Is OSU’s home football schedule nation’s best?
Oklahoma State has a power-packed home schedule at Boone Pickens Stadium. Georgia, Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri, Houston, Colorado. Rice is the seventh-best opponent coming to Stillwater, and the Owls won 10 games last year. Grambling is the eighth foe, and even the Tigers will be fun, since they’ll bring their band.
Hard to imagine a better home schedule in college football. But I found two. I looked through all 66 major schools – the BCS leagues, plus Notre Dame — and found the 10 best schedules. Here they are:
10. Michigan: If Notre Dame was pulling its weight, this might be one of the all-time great home schedules. The Wolverines host Penn State, Ohio State and Notre Dame, plus Purdue. There are plenty of lightweights, too — Indiana, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan (what, are the Wolverines running a bus league?) and Delaware State.
9. Georgia: Bulldogs host only one foe in the top 10 or likely to get there (LSU), but outside of Tennessee Tech, every other opponent is competitive. Auburn, South Carolina, Arizona State and Kentucky.
8. Virginia: Cavaliers host TCU, the kind of non-conference series I just love, and also bring in Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Boston College. Duke, which showed some life last year, and Indiana, which showed some life in 2007, also come to Charlottesville, along with William & Mary.
7. Ohio State: Hard to be ranked this high when you’re a program of such status — you can’t host yourself. But the Buckeyes give it a try. They host Southern Cal plus solid Big Ten foes Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, improving Minnesota and Navy. The service academies are like extra credit.
6. Auburn: The Tigers have some throwaway games — Furman, Ball State, Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech — but host Alabama, West Virginia and Ole Miss, plus Kentucky.
5. Georgia Tech: Great home schedule, discounting the Jackson State gimme. Yellowjackets host three virtual ACC equals — North Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest — plus powerhouses Georgia and Virginia Tech.
4. Oregon: Ducks’ worst home attraction is a conference game — Washington State. They host Southern Cal, Utah, California, Arizona State, Oregon State and Purdue.
3. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys don’t have the toughest home schedule, despite the presence of Georgia, Texas, Tech, etc. But OSU probably has the bestfor this reason. The two schools with tougher home schedules aren’t going to be competitive in most of those games. OSU is the last elite team on this list, so the entertainment value at Boone Pickens Stadium is second to none.
2. Washington: Huskies could use some easy home games to give Steve Sarkisian a chance to get momentum rolling. Instead, UW hosts Southern Cal, LSU, Oregon and California. That’s four of the top 14 in the preseason coaches poll. Plus Arizona comes to Seattle. Only Washington State and Idaho are rum-dums.
1. Mississippi State: Guess who’s coming to Starkville? Four teams ranked in the preseason top 10: Florida, Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss. Georgia Tech is ranked15th in the coaches poll but is only the fifth-best opponent coming to play the Bulldogs. Mississippi State also hosts Houston and Jackson State. It’s possible this is the toughest home schedule in NCAA history.
By the way, for grins I found the worst home schedule, and it belongs to Louisville: Pitt, Southern Miss, Rutgers, Arkansas State, Syracuse and Indiana State. Better tie in basketball tickets to the football sale.
Emails in on OU football autograph flap
The new emails are in, and the chief topic is Jason Morgan, the fan who drove from Poplar Bluff, Mo., to get Sam Bradford’s autograph at Meet the Sooners Day but was denied.
Tim: “I read your article on the Poplar Bluff man and couldn’t understand why he did not get a Sam Bradford autograph if he was ’30th in line.’ Did he fall asleep in line and everyone else passed him? I have collected autographs myself over the years, and one of the benefits is proving to someone else you actually met that person. On a funny note, my brother, a St. Louis attorney, was walking along a street in St. Louis during the 1985 World Series with KC. He ran into Bret Saberhagen and wanted his autograph. The only thing he could find to have him sign was a poster on a Post Dispatch newspaper box, featuring a color photo of John Tudor throwing a pitch. The KC pitcher signed it.”
Rick Reilly has pointed out that what kind of friends do you have if you need an autograph to prove you met someone? Your friends routinely disbelieve you? And how does an autograph prove you met someone? To me, a handshake is better than an autograph. But I digress. Jason Morgan missed out on the Bradford autograph because Sooner Kids Club members were allowed in before the gates opened, and tons of people got in the Bradford line before the start time. Sort of a modern take on the Land Run story.
Mike: “I feel for the guy. A nearly 1,000-mile round trip, to arrive at 4:30 a.m., and he takes home zero. OU needs to send him something good for that effort.”
I’ll bet they do. But they can’t send him a Bradford autograph on the helmet that already has Adrian Peterson’s autograph and is back in Poplar Bluff.
Jerry: “Vince Lombardi said it best. ‘What the hell is going on out there?’ I will personally drive to Poplar Bluff, Mo., at my own expense and deliver to Jason any Sam Bradford stuff you can scrounge up. OU fumbled the ball before the very first game.”
Well, I can’t scrounge up any Bradford stuff. And I think you’re being a little hard on OU. I don’t know what exactly it was supposed to do. OU well-publicized the policy that kids club members would get early admittance.
Pete: “I am glad that you wrote that article in the Oklahoman. Jason Morgan was standing next to me from the minute we arrived at the rugby fields Friday morning. We did sweat together, laughed together and cussed a bit together when we saw the thousands of OG&E kids zoom buy us even though my wife and I were the 31st and 32nd in line along with Jason and his brother. We discussed about how these kids, some with two dads and some with a dad with a child that seemed like an 8-month-old on his shoulder, and some with two dads and a child in a stroller, would just get there at 10 am and go by us and just sneer. Then there was an old guy named David, who was partially handicapped along with his wife. They were about six people back. They waited and waited hoping like thousands to get Bradford’s signature only to leave when they saw the thousands of kids pour into the fields ahead of them. I know I bought an OU jersey ($88), gas to drive to Norman from Amarillo ($60 round trip), food ($40), a room so we could get in line early ($60) and drinks while in line ($5). But the cash would have not been that important if we could get the autograph. It was announced that the line for Bradford was two hours long, and the general public line had not even been let onto the field. It really ended up being a bust for the people like us and Jason, not even being in the running for the autograph. Perhaps they should split the kids club to their own day. The University of Oklahoma really got a black eye for this one.”
The image of a bunch of adults using children as props to get in through the kids club does sort of change the discussion, doesn’t it?
Andy: “I’m driving into OKC from Lubbock to bring my kids to see my folks. My 10-year-old daughter wanted to get up at 5 a.m. so we could go see the Sooners. I checked into the details and elected not to after seeing the short window to meet the players. Now that I’m hearing on WWLS how crazy it was, I’m glad we didn’t.”
What you’re saying is this: a little preparation goes a long way.
A couple of readers heard me on the radio. Peter: “I was listening to you on the Sports Animal when someone asked you if you knew who Lane Kiffin was married to. You did not, but when told she was the daughter of John Reaves, you immediately knew who he was and his favorite receiver, Carlos Alvarez. I was most impressed. I would not of thought anyone from the Midwest would be familiar with a name so long ago.”
Typical old-guy move. I don’t know who catches passes for Tim Tebow at Florida in 2009, but I know who caught passes for Reaves at Florida 40 years ago.
Sean: “Love hearing you on the radio without Jim and Al yelling over you. You just finished a discussion with Pat Jones about top OU and OSU athletes. Appeared to me through my on and off listening that your OSU top 10 was football loaded. I was curious to know where John Smith ranked, along with other wrestlers?”
The list wasn’t football loaded. It was football specific. As for John Smith, I would rank him No. 1 or No. 2, depending on criteria. He ranks with Sanders/Thomas and Bob Kurland as the greatest Cowboys ever.
Now for some miscellaneous. Barry: “I’m an old fan of yours although only a mild sport enthusiast. I read your Cal McLish column and the Texas League park reference grabbed me. When I was a kid in the ’50s, I worked two years at the park, one year as a scoreboard boy. I always claimed that was my ultimate job moment, since I got to walk on the field past the boys in the baseball bleachers. The next year I worked on the roof retrieving fouls and running errands for sportswriters. Later I watched as the Indians slowly withered away. I only watched one 89er game and have yet to watch a RedHawk game, not out of complaint, I guess I’m an in-the-past baseball fan.”
People once ran errands for sportswriters? What a country!
Josh watched my video on the greatest OSU quarterback: “Zac Robinson or Mike Gundy? I might have to go with Josh Fields. I was at OSU when he was there, so call me biased. I was in the stadium on Nov 24, 2001. I have never seen a QB wearing orange as calm and collected as he was, including Gundy and Zac. He is the only QB in OSU history to beat both OU and Nebraska in the same season. He was a hair away from adding Texas to that group as well. He led us to the first New Year’s Bowl since the ’40s. He was a two-sport star, and I believe he would have had a chance to play on Sundays if he had wanted too. If he had played more than two seasons, I don’t think it would even be close. If Josh Fields comes back for his senior year (2004), he is in the same position Robinson is today. Veteran O-line, Woods and Elliot at the receiver positions, and Vernand Morency at tailback. That 2004 squad with Fields at the helm would have been every bit of 10-2 rather than 7-5. Don’t underestimate wins over your rivals; I doubt any other OSU QB is above .500 against the hated Sooners. Josh gets my vote. If Zac can get us to a double digit wins this season, with wins over OU, and/or Texas and/or UGA I’ll reconsider.”
Josh Fields was a heck of a quarterback. But Josh the fan said it himself. If Fields had come back for his senior year, he would be where Robinson is today. But Fields didn’t come back, so he isn’t where Zac is today. Which is contending with Gundy for greatest quarterback in O-State history.
Why the big crowds at OU & OSU?
OU drew an estimated 14,000 to Meet the Sooners Day on Friday. OSU drew an estimated 7,500 for Fan Appreciation Day on Saturday. Both were record totals.
Call it a testament to marketing. I know both schools have great teams and soaring expectations — OU is ranked third and OSU 11th in the coaches poll — but the frenzy goes beyond that. Both schools have done a great job of reaching out to their fan base over the last decade.
Time was, college athletic programs just opened the windows and asked people to buy tickets. It worked to some degree, and in some ways, college athletics still doesn’t cater to the fan.
But college athletics do a much better job in recent years of reaching out, and the fan experiences in Norman and Stillwater are evidence. Time was, schools didn’t even stage such autograph sessions. I can’t remember when OU’s started but it must have been in the ’90s. OSU’s seemed to start about 10 years ago.
Both schools have built their fan bases. Both have more fans than ever before. OU caps season-ticket sales at around 77,000, counting students. OSU sold almost 40,000 season tickets last year. Both have refurbished stadiums — OSU basically built a new ballpark, on the same plot of ground — that are much more fan friendly. Both have schools have much more media exposure than ever before, both through their own web sites and through other outlets.
And through all that, there is less media availability with the players than ever before, which can create an aura about the athletes. The hunger to know these guys is greater than ever before, the ability to know them better than ever before is less. So when the opportunity arises to pass through a line and meet Gerald McCoy or Dez Bryant, more fans take it.
The time of year is perfect for these events. August is a desolate month for sports. Little League is over. High school hasn’t started. The pros offer nothing but baseball and the weekend series of NASCAR or golf.
All of a sudden, places that inspire passion invite fans to campus and mix some football in their day. So thousands accept the offer.
OU’s numbers are amazing. I talked to probably 15 fans, maybe 20, on Friday, and of that, I chatted with people from New Mexico, Missouri, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
OSU’s numbers are amazing; 7,000 is more than the old Gallagher-Iba Arena even held, yet there they were, winding through the halls and aisles, awaiting signatures.
I know the signings have problems. A few thousand OU fans went home without Sam Bradford’s autograph, and while it’s easy to say those folks should have gotten in another line, if you want Bradford’s autograph, Trent Williams’ just isn’t going to cut it.
But hopefully the schools will continue to tweak and improve the events. They are too fun and too valuable to lose. And I think the players like them. I never made it up to the OU tables, so I can’t testify to how the Sooners received the fans. But the OSU players appeared to be having a ball interacting with fans.
Ted Owens: Remembering those who supplied the dream
I’ve been blogging all week from stories supplied by the men inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. Today’s entry is about dreams. Ted Owens grew up in Hollis and eventually coached Kansas to two Final Fours.
“I grew up on a cotton farm in southwestern Oklahoma during the Great Depression,” the 80-year-old Owens said. “All of us had a lot of dreams. My dreams were about getting off that farm.
“Back then, if you had one gift at Christmas, that was pretty good. I had two older brothers, and sometimes we shared the Christmas gift. When I was five years old, while Fred and Quinton were at school, I reached under bed, grabbed a basketball that was our gift and went out in the backyard. My dad had put a goal for us.
“I lifted that basketball up and made a basket. I fell in love with the game of basketball that day, a love that has remained with me for the rest of my life.
“I don’t know that my dreams were large enough to ever imagine I could play at a great university like the University of Oklahoma, or coach at the University of Kansas, where the tradition of basketball exceeds all others.”
Owens spoke with joy at being inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, much as I suspect he will later this year when he is inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He was accompanied by many family members, but his thoughts turned to those who weren’t.
“Boy, I wish (parents) Homer and Annie Owens were here,” Owens said. “I wish Fred and Quinton were here. I wish my high school coach, Joe Bailey Metcalf, and my college coach, the great Bruce Drake, was here. Or coach Dick Harp, who gave me the opportunity to coach at Kansas. But they’re not forgotten.”
Drake’s granddaughter and Metcalf’s daughter attended the banquet at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. The daughters of those two brothers, with whom he shared that basketball under the bed, also attended. Three players from Cameron, where Owens coached in the 1950s, attended. Three high school teammates from Hollis attended.
Owens talked of how we all need help from others. How Bud Wilkinson assistant Bill Jennings came to Hollis in 1947 to recruit two football players, including the great Leon Manley, and how Joe Bailey Metcalf talked Jennings into offering Owens a scholarship, too. Owens was given a partial scholarship; he was a student fireman, working at the South Base in Norman, and worked as a delivery boy for McCall’s Supermarket. Those jobs paid for his room and board.
During student orientation, Owens stopped by the OU Field House and shot two-handed set shots. Shockey Needy, Drake’s assistant coach, stopped by and told Owens they had seen him play in the state tournament and sure hoped he would come out for the basketball team. Needy told Owens that Drake could talk to the football coaches and see if that partial scholarship could be transferred to basketball. “It would make a better story to tell you the football coaches fought to keep me,” Owens said. “But they had what they wanted (the two football players from Hollis). That’s how I ended up playing basketball at Oklahoma.
“It opened doors that I could ultimately coach at a great university like Kansas and travel the world teaching a great game that I love. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had a coach who loved us.
“I have thought of all the people who helped me. I wished I had taken the time to let them know how much I appreciated how much they helped me.”
Tway & Verplank: OSU golf a tie that binds
The Oklahoma State golf fraternity is strong. That was apparent during the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this week.
Scott Verplank presented Bob Tway for induction. They never were OSU teammates – Verplank followed Tway by a few years – but they’ve been virtual PGA Tour teammates for a quarter century.
“He’s really kind of a mentor for me,” Verplank said. “Someone I’ve looked up to all the time.” Golf, Verplank said, is that rare sport in which everyone tries to build up everyone else, even opponents, and Tway embodies that. “Bob is how I would like my son to grow up. I enjoy being around him every day, hoping a little rubs off on me.”
Tway did some quick math from podium; 25 years, 25 tournaments a year, five days a week, he and Verplank have eaten dinner together. “That’s over 3,000 meals together. We’ve kind of hashed the world’s problems and solved them, but nobody seems to care or listen to us.
“I can’t tell you all the memories I had playing golf at OSU. Almost every one of my dearest friends came through the program at OSU. For some reason, the fraternity we have at OSU is something special. We’ve all become great friends. Taken interest in the young kids. My time at OSU is probably the fondest memories I have.”
OSU won two NCAA championships during Tway’s time in Stillwater. Tway said he probably wouldn’t trade the PGA Championship for those titles, but he’d trade all his other PGA Tour victories.
At the banquet were Tway’s in-laws. He told the story of meeting and falling in love with Tammy, who now is his wife. “She was from Vinita and didn’t know much about golf,” Tway said. “We’re going to get married, and her dad, Jack, they had given us (their blessing). But Jack had a question: ‘I understand he’s a pretty good golfer. But how the heck is he going to support you?’”
Don’t let the light-hearted moment fool you. Tway was the most emotional of the quartet inducted. He broke down as he thanked his wife and said, “Tammy, you’re the best.”
A new story about Cal McLish
I wrote about Cal McLish going into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame last week, then Wednesday I received this email, from a woman named Dee Bryce. I thought it was a story worth sharing.
“I saw your story on Mr. Cal McLish on the internet! What a great story and photo for me after all these years. Cal and I have remained friends, and I saw him the last time two years ago when he was still a scout with the Seattle Mariners and they sent him here to Phoenix. I took him to dinner and we shared the memories of life.
“I met Cal when I was just a young single mom who took her only son to see an Angels baseball game in Anaheim one Sunday afternoon. My boy was only eight years old, which I guess made me just 28. I am now 60 and my son was killed by a drunken driver when he was just 24 years old. Cal used to send Dale his baseball gloves, his shoes and many special mementos. He loved my boy very much, but the story I want to tell you is how we met Cal.
“My 8-year-old wasn’t a little guy, he was larger than most. I was holding him up so he could try and catch a ball over the stands before the game started. Back in those days, we used to wear our bathing suits on hot days and then pull our hip hugger levis on. I had braids and a cowboy hat on. I was standing there trying so very hard to hold my boy up so he could get a ball when all of a sudden, here comes this player (at least that is what we thought he was) walking all the way across the field with a ball in his hand. I thought he must have felt sorry for me trying to hold this big kid up, so he could get a ball, but I found out later there was a lot more going on than that.
“Cal walked right up to my boy and handed him a ball. He told us both, ‘Have him come down to the Brewer dugout at the seventh inning and I will make sure the ball gets signed by all the players, and when the game is over have him come back for it.’
“When Dale went back down to get his signed baseball, not only did he get the ball that I have now passed on to my grandson, my son’s only son, he got a note from Cal saying ‘anytime you and mom want tickets for Anaheim, call me and I will make sure you get some.’
“I wanted you to know the spirit of the man, not just his stats! Cal has suffered many illnesses and losses in his own life. Maybe that is what bonded us as human beings. It was so hard to see him again those two years ago. He said to me ‘I don’t want you to see me like this, I want you to remember the man I once was.’ What I tried to explain to Cal was that we all grow older and more frail in this lifetime, but what I saw all those many years ago was his soul, and that is all I still see today.’
“Cal’s final quote to me on that last meeting was, ‘At this stage in my life, all I really have is my name and my integrity.’ I believed him then as I do today.
“Dale was killed Aug. 1, 1994, by a drunken driver. I find it hard to believe it’s been 15 years that he has been gone. I really find it hard to believe that it’s been 32 years since I met Cal and that we are both still here. Cal is one of the greatest men I have ever known in my life and I wanted you to know there was much more to him than just his baseball record, even though that was great too.”
Vest stories: Cal McLish & Bob Tway
Cal McLish stood before the crowd of 700 in the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame inductions Monday night and uttered a great line: “I’ve got a lot of memories from baseball, but I can’t remember ‘em.”
He wasn’t telling the truth, of course. McLish has great memories, and he shared some. Including this story.
1944. McLish was an 18-year-old rookie with the Brooklyn Dodgers, fresh out of Oklahoma City’s Central High School, and Dodger coach Charlie Dressen, who seven years later would notoriously manage Brooklyn to second place in the most famous of pennant races, came up to McLish. “Go home and eat a steak with a lot of butter on it, you’re pitching tomorrow,” Dressen told McLish.
McLish was fired up about that news, but a steak was out of the question. He had enough money left for a Nathan’s hot dog, but that was about it.
“How much you making?” Dressen asked.
Said McLish, “$150.”
“A week?”
“No, a month!”
So Dressen went into the office of manager Leo Durocher – told you McLish had some great stories – and said, “We’ve got a kid who hasn’t got any money, can’t eat.”
McLish said Durocher tore up his contract and wrote a new one for $500.
McLish said he felt like walking the streets of Brooklyn yelling,. “Anybody need anything?”
Now, is that story true? Maybe, but it’s probably been condensed. I don’t think Leo Durocher was tearing up or writing new contracts. That was the domain of legendary general manager Branch Rickey.
Anyway, McLish went out and bought himself a new suit, a dark blue pinstripe with a vest, just in case he ran into the man everyone called “Mr. Rickey.”
That was 65 years ago. And Monday night in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, there stood Cal McLish in a tuxedo. Said McLish, “It’s been all those years since I wore a vest.”
An hour or so later, a man who was more than a decade from being born when Cal McLish was a Brooklyn Dodger, also stood on the podium in a vest.
“The people who know me know I was excited I got an opportunity to get dressed up,” deadpanned golfer Bob Tway.
Tway recalled McLish’s story and said, he, too had thoughts while putting on his vest.
“My tux is from Men’s Wearhouse,” Tway said. “I thought, ‘Where has this tux been and what did they do in it?’”
Jon Kolb & Terry Brown: A Super Bowl story
The Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies is mostly about two things. Family/friends; sharing a wonderful night with them. And stories. Great, great stories about glorious times. I thought I would share a few of those stories over the next few days.
Jon Kolb, the OSU all-American who went on to start in four Super Bowls for the Steelers, had a great story. In Super Bowl 9 in New Orleans, when Pittsburgh sought its first Super Bowl title, the Steelers played the Vikings, who had lost the Super Bowl the previous year, to Miami.
Viking safety Terry Brown had been Kolb’s OSU roommate, and they remained great friends. In New Orleans, Brown showed Kolb the Super Bowl runnerup ring (who knew they made such a thing) and said getting to get one. Kolb said Brown brought a New Orleans phone book by the hotel room. Brown told Kolb that Viking Ed White, the NFL arm-wrestling champion and one of the league’s strongest men, could tear in half the phone book.
Kolb said, “Gollee,” because that’s how Oklahomans talk. Kolb showed the phone book to roommate Sam Davis, who was from Florida; Davis said, “gollee.” Larry Brown, a massive tackle from the University of Kansas, was 6-foot-6, 275 pounds with a 36-inch waist. They took Brown the phone book; he said, “gollee.”
Middle linebacker Jack Lambert came walking by. If you remember Lambert, he was one of the NFL’s toughest players, and he didn’t say a lot of “gollee.” Lambert picked up the phone book, and it wouldn’t tear.
Then Kolb took the phone book. He saw a white line on the cover and gave it a tug. He felt a little give. So Kolb yanked. The phone book was torn asunder. The other players dashed out of the room to their own rooms. Brown got a phone book and ripped it in half. Lambert grabbed a phone book and ripped it in half. Davis, the roommate, had to go scrounging to find a phone book; he found one and ripped it in half.
“By the time we played the ballgame, there wasn’t a phone book left I in the hotel,” Kolb said. “We knew we were going to win because they had only one player who could tear a phone book.”
Final score: Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6.
Monday night in Oklahoma City 35 years later, Terry Brown sat at a front-row table and watched his old OSU roommate inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
Said Kolb, “Thanks, Terry, for getting my career started.”
Gardenhire the greatest Oklahoma manager
We did a project for today’s Oklahoman on the three major league managers from Oklahoma — the Twins’ Ron Gardenhire (Okmulgee), the Pirates’ John Russell (Norman) and the Diamondbacks’ A.J. Hinch (Midwest City).
One thing we were going to run but didn’t is a list of all the Oklahoma-bred managers in major league history. It’s not much of a list.
Bobby Cox was born in Tulsa and is one of the great skippers in baseball history. Alvin Dark was born in Comanche and was an excellent manager for the Giants and the Athletics. But both left Oklahoma as young children, and we couldn’t truthfully say that Oklahoma had an impact on their baseball development. Tulsa’s Les Moss twice an interim manager — 1968 White Sox; 1979 Tigers — but he skippered just 89 games total.
The great Oklahoma players from the early part of the century — Pepper Martin, the Waner brothers, Carl Hubbell, a dozen more — never became player-managers, a common position in that time.
About 15 years ago, I picked an all-time Oklahoma baseball team. A team made up of players who learned their baseball here. I didn’t care where you were born, and I didn’t care where you lived as an adult. I cared what state turned you into a ballplayer. It was a 25-man team, with a full pitching staff and backups at every position.
But I picked no manager. No one qualified.
All of which makes this the golden era of Oklahoma managers in the major leagues, with three Oklahomans leading big-league dugouts. Gardenhire clearly is the best Oklahoma-bred manager ever. He’s in his eighth year with the Twins and has the 32nd-best winning percentage in baseball history for managers with more than five years experience.
Russell has an uphill job, managing the Pirates. Pittsburgh is about to complete its major league record 17th straight losing season, of which Russell has been in charge for two. If he could somehow turn around what once was a proud franchise, his managerial stock goes through the roof.
Meanwhile, Hinch seems to have a solid chance at success. Arizona is struggling, but the D-Backs have won before and could win again, and baseball people rave about Hinch.
Newest Thunder an ex-SuperSonic
The Thunder signed Kevin Ollie on Saturday. I have to admit very little working knowledge about Kevin Ollie. So I looked it up. Connecticut man; has played 12 years in the NBA and made 100 starts, so while he’s no star, he’s no stiff, either. Played for a bunch of teams.
Including the Seattle SuperSonics. Ollie was part of one of the big trades in Seattle history, a trade that had ramifications even for Oklahoma City five years later.
In the middle of the 2002-03 season, the Milwaukee Bucks traded Ray Allen, Ronald Murray, a draft pick that became Luke Ridnour and Ollie to Seattle, for Desmond Mason and Gary Payton.
Heck of a trade for Seattle. They got a superstar in Allen and a starting point guard in Ridnour. Two seasons later, 2004-05, the Sonics went 52-30 and won the Northwest Division, with Allen averaging 23.9 points a game and Ridnour starting every game at point guard.
Mason still was a good ballplayer, but Payton was well past his prime.
Ollie lasted only that half season with Seattle, then was off to Cleveland the next season.
Ollie is the ultimate vagabond. You won’t believe these stats: Oklahoma City is Ollie’s 12th home city in 12 years. That does not include mutiple stops in Orlando (two) and Philadelphia (three). Add that up. Ollie has switched rosters 15 times. He’s swapped teams in mid-year five times.
That’s probably not a record. But it can’t be far off.
NBA rosters being as fluid as they are, it’s probably not any big coincidence that Ollie has returned to a franchise where he was part of such a huge trade. Sort of like the Kevin Bacon game; most everyone in the league is connected in some way.
At 36 years old, Ollie isn’t going to be a long-timer in OKC. Which is too bad. The guy could use some stability.
