Griffin back on winning track…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I scoured the Net on Sunday for Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz at UFC 106. But every time I thought I had found a copy, something happened that wouldn’t allow me to watch it.
Sounds like Griffin really took control in the final round, and that’s why he won the fight via split decision. I’ll reserve judgment until I see it, though.
Maybe a bigger shocker was Josh Koscheck beating Anthony Johnson. I thought ‘Rumble’ was going to walk right through him.
So after three straight weeks of MMA and boxing, MMA takes a backseat while HBO returns with Lucien Bute and Librado Andrade in a fight I’m sure only diehard fans know who either guy is.
We are a sick bunch.
***
After watching the replay of Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, it’s actually going to be tougher than I thought to continue watching that fight.
The first four rounds are outstanding. They live up to what they were in my head when watching it live.
However, at the end of the sixth round when Pacquiao buckles Cotto on the ropes, it’s game, set, match.
I guess I’ve earned so much respect and admiration for Cotto that it’s extremely tough to watch those final rounds. Outgunned but still fighting.
Doesn’t take anything away from what Pacquiao did, and I still can’t wait until PacMan and Floyd Mayweather fight. But I won’t be watching those final rounds too much.
Private schools POW: Sterling Shepard, Heritage Hall…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Can one player really make that much of a difference? If it’s Heritage Hall and that player is sophomore Sterling Shepard, the answer is yes.
With Shepard back in the lineup, the Chargers were back to being at the absolute best this team can be.
The question, however, is this team’s best good enough to claim another championship? We have three weeks to find out that answer.
Until then, Shepard will have to be content in winning the Private Schools Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Though Barry Sanders got the ball rolling early, Shepard put the game away in the second quarter of a 48-8 win against Lindsay.
Shepard caught a touchdown pass from Cooper Cloud and also threw for two of his own as Heritage improved to 8-4.
Shepard has had two concussions this year, so the next one would definitely end his season. He plays so hard for such a ‘little’ guy. He leaves it all out there and provides such a lift to the team.
Heritage heads to Pawhuska this week in a 2A quarterfinal. I will be there. But for a different take on the Chargers (a long overdue one), check out Wednesday’s paper.
Other contenders
LaRone Richardson, RB, Bishop McGuinness: Wow, a man possessed Friday against Sallisaw. Richardson ran for 155 yards and a touchdown in the 20-14 loss. More than that, he showed the explosiveness he’s become known for and what will be possible for this team next year.
Barry Sanders, RB, Heritage: Definitely set the tone early. Added another three touchdowns on the ground but added another interception return for a touchdown. He’s got quite the nose for the ball.
Jay Lester, LB, Irish: Had an interception and blocked an extra point as Irish shut down Sallisaw in second half but couldn’t overcome slow start.
Edmond POW: Memorial’s Justin Merideth…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
If you’ve read the Edmond blogs this season, you know I bought into Memorial coach Justin Merideth from the word ‘go.’
From being out at the practices in August to seeing how he interacted with the kids, had a feeling the Bulldogs weren’t being given the proper respect.
In the picks, Memorial went 10-2 according to my predictions. Seriously, that’s just how much I believed in Merideth.
For the historic season the Bulldogs had, I’m giving the Edmond Player of the Week to coach Justin Merideth.
Is that allowed? Well, it’s my blog, so I’m going to say yes.
Memorial (8-4) gave everything it had in a 28-14 loss to Jenks. It wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment. And after being down 14-0, the Bulldogs fought back to 14-14 going into the fourth quarter.
Merideth, who has mentioned his staff every time I’ve talked to him, was able to get the most out of his kids and the coaching staff devised a great plan throughout this season.
I’ve harped on the move of putting Kameron Doolittle at QB and having senior leader Blake Umberham sit and how well everybody handled that situation, but that really was the spark that made this season take off.
Memorial won the city championship for the first time in 12 years and made the quarterfinals for the first time ever since the Edmond split.
Replacing the defense will be tough, but the offense should have a lot more explosion with several key components (topped by Doolittle and Cale Olbert) coming back.
Other Memorial contenders:
Josh Sierra, RB: Had a one-yard TD run to make it 14-7.
Adrian Shoecraft, LB: Had an interception and a fumble recovery.
Nelson Medeiros, DB: Had an interception.
Parker Langford and Kameron Doolittle: Duo combined for the touchdown to make it 14-14.
Box office report for Nov. 23, 2009: “Twilight: New Moon” rises high
The vampire romance sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” dominated the weekend box office, sucking in $140.7 million in its first three days, according to the Associated Press.
The second film based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling book series also made $258.8 million worldwide, indicating the author’s saga isn’t just supernaturally popular in the United States. Overseas, “New Moon” debuted in 25 countries and sucked up $118.1 million.
The huge opening weekend for the Summit Entertainment release not only landed the sequel at No. 1 on the box-office charts, it also was more than twice the $69.6 million haul over the same weekend last year for “Twilight,” the first film in the franchise.
“New Moon” also rose to third on the all-time domestic box-office list behind 2008’s $158.4 million opening weekend for the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” and 2007’s $151.1 million haul for “Spider-Man 3.”
Among the top-10 all-time openings, “New Moon” is the only one that came outside of Hollywood’s busiest time, the summer season, according to the AP. The movie adaptation of Meyer’s third “Twilight” book, “Eclipse,” has already been filmed and is due in theaters June 30, 2010.
On Friday, “New Moon” set an all-time domestic high for opening day with $72.7 million, topping the previous record of $67.2 million, again set by “The Dark Knight.
“New Moon” continues the love story between human Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Rpbert Pattinson) but adds a love triangle to the story with Bella’s best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who turns out to be a werewolf.
Overall, Hollywood had its second-biggest non-holiday weekend ever, with final numbers expected to come in slightly behind the $260 million the industry rang up over the weekend of July 18, 2008, when “The Dark Knight” opened, according to the AP. Compared to the same weekend last year, box-office business was up 59 percent.
Females made up 80 percent of the audience for “New Moon,” which makes since since Meyer’s saga is phenomenally popular among girls and women. It also proves again to the movie studios – who seem to need constant reminders – that women will flock to movie theaters if given good reason. Young men aren’t the only ones who will turn out in droves to see a movie.
The “Twilight” franchise “taps into something primal and visceral that drives women crazy, and they’re willing to pay for the privilege,” Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, told the AP.
The Warner Bros. football drama “The Blind Side” opened at No. 2 with $34.5 million. The film stars Sandra Bullock in the fact-based story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher, who was a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy family and enrolled in private school.
As with “New Moon,” females were the big fans of “The Blind Side,” accounting for 59 percent of the audience. That may seem unusual for a sports film, but between Bullock and the movie’s family themes, women wanted to see it, too.
“To have two movies with huge appeal for women result in the second-biggest non-holiday weekend ever is amazing,” said Dergarabedian told the AP.
Sony’s animated adventure “Planet 51,” about a NASA astronaut (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who causes a panic when he lands on an alien planet, debuted at No. 4 with $12.6 million.
The previous weekend’s top movie, Sony’s disaster tale “2012,” came in at No. 3 with $26.5 million, raising its domestic total to $108.2 million. Worldwide, “2012″ has taken in $449.8 million, despite some fairly disastrous reviews.
With the Thanksgiving, Hollywood is preparing for one of the busiest periods of the year at theaters. Several movies are opening Wednesday, including the Robin Williams-John Travolta comedy “Old Dogs,” the post-apocalypse drama “The Road,” George Clooney’s animated comedy “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the kung fu actioner “Ninja Assassin.”
Here are the top 10 films for the weekend, according to the AP:
1. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” $140.7 million.
2. “The Blind Side,” $34.5 million.
3. “2012,” $26.5 million.
4. “Planet 51,” $12.6 million.
5. “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” $12.2 million.
6. “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire,” $11 million.
7. “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” $2.8 million.
8. “Couples Retreat,” $2 million.
9. “The Fourth Kind,” $1.7 million.
10. “Law Abiding Citizen,” $1.6 million.
-BAM
Chat with Jake Trotter at 11 a.m.
Sooner football needs bowl practices
If Oklahoma loses Bedlam on Saturday, the Sooners fall to 6-6 in a year in which they started out ranked No. 3 in America. Some say OU should decline a bowl bid, if that occurs.
The let’s-stiff-the-bowls idea is a quaint old notion that some teams once did. OU decided not to go bowling after an 8-4 record in 1983 that ended with a victory in Hawaii. The Sooners apparently figured that was their bowl game.
Anyway, here’s the truth about not going to a bowl game. It’s a stupid concept.
Whatever you think about bowl games, be they to San Diego’s beaches or Shreveport’s casinos, they provide invaluable extra practice. A bowl team gets 15 practices after its regular season is over.
Think about that. An entire extra spring practice. Some of those workouts are on campus and some are at the bowl site. But it’s an amazing boost for a program wanting to develop its young players, which frankly, OU needs more than ever.
Sam Bradford’s rocket rise as a quarterback was first detected in 2006 December workouts, when the Sooners were preparing for Boise State.
Those practices are no small thing. The Sooners would be foolish to turn them down.
Southmoore receiver duo among best in 6A; but Symonds and Serowski share the ball more than other top tandems
Looking over some of the best wide receiver tandems in Class 6A, the stats of Southmoore’s Derek Serowski and Nyko Symonds, while impressive, don’t leap off the page at you like some of the other duos. However, there’s a big reason for that.
None of the other top receiving duos have other players on the team who get the ball thrown to them as much as the two standouts. Symonds and Serowski share the passes with tight end Austin Haywood (29 receptions) and running back Andrew Long (35).
For the season Symonds has 33 receptions for 730 yards and six touchdowns. Serowski has 27 grabs for 559 yards and four touchdowns. They both have amazing per-catch averages, Symonds 22.1, Serowski 20.7. And both have had big-time games: Symonds caught three touchdown passes against Putnam City North, Serowski caught three Friday against Bartlesville.
Here are a few other strong duos with their number of receptions and reception yardage:
* Del City: Donovan Dan 72 receptions, 1,175 yards & Chris McAlister 53, 859
* Mustang: David Glidden 61, 1,046 & Braden Wisely 49, 646
* Bartlesville: Garrett Powell 48, 952 & Mike Thompson 51, 980
* Putnam City North: Antonio Johnson 31, 548 & Dillon Schooley 29, 465
Now, in each case, none of the above listed duos have anyone else on their team in the top 20 in receptions. Southmoore has four.
Norman girls team hard to categorize
I had an interesting thought while talking with Norman girls basketball coach Matilda Mossman the other day. We were talking about the best teams in Class 6A and in doing so, it made me realize that Norman can’t be put in a group.
For starters, the conversation about the best `girls teams in 6A starts and ends with Midwest City. I said. “There’s Midwest City and there’s everybody else.”
But then, in reeling off a handful of schools in the next tier of teams, I realized Norman wasn’t easy to categorize. The Tiger aren’t as talented as Midwest City (no one else is, for that matter), but with three starters (point guard Kamra King, shooting guard Chelsea Key and forward Jeannie Ramon) back from last year’s state semifinal team that took MWC into overtime before falling, they’re above most of the rest of the field.
Now, there are two other teams and a wildcard that I might put on the same tier as Norman. Tulsa Union and Edmond North both are coming off a state-tourney season, have several starters back and each has a star player (Elizabeth Donohoe for EN, Carrington Fox for Union). The wildcard is Edmond Santa Fe, and that’s just because the Wolves have maybe the most exciting player in 6A in sophomore Courtney Walker. A talent like Walker can make a team better than its parts.
So, I see a three-level separation of teams. 1. MWC; 2. Norman,
Edmond North, Tulsa Union and maybe Edmond Santa Fe. 3. Del City, Lawton, Edmond Memorial, Norman North, Owasso and Putnam City North.
Upon further review: Southmoore even better than 49-28 score against Bartlesville
There were a lot things to take away from Southmoore’s walloping of Bartlesville Friday. We’ll go over a few in a minute, but by far the most important was this: The SaberCats were game ready.
What’s game ready? Everything but the physical aspects of the game — mental focus, attitude, confidence, drive, etc.
This area was strangely absent the week before. But instead of just taking the sluggish 34-32 win over Lawton Eisenhower and moving on, the SaberCats spent all week addressing the fact that they weren’t game ready against the Eagles. It would have been easy to just say that they had overlooked Ike and forget about it. It also would have been easy for the coaches and players to celebrate a last-second win after the handshakes and forget about everything else.
Instead, coach Chris Jensen’s first words were to ask his players if they were awake yet. And the players wouldn’t let the topic die during the week, either. Apparently a couple of players spoke up in the locker room about being game ready from here on out. And it was a great week of practice and players were lauded for how hard they worked.
Well, Southmoore was game ready in a big way against Bartlesville. The SaberCats were as good as they’ve been all season. Actually, given the strength of the opposition (particularly on offense), it was the best they’ve played.
Other things that caught my eye:
* Both sides of the ball were equal: The offense was unstoppable — scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions. But the defense was terrific, too. Bartlesville, which came in averaging nearly 40 points per game, has a strong quarterback and a receiving duo as good as any in the state, with the exception of Chris McAlister and Donovon Dan (Del City) and Derek Serowski and Nyko Symonds. But Southmoore basically rendered useless one of the receivers and dominated the QB, constantly harassing him and picking off four passes. Now, give credit to Garrett Powell, the Bartlesville receiver came to play — five catches and a touchdown, an interception and a 60-yard kick return.
* Score didn’t tell show how dominant Southmoore was: The final score was no indication of how the game went. Sure, 49-28 looks pretty nice on the scoreboard, but it could have been a lot worse for the Bruins.
Jensen covered the field with reserves for essentially the entire fourth quarter. Until then, the defense held Bartlesville to 14 points. And those 14 points both came on big plays.
And on offense, 50 points was easily attainable, but Jensen started running the ball to run the clock after his squad went up 42-14. In fact, on the final TD drive 10 of 11 plays were runs. And backup QB, freshman Tre Edwards, came in with 1:41 to play in the third quarter.
* Bruins couldn’t move the ball all night: Bartlesville never drove the ball on the SaberCats. One touchdown was a 60-yard pass play and the drive was just four plays. The other was a 66-yard pass and it was a two-play drive. Otherwise, against the first-string defense, Bartlesville only had one drive of any length and that was its first. The Bruins went 50 yards in 10 plays before Kimes Gilbert picked off QB Kirby Schoenthaler at the line of scrimmage.
After the first series, Bartlesville had 10 straight possessions that lasted four plays or less. That’s impressive.
* Speaking of drives: Southmoore’s offense showed it can beat defenses with a quick strike or can beat them with a sustained drive or it can beat them with a clock-consuming, ball-control grinder of a drive.
The SaberCats did all of the above against the Bruins. Their first drive was the definition of a sustained drive. They went 83 yards in 11 plays. Of the 11, four were pass plays and seven were runs. Fifty one yards came on the ground and 32 through the air. And three different players carried the ball on the drive.
After that, it was like a two-minute drill in fast-forward. In fact, after the 11 play drive, Southmoore scored three touchdowns in their next 11 plays. In succession, there was a four-play drive, a five-play drive and a two-play drive. And all three covered 63 yards or more (the second covered 91).
The next three TDs came on nine-play, 11-play and 11-play drives. All were 65 yards or longer. And, as mentioned before, all the yards on one drive came via the run.
Lakers 101, Thunder 85
LOS ANGELES — That was a thoroughly entertaining affair.
If you’re not a Thunder fan.
Notice the use of the word affair, not game or contest, which the Thunder’s 101-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers never was on Sunday night. A clinic, maybe, but far from a contest.
But that’s the beauty of a Lakers game at Staples Center. The home team doesn’t just play basketball, the Lakers put on a show. And when making your way to the glitzy arena on Figueroa Street, you never know when you’ll be treated to something special, something you’ll remember forever, like an 81-point outburst or an impromptu concert by a Grammy-Award winning artist.
Will.i.am provided the latter Sunday night, turning a boring rout into a boisterous party during a timeout early in the fourth quarter when he recited the lyrics from the Black Eyed Peas hit, “I got a feeling.” The sold out crowd of 18,997 rose to its feet and gladly sang along, no doubt enjoying what was a good night for the hometown fans. Longtime Los Angeles media members and NBA executives even gushed over the scene, assuring that they’ve never seen anything like it.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, the scene that played out with 8:58 left to play only added insult to what at that moment was a 26-point blowout that soon would go down as Oklahoma City’s worst performance this season. The Lakers toyed with the Thunder for 45 minutes and sent it to Salt Lake City searching for answers.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks told me before the game that the key to the game would be ball movement on offense and stops on defense. The Thunder, Brooks said, needed to refrain from one-pass-and-shoot possessions. Sadly, many of the Thunder’s early possessions didn’t even get to the one-pass phase. Turnovers doomed OKC from the start, six alone in a first quarter that led to eight Lakers points and a quick 35-16 advantage for Los Angeles.
The Thunder had two assists in the period. The Lakers had 10.
All the shots that the Thunder made against the Wizards rimmed out against the Lakers. Kevin Durant was 0-for-5 in the first quarter and held scoreless as Ron Artest bottled him up. Russell Westbrook was 1-for-4 from the field and James Harden missed all three of his shots in the opening period. Collectively, the Thunder was just 6-for-21 and the rout was on.
“When you get down like that, it’s tough to try to fight back,” Durant said.
Thankfully, when the Thunder proved it couldn’t and went on to see its deficit increase to as many as 28 points against the defending champs, Will.i.am and his celebrity friends kept Sunday night interesting.
QUICK HITS
- Serge Ibaka notched his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds while adding five blocked shots. Thunder coach Scott Brooks promised Ibaka would play more, and the rookie made the most of his 32 minutes.
- Ibaka was 3-for-3 from the field in the first three quarters. He was 1-for-9 in the final period. Seven offensive rebounds for Ibaka, though. Big time.
- Ibaka got major minutes in part because Nick Collison sat out with a knee injury. It isn’t believed to be a major setback. Collison took part in pre-game shooting and is listed as day-to-day.
- I don’t know if it was evident on television, but the game was extremely chippy in the fourth quarter for it to be a blowout. Several players were barking at each other and pushing late in the game. I have no idea why, but if it had anything to do with the Thunder’s pride kicking in at that point then I’m all for it.
- Here’s how embarrassing things got Sunday night — the Lakers raced to a 19-point lead after the first quarter and Adam Morrison started the second period.
- Kobe Bryant evened the score with Thabo Sefolosha tonight. Bryant had his way with the Thunder’s defense and didn’t have a single turnover.
- The Thunder missed 20 3-pointers tonight. 20! It came just one game after OKC made 11 of 21. Maybe that’s why Brooks said this team isn’t built for a shootout.
- The Thunder has no answer for Andrew Bynum. The Lakers center does whatever he wants to do against the Thunder and is a walking example of why everyone who is high on OKC immediately follows up any bit of praise with, ‘They’ve got to get a big man.”
- Bynum will, I repeat, will, win the Most Improved Player award if he stays healthy.
- Ron Artest didn’t fill up the stat sheet, but I thought he bothered Kevin Durant with his defense.
- Ryan Bowen got his first action and gave as much energy and effort as he could in 7 minutes, 54 seconds. What if he’s a secret weapon that not even Brooks knows about? What if Bowen could come in when the Thunder is stuck in a rut and turn the tide by pestering opponents with his hustle? What else does Brooks have to lose when he’s watching his team go down 25-8 in the opening minutes?
- The Thunder will forever live in Shannon Brown’s personal highlight collection. The alley-oop dunk he threw down was unreal.
- James Harden must have felt this entire game was his heat-check moment. He took 10 3-pointers and missed all 10. He made only two of 15 shots. He said the coaches and his teammates are instructing him to shoot more and that there is no point of him being on the floor if he doesn’t shoot. Maybe he took that advice a little bit too far. He was rushing shots all night, it seemed, just so he could get one up. One of his very first attempts was in transition and he never got his feet set and it didn’t even look like he knew where he was on the court.
- Still, I liked Harden’s aggressiveness. The Thunder will need that out of him. He attacked the rim hard a few times and created contact.It was a good sign.
- And lost in Harden’s 0-for-10 shooting night from behind the 3-point line alone was his six assists. Dude can still make a play for others even when his shot’s not falling.
THEY SAID IT
- Scott Brooks on the Lakers: “We played against the best team in basketball. We didn’t handle their physical toughness tonight. They got into us, we set the offense too far out and turned the ball over. And they capitalized on every mistake, and that’s what they do. It’s a talented team and some of the best players in basketball.”
- Brooks on looking forward: “We’ve got to continue to get better. That’s where we are. We have to take this as a lesson learned and get better tomorrow at practice and against Utah play a much better ball game.
- Jeff Green on the Thunder’s turnovers: “I don’t know how many turnovers we had. Over 10, I know. Nineteen. That’s why we lost. And the Lakers probably had about eight, nine. The turnovers we had, that gives them extra possessions and it takes us out of the game.”
- Russell Westbrook on what went bad: “It was a lot. We started off bad. Tough loss. We got to bounce back the next game.”
- Kevin Durant on the Lakers defense: “They always play hard. When you get down like that, it’s tough to try to fight back. Good job to the Lakers. They played well.”
- Kobe Bryant on if he’s ever made this many “H-O-R-S-E” type shots: “No. It was pretty crazy tonight. Pretty crazy. We had our rabbit foot on.”
- Shannon Brown on his alley-oop dunk: “I honestly didn’t know how high the ball was. I knew he was going to throw it, so I made eye contact. I saw him make an undercut on one side so I did an undercut on the other side and when he threw it up there I just tried to get it.”
BY THE NUMBERS
5: Blocked shots by rookie Serge Ibaka, a career-high.
9: Turnovers by the Lakers.
13: Rebounds for Ibaka, a career-high.
15: Blocked shots by the Thunder, tying a franchise record.
19: Turnovers by the Thunder.
28: L.A.’s biggest lead.
60: Points in the paint by the Lakers.
18,997: Announced attendance at Staples Center, a sellout.
-DM-
