Switzer still raves about the Boz
Barry Switzer was on an Atlanta radio station the other day and was his usual entertaining self. He said a lot of interesting stuff, about both the Sooners and his NFL days.
But maybe the most telling subject was on Brian Bosworth and how great a college player he was. The Boz has been gone from the college scene 23 years. It’s easy to remember his shennanigans, but is his linebacking remembered so easily?
Bosworth was a dominant defensive player. I would say in the last 30 years, the best OU defensive players are Tony Casillas, Roy Williams and Bosworth, and while I would probably rank them Williams, Casillas, Boz, you couldn’t go wrong with any order.
Bosworth was a college Ray Lewis, a guy who seemed to impose his will not just on opposing offenses, but his defensive teammates. Switzer tells the story of receiving a call from Bobby Bowden, who caught highlights of Bosworth and couldn’t get over how great a player was the OU linebacker.
Anyway, the interview is worth listening to. Here’s the link to listen to the interview: http://sportsradiointerviews.com/2009/07/06/checking-in-with-barry-switzer/
-------------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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Comments
It wasn’t against Indiana State when Stoops’ team briefly lined up in the ‘bone. It was in the spring game months earlier.
Let’s not forget how the Boz ended his college career one year early. Steroids! We can only wonder how long he used them in college before getting caught.
It still amazes me how many in this state completely worship at the feet of these 18, 19 year old kids. They can’t even walk into a bar! They are KIDS, but some people actually CRY when these kids don’t win a football game. The lengths we have gone to idolize these teenagers absolutely ASTOUND me. We pay the coaches of these kids *millions* of dollars. 90%+ of the stands are full of rich or upper middle-class white people watching 75% poor African-American teenagers. Rome. Rome. Rome. God (or somebody) help us.
Wow Michael like to exaggerate a little there? I don’t know if you know anything about college football but the players have a CHOICE whether they want to play or not. A lot of the reasons they CHOOSE the school is because of the fan base they have and the kids who play for OU talk about how fun it is to play the sport they love in front of so many people. That’s a HUGE difference from Rome. And tickets are usually $50 or less, not exactly rich or upper middle class. But please continue on your crazy exaggerated rant you got going there.
Hey Matt – tickets for husband and wife, two tickets, parking and refreshments? Add it up. I know they have a choice, that wasn’t the comparison. Why do we adults go crazy over these KIDS playing a GAME on a field in front of tens of thousands of people? Most, by the way, who no more should be in a university than Mickey Mouse, getting a paid tuition to play football so they can fill the stands and make money off of these KIDS! Matt, it’s *not* an exaggeration. It’s my opinion and one shared by a lot of people who just don’t dare whisper it in this football crazy state where adults walk around with school paraphernalia (caps, t-shirts, flags, you name it) – all going crazy about these 18, 19 year old kids PLAYING….while some the same age are DYING overseas. You may not like my opinion – but it IS my opinion. The article talking about Barry Switzer’s unhealthy preoccupation with his youth as a coach of KIDS made me realize it was time I voice my opinion. Is it illegal?
michael, it is not illegal to state your opinion, but you’re doing it in the wrong place. nobody cares what you think of people getting together on saturday afternoons to watch football, because thats what it really is. people watching football. quit being a drama queen.
I would hope he was good. He was on steroids. Just like Switzer, his college career comes with an asterisk.
If memory serves Switzer was fired from OU as a total disgrace. No matter how much tramel sucks up to him outside of Oklahoma Switzer’s is known for being a cheat and a poor example to young men.
Michael, it is called PRIDE! I go to the games not to idolize kids, but to show pride in the kids abilities, and desires, and to show PRIDE in my state and its schools and athletes AND students alike. No, it doesn’t compare in any way with our troops, nor should it, but when has there ever been a stadium where one can go watch our troops in battle? Our troops always are in my thoughts and prayers, as some of our own are serving in battle as we speak. As to the schools making money, isn’t that something all schools must do? Football or bake sale, not much difference, raising funds is a full-time job at ALL schools. I chose to support my schools also by buying items they sell, or make money from, my way of supporting higher education.
Tommie Harris was just as good as any of those guys. But writers and fans never knew, because they are stat readers, and not film watchers.
Bosworth would have been an NFL pro-bowl level player, if the rest of his career could have projected like his rookie year did. Again, shocking, to the talking heads.