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Mickey Tettleton scored a big victory over the weekend.

On the links.

The former Major Leaguer who was born in Oklahoma City and now lives in Norman won the San Diego Classic, one of the stops on the Celebrity Tour. Tettleton has been playing golf on the tour for more than a decade, but until Sunday, he’d never won an event.

Tettleton beat out Rick Rhoden. The two former big leaguers are big time friends, so much so that Tettleton has caddied on several occasions for Rhoden, a regular on the Champions Tour. He was even on the bag a couple years back when the Senior PGA Championship came to Oak Tree.

Much like his baseball career, Tettleton got a big hit at an important time. He hit a 9-iron to less than three feet on the 18th hole, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Tettleton had a two-day total of 3-under 139. 

Pretty darn good for a baseball player.

The Kingfisher Kid is no longer a kid, and yet, I sure hope Curtis Lofton is taking some child-like wonder with him to the NFL. 

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

There was a day back in December that I’ll long remember.

The Oklahoma football team was having its pre-bowl season press conference, and Curtis Lofton was talking about anything anyone asked him. That included the NFL.

He had yet to declare for the draft, but as the linebacker fielded questions about the NFL, he had the weirdest look on his face. It was either disbelief or wonder. I finally asked him what was up.

Lofton said that he really couldn’t believe he was sitting there talking about being an NFL Draft pick.

He explained it this way: “Just being from Kingfisher, a little small town, and being able to actually think about going to the NFL is just kind of astonishing.”

Lofton isn’t thinking about it any more. He’s going to the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons picked Lofton in the second round of this weekend’s draft, and folks in Georgia are talking about him being the heir apparent to Keith Brooking.

All the Brooking has done over the past decade is anchor the Falcon defense.

Lofton has yet to play a down in the NFL, and yet, he has already started living out a dream. And you know what? I can’t help but be pleased as punch for the guy.

On a weekend when it’s easy to get wrapped up in the big money being thrown at young men or the out-of-control hype machine spitting out one superlative after another, Lofton is a guy who’s easy to be happy for. He is a small-town guy who works hard and keeps his nose clean.

I haven’t had a chance to talk to Lofton since he was drafted Saturday, but I did see him at Mark Clayton’s charity event a few weeks ago. He was running in the same circles with NFL types that weekend, and he still had some of that awe in his eyes. The wonder was there just like that December press conference.

Here’s hoping Lofton takes that attitude with him to the NFL.

Enjoying the ride is never a bad way to go.

When I heard about the injury that Oklahoma pole vaulter Chip Heuser suffered last fall, I knew he needed to be a subject in The Q&A.

He did more than survive.

He lived to jump another day.

Here is The Q&A with Heuser in its entirety:

Jenni Carlson: I always knew pole vaulters were a little crazy, but when I heard about your injury, that crystallized it for me.

Chip Heuser: Funny thing about it, it was actually Halloween.

JC: No trick, no treat.

CH: Definitely not. I tricked myself into this one. We were doing a drill. It was a drill simulating the vault in the air called rope vaulting. The set-up we have requires an extra mat behind the pit itself just in case you carry too much momentum and overshoot the pit. So, of course, you probably know what I did. Forgot the mat. Overshot the pit. Landed from about 16 feet in the air directly on my skull. Fractured my occipital bone, had a contrecoup injury, damage to my poles. Was in the ICU about seven days, was released, then had a seizure and was put back in the ICU for another three days.

JC: Oh, geez.

CH: I had some hemorrhaging … but luckily, they didn’t have to operate. If they would’ve operated, I would not be vaulting. I’m forced to wear a helmet now when I jump, but it doesn’t keep me from wanting to jump again.

JC: You spout all those injuries off like you’ve heard the terminology a bunch.

CH: Well, I’m pre-med and my father’s a surgeon. But I had to learn a lot about my injury. I wanted to know what was going on inside my head.

JC: So, were you working with other guys the day of the injury?

CH: I was showing the freshmen how to do the drill. Being a senior, I’ve done it many times before. Just bad timing on my part, I guess.

JC: For you, then, this was just a normal day.

CH: We do crazy, crazy drills. You always come up with schemes to try to better yourself technically.

JC: What does that particular drill work on?

CH: Technique in the air. How you go up the pole and release, go over the bar, that kind of thing.

JC: Falling from 16 feet, that’s a long time to drop. Did you realize what was happening?

CH: Whenever I actually pole vault — run down the runway, plant the pole, swing up — I can always tell when I’m not going to land correctly. In this instance, I don’t remember much. I remember letting go of the rope, and that’s about it. I woke up about seven days later.

JC: After you were released from the hospital, you had a seizure?

CH: I was in the ICU seven days, released, then the next morning after the release, I suffered the seizure and went right back in the hospital. It was bad.

JC: It’s a miracle you’re here.

CH: They lose me once right after the initial impact. Then they lost me twice after the seizure in the ambulance.

JC: You essentially died three times. How do you even process something like that?

CH: The funny thing about it is I don’t recall much. To me, it’s not really …

JC: Didn’t really happen to you?

CH: It hit me three months post injury, right before I came back to school after Christmas break. I had a little bit of a come-to-Jesus moment, I guess, with my parents. They were with me the whole time. They came down from Kentucky. My mom, my poor mother, she was with me the whole time and saw the seizure.

JC: At what point, then, does continuing to pole vault seem like a good idea?

CH: First thing I said when I came to — which I don’t remember saying — is, “Can I still pole vault?”

JC: Are you kidding?

CH: It’s like the old saying, once you fall off the horse, you get right back on. Literally, I fell.

JC: That’s quite a horse to fall of, though.

CH: It happens.

JC: Do you approach the sport differently now?

CH: It’s kind of a tough situation for me right now. I was fairly good at what I did before the injury, and now, it’s taking some time to get back. I’m no where near my personal record, and my competition skills mentally are not just rusty but I would say non-existent. Hopefully, it’ll come. If not, everybody finds another path in life. Maybe I’ll find mine through this incident.

JC: I don’t think anyone would’ve expected you to come back exactly like you were before.

CH: You can’t. I’m just happy to be alive and back jumping doing what I love.

JC: You lost a lot of time, too, after the injury.

CH: I lost about three months of my life. Had to change my major … because of the massive amount of work I was going to have to make up. My teachers were more than accommodating to me, helped me out a bunch. And then our academic administration, they’re great.

JC: Like jumping, how did you will yourself back onto the academic tract?

CH: I’m pretty driven, coming from a family where my father is a very smart man. He’s a great surgeon. He’s kind of my inspiration in the academic field. I was dreaming about going to medical school, but I’m probably going to defer that and get an MBA. My dad stopped operating and is now running a corporate fitness clinic out of Louisville, Ky., called Heuser Clinic. So, I’m going to get an MBA and take over for him there.

JC: I guess if you want more punishment and torture in your life, you can always do med school later.

CH: More stress. Exactly what I need.

JC: Considering everything that’s happened, how do you measure success now?

CH: I used to measure everything on my achievements. I have all these All-Americans. I’ve never won a Big 12 championship, and I always wanted to do that. But now after all this has happened … it’s kind of made me decide if I go to a track meet and I feel like I’ve vaulted to the best of my ability, not looking at the heights but just feel good about the way I jumped and the way I competed, it’s a success. Hopefully, if I just stick with that mentality, things will turn around for the better.

Not everything NBA-related in Oklahoma City these days has to do with the Sonics.

 There’s another team near and dear to hearts here that just happens to be in the playoffs.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

Like many of you, I’ve been watching the NBA playoffs.

Well, more precisely, I’ve been watching the Hornets in the NBA playoffs.

I don’t know about you, but it’s been tough watching the Men of Teal. They’ve blown through the first two games of their Western Conference series against Dallas. They’ve dominated. They’ve annihilated. As a result, they’ve left me bummed.

Just think what might have happened a year ago if Peja Stojakovic hadn’t gotten hurt. Or David West. Or Tyson Chandler. Or Chris Paul.

This just in: CP3 can play.

Those of us here in Oklahoma City know how tantalizingly close we were to seeing a playoff team. A really good playoff team. Instead, the Hornets had their injuries, returned to New Orleans, got well and have had a season to remember.

But you know what? Instead of being bummed, Oklahoma City should be proud. After all, the Hornets wouldn’t be where they are right now without OKC.

Think about it: when the franchise landed here seeking refuge from Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets had a starting lineup of Chris Paul, J.R. Smith, David West, Jamaal Magliore and P.J. Brown.

Now, they start Paul, West, Peja, Mo Peterson and Tyson Chandler. That is a serious upgrade, and that is due in large part to Oklahoma City.

Had the Hornets had a bad first year in OKC, or even the promise of a bad second year here, do you think they would’ve been able to land Peja? He was a big free-agent catch that cost the Hornets $64 million over five years. And Chandler was no cheapie either. The Hornets took on the remaining five years and $54 million of his contract.

The Hornets couldn’t have made those deals without Oklahoma City’s support.

Heck, they couldn’t have gotten Peterson or super sub Bonzi Wells, guys who never even played in OKC, without the financial stability that our fair city provided them.

So, we could be a little bummed as we watch the Hornets tear through the playoffs, but we shouldn’t be. Oklahoma City had a big hand in the team’s success, and we deserve to share in it.

Usually we look to the fields and courts of play for examples of teamwork.

May I offer up different examples?

A good one, and a bad one.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

City leaders in Seattle still can’t agree on anything.

If this whole Sonics saga has taught us anything, it is this — Oklahoma City has local leadership that we can be proud of. Perfect, it is not, but it is pretty darn good.

And in light of what’s still going on in Seattle, pretty darn good is pretty darn good.

The inability of city leaders to get on the same page has hampered efforts to improve KeyArena for years in Seattle. There’s been a lack of willingness to even talk to people from the Sonics, and that was the case long before Clay Bennett and Co. bought the franchise.

Watching Seattle’s local government is like a soap opera.

That hasn’t changed. Last week, the NBA Board of Governors approved the relocation of the Sonics to Oklahoma City. You’d figure the seriousness of that vote might spur Seattle leaders to come to some sort of consensus.

Uh, no.

First, there’s Seattle mayor Greg Nickels, who called his own press conference on Friday and stood firm on the city’s plans to take the Sonics to court. He said, “We’re focused on litigation and keeping the team here.”

But then, there’s King County official Ron Sims who said, “You’re not going to stop them from moving. That’s just a fact.”

Aren’t these guys supposed to be playing for the same team? If these folks can’t agree with each other, is it any wonder that they’ve had trouble working with the Sonics?

Again, I’m not ready to call Oklahoma City’s local government a bastion of all that is right and good in the world, but the fact that they all seem to be working together is no small feat. It is a triumph worth celebrating.

Listen, I know I’m a sports writer, not a political pundit, but I do know the difference between soap opera and teamwork.

Sometimes we don’t get the fairy-tale ending in sports.

Too bad.

Emily LeVan deserved one. The Oklahoma native has been training for the U.S. Olympic marathon trials the past few months while her daughter battles leukemia, and early Sunday morning in Boston came her chance to make the Olympic Games.

LeVan finished 67th with a time of 2:45:45.

The winner, Deena Kastor, finished in 2:29:35. Magdelena Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell also made the Olympic team with times of 2:30:19 and 2:32:40 respectively.

LeVan might have finished well back of the pack, but as she told me before the trials, just getting to the starting line would be a triumph.

It’s safe to say, LeVan triumphed in more ways than one.

The efforts of her, her husband, Brad, and her daughter, Maddie, have raised more that $64,000 for cancer research. They have reached thousands with their website, www.twotrials.com, and they reached millions late last week when their story was chronicled on NBC Nightly News.

So, hats off to Emily LeVan. Olympian or not, she is an American we can all cheer.

Oklahoma State had plenty of money to offer its next men’s basketball coach.

But the Cowboys might have been a little short on one other commodity.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

The past week has been quite a time for Travis Ford.

Quite a profitable time, that is.

He didn’t just get one raise. He got two.It was just last week that the men’s basketball coach negotiated a new contract at UMass. Then, of course, on Wednesday, he agreed to become the new coach at Oklahoma State. Though we don’t have all the details just yet, the Cowboys have surely upped the ante on Ford’s $400,000 salary.

College coaches everywhere are envious. Anyone who can get two raises in one week is genius. College coaches love their big paychecks.

About the only thing that comes close to being more important than money is power. College coaches want to rule the roost. They may have a boss, but there are plenty of places where the person with the most power does not have his name on the door to the athletic director’s office.

Which brings us to an interesting point about OSU.

You have to wonder how many potential coaching candidates might have been turned off by the power structure in Stillwater. You not only have Mike Holder but also Boone Pickens. Even though no one knows for sure just how much power Pickens portends, you can be sure he has some serious sway. No one else on campus can make a phone call and get the results that T. Boone can.

Did that scare away Bill Self? John Calipari? Jamie Dixon? Heck, even Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery?

We’ll never know the real answer to that, of course, but you have to think it played into any consideration that any candidate gave the job. They had no way of knowing for sure how Pickens’ power would impact their job. They could ask. OSU could tell. But until they were in the middle of it, they wouldn’t be able to know for sure what that relationship would mean to them.

Ironically, Pickens is the reason many of those coaches even considered the Cowboy coaching position in the first place. Without Boone’s billions, do you think Self or Calipari or any other high-level coach would’ve given OSU serious consideration?

Probably not.

On Wednesday, Travis Ford agreed to become OSU’s coach. Eventually, we’ll know how much money he’s getting. How much power he’ll wield remains to be seen.

Need a little something to feed your hunger for national championships?

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

Lest you can’t get enough of the national championship fever this time of year, fear not. All of the titles haven’t been handed out just yet.

This weekend, a champ will be crowned at the inaugural Collegiate Nationals Eating Championship.

Yep, eating.

CBS College Sports has even picked up the broadcast rights. So, let me get this straight. In the same month that CBS is responsible for the Final Four and the Master’s, it’s also doing the eating championship. How can that be?

This comes straight from the just-when-you-thought-things-in-sports-couldn’t-get-any-crazier file.

The eating championship will feature college-style food. Hamburgers. Hot dogs. French fries. Guess no one told them if they wanted true college food, they’d have gone with Ramen noodles and Pop Tarts.

The rules of the contest prohibit any dunking, mashing or mutilating of the food. The Eating Commissioner — I swear, I’m not making this part of the story up — says that it’s important to pay respect to the food.

Um, stuffing massive qualities of it in your gullet is considered respectful?

And you thought Jerry Jones wanting to trade for Pacman Jones was crazy.

The Eating Championship falls under the umbrella of “The Collegiate Nationals,” by the way. This is a group that dubs itself “a festival of epic championships that displays the growing passion for lifestyle sports at the collegiate level.”

Now, wait just a gosh darn minute.

A festival of epic championships? With that kind of description, someone had better be wrestling bears or hogtying alligators. Now that would be epic.

The Collegiate Nationals’ idea of epic? Beach volleyball. Snowboarding. Ultimate Frisbee. And, of course, eating.

And listen, I’m not sure what they mean by “lifestyle sports at the collegiate level.” Eating is a lifestyle sport? I thought it was more a part of life, but hey, potato patato.

Qualifying rounds for the Eating Championship are Saturday, followed by the championship round on Sunday. The top four seeds — um, yeah — have byes until Sunday. I’m picking the fourth seed. With a name like Brian “Eatin’” Keaton, can you really go wrong?

The Q&A broke new ground this week: an interview with a newly crowned champion.

Darnell Jackson happens to be a heck of a story, too. The Kansas big man has been through more than his share of trials and tribulations, but Monday night, the Midwest City High product ended his college career with the ultimate triumph.

Here’s The Q&A with Jackson in its entirety:

Jenni Carlson: National champion — how does that sound to you?

Darnell Jackson: It sounds great. It’s unbelievable. Me and some of my teammates were walking around and we were like, “Did we just win that game?” It’s unbelievable. It’s going to be unforgettable.

JC: What’s been the most surreal part of this past week?

DJ: During the game when me and Darrell were on the court … we both missed these big blockouts that we needed to get the rebound and Memphis got it back. Darrell said, “Man, we just cost ourselves the game.” All of sudden, Coach Self said, “We’re not gonna lose this game. There’s enough time.” Next thing you know, Mario knocks down a big shot. We went into overtime, and the first thing Coach Self said is, “We’re about to win this game, fellas.” We did. We won it.

JC: You were right there in the middle of it all.

DJ: I think about it all the time. I talked to my mom that day. She cried. She cried on the phone for 15 minutes because she couldn’t believe I was playing for one of the top teams in the nation and we were in the Final Four. It’s just a great feeling, just being here.

JC: True or false — you had your best game of the tournament in the title game.

DJ: I think it’s true. I wasn’t worrying about trying to score. I just played my role. My role was to play defense and rebound and get our guys extra possessions, and I think I did a pretty good job doing that.

JC: Why did it all come together then?

DJ: Before the North Carolina game, Coach Chalmers and Mrs. Chalmers came and pulled me out of my room. They came and talked to me. They sat there and talked to me about just being myself, and they prayed with me. She told me this quote. She said, “Do not be afraid. Be strong of good courage. God is with you wherever you go.” She said, “Just go out there and play.” And that’s what I did. I think that helped me a lot. She wrote it down on a piece of card and I took it with me. Before the Memphis game, I kept reading it and reading it. Walked out there on the court, smiled at my mom and went to work.

JC: Like most people, I watched the game on TV, and after the game during the celebration, I saw you walk away. Where’d you go?

DJ: I was trying to walk over towards my mom, and Sasha grabbed me and turned me around in circles. When he let me go, I just hopped the table and gave my mom a hug. My mom, my uncle, my brother, my sister, my two teachers all a huge. Then, I just cried. It was so tough for us to be there, and we made it.

JC: Pretty special.

DJ: It was a great feeling.

JC: What was said in those moments?

DJ: My mom just started crying, and my uncle said, “I’m happy for you. Your grandma’s with you the whole way.” I believed him.

JC: Sounds like this has been really emotional for your mom.

DJ: She cried in San Antonio before we left. We were talking and eating, and she started crying. I was like, “Mom, the game is over.” She said, “I’m just happy.”

JC: I’ve got to tell you, I’ve seen your face in pictures everywhere this week because you were the one who hoisted the trophy.

DJ: I think it’s like a little tradition that we have. Even with the Big 12, I always take the trophy. After the game, I just held onto the trophy. I was so proud that we won that game as a team and we fought so hard to get there. When Mario hit that shot, I was like, “I can’t believe we’re about to win this game.”

JC: How many times have you seen replays of that shot?

DJ: I have an iPhone, and me and Darrell, we’ve been watching it all day on the phone. Just replaying it and replaying.

JC: You’re wearing it out.

DJ: It was crazy. I was standing right under the basket, and I thought it was going to go in and come back it. But it went straight through.

JC: So, after you win and get the trophy, what’d you do with it?

DJ: I keep it until we get back to the locker room. We have all our trophies that we won this year. I just sat it right there. There was a space waiting. There was already an empty space waiting.

JC: So you’d cleared a space for it?

DJ: Yeah, we had a space for it.

JC: That takes some dreamin’ to clear a spot before hand for the trophy.

DJ: A lot of dreamin’. A lot of hard work.

JC: You know, when a team wins the Stanley Cup, the players get to take it home for a day or so. You guys gonna do anything like that?

DJ: I think we’re gonna have to leave it in the locker room because somebody might break it. Don’t want Coach Self to be mad at anybody, so we might just have to leave it.

JC: Who’s most likely to break it?

DJ: Brandon or Darrell. We’re always makin’ fun of those two because … if they’re wide open for a layup or shot, they always fumble the ball. We make fun of their hands.

JC: After everything Monday and Tuesday, you had to go back to class this week. What’s that been like?

DJ: Campus, it was great just walking to class, hearing everybody honk their horns, yelling your name. It was a great experience. That just shows you how much our fans around here love us.

JC: No standing ovations in class or anything?

DJ: No standing ovations. I don’t need none of that.

JC: Has it been hard to get back into a routine?

DJ: It’s been real hard. Now, I gotta go study, I gotta go to class. Guys don’t want to do that. They want to celebrate because we just won, but we’ve been having a lot of fun with it.

JC: Surely it’s OK to have a little fun with it, right?

DJ: You can have fun when you’re done with classes.

JC: I know you’re getting ready to graduate, but what’s next for you?

DJ: I don’t know what’s next for me. I can’t say. I wish I could. I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about me getting drafted, about me not getting drafted. I haven’t really been thinking about anything like that. Whatever falls in my lap, I’m gonna go with it.

JC: Heard anything from any NBA folks?

DJ: Me, Russell and Sasha were supposed to have went to Portsmouth for pre-draft, but we’re not going.

JC: You’re not?

DJ: Coach Self is like, “You’re not going. You’ve gotta go to school.”

JC: Was that just your Coach Self impression?

DJ: Yeah. 

Malcolm Kelly set off something of a firestorm with his comments Wednesday after working out for NFL scouts.

No one in the media really and truly knows the athletes that we cover, but still, I’ve had a chance to talk one-on-one with the former Oklahoma wide receiver numerous times during the past three seasons. I’m not ready to vilify him like many have.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

Malcolm Kelly is one of the good guys.

I think.

About two weeks ago, I would’ve said that about the former Oklahoma wide receiver without so much as a hint of trepidation, without even a smidge of reservation. Even when injury kept Kelly out of the Fiesta Bowl this year and Sooner fans cried foul, I stood up for Kelly.

Because he’s hurt and doesn’t play makes him a bad guy?

I wasn’t buying it.

Kelly is a quality character guy. Good demeanor. Clean record. Thoughtful. Insightful. Honest. In fact, one of the things that I have long told people is that Kelly has all the skills of an NFL receiver without the attitude of one.

Keyshawn Johnson? Terrell Owens? Chad Johnson? Malcolm Kelly isn’t like that. With him, you get all the catches without any of the crazy.

Then along came Pro Day, Part Deux at OU.

Kelly and a small cadre of fellow NFL hopefuls worked out for scouts Wednesday. And after the festivities, Kelly had some not-so-nice things to say. He spoke ill of the set-up, the medical staff, and the strength and conditioning staff.

Listen, I don’t pretend to know all of what’s gone on behind the scenes. Was Kelly’s leg injury was misdiagnosed during the season? Was his workout moved at the last minute? I really don’t know.

What I do know is this: for starters, Kelly might have thought better about what he said after running so-so time in the 40-yard dash. No need to come off to the NFL types like you’re fishing for excuses. And secondly, Kelly might have given us a little insight into some of the frustrations of college athletes bubbling just under the surface.

Kelly said, “You play somewhere for three years, you give ‘em all you got every summer, every winter, and all you ask for is an hour and a half to have it like you want to have it.”

You know what? I can’t argue with that. College athletes are amongst the most under paid laborers in the country. For the revenue they produce for their coaches, their programs and their schools, they get back a very small percentage of what they’re owed. But they do it because they get a scholarship, a whole lot of coaching and teaching, and a chance to show off their abilities.

What Kelly said Wednesday, though, shows that there is frustration among athletes. They give and give and give and feel like the school doesn’t reciprocate. Hard to argue when you see coaches earning millions and schools building athletic palaces.

Kelly probably said what many athletes think. Does that make him a bad guy? A complainer? An eccentric? I’m not ready to chalk him up into any of those categories just yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what we remember about this episode in a few years. Was it the start of a trend, or was it an out of character moment?

Only time will tell, and even though he might prove me wrong, I still think Kelly is one of the good guys.