GameDay trumps NFL shows
I’m never home on Sunday mornings. Always at Lakeside Church of God. There or on the road, trying to get home.
But last Sunday, I flew in from Colorado and got home around 11:15, so I caught the final 45 minutes or so of FOX’s NFL pregame show.
That’s the famous one, with Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan.
And here’s my take: Not nearly as entertaining as ESPN’s GameDay crew.
GameDay will be in Norman on Saturday for the OU-Texas Tech game, and therein lies part of its charm. GameDay’s roving set, usually to the best game of the day, has created a cult following and lures hundreds or thousands of fans to its show.
But even without the live aspect, GameDay is better than NFL Today. The FOX show has too many voices; too much yelling over each other. Too much splitting of the microphone.
Example: Near the end of the show, GameDay goes through a bunch of games for predictions. Each panelist — there’s only three; Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and host Chris Fowler — goes through the game with insight and opinion.
The NFL Today does the same thing, except there are too many voices, and they end up just saying who will end. Which is boring.
I never would make a point to watch the NFL Today. I guess if it’s on sometime, in a hotel room or something, I’d leave it on, but it’s not destination television. GameDay is.
Thunder attendance least of NBA’s problems
First, no automatic sellouts. Then boos. The Thunder fan response certainly is not what we expected after the romance of the Hornets.
The Thunder drew 18,312 fans for the Clippers on Wednesday, 824 shy of capacity. That’s become their standard crowd, with the opening night or the Celtics or the Hornets bumping it up to sellout status.
The NBA isn’t worried. At least it shouldn’t be. There are other venues to worry about in these tough-economic times.
Wednesday night in the NBA, the Thunder was one of the shining lights in terms of support. The Boomers are a bad team playing a bad team, yet were within 824 of a sellout and would have had a sellout had management not made the still-strange decision to cap season-ticket sales. Prediction: the Thunder won’t make that mistake again.
Anyway, let’s check out some other NBA venues Wednesday night.
Atlanta: 14,416, more than 4,000 shy of capacity, for a young team that is winning.
Miami: 15,014, more than 4,500 shy of capacity for a young team that is playing well.
New Orleans, 15,533, more than 1,500 shy of capacity for a team that Oklahoma City would sell its soul for.
Minnesota: 10,111, more than 9,000 shy of capacity.
Houston: 18,203, 297 shy of capacity for a team of Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest. And the Rockets were playing Dallas.
San Antonio: 16,559, more than 2,000 shy of capacity for a franchise that has won four NBA titles the last nine years and still has superstars and was playing the star-studded Nuggets.
I’m disappointed in the OKC crowds. I thought it would be a season sellout, and I think the Thunder management thought so, too.
But if 18,200 is the base, if 18,200 is going to be the bad crowds, then the Boomers are the least of the NBA’s attendance problems.
Stoops: Not loud, not proud
What’s behind Bob Stoops’ declaration that OU fans’ noise level is inferior to a lot of places?
Gamesmanship? Motivation? Sudden revelation? The cold hard truth?
I think Stoops was trying his best to turn Owen Field into a jet runway Saturday night against Texas Tech.
OU fans aren’t the zaniest in college football, but I think Stoops went a little overboard in saying they had little or no effect on the Sooners’ remarkable home record (59-2) the last 10 years.
In fact, Stoops in the past has complimented the fans for their contribution in certain victories. So he can’t have it both ways.
Stoops hacked off some fans, no doubt about it. That was a stark statement Stoops made Tuesday, that Florida’s fans were much better than OU’s, at least in this regard. That’s hard to hear for Sooner fans; I assume it was hard to say for Stoops.
Some fans have rallied around Stoops’ statement, saying the stadium does need to rock more.
I haven’t been to every stadium in America. Of the ones I’ve been to, I suppose I would vote Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium the loudest.
Alabama was loud. Texas A&M and Nebraska are loud. Oregon was loud. Texas was loud for that OSU game in October. All of them louder than OU? I couldn’t say that.
I tend to think noise is overrated in outdoor venues. Loud is loud. The difference between Owen Field and A&M’s Kyle Field isn’t much, if any.
I think Stoops was trying to scratch for every advantage he could find Saturday night. I think he probably cost himself some popularity with the Sooner fan base. And I think that’s a tradeoff he’d probably make again.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 12: Rocky Mountain highs
I stood with other writers at the top of the ramp, next to the dressing room at Folsom Field, after the Oklahoma State-Colorado game. The Cowboys jogged right past us following their 30-17 victory.
OSU co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer stopped and asked me about the LSU-Troy game. Troy, which played at Stillwater in September, had taken a 31-3 lead at LSU but began a second-half comeback. Obviously, the score at some point had been announced at Folsom Field, if the OSU coaching staff knew about it.
I told Brewer what I knew, which is that LSU had taken a 33-31 lead late but the game, so far as I knew, wasn’t over. About that time, Mike Gundy came by and stopped to ask what was going on. He, too, seemed interested in LSU-Troy.
You know what happened in Baton Rouge. LSU won 40-31.
What we don’t know is why such interest in LSU-Troy. Sure, a Troy victory makes OSU look a little better, but frankly, what does that matter?
Maybe it had something to do with Les Miles coaching LSU. Except Brewer wasn’t with the Cowboys when Miles coached in Stillwater.
Were the OSU coaches pulling for a Troy victory? Were they hoping Miles wouldn’t – or would – suffer an embarrassing defeat? Are they just big college football fans who were interested in the most interesting game of the day?
I don’t know. But their interest in the game was interesting to me.
FLYING FRIENDLY SKIES
OSU’s crowd support in Boulder was very good; at least 5,000, maybe more. My Southwest flight home Sunday morning was full of Cowboy fans.
Former OSU tailback Richard Schwartz was on our flight. So were PGA golfers Bob Tway and Scott Verplank, fast friends and big Cowboy football fans.
Me and Scott Wright, our OSU writer, gobbled up one of the exit rows, with the extra leg room. On the other side of the aisle was the exit row with the window seat boasting huge leg room, with no seat in front of it. But the two seats next to that seat are regular leg room.
That row was vacant when Tway and Verplank came through, so Verplank ducked in and took the window seat. Tway sat on the aisle. Trouble is, Verplank is 5-foot-9; Tway is 6-foot-4. The wrong guy had the leg room.
Before the plane took off, Verplank noticed the discrepancy and offered to switch. Tway said OK.
Now you know why Verplank is so popular on U.S. team events, like the Ryder Cup. He’s a heck of a teammate.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Brian Kelly: The Cincinnati coach is fast moving up the list of hot prospects. Still playing with a backup quarterback, Kelly’s Bearcats beat Louisville 28-20 to take the Big East lead and now host Pitt on Saturday night. If Cincy wins, it’s in the BCS.
9. Mid-American Conference: The MAC grabs the national stage for two nights, this week and next. Central Michigan’s 33-30 overtime victory at Northern Illinois sets up a Wednesday night meeting of MAC unbeatens between 14th-ranked Ball State and CMU, both 6-0 in the West Division. Then next Tuesday, Ball State hosts Western Michigan (6-1). Win both games, and it’s not kooky to think Ball State could sneak into BCS contention.
8. Maryland: You’re going to have to trust me on this one, but in the crazy ACC, the Terps emerged as the team most likely to win their division. Maryland’s 17-15 victory over North Carolina should lift the Terps to the Atlantic Division title. Only Maryland and Miami have as few as two ACC losses, but Miami still has two road games. If the home teams win out, Maryland and Virginia Tech will play in the ACC championship game.
7. Texas quarterbacks: Even when Texas Tech is idle, Lone Star State signal-callers dominate. Colt McCoy was fabulous in Texas’ rout at Kansas, and the week’s two 400-yard passers came from Texas. UTEP’s Trevor Vittatoe threw for 410 yards in a 36-10 rout of SMU, and Houston’s Case Keenum threw for 402 yards in a 70-30 thrashing of Tulsa.
6. Art Briles: The rookie Baylor coach pinned a 41-21 smackdown on rookie Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman. Briles was sitting just down the road at Houston U. Has to make people in Aggieland wonder if they hired the wrong guy.
5. Oregon: Injuries and quarterback problems are in the past; new black uniforms and the same old wild offense has propelled the Ducks to an 8-3 record. Oregon beat Arizona 55-45 and can reach the Holiday Bowl – and perhaps ruin their arch-rival’s Rose Bowl hopes – with a victory at Oregon State on Nov. 29.
4. Vanderbilt: The major conferences’ longest bowl drought should end at 26 years. Vandy won 31-24 at Kentucky to become bowl eligible at 6-4.
3. Rodgers Brothers: Oregon State stayed in Rose Bowl range with a 34-21 victory over Cal, led by the Jacquizz and James Rodgers. Jacquizz ran for 144 yards and a touchdown, his seven 100-yard rushing game. James caught six passes for 50 yards, ran 18 yards for a touchdown and returned a kickoff 86 yards for a TD. It’s the fifth time this season the brothers have both scored in the same game.
2. Greg Schiano: The Rutgers coach once was a darling in the East. He might be again. Given up for dead, the Scarlet Knights have resurrected their season. They routed South Florida 49-16 to rise to 5-5 overall, 4-2 in the Big East. With only a home game against Louisville remaining in conference, Rutgers has a chance to tie for the league title. They probably can’t get to the BCS, but Rutgers is back in the bowl business.
1. Miami: The Hurricanes are back. Not to the late ’80/early ’90s level, or the late ’90s/early ’00s level, but back as a force. Miami beat Virginia Tech to serve warning that the U. is not to be taken lightly.
SIREN SONG OF COLORADO
We had dinner Friday night in Westminster, just south of Boulder, with old pal Blake Jackson and his wife, Whitney. Both worked at The Oklahoma until May, when Whitney got a job with the Denver newspapers – the Post and Rocky Mountain News have a joint-operating agreement. Blake has gone to work for a PR firm in Denver, and they’re loving it.
Colorado has a lure for a lot of people. The mountains, the outdoors lifestyle, the sort of urban frontier to Greater Denver.
Comrade John Rohde grew up in Boulder and laments every trip back about the changes. When I first started going to games at CU, the drive from Denver to Boulder had lots of open country. There is none now.
Westminster and Louisville look like Southlake or some of those affluent Dallas suburbs where everything is shiny and new. Boulder has become one of the most expensive towns in America in which to live.
Rohde describes Boulder as “discovered” now. It was largely left alone when Rohde went to high school there in the 1970s.
Boulder is a beautiful town, but it’s crowded and expensive, and that’s a terrible combination.
FOLSOM FIELD BLUES
Maybe Folsom Field isn’t the most gorgeous setting in college football. But it can’t be far from the top of the list.
Sitting on the edge of the Rockies, Folsom Field is a grand old stadium, with old-style architecture of gray and brown stone that fits in superbly with the rest of the campus. It’s probably my favorite Big 12 stadium.
Heck, for fun, I’ll rank them:
1. Colorado’s Folsom Field: An easy pick for No. 2. Texas’ Royal-Memorial Stadium: The recent renovations produced a castle.
3. Oklahoma State’s Boone Pickens Stadium: Remarkable transformation, from the Big 12′s worst stadium to one of its best.
4. Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium: Urban setting – near downtown Lincoln and the state capitol – and a coliseum feel. Very impressive.
5. Oklahoma’s Owen Field: The new upper deck on the east side provided much-needed balance.
6. Iowa State’s Jack Trice Field: Hard to explain why, but Jack Trice just fits. Open on the ends, small upper decks on the side, built into a hill. Just a nice, welcoming place.
7. Missouri’s Faurot Field: Another nice setting. Pretty town, lots of trees. The hill with the big M beyond the end zone.
8. Texas Tech’s Jones Stadium: West side is a palace, east side still looks like the old days. I assume that will change.
9. Texas A&M’s Kyle Field: Just seems skewed. Three sides rise to the heavens, including the highest end zone upper deck I’ve ever seen. Then it’s open on the south end zone. Strange feeling.
10. Kansas State’s Snyder Stadium: Nice enough, I suppose, but sits out in the middle of a parking lot without much personality.
11. Kansas’ Memorial Stadium: In defense of KU, I haven’t been to a KU home game since the stadium underwent an upgrade.
12. Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium: Just not much there.
But despite a solid tradition, an inviting stadium and an always-interesting home schedule, Colorado doesn’t draw that well. The crowd of 46,092 for OSU was CU’s smallest of the year.
The Buffs averaged 48,809 fans this season. Colorado sold 22,603 season tickets this year, some 15,000 fewer than OSU. Cowboy athletic director Mike Holder doesn’t think 37,000 is enough, but it’s pretty impressive when compared to Colorado.
PARKING PROBLEMS
Will Rogers is one of the world’s most convenient airports. But its parking situation has deteriorated into an absolute mess.
Poor planning and poor management are to blame. The shuttle system is a disaster. You can’t park and walk easily anymore, with the never-ending expansion of the parking garage. And with the outdoor lot now expanding out to what seems like Airport Road, more people are parking in the garage, so it fills up and you can’t get in.
It’s almost enough to make me consider off-airport parking.
And then I flew into Denver International Airport. I rented a car from E-Z Rental, which shares a lot with Fast-Trac Parking. We hopped a shuttle, and I swear, it was 10 miles out to the rental agency. It would be like flying into Will Rogers and renting a car at I-35 and 19th street in Moore.
I kept thinking, what are these Coloradoans doing, parking this far from the airport?
I softened my stance a little on Will Rogers.
REALITY RANKINGS
1. Florida: Won’t be No. 1 next week. Hosting The Citadel will add nothing to the Gators’ resume’.
2. Alabama: Great coaching job by Nick Saban. As Barry Switzer said on FOX, “You’ve got to hand it to the guy.”
3. Texas: Helpless feeling, hoping OU wins two straight.
4. Southern Cal: I like USC, but frankly, I’m getting a little tired of hearing how many pro prospects the Trojans have. Who cares?
5. Texas Tech: Tech will probably be No. 1 with a victory in Norman.
6. Penn State: Don’t say a word. Nittany Lions’ performance, to this point, is as good as OU’s.
7. Oklahoma: Sooners will soar with two more victories.
8. Georgia: I can’t explain it, either, but the Bulldogs have a bunch of solid wins.
9. Ohio State: Game against Michigan a rare mismatch.
10. Utah: Only arch-rival BYU stands between Utes and the BCS.
11. Oklahoma State: Bucking for best season ever.
12. Boise State: Biggest BYU fan this side of the Tabernacle.
13. Oregon: New black uniforms. Can’t be any worse.
14. Missouri: Mizzou quietly licking its wounds, gearing up for Big 12 title game.
15. Oregon State: A Rose Bowl rematch with Penn State? Ooh.
\ TURNPIKE GOUGING
To get from the airport to Boulder on Friday evening, we hopped on a tollway that bypasses Denver and drops you off just south of Boulder.
We were on it for about 25 miles. Paid three toals. Cost: $6.50.
Maybe it was worth it. Traffic was non-existent, and traffic would have been a bear had we swung over to Denver and up.
But urban turnpikes are one of my pet peeves. Like the Kilpatrick in Oklahoma City and the Creek in Tulsa. We need more freeways in metro areas, but only if people are going to use them. Turnpikes in metro areas just keep people away and don’t alleviate the traffic crush.
I know that the Kilpatrick is more heavily traveled now than it was when first constructed, and maybe more commuters will use that turnpike from Denver International Airport, but those tolls are a major detriment.
The Creek Turnpike covers 33 miles; drive the length and it will cost you $2.45. The Kilpatrick is 25 miles long; its toll is $2. Drive about the same distance on the E-470 Tollway in Denver, and it’s $6.50.
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEEK
10. Florida State: The Seminoles suffered their second conference home loss this season, 27-17 to Boston College, thanks in part to five suspended wide receivers. Florida State is 4-3 in the ACC and can reach the league title game only this way: win at Maryland on Saturday, have Wake Forest lose at home to Boston College and Boston College lose at home to Maryland. That’s a lot of road teams winning.
9. Tommy Tuberville: Auburn put up a good fight against Georgia before losing 17-13, but now the Tigers have to beat Alabama just to stay bowl eligible and maybe save Tuberville’s job.
8. Charlie Weis: Notre Dame won, 27-21 over Navy, which I guess is some kind of moral victory, since the Midshipmen beat the Irish a year ago. But Weis took over the play-calling duties this week, and it didn’t help. Notre Dame threw for just 110 yards, and I swear this happened. The CBS announcers were talking about Weis, saying he guaranteed quarterback Jimmy Claussen wouldn’t throw an interception this week. Before the drive was over, interception, Navy. In the final two minutes, the Middies scored two touchdowns and recovered two onside kicks and almost stole a victory.
7. Steve Spurrier: Nick Saban went back to the scene of his greatest days and emerged a winner a week ago, his Alabama Crimson Tide winning in overtime at LSU. Spurrier went back to the scene of his greatest days and laid a dinosaur egg. South Carolina was completely swamped, 56-6 at Florida.
6. Kendall Hunter: The Oklahoma State tailback suffered a trio of setbacks in his bid to make All-American. First, he got hurt at Colorado, which could limit him in Bedlam. Second, he failed to post a big number against the Buffs; 102 yards on 11 carries. Finally, other tailbacks had big days, notably Iowa’s Shon Greene, who took over the national rushing lead with 211 yards on 30 carries against Purdue.
5. College football viewers in the present: Saturday was a dud day. Oregon State-Cal was a decent game. Minnesota-Wisconsin was OK, though with no stakes. Notre Dame-Navy got interesting. But Oklahoma-Texas Tech can’t get here soon enough.
4. College football viewers in the future: Looks like ESPN will get the BCS television package. Generally, I’m in favor of networks that televise the regular season to get the post-season. So I won’t miss FOX. I won’t miss those Sunday BCS announcements, where Barry Switzer has to join Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan and Terry Bradshaw, a quartet that couldn’t find Lubbock, Texas, if you spotted them the Palo Duro Canyon. But putting one of America’s great sporting series strictly on cable will cut off millions of fans.
3. Tulsa: Here’s the crazy stat of the week. Houston scored as many touchdowns (10) as it faced third downs (10). That’s a whole lot of first down and second down success. Next time someone tells you third downs are important, tell them sure, but not as important as first down and second down.
2. Greg Robinson: Syracuse was the school that fired its coach this week, joining Washington, Kansas State and Clemson as early chopping blocks. What’s the hurry? Is it too much to ask a school to wait until the season’s over? There is more honor in the cutthroat world of major league sports than on college campuses.
1. Troy: I can’t begin to comprehend the despair Larry Blakeney and his team must feel. Up 31-3 at LSU, one of those megapowers that will willingly play Troy but never AT Troy. On the verge of a victory that would trump those homefield triumphs over Missouri and Oklahoma State that helped put Troy on the map. Then it all came tumbling down with 37 straight LSU points; 30 in the fourth quarter.
REFEREES UNITE
Big 12 umpire Richard Brown was on my flight to Boulder. I’ve known Richard for years – his daughter is Britney Brown, the former OU point guard – and he’s a quality guy. Always enlightening to talk to.
Anyway, Richard is like most players and coaches. He doesn’t like night games on the road. The reason? It means more meetings.
Big 12 refs meet on Friday nights to watch tapes and discuss their craft. They resume meeting on Saturdays for as long as six hours. No golf. No drives up into the mountains. Intense study about team trends and rules and emphasis on certain situations.
An emphasis for 2008? More efficient replay review. I think it’s paying off. For instance, Zac Robinson’s 12-yard touchdown run against Colorado. He dove in the corner, always a hard play to call live. Robinson was awarded a touchdown, but officials thought it was worth reviewing.
When the replay was shown, Robinson’s touchdown was obvious. And referee Cooper Castleberry wasted little time. Once he saw the clear replay, he immediately confirmed the touchdown.
That’s my biggest complain about replay, its intrusiveness. Keep the game flowing, and that Big 12 crew did.
Emails in on Gundy, Obama, rankings & playoff
Good catch of emails this week, talking about rankings and playoffs and OU halfbacks and Mike Gundy. Let’s get to it.
My reality rankings drew a lot of buzz. Marc, a Texas fan, wrote, “Florida ahead of Tech? If you base that ranking on what they have done, how can you rank a team that lost at home to Ole Miss over an undefeated team that just beat Texas and OSU? I don’t see it. And although I’m not totally sold on OU, I can’t see them below underachieving Georgia. At least not until next week after Tech clobbers them.”
Here’s why. My reality rankings look at the whole season. Not just who you lost to, but also who you beat. And the SEC teams have an edge because their conference is deeper. The Big 12 is better at the top, but the SEC is better in the middle and at the bottom.
Jim wrote, “I like the concept of your reality poll but I must confess that you might be going against your own rule. You state ‘what they have done’ but you seem to go against that statement … everyone loves Florida. They appear to be very good. They have wins over an average LSU team and a good but not great Georgia. They lost to a 5-4 Mississippi team which is not ranked and they lost to them at home. Give Tech some love. They have done just what you said they should do. Beat everyone you play and you will be the best. OU should be fourth (only loss to a team in front of them) and Florida would be fifth (loss to an unranked team at home).”
Here’s what fascinates me. Everyone is always obsessed with who someone lost to and rarely focuses on who you beat. Tech isn’t as high as some teams because Tech started its season in October. If Tech beats OU, Tech will be higher. If OU beats Tech, OU will move up. But you get no credit for beating rumdums. And the Sooners’ schedule is back-loaded. Two tough tests still to come. That seems kind of obvious to me.
Jay didn’t like OU being ranked behind USC: “If you seriously think USC with a loss to Oregon State is better than OU with one loss to fourth-ranked Texas, you’ve finally lost your mind. Then again, you’ve always picked against the Sooners, so I guess I’m not really surprised.”
Yes, I certainly pick against the Sooners a lot. I think I’ve picked them to lose three times in the last five years. Anyway, USC’s resume’ is better than OU’s so far. Yes, USC has a worse loss than does OU, but USC also has a better victory (Ohio State) than anything OU has. And the Trojans have more solid other victories than does OU. SC has won at Arizona and Virginia, two decent teams, and that’s better than OU’s road victories (K-State, Baylor, A&M). USC’s home victories (Oregon and California) are not far from OU’s home victories (Kansas, Cincinnati, TCU). OU and USC are very close. But so far, USC has done a little more.
My questioning of why Mike Gundy would turn his back on his defense during games generated a lot of response. Doug didn’t appreciate my stance on Gundy: “You said, ‘Punt or go for it on fourth down? Long field goal or pooch punt? Onside kick or kick it deep?’ In every single situation you mentioned above, Gundy would be standing on the sidelines, because the offense would either be on the field or would have just scored. Nice try, but you whiffed.”
Nice try, Doug, but you whiffed. I didn’t say Gundy was unavailable for the tough decision. I said a coach must weight all the factors that go into that decision, and if he’s had his back to half the game, no way can he adequately make an informed decision.
Jim wrote, “Thank you for writing what many are thinking! Gundy looks silly and not head-coachlike taking that approach. Especially when you see Leach using a 4X4 card.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Why is Leach, the ultimate offensive mastermind, able to take in the whole game but Gundy is not.
Charles wrote, “I can’t believe that OSU is having the best season in years and you question Gundy’s style? It drives you and all the experts on TV nuts, doesn’t it? I say more power to him. Perhaps if Stoops had left the offense alone, OU would have a couple more national titles and be undefeated this year. A good man knows his limitations.”
I find two things peculiar: 1. Why the OSU coach turns his back on half the game when no other head coach I’ve ever seen does it; and 2. Why anyone would not find it peculiar.
Don wrote, “I appreciate you having the courage to actually speak up about what I consider a bizarre practice of Gundy’s. I can’t imagine how, after he misses all those plays, (all but removing himself from the field at times), that he would have any kinda true feel for how the refs are calling it, the prevailing momentum at any given point, the pace that the opponent is trying to establish, etc., along with all the other intangibles that affect both offensive decisions as well as defensive ones. I guess he gives up the right to tell his players and backups to keep their heads in the game. It has been like the old story of ‘the emperors new clothes’ as I notice that the announcers after remarking about it repeatedly on the ABC broadcasts were not willing to have even the color person criticize such a strange way of coaching, and no one until your article had written anything at all that I am aware of. So strange is his isolation from the game that I’ve never seen it at any level, much less D1, and he does it to such an extent that Gundy seems to willfully try and ignore what is happening on the field even more completely by sitting behind objects and barriers that don’t even give him a view of the field if he should happen to look up. As Alice said, ‘Curioser and curioser.’”Well, I don’t have really have a response. Don said it better than I did.
As always, any column about a college football playoff fired up the masses. My point: we don’t need a playoff, but if we’re going to have one, let’s make it conference-champions only. Brad wrote, “All Obama did was voice what the vast majority of sports fan clamor for every year, a playoff. You agree with him that we need a playoff but you spend the first part of your commentary attacking him. I don’t get it.”
Actually, I don’t get it. I didn’t agree that we have to have a playoff, and I most certainly didn’t attack Obama. He’s attacked plenty, but not by sports columnists who tell him to fix health care and leave college football alone.
Mike, an LSU fan, wrote, “I am not in favor of a playoff for some of the reasons you mentioned. Every team should begin the year with aspirations to be their conferences champion. That will always keep the regular season as interesting as it has been. I also believe that the arguments are as much fun as the games themselves and football is the only sport that is on everyone’s mind the entire year. Your playoff recommendations are about the best I have seen so far except it adds too many games. I also believe that the Pac-10 and the Big 10 should be required to add teams to reach 12 and have a conference championship game. The most unfair part of today’s environment is not the BCS or voting or any of those things, it is the fact that all the conferences do not have a championship game.”
How can the conference championship games be unfair when no one forced the Big 12, SEC and ACC to implement them? That was of their own choosing.
Roy also supported my playoff or lack thereof. “College football is doing fine, thank you, due in large measure to the fact, as you point out, that the regular season games mean something! They mean EVERYTHING. Those who pine for a tournament should wake up and smell the roar of the grease paint. The college football season IS a tournament! We’re watching an exciting one right now! And your emphasis on making the conferences the brackets to qualify is right on the money.”
Sometimes, cool heads prevail.
Ambrose – heck of a name, Ambrose – wrote, “I don’t remember you defending the integrity of the BCS like you did today. People seem to think the BCS is a person/organization that is making bad decisions, when in fact the BCS is just compiling the results of the data provided. It provides a vehicle for the top two teams to play. That rarely happened before the BCS, and it was an unlikely event every year. Please continue to educate people that the human polls are a major driving factor in the placement of teams in the BCS and that the computers remember (better than humans) what happened throughout the entire season.”
Look at it this way. The BCS is simply a tiebreaker. If the polls can’t agree on who is No. 1 and No. 2, the BCS formula steps in. But if the polls have the same two teams 1 and 2 or 2 and 1, then the computers don’t matter.
Shawn wrote, “I would like to point out some deficiencies in your argument. There is a flaw in the notion of ‘best regular season’ of any sport. You write the article from the perspective of a non-partisan fan. I would argue that the people most interested in and passionate about college football are typically devout followers of a particular team. How much interest or enjoyment do you continue to have once your team is mathematically eliminated from championship contention? I suspect that, for most, there is a tremendous emotional drop-off in the degree of their emotional investment in that season. A USC fan likely has a soured perspective on the season now as compared to Sept. 24, yet they are legitimately a championship-caliber team. I understand that typically a few teams will find themselves back in contention, but the intervening period is severely tainted due to the lack of that team’s control over their own destiny. I believe that the function of a playoff is to allow the teams with a legitimate chance of winning a championship an opportunity to do so. Your playoff would fail this criteria more often than not. Under your plan, a truly superior team could fail to make the tournament for unfortunate circumstances not limited to: early season growing pains, temporary loss of a critical player, a one-point/last second loss on the road to the second best team in the nation (see Texas at Texas Tech), game-changing officiating blunders, severely unbalanced conference schedules, unnatural playing conditions. Instead, your tournament would give that position to teams with no chance of winning.”
For crying out loud. No one is entitled to play for a national championship. Sounds like a long list of excuses for teams that don’t win. In my plan – conference champions only in a playoff – a ton of teams would stay in contention most of the season. And if you’re eliminated early, how can that be undeserved?
Another Brad is the prime example of the extreme positions people take in everything from politics to playoffs. He didn’t like a champions-only playoff plan, citing the 1971 season as a reason why. But 1971 is the perfect example of why my plan would work. Let in wild cards, and suddenly the 1971 OU-Nebraska game is meaningless. Both teams get in no matter the outcome. The Game of the Century becomes something less than even the game of the week. But in our debate, Brad wrote, “The consequence of who won that football game was that the winner became Big Eight Conference champion. Were any of the Red Sox-Rays games neutralized because the Rays won the regular season series between the two? The answer is no, they weren’t. The Rays won the division and the Red Sox made the playoffs because they won enough games during the regular season against virtually the same competition to make the AL playoffs under the Major League Baseball rules. If you are right about your plan, there is no reason to have an accredited rating system for college football.”
Did you see what zealousness does. It brings OU-Nebraska ’71 to the level of a July baseball game between Boston and Tampa Bay. And yes, Brad, under my playoff plan, there would be no reason to have a rating system. Isn’t that what everyone is worked up about in the first place?
Several people wrote about my jeer of Troy Aikman, for saying OU halfbacks weren’t known for catching the ball. I mentioned Greg Pruitt and Joe Washington, but readers added to the list. Bill wrote, “You left out Kenny King, who caught some passes in his fairly short career at Oakland. At one time, he had the Super Bowl record for the longest TD pass, 80 yards from Jim Plunkett.
King played seven years in the NFL but only had 89 catches.
Ronnie wrote, “I was watching the Green Bay- Minnesota game when Troy Aikman made those statements. One of the most versatile running backs of the Barry Switzer era was Steve Sewell. Steve is the reason I am a Denver Bronco fan today and no Oklahoma running back could catch the ball like Steve and get those third downs. Steve was John Elway’s clutch man for a good 8-10 years. Steve should be mentioned among the most versatile OU running backs.
Sewell played seven years with the Broncos and had 187 catches, for 13 TDs. He actually had more carries (229) than catches, which I wouldn’t have guessed.
Rob wrote, “Good catch on Troy Aikman’s ridiculous statement on OU running backs’ pass catching. He could have added Eddie Hinton and Tommy MacDonald to the guys you mentioned. Troy is sharp some of the time. But he blew this one.”
Hinton wasn’t a running back. He was a wingback and would have been a slot guy – Jeremy Maclin – in today’s football. But McDonald was a pure halfback who had good enough hands to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a wide receiver.
Ken thinks I am out to get the Sooners by writing about Brent Venables’ candidacy at Clemson. “Why do you always add to the hype about OU coordinators possibly being hired away? Why don’t you talk about (Texas offensive coordinator) Greg Davis as a real possibility for particular head coaching jobs? I’ll bet the Austin American-Statesman is NOT even whispering about that!”
I wrote about Venables because the Clemson University plane landed at Wiley Post Airport, with athletic director Terry Don Phillips on board. Does anyone have a clue how unattractive paranoia is? Ken is right. The Austin American-Statesman is not writing about Greg Davis’ job prospects. It is writing about (defensive coordinator) Will Muschamp’s job prospects.
Larry, a big Tech fan, wrote, “It’s as predictable as the sunrise. Every year about this time, the hearts of sportswriters and broadcasters in places like Oklahoma, Austin and College Station go all aflutter over Mike Leach’s job prospects, linking him to whatever coaching vacancies are or might become available, implying that it surely has always been his fondest wish to put the South Plains and the Lowly Likes of Texas Tech in his personal rearview mirror. It’s probably just my suspicious nature, but I’m beginning to feel like there are some folks who actually want to see him in another conference.”
You know, it must be hell feeling persecuted all the time.
Chad, a Clemson fan, wrote about Venables, “This is probably the biggest hire in the history of Clemson football. I think Terry Don Phillips knows that. We have the talent in place for somebody to step right in a win immediately with the right scheme and attitude. The facilities have been upgraded and the league is ripe for the picking. But we have not won an ACC title in almost 20 years. I wish that we would try to lure a Butch Davis, who would win immediately. Leach wouldn’t be a good fit (personality wise) but I think that his offense would dominate in the ACC. Venables or Muschamp could be the next Bob Stoops. They also could be the next Ed Orgeron. That’s the risk that you run with hiring a coordinator.”
No matter what school is looking for a coach or when they’re looking, everyone always seems to say it’s the biggest hire in history. I don’t buy it. If Clemson doesn’t hire a guy who returns the Tigers to championship level, what? The program will fold? They’ll get kicked out of the ACC?
Tim wrote, “Why was the two-team BCS bowl limit rule put in effect? What was this rule trying to prevent? With the possibility of Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech all finishing with only one loss, how are you going to eliminate one of these schools and justify it? What harm is done if all three qualify for and make it to a BCS bowl?”
The rule was put in effect, I’m sure, because the BCS largely was a Roy Kramer creation. Kramer was the SEC commissioner, and I’ll bet everyone in college football wanted the rule to keep the BCS from becoming an SEC monopoly. Now that it bites the Big 12 is an unfortunate byproduct.
Shane, another Tech fan, wrote, “I’ve heard several of your colleagues claim that in the three-way tie scenario, that Texas will be ranked the highest because you can’t put OU in front of Texas due to the fact they lost to them. Berry, please explain that if you use that logic then my Red Raiders should be ranked ahead of Texas! Thus, Texas is not ranked highest! Everyone seems to be dismissing Tech in this three-way tie argument. If this plays out then the voters will have to throw out each teams loss and analyze the other 11 games of the season and then simply decide which of the teams they think is best and vote their conscience.”
Actually, it’s not even that complicated. OU almost surely will win the three-way tie because voters have a 70-year history of rewarding the team that lost earliest and won the big game(s) late.
Leach at OU? Why not?
Writing about Mike Leach this weekend, I called my old pal Brent Clark, an OU football historian and author. We talked a lot about Leach, then Clark said something that is clearly obvious but for some reason I never had thought about it.
“We don’t know what the final chapter will be with Mike Leach,” Clark said. “But I really think Mike Leach has earned himself the opportunity to be the head coach at the University of Oklahoma, if that opportunity arises.”
Well, duh. Not to be kicking Bob Stoops out the door or anything. But if Stoops ever were to leave, why wouldn’t Leach be OU’s No. 1 choice to take over?
When I’ve thought about that question, I always focus on the staff in place. OU has had superb fortune hiring assistant coaches to take over the program. Bud Wilkinson was on the OU staff in 1946 then took over in 1947. Barry Switzer was on the OU staff from 1966-72 then took over in 1973. Stoops was an assistant for Bill Snyder at Kansas State and Steve Spurrier at Florida before OU hired him as head coach in December 1998.
So I’ve always first thought of a Stoops assistant to succeed Stoops, should he move on to the NFL or a different road in life.
Mike Stoops, Chuck Long, Kevin Wilson, Brent Venables. Stoops had and has a lot of solid candidates who could succeed him.
But Leach has to be at the top of the list, doesn’t he? The job he’s done at Texas Tech has been solid for almost a decade, and now this year his program has exploded. The Red Raiders are 11-0 and ranked No. 2.
Leach is wildly popular with the Oklahoma fan base and media. I have no idea what kind of relationship he would have with the OU administration, but nothing out of Lubbock indicates Leach is harder to get along with than any other football coach.
Would Leach make a great OU coach? I don’t see why not. I still think there are issues about his style of play and how it isn’t conducive to building a defensive mentality. But that theory has taken severe hits in this season of Tech dominance.
Again, I’m in no way suggesting it’s time for Leach to replace Stoops. The longer it goes, the more I think Stoops is a long-timer for Norman. And the program never has been in better shape.
But every athletic director has a list of possible candidates for the primary jobs, in case they come open. I promise you Joe Castiglione has a football list, just in case.
I don’t see why Mike Leach shouldn’t be at the top of that list.
Big 12 won’t fill bowl slots
Big 12 football has eight bowl slots. It figures to fill only six of them.
With the top-heavy nature of the Big 12, the league figures to get two BCS bowl berths, but it looks like only seven Big 12 teams will become bowl eligible.
If Colorado beats Nebraska on Nov. 28, the Buffs would finish 6-6 and make a bowl. But that game’s in Lincoln, and Colorado probably will lose.
That would leave the Independence Bowl and the Texas Bowl scrambling for teams.
Texas Tech, OU, Texas, OSU and Missouri figure to jostle for the two BCS berths, the Cotton Bowl, the Holiday Bowl and the Alamo Bowl. That would likely send Nebraska to the Sun Bowl and Kansas to the Insight Bowl.
If the Gator Bowl passes on Notre Dame, then a Big 12 team is headed to Jacksonville instead of El Paso’s Sun Bowl. But don’t bet on that.
Ranking the best sports novels
In recent weeks, I’ve ranked my top 10 baseball books and I’ve ranked all the OU football books. Today, sports novels. Here are the top five:
5. Little League Heroes, by Curtis Bishop. A nod to my youth. This book, one in a series about a well-organized Little League in Austin, focused on a player who broke a color line as a 12-year-old. It’s been 35 years since I’ve read those books, and I still can remember characters’ names and positions and plots. Amazing, the power of a book.
4. The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., by Robert Croover. Fascinating psychological look at a man who gets lost in the world of a dice game that simulates major-league baseball. Sounds goofy. It is goofy. It also is scary, where the human mind can take us.
3. Bang the Drum Slowly, by Mark Harris. Made into a 1973 movie starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, this simple novel is drop-dead funny and wonderfully poignant, about a dying catcher and the pitcher who looks out for him.
2. Shoeless Joe, by W.P. Kinsella. This book begat “Field of Dreams,” which was a decent movie, but like most books, it beats the film by a tape-measure home run.
1. If I Never Get Back, by Darryl Brock. An absolute gem of a book. What a novel is supposed to do; transform you into another place, in this case, the world of Sam Fowler, a modern character who suddenly finds himself shipped back to 1869, where he hooks on with the Cincinnati Redlegs, the first professional team in baseball history. One of the best books I’ve ever read, any genre. Simply superb. It’s got drama, mystery and romance. You will not soon forget Sam Fowler and those ’69 Reds.
Paris: Turnabout is fair play
I received an interesting call this week. Someone wanted to interview me.
That happens on occasion. Radio stations call a lot. Other writers, looking for background on a story. Students working on a paper.
A student called this week. Except this one was different. This student had been interviewed by me.
Courtney Paris. Paris is a journalism major, working on some capstone course, and she’s writing a paper about the relationship between columnists and coaches. OU basketball publicist Jared Thompson checked to see if it was OK if Paris called me, which was considerate but not necessary. Just because athletes need a shield from the media doesn’t mean the media needs a shield from the athletes.
Anyway, I don’t know if I helped her, though I tend to talk pretty frank with students who call. I make my living hoping people will talk with me; I think it’s in poor taste to not reciprocate.
We talked about the Mike Gundy rant and we talked about Sherri Coale and Sean Sutton and other coaches. I hope it helped her.
I certainly know I enjoyed it. It’s always good to see an athlete outside the prism of the playing field. Always good to see someone step out of their role and take off the mask, not that Courtney Paris has ever really tried to hide much.
The Paris sisters have been superb additions to the Oklahoma sports landscape. Great ballplayers, engaging young women, from all accounts solid role models.
I’m glad she called. I hope she gets an A.
Weather forecast: No snow in Boulder
The long-range weather forecast looks OK for OSU at Colorado. Sunny Saturday, with a high of 50 ranging to a low of 34. The game kicks off at 7 p.m., so that 34 is more likely than the 50 for game-time.
But still. Play in the Mountains in November, and you’re fortunate if you don’t get wet.
Colorado can have pristine days in October. The very best football weather I’ve ever experienced has been day games in Boulder. In October.
But this is night in November. You can find some comfortable November days in Colorado. You won’t find comfortable November nights. The move of this kickoff to 7 p.m. assures a cold, cold game.
Looks like it will be clear. But it will be cold.
We don’t play many cold games here in Oklahoma anymore. Football fans can testify to global warming. Even the November games generally are fantastic weather. The current November is the old October; our September weather has moved to October, our October weather has moved to November.
OSU used to routinely play in Boulder in November: the Cowboys are 3-6 at Colorado in November and 4-7 at Colorado in September or October, so historically, the date doesn’t seem to matter.
But I can’t remember any of those November games being played at night. Dress warmly.
