Emails in on OU-KSU, OSU-Texas & Jerry Jones
OU troubles and OSU thrills and Jerry Jones meddling and why the World Series doesn’t get any respect. It’s a loaded sports calendar, and the emails reflect it. Let’s start with the Sooners.
Shlomo wrote, “Hang half a hundred in the first half and the smile oughtta last the rest of the week, right? So how come I feel hung over? The defense may have been on the field for 84 plays, but they were like a sieve in the first half. Miss a tackle here, fail to wrap up there, be a step slow in coverage, fail to pick up on your own blitz, and you’ll give up megayards even to KSU. With TT and OSU looming, one would think that now is the time, as the song says, “…to apply some brake real soon, or they’re gonna scrape us up with a stick and a spoon.”
There seems to be some acceptance on Shlomo’s part, which I think is always therapeutic.
Andy wrote, “What’s the attitude down at OU? Offense is ridiculous good. Special teams aren’t, and as for the defense, went from Big Game Bob to Big Play Bob, both on O and D. K-State completely whipped OU on offense, totally outcoached from that standpoint. Entertaining game though.
Here’s the problem with modern-age football. A team can win by 23 points on the road against a team that’s not a dog and still look bad. If OU had won this game 31-8, everyone would feel a lot better.
Ron wrote about the Sooners and Cowboys: “It’s hard to say a game in which we score 58 points and win by 23 was painful to watch, but it was. I still like OU to win out. OSU looked good and probably could’ve won the game if they would’ve kept handing off to Hunter when they had the ball with five minutes to go. However, step back and set the Kool-Aid cups down. They ALWAYS play Texas tough and lose a close one. And I don’t care if Texas is No. 1. This Texas team is not as good as the Vince Young teams, and OSU is better than they were then. Texas will lose and might lose twice.
This, my friends, is the ultimate example of hope.
Jo: “After watching both OU and OSU today, would a fair assessment of the games be that OSU was better prepared, better coached and considering what returning starters OSU had, a better team at this point?
I don’t know enough about coaching and preparation to pass myself as an expert. But I think it’s clear that right now, OSU has the better team.
Drew: “I’m a huge OSU fan, so this season is great. Problem is I’ve been an OSU fan long enough to know that the wheels fall off at some point and they fall off all together and usually on a very sharp turn. OSU could just as easily lose to Iowa State as they could beat Texas or Oklahoma. The Cowboys are very inconsistent and they have been that way for the last 27 years of my life.”
Hey, the anti-OSU crowd has enough of that negativity. No reason to stir it up yourself. I think this OSU team is different. This team has shown NO inconsistencies. Just solid play at both Mizzou and Texas.
Bobby wrote, “I love reading your blog, particularly the week’s winners and losers and the news about where you ate that weekend. I am wondering: If somehow Texas, OSU and OU all end up with one loss, who wins the tiebreaker?”
Great question, which still is relevant, even though OU and OSU can’t each end up at 7-1. Texas, Tech and either OU or OSU could. And the answer is, in a three-way tie at 7-1 in which each team is 1-1 against the others, the tie-breaker is the ranking in the BCS. That’s right, BCS.
Price is upset by a football rule. “A rule in football that DRIVES ME CRAZY is the quarterback throwing away the ball just before a defensive player can tackle him. Is the quarterback still in the pocket or not? Did the pass reach the line of scrimmage or not? Was there a receiver in the area or not? Or the quarterback throws the ball 10 yards out of bounds and no penalty. If the quarterback was NOT throwing it away, regardless if a receiver was 15 yards near the pass, this should be a penalty just for being that bad quarterback. Of course, they are all throwing the ball away! A defensive player makes a fantastic play, beating his blocker and running down the quarterback, only to have the quarterback basically make a move that is a do-over.”
The rule is in place to protect quarterbacks. Seriously, 25 percent of the rules in the NFL are designed to get a quarterback safely through a season. Colleges generally copy the NFL rules. Anything that keeps Tony Romo and Eli Manning and Sam Bradford and Zac Robinson playing is OK by me.
Larry, a noted Texas Tech fan and sarcasm king, wrote, “We’re recruiting kickers out of the stands. We do what we have to since we can’t recruit real football players. Most of our team came to school on rodeo scholarship. Coach Leach discovered our quarterback, Harold Graham, roping calves. Figured if he could sling a lasso he ought to be able to sling a pigskin.”
The best kickers come out of the stands. Scholarship kickers will get you fired.
Some readers cheered my column about Jerry Jones. Daisy wrote, “Whee, Rah! Rah! Bully for you and all that cheery stuff. Thank you. Someone other than my 80- year- old eyes finally noticed and wrote about the fact that JJ hires coaches and won’t let them coach. That also seems to cut down on the number of Cowboy fans Gee! Wouldn’t you think he would catch on? I am so happy that someone finally made a public speech about the fact.”
I wish everyone on Earth could receive a “Rah! Rah!” once a day.
Gene wrote, “Berry, I have disagreed with some of your articles in the past, but your take on Jerry Jones is right on the money. If I had his email address, I would send your article to him.”
Oh, no need of that. I’m sure he’s a subscriber.
Bob also chimed in on Jones: “Amen Berry! Only one point – you’re two years too late!”
Some would say 14 years too late.
John wrote, “I read you comments about the Cowboys. After starting off pretty well, Dallas kind of just quit playing, it seemed. Actually they more like collapsed in a heap. Yes, they went through the motions, but no snap existed in the play with a few individual exceptions. I have been a fan from the beginning, including the quarterback rotation days. I even agree with the evaluation of the ego with skin stretched over it, Jerry Jones. One thing you left out was that while Jerry the boss may not always be right, he always is the boss. Sad but true. He is the one that makes the final decisions. Occasionally that can spell disaster as in now. I guess we can only hope that Jerry will get bored and bow out of the coaching role. Stranger things have happened.”
I don’t see it. I think Jerry Jones is Al Davis, only in his right mind. Which won’t last forever.
Dan was among the readers distressed over the drop in status for the World Series. “I was born in 1950, so I remember listening to Bill Mazeroski’s walkoff home run in 1960 on the transistor radio I had sneaked into my fifth-grade classroom. The nun would have beaten me silly if she’d caught me. Now our last two Daily Oklahomans have NOTHING about the World Series on the front page. Not even at the bottom. Really sad. A sign of the times I guess, but I don’t like it.”
Well, we did have the World Series on the front page. We ran a photo and a reference to the story inside. Things change. In the 1950s, the sport that most rivaled baseball was boxing. Compared the ring, baseball still thrives.
Alan agreed: “Pretty disappointing to see The Oklahoman’s coverage, or lack thereof, of the World Series. Page 9? I guess it’s just there to fill space.”
Have you ever stopped to think about people’s preoccupation with where things are placed in the paper? When it’s OU or OSU, or high schools, and you compare with each other, it’s sort of understandable. But baseball? Why are people offended if baseball goes on Page 9 instead of Page 1? The truth is, more people in Oklahoma care about Sherri Coale’s new haircut than who won the Phillie-Ray game the night before.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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