Emails in on Sooners, Tebow & DVR
The emails are in, and most OU fans have been talked off the ledge. Let’s get right to it.
Scott: “I read your blog the other day and yes, you were the punching bag! Even had to take on the Baptist preacher. I enjoyed that. Hopefully that’s calmed down, now that the stars are returning. When I was in Tulsa, a visiting preacher began his sermon by saying, ‘If you’re here today and new to Christianity, there are some things you need to know. One, Jews don’t recognize Jesus as the son of God. Two, Protestants don’t recognize the pope as the ruler of the church. And three, Baptists don’t recognize each other at Hooters.”
Now that’s a funny line.
John wrote, “Do you think the standard of comparison that everyone looks at between Wilkinson, Switzer & Stoops is the national championships? Three for Bud & Barry & one for Stoops — but Bud & Barry never competed in Big 12 championships nor BCS national championships for that matter. If the same format used for Wilkinson & Stoops was used, Stoops may have three by now – no playing USC, LSU and Florida. Win the Orange Bowl and you’re the champ.”
I think it all evens out. Bud might have won more with the current system. His 1949 and 1954 teams were fantabulous but didn’t get voted No. 1. And while Stoops has tougher conference schedules than Bud or Switzer in the ’80s, I don’t think he had tougher conference schedules than Switzer in the ’70s, plus Switzer played tougher non-conference schedules most of the time.
Derek wrote, “Of course there’s another way to look at OU’s mastery of conference play and failures in the big bowl: We have become Michigan north and Stoops is Lloyd Carr 2.0. Under Carr, the Wolverines were 122-40, they won or shared five Big Ten titles and the 1997 team won the AP national championship. Stoops has, what, six Big 12 titles and one national title? His record is 109-24 overall. In bowls, Stoops is 4-6, Carr was 6-7. Carr was 1-3 in BCS bowls, Stoops is 2-5.”
There’s worse things than being compared to Michigan.
After the Big Bowl, Kathy wrote: “Please go back to your own state, which obviously is not Oklahoma, and stay there. Why the Oklahoman would want a man with short man syndrome writing their articles is a wonder to me. Most of us in Oklahoma are positive, not negative, and personally we do not need or want outsiders who support other teams that are not from our state writing negatively about our athletes unless of course they have committed a crime. Don’t bother responding, I won’t read it.”
Hey, Kat, I don’t care if you read it or not. I was born in, raised in and still live in Oklahoma, and it hacks me off when other Oklahomans get mad because someone has the gall to report the final score. OU lost 24-14 and now has lost five straight BCS game and its national reputation has taken a hit. If you don’t like that, go stick your head in the sewer or go pray the rosary or go eat a whole chocolate pie. Just don’t blame me.
Jeff: “Jeers to the OU donor who sold seats 11,12,13 &14 on row 25, section 134 in Dolphin Stadium for the BCS Championship game. I know how much I had to donate for seats 15 & 16 only to have to sit next to four Florida fans. You, whoever you are, should at least have enough loyalty to sell to Sooner fans if you aren’t going to attend the game.”
Maybe donors should start their own investigative force and root out the infidels.
Lots of readers still wanted to talk about the Tim Tebow adulation society. Chance was put off by FOX’s reverence for Tebow: “I’m thrilled that Tebow is such a great person off the football field, and as a Christian, I’m excited about the ministry work in which he is involved. However, the continual praise the announcers heaped upon him was very annoying during the fourth quarter. I expected them at any moment to say, ‘Oh, if only I could touch the hem of his football jersey, then I would be healed!’ Also, showing the clip of his famous speech simply because he scored a touchdown, it was as if they weren’t calling a game, they were putting together a Florida Gators 2009 Championship DVD. I’m not even a Sooner fan. I’m a State fan, but I still found their Tebow man-crush disgusting.”
We could probably rewrite a ton of New Testament verses, but that would border on sacrilege.
Aron: “I’m an Okie living in Houston for 30+ years. Like what I’m seeing this year with all three most-publicized, very talented QBs coming back to school and all three seeming to be very high quality people. Please write a story about these three and their impacts on various areas they touch.”
You’re talking, of course, about Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy, and you’re right. It’s about darned time someone wrote something nice about Bradford and Tebow.
Nathan, an OSU fan, found a counter point: “I agree, the praise to Tebow was certainly overdone. However, there has been more said about Tebow’s praises than any other over-the-top commentary this year, especially by OU fans, The Oklahoman and News9? If OU would have won the game, you could be guaranteed that those comments belonging to Tim Tebow would be slightly altered and Sam Bradford’s name would have been in their place, because that is becoming the state of current color commentating on television. PLENTY of games I was subjected to hear Sam Bradford be heralded at godlike status and the game that OU loses, there is all this complaining? Commentating has reached all-time lows this entire season. Nearly every color commentator in the business is completely nauseating on most broadcasts, especially Kirk Hirbstreit.”
It was about time we heard from the Poor Aggie Precinct. OK. I’ll play along. Give me one instance where someone said you would be a better person by spending five minutes with Sam Bradford. Here’s the problem, Nate. You make some great points about the overindulgence of network announcers. But when you frame it in the Poor Aggie context, your credibility dries up.
Some readers responded to my DVR column. “I would say the biggest advantage the DVR has over the VCR is you can watch while recording. That is huge. I use to tape an entire game and then rewind it for viewing. Now, we can go to church on Saturday evening and I never hesitate when OU is playing an evening game. Just come home and skip the commercials. I usually catch up by the second half kickoff. And skipping through the commercials brings up the No. 1 impact of the DVR in my house — I can safely watch sporting events with my children. No constant exposure to commercials selling sex, alcohol and mature theme movies/TV, etc. So, the DVR brought the family back to family entertainment in my house.”
Excellent point. Especially games on FOX, where the promos would shame the followers of Tim Tebow.
Grey also wrote about DVR’s: “Your column was in my wheelhouse, to say the least. I have had an abiding interest in home theater and have used DVRs for many years. Your column clearly demonstrated that you, too, have learned the beauty of recording sports programming. I rarely watch any event live any more, or anything else, for that matter. These things will change your life, won’t they? I bought one of the original Series1 TiVos in 2000 and became a devoted fan. Later I shifted to a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR, which I rented from Cox. I did so because, when I bought my first HDTV in 2003, TiVo had not yet offered an HD DVR. When TiVo introduced its first HD DVR, the Series3, in 2007, however, I got one and have used it ever since. At the time, it was grotesquely more expensive than the SA 8300HD DVR, which Cox was renting, but it was, and still is, far more capable. You included a picture of a TiVo unit in your piece, so I infer that you are using a TiVo instead of a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR from Cox. If you do have a TiVo, what model is it?”
Uh, uh, I’m drowning here. Can someone help? Please. I’m drowning. I have no idea what kind of DVR I have. I’m lucky if I find the right remote.
Larry, a Tech fan: “As much as I look forward to the departure of all Sooner players of Sam Bradford’s caliber, I heartily applaud any college kid’s decision to honor his scholarship commitment. As a matter of fact, if I were king no one who accepted a college scholarship would be allowed to turn professional until after they had completed four years of college eligibility or graduated. I’d only grudgingly concede that redshirted players could forego their senior seasons. This would likewise apply to players who flunk out, quit or otherwise fail to stick. If you accept a college scholarship you’ll be four years removed from high school or a college graduate before the NFL can hire you. No exceptions. As much as I have enjoyed Mike Crabtree in a Texas Tech uniform, he should have been in the NFL two years ago and somebody else should be benefiting from the free college education he spurned. I’m not faulting him or anyone else who leaves early. That’s the system we have. But I’d change the system, because it makes mockery of the whole concept of the student/athlete.”
Well, I suppose we could institute that rule. Just as soon as we make all scholarships four-year contracts instead of the one-year deals they currently are. That’s why players shouldn’t have to sit out a year while transferring. If a school can pull a scholarship on a kid, why can’t a kid bolt on the school?
And finally, Doug from Seattle wrote after the Thunder whacked the Jazz: “Just saw the score but not the game. Cheers to a kick ass night. May there be many more…soon! When you next see Kevin Durant, please tell him that all the Sonic fans still love him and wish him and the new team the very best. Never mind what you read or hear to the contrary.”
You can find class in all corners of the country.
-------------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. Visit Berry's website here.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
“No matter how many late-game, pile-it-on points Bloodthirsty Bob’s Sooners scored in recent weeks (a total of 38 in the last half of the last quarter of the past two games, against OklahomaState and Missouri), they can’t erase Texas 45, Oklahoma 35.” – Pat Forde
Get over it already. It was a lot less about winning margin and a lot more about strength-of-schedule (and the fact that it was a 3-WAY-TIE, something that seems to be too complex for Longhorn fans to comprehend). In case you missed it, Stoops didn’t even vote this year, so it was “the will of the people.”
The greatest irony I can think of would be if the Big 12 actually changes the rules and the Longhorns get left out again under the new rule – that would be sweet!
Now Bob, the combined Harris & Coaches poll had UT ahead of OU prior to the big 12 title game. Only a computer snafu sent OU to K-City. The people preferred TEXAS but yes it was a guilty pleasure watching Big Game Bob lose a mind numbing 5th BCS Bowl game in a row. Give that man a raise!!! LMAO
TEXAS 45
BCS Frauds 35
Frank,
The polls you try to make your case with are fickle. Look at them them the week prior to the week before the B12 Champ.
Now Frank, go ahead and LYAO. Meanwhile, the Sooners are _still_ celebrating their 6th Big 12 championship. Now, how many does Mack Brown have again?
BTW, you do realize that the BCS demanded that margin of victory be removed from any of the computer rankings, right? It wasn’t the computers Einstein. The human polls make up 2/3 of the BCS formula and the humans decided that OU was the better team at the end of the season. I know, that must hurt, but it’s the honest truth.
Actually its not the truth. The combined Harris and coaches had UT ahead at the end of the regular season. Only the computers sent OU to Kcity. As fir the big congrats on your win in the CantBeatTexas.com Bowl. Texas beat OU, had a better record, won its BCS bowl game and finished higher in the polls. You guys did beat a team UT already ran over. Congrats on that….LMAO
Hey Berry I continue to hear you talk about Barry Switzer’s winning record but you never mention that your own newspaper , the governor of Oklahoma and every National Sports Publication in America called for his resignation before the OU brass pulled the plug on his tarnished OU coaching career. He may have won 3 National Titles but 2 were on NCAA probation for academic fraud among other things and the rapin’, shootin’ and dealin’ days of the late 80′s(with you guessed it another NCAA probation for cheating) are still a blight on OU history. Pull your head out of the sand homer!