decent teams, but not decent draws. I know everyone in college east of USC is dumbing down their schedule, but the price is slow ticket sales. As for OU’s home schedule, it’s clearly better. Iowa State is OSU’s third-best draw; the Cyclones clearly are a bigger name than Houston or Troy. Kansas, which won the Orange Bowl eight months ago, is OU’s third-best draw.
Bob wants to talk Big 12 championship game, 2007. “I do not like Chase Daniel. He is a big crybaby that seems to blame everyone but himself. Is there any chance that we could have the championship game in San Antonio every year? What a great place to have a game.”
I don’t know what it has to do with anything, but Daniel had lunch with Warren Buffet the other day. And no, no chance of San Antonio hosting every year. Jerry Jones and the Big 12 North schools will have something to say about that.
There was some Olympic talk. Leonard wants me to consider Edwin Moses for my list of the 10 greatest Olympians. “He won gold in 1976, would have won another in ‘80 (had Carter not discovered the Commies at the Khyber Pass) and took his last gold in ‘84. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals, 127 consecutive races and set the world record in the event four times. Moreover, he gave back to the sport. In 1988, he designed and created amateur sport’s first random out-of-competition drug testing program.”
Edwin Moses is a total stud, but his achievement was defined by all those victories between Olympics. Which doesn’t make him an epic Olympian.
Craig took exception to my supporting Usain Bolt’s antics in the 100 meters. “You guys think it is charming Bolt was goofing off? He is a showboat. Phelps won one of his golds because he kept trying and even did a half stroke while his competitor was gliding the last few feet. It won the Gold for Phelps and won over my respect. That is the Olympic spirit. It would have been funny as hell if someone had blew past Bolt as he was showing off.”
If someone had blown past Bolt as he was showing off, they would have been running 74 mph. I say anyone celebrating victory – and still setting a world record – deserves our admiration. Not our condemnation.
Jeff is upset with CBS’ Dan Dierdorf “for referring to Adrian Peterson as AP. Dierdorf surely knows (at least he should know) that Peterson is called AD, short for All Day. Dierdorf had a great opportunity Saturday evening to tell the story of Peterson’s father giving him the nickname as a child because he could run ‘all day.’ CBS and their color announcer blew it.”
Well, I can’t disagree. Dierdorf should have known better. But as nicknames go, I never have liked AD. All Day Peterson sounds a lot better. Sort of like Too Tall Jones. TT Jones would have sounded silly.
Craig wrote about my Tony Casillas column. “I wanted to pass along an incident involving Tony Casillas from back in about 1991. I had an employee who, at 48 years of age, came down with leukemia. Gary was going on permanent disability. He was also a gung ho ex-marine, and one of my salespeople. He wanted to go out and celebrate one last time at a local nightspot in Oklahoma City. It was the old Cajuns Wharf and it had just changed into a country music/ dance place, if I recall. I noticed Tony Casillas there and struck up casual conversation. While we were talking, Tony asked me if I was there alone, because he was there alone. I replied, I was out for one last fling with a guy who was dying with leukemia. To my surprise, Tony said he wanted to meet Gary and shake his hand for serving his country as a Marine. Gary was only about 5-9, 170 pounds, but he had these huge vise grip hands. Gary used to shake hands with people and make them cringe. Tony and I walked over to Gary and I introduced the two. I will never forget how gracious Tony was that night to Gary.”
I love these kinds of stories. Keep them coming.
Big 12 football going off campus
The announcement that Kansas State and Iowa State will play in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium in 2009 and 2010 means that every Big 12 school except Nebraska has committed to playing a neutral-site game.
Not so long ago, OU-Texas at the Cotton Bowl was it for Big 12 neutral-site games. Now look what’s happened.
* Kansas and Missouri play in Kansas City this year for the second straight season.
* Colorado and Colorado State play in Denver next Sunday for the ninth time in the last 11 seasons.
* Texas A&M has signed a contract with Arkansas to play in Arlington, Texas, for 10 years starting in 2009.
* Oklahoma State and Texas Tech have agreed to play neutral-site games but still are negotiating whether they will occur in Dallas’ Cotton Bowl or Arlington’s new Dallas Cowboys stadium.
* Baylor is scheduled to play Notre Dame in New Orleans in 2012; the game originally was scheduled for Arlington, but Big 12 television contracts forbade NBC, which owned the rights because it’s Notre Dame’s home game, from televising a Big 12 team inside Big 12 territory.
And even Nebraska has tried the neutral site gig, playing OSU at Arrowhead Stadium in 1998.
The money is too much to pass up for most schools. We see the same thing happening in other conferences, including the SEC. Arkansas is playing A&M. Georgia and Florida play every year in Jacksonville. Alabama is playing Clemson in Atlanta. There’s probably some more I don’t know about.
