Emails in on Courtney’s streak ending
The new emails are in, with the comments leading with Courtney Paris.
James wrote, “I’m a six-year season ticket holder for OU women’s basketball. I first noticed the Courtney Paris streak becoming a problem last year. OU would be ahead of the other team by 15 or so with five minutes to go. Courtney would get her double-double and a huge contingent of fans would suddenly rise and rush to the exits. It was apparent that the streak was taking on a life of its own.”
Here’s what’s strange. Lack of rebounds threatened the streak last season. Lack of points threatened, and eventually ended, the streak this season.
Bruce wrote, “Am I the only one that thought Bobby Knight’s diatribe about Sherri Coale’s decision to leave Courtney Paris in the game ‘just for the sake of preserving a record’ was inappropriate? Let’s see. With OU up by 10ish, Sherri Coale should have pulled Paris (and become partially responsible for ending Paris’ chance to extend her record) and her starters all for the sake of sportsmanship (saving Pat Summit’s face) by making OU’s very first victory of the Lady Vols’ less impressive? It’s not like OU was up 20. His comment was met with certain silence from his mates in the booth, more so when she picked up her final personal foul seconds later.”
Oh, probably not, but I don’t think that’s what Knight said. He said the obvious attempt to extend the streak took away from a great victory, and I agreed with him.
Julia wrote, “You are right on about Courtney’s streak taking on a bigger life than the team, winning games and the season itself. Sitting in the crowd during a couple of recent games, particularly Texas A&M, it was all I could do to keep from dunking a box of popcorn on some fans. Despite the high probability of still losing the game they were screaming for the Sooners to ‘get the ball to Courtney.’ One man was yelling at Coach Coale to tell her players to feed it to Courtney. Because our seats are at the end of the court we could see clearly that thanks to A&M’s smothering defense, feeding Courtney was dangerous. When she did get her 10th point, the place erupted as if we’d just won the national championship. That made me uneasy. Basketball is a team sport and Courtney Paris, more than anyone, knows that and I appreciate her candor Monday night is saying that having the streak broken was a relief. Now we can do what we’re really out to do and that’s make it to the Final Four. I loved that streak as much as anyone but never over a win.”
I meant what I wrote. Best thing that could happen to OU was Paris ending that streak.
Jason wrote that “I don’t have a problem with what Knight said about the streak, but one of his other comments was puzzling and made him appear ignorant of women’s basketball. He stated that it looked like Ashley Paris was the better ballplayer. HUH? He did not make this comment within the context of this one game, which would have been true. Ashley played better than Courtney. But there are 112 reasons – IN A ROW – why Courtney is better than Ashley. And judging by Ashley’s comments about her sister after the game, she would have no problem agreeing with that statement. It just seemed like a dumb thing for him to say.”
Well, at the risk of sounding dumb, too, I might agree with him. Ashley can do more things this year.
OK, on to football. Don wrote, “Came across an interesting article. Out of 50 top recruits in 2004 from Texas, only 19 ever played major college football. It is not an exact science for sure. I would rather have an athlete that plays on a team that goes 4-4 and gains 1,000 yards with character and grades than an athlete that rushes for 2,000 yards on a 10-0 team that is marginal grade wise but talent laden. In evaluating players with talented squads like I have described, it is hard to tell how good they really are. Is it him or the surrounding cast of players? It is known already if a kid for a 4-4 team rushes for over 1,000 yards, he is special. To me, that type of kid is a can’t-miss prospect. Colleges today are enamored with stats and size. The gems are the kids that have at least 4.4 speed and play on the lesser-talented teams and produce regardless. OU is getting good players every year but with questionable character and their grad rate in the Big 12 is not good. They were last in 2007.
OU has some questionable character? I hadn’t thought about that. Wonder if it’s true.
Dennis wrote about my Super Bowl column. “You made one error. You said there are no terminal losers anymore. Wrong! You forgot about the Detroit Lions. The owner doesn’t care about winning, just owning an NFL team. The general manager, until recently, Matt Millen was the worst GM in the NFL. He drafted three wide receivers three years in a row with high first round picks and none turned out to be anything. He made a slew of other errors and was still GM for about 10 years! Just a poor organization. They have to prove they are not terminal losers!”
The Lions stink, no doubt about it, but they’ve had their moments since the Truman administration. Some NFL titles in the 1950s. An NFC title game appearance in 1991. The Cardinals hadn’t done squat since the ’40s.
Keesee, a Dallas reader who keeps us up to date on events south of the Red, wrote that Tech and Baylor have started discussions about playing in Dallas and that Jerry Jones most likely will not gain a sponsor for naming rights to his new stadium. “Economy has created the situation. Wait till the Cotton Bowl ticketholders get their renewal applications. Prices will go up significantly. And since Jerry’s World holds 60K plus, as opposed to the 80K plus at the Cotton Bowl, there are going to be some upset people on both pricing and seating. I know you have openly questioned the logic of the Sooners playing two conference games in Dallas during the season. I agree. But I do believe it is the OSU Cowboys’ best interest to come to Fair Park. The growth area of Oklahoma in the next decade is going to be in the southern counties. Failure to schedule a game at Fair Park will give this new emerging market exclusively to the Sooners. I just don’t believe that the Cowboys can get to (or remain) at the next level playing all of their games in Stillwater.”
I don’t see OSU getting a bunch of new fans from Bryan County because it plays in the Cotton Bowl. Winning big will bring new fans.
Slim, out of the blue, asked, “Here’s a speculative question for you. Who’s the best white U.S. basketball player currently playing? Can’t think of one? Remember Steve Nash is Canadian. Maybe Kirk Hinrich or Luke Walton. Where are the new Larry Birds or Kevin McHales?”
I don’t know. Mike Miller?
-------------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.
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