Jenni Carlson NewsOK.com Blogging Community

From the you-know-it’s-football-season-when file: the first Heisman Trophy poll is out.

Heismanpundit.com and the Orlando Sentinel have partnered to do the weekly straw poll of voters. The voting panel is a relatively small group, considering the actual Heisman has somewhere north of 900 voters now. But still, it’s good fun to be thinking about the stiff-arm statue.

It was for me.

Yours truly is part of the voting panel for this poll. So is Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel; Olin Buchanan, Rivals.com; Tom Dienhart, Rivals.com; Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com; Ted Lewis, New Orleans Times-Picayune; Austin Murphy, Sports Illustrated; B.J. Schecter, Sports Illustrated; Stewart Mandel, Sports Illustrated; and Dick Weiss, New York Daily News. All of us submitted our top five candidates last week.

Mine?

1. Chris “Beanie” Wells, Ohio State

2. Tim Tebow, Florida

3. Pat White, West Virginia

4. Knowshon Moreno, Georgia

5. Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech.

How did my vote jive with the rest of the panelists? Tebow narrowly edged out Wells for the top spot in this week’s poll.

Every week, I’ll be throwing my vote on my blog, offering my thoughts on each of the candidates, then you can go to heismanpundit.com to check out the final results.

When it comes to most things in the Olympics, I’m a softy.

But I’ve always had a hard time with the Dream Team, or whatever rhyming name the U.S. men’s basketball team happens to be going by this time around. Multi-millionaires going after gold always seemed a little bit odd to me.

Watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below:

Then again, I’m old enough to remember a time when Olympians had to be amateurs. No pros allowed. If they’d have talked about “bling” then, they would’ve actually been talking about their Olympic medals.

Team USA has had its share of feel-good stories during these Olympics. Michael Phelps in the pool. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson in gymnastics. Even Oklahoma’s own, Jonathan Horton has brought a healthy dose of feel-good.

Nothing has felt quite so bad, though, what happened with Daniel Cormier. He is the hard-luck story of these Olympics.

Watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below:

The former Oklahoma State wrestler withdrew from competition only hours before he was supposed to start wrestling. Instead of going to the arena, Cormier was laying in a Beijing hospital bed after developing a serious kidney problem.

From all accounts, it sounds like a case of weight-cutting gone terribly wrong.

Somewhere down the road, I’m sure we’ll turn our attention to the evils of cutting weight in wrestling, but for now, the emotions are still too raw.

No Olympian deserves such a fate, but Cormier really doesn’t. He has already endured more than his share of hard luck. Back at the 2004 Olympics, he finished fourth after blowing a 2-0 lead in the final minute of the bronze-medal match. Cormier was looking for redemption in Beijing.

Then, there have been all of his off-mat heartaches. His infant daughter was killed in a car accident in 2003. His good buddy Daniel Lawson was killed in the plane crash involving the OSU men’s basketball team in 2001. His father was shot and killed in 1986.

How could Cormier survive all of that, then lose out on his Olympic dream?

Cormier has long struggled with making weight, but his coaches felt good about him doing so this time. Cormier did make weight Wednesday for the 96 kilogram weight class, then went and laid down.

Two hours later, he still hadn’t gotten up. Worse, he hadn’t been able to drink anything.

Cormier was taken to the hospital where doctors determined that there was a problem with his kidneys. The words “kidney failure” have been thrown around, but whatever the diagnosis, it meant Cormier couldn’t wrestle.

USA wrestling coach Kevin Jackson told reporters in Beijing that Cormier “could be affected by this for a very long time.” Jackson acknowledged that Cormier has a great support system. Great wife. Great family. “But,” he said, “I think this will stay with him for the rest of his life. It’s something he’s going to have to live with now. It is definitely something he will regret forever.”

Those words are haunting, chilling even.

All of this couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Cormier is one of those people who never met a stranger. He is always quick with a smile and a hand shake. And for all he’s been through, this is one guy who you wouldn’t blame for being cynical or snide. Instead, he is as nice as can be.

Who knows why Daniel Cormier’s Olympics ended in a hospital bed instead of on the medal stand?

I sure don’t. For as many times as these Olympics delivered feel-good moments, this is gold-medal downer.

Hope you have a chance to check out the sports pages of Thursday’s Oklahoman.

We look back on the 40th anniversary of the Olympic black power salute. The picture of American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos standing on the medal podium at the 1968 Olympics, black-gloved fists raised, remains one of the most iconic images in all of sport. It had a profound impact then, and it still resonates today.

In working on the project, I had a chance to catch up with Smith as well as ‘68 Olympic wrestlers Bobby Douglas and Wayne Wells. All three had great stories, but the funniest came courtesy of Wells, the former Oklahoma wrestler who is now an attorney in Edmond.

An admission: it has nothing to do with the ‘68 Olympics.

As Wells tells the story, the year after the Olympics in Mexico City, the U.S. freestyle wrestling team trained for the world championships at the New York Athletic Club. The famed facility long known as the home of the Heisman Trophy was at that time part gym, part dorm, part gathering spot for the Manhattan elite.

The wrestlers were training there, eating there and staying there.

A couple days into their stay, the coach gathered the wrestlers around him.

“Guys,” he said, “we’re going to have to start doing some things different.”

The wrestlers looked at each other.

“There’s been a lot of complaints about y’all coming in the front door.”

Apparently, the high-society members of the club weren’t taking so kindly to the sight of the wrestlers in training.

“We were practicing twice a day, so we were walking in there without shaving and in our old, scruffy, comfortable clothes,” Wells said, laughing. “They decided we needed to come in the kitchen.

“White or black, that year we had to come in the kitchen.”

Our fair state has a good number of connections to the Olympics.

Few of the athletes, though, are Oklahoma born and bred.

Konawa native Chad Vaughn is among that small group. The weightlifter made his second Olympic team, and at the age of 26, he was expecting a good showing. He had a disappointing performance instead, failing to finish a lift in the clean-and-jerk portion of the competition.

Vaughn shared his thoughts on the blog “Three White Lights” earlier this week.

It’s worth your time to check out. He speaks candidly about his disappointment in Beijing, about his test of faith and about his future in weightlifting. Rarely do we find athletes being so genuine and so honest about their feelings. Vaughn really lays his on the line for all to see.

After reading about his heartbreak, you’ll find it hard not to pull for the guy to make it to London for the 2012 Olympics.

He’s an Oklahoman; you can bet he’s got some fight left in him.

This past weekend, I realized the true glory of these Olympic games.

While changing channels Saturday afternoon, I clicked across ESPN. The screen showed a commercial, but my handy dandy digital cable told me that Little League Baseball was on.

I kept right on clicking.

Watch my latest video commentary or keep reading below:

Most summers, the Little League World Series has these early days of August to itself. Football has yet to start. Baseball has yet to reach its fall fever pitch. That means if you want to watch games that actually mean something, you usually have to watch the Little League World Series.

Time was, I didn’t mind adding to the event’s TV rankings.

Now, I’d just as soon donate the money in my 401K to Donald Trump.

The Little League World Series has gone from a fun, kitschy event to a microcosm of just about everything that’s wrong with youth sports these days. Pushy parents. Demanding coaches. The boys find themselves in pressure-packed situations where the pressure is high and the scrutiny is intense. Winning is everything.

And here I thought Little League baseball was supposed to be about having fun.

The good news is, the Little League World Series isn’t even close to being the biggest sporting event happening right now. The Olympics have given us wall-to-wall sports for more than a week, and they still have a few more days to go.

Granted, the Olympics aren’t perfect. There’s doping. There’s cheating. But at least I don’t get a nasty knot in my stomach every time I watch them.

That’s what happens anymore when I watch the Little League World Series.

Thank goodness it’s not must-see TV this summer.

Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier is never at a loss for words.

And before the former Oklahoma State standout left for Beijing, I discovered that he’s never at a loss for answers either. He was front and center today in The Q&A, and here is more from my conversation with him:

Jenni Carlson: Didn’t I hear something about you having a key to your hometown of

Daniel Cormier: Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a key to the city. It’s in my trophy room.

JC: Pretty cool.

DC: I like it. It’s nice, too. It’s gold.

JC: So, how does that happen? Big ceremony?

DC: They called me after I made my first (Olympic) team. It was the city councilman, and we started talking, and he said, “Daniel, we want to do something special for you.” They had a big ceremony at the courthouse, and they handed me the key. It was pretty sweet.

JC: Do you go back to

DC: I normally go once a year. You know … the beginning of my senior year was the ’96 games, so I would sit there and I would watch. I got to see Kurt Angle win a gold medal, I got to watch Kendall Cross win a gold medal, and I got to see Tom Brand win a gold medal. I was like, “Wow, wouldn’t it be amazing to meet these guys?” Now I think to myself, “I can go back to

JC: I would think seeing you makes this possible for kids, too.

DC: It makes it real. Instead of being just a figure on the TV screen … I know these guys. I’ve talked to them. I’ve shook their hands.

JC: You and Steve Mocco wrestle the same day at the Olympics. Any advantage in that?

DC: It’ll feel good because he’s my friend, knowing that he gets to win on the day he gets to win. But in terms of training, it doesn’t help that much because we don’t train together.

JC: Now you’ve got me wondering — who’s your training partner? Who’s the guy that has to go against you all the time?

DC: Kurt Backes is going with me this year. A hundred and ninety-seven pounds for

JC: How do you get hooked up with a training partner?

DC: You try to find someone that’s going to meet your needs, somebody that’s going to be willing to do whatever you need them to do. Normally, I’d take someone from

JC: Not exactly a confidence boost.

DC: It’s not like (Kurt) and I have wrestled much, so it’s not like he knows exactly how to wrestle me.

For more on Cormier and his Olympic hopes, check out Wednesday’s edition of The Oklahoman and our Olympic coverage on NewsOK.com.

Haley DeProspero scrimped and saved for the trip to Beijing.

Once her fiance, Jonathan Horton, made the U.S. Olympic men’s gymnastics team, she was ready to buy her plane ticket and make her hotel reservations.

He said no.

“I’d worry about you the whole time,” Horton told DeProspero.

She argued, but he insisted. So, instead of watching in person as Horton led the Americans to the bronze medal and finished ninth in the all-around this week, DeProspero watched from Norman.

“I would love to be there to celebrate with him,” she said after the team finals. “But … I don’t want to distract him. I want him to be comfortable, and for him to be comfortable, that was to have me here.”

Horton worried about DeProspero’s safety in China, and that point was driven home over the weekend. The U.S. men’s volleyball coach’s in-laws were stabbed by an unknown attacker. His father-in-law was killed, his mother-in-law seriously wounded.

Horton called DeProspero when news of the attack broke.

“Especially now,” he told her, “I’m so glad you’re there.”

Horton also tried to convince his parents to stay in the United States, but they decided to make the trip to China.

“I’m a little bit of a worrier when it comes to my family,” Horton said before leaving for Beijing. “We’ll be taken care of in the village, but I’ll be worried about them the whole time.”

DeProspero will watch from afar again when Horton competes in the high bar finals. She still isn’t thrilled with the fact that she’s in Norman instead of Beijing, but with Horton being only 22 years old, this might not be his only Olympics.

The 2012 Olympics are in London.

“We’ll just pray that he goes to London, too,” DeProspero said. “I’m going to London.”

Jonathan Horton has been big news in these parts for awhile.

Now, the former Oklahoma gymnast is making headlines in other parts of the world. After leading the United States to an Olympic bronze medal, Horton is a popular subject. His performance paired with his personality have media types buzzing.

Los Angeles Times columnist Diane Pucin writes today about a fun exchange before the Olympics between Horton and his mother, Margo.

Boston Globe writer Shira Springer also weighs in on Horton. The headline — Horton was loud, proud — should give you a pretty good idea about the story’s focus.

Horton might really grab the headlines if he wins a medal in the all-around competition later this evening. The competition starts at 10 a.m. Beijing time on Thursday, which means it begins in Oklahoma around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Stayed up last night to watch the U.S. men’s gymnastics team try to pull off the upset of the Olympics.

I suspect I wasn’t alone.

I know at least a few other folks were awake watching former Oklahoma star Jonathan Horton and the rest of the Americans in Beijing. I spent the evening at a watch party in Norman.

The watchers: the OU gymnastics teams.

I’m sure it was louder at the arena in Beijing, but I’m not sure how it could have been.

The current and former Sooners went nuts every time Horton hit a routine or stuck a landing, and last night, that meant they were going crazy pretty much all the time. The 22-year-old from Houston was on. He stuck landings on big routines four consecutive times, and for a time, the Americans looked like they might just win the silver medal.

No one thought it possible without the Hamm twins.

Horton almost made it so.

I’ll have more about Horton as well as his biggest supporters back in Norman a little later this morning on NewsOK.com. Check back later this morning for an early web exclusive.