Cowboys comin’ on
Oklahoma State is suddenly surging.
What could it mean?
Watch my latest video commentary or read below:
The Oklahoma State men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament?
It’s not as crazy as it seemed even two weeks ago.
At that point, the Cowboys were coming off a blowout loss at Kansas State, a loss that dropped them to 11-12 overall and 2-7 in Big 12 play. With only seven games to play, all hope seemed lost. The next three games were against Baylor, Texas A&M and Kansas, all teams that have spent time this season in the top 25.
Then came a double-digit victory over Baylor, then a road victory at Texas A&M, then Saturday came the biggest shocker of them all.
OSU 61, Kansas 60.
Now, the Cowboys are 14-12 overall and 5-7 in conference play. They’ve won their last three games and four of the last five. They’re one of the hottest teams in the country.
Now, they look like the team everyone thought they could be.
Now, they look like they could do anything.
That includes going to the NCAA Tournament.
Four games remain in the regular season. OSU goes to Missouri, then hosts Nebraska and Oklahoma before finishing on the road at Texas. If the Cowboys can win three of those, then win a couple games in the Big 12 Tournament, they just might be in the tournament. That, after all, would make them winners of eight of their final 10 games, a factor at which the NCAA selection committee takes a long hard look.
And the Cowboys winning eight of 10 is entirely possible. The way they’re playing, they could definitely win their next three. Missouri is struggling. Nebraska has pulled shockers but is no great shakes. And Oklahoma is beatable in Stillwater.
Then, you have to figure that if the Cowboys win those three, they would face someone like Texas Tech or OU in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, then have to take on one of the top seeds in the second round. And if the Cowboys got to that point on that type of roll, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to think they could keep winning.
Heck, look at the run they went on last year in the conference tournament. The Cowboys made a seemingly impossible run that ended just short of the championship game. Who’s to say they couldn’t make the same type of run this season? And if OSU does, that’d be one hot team, and the NCAA selection committee likes hot teams.
Crazy?
Not anymore.
Toughest man in sports?
The argument over who’s toughest in sports is as old as sport itself.
There’s a guy in Oklahoma who ranks near the top.
Watch my latest video commentary or read below:
Start talking about tough guys in sports, and the debate rages.
Who are the toughest of them all?
Some say football players. Others say boxers or ultimate fighters or wrestlers, gymnasts or hockey players or swimmers.
What about tough guys with ties to our fair state?
You could make an argument for someone like former boxing champ Sean O’Grady, punishing running back Adrian Peterson, wrestling legend John Smith or stunt bike rider Mat Hoffman. You could make an argument for lots of tough guys.
But in my estimation, there aren’t many tougher than Justin McBride.
The name may not be familiar to everyone, but in the world of professional bull riding, McBride is a superstar. He has won two of the last three world championships and broken all sorts of records.
He’s broken all sorts of body parts, too.
McBride, who lives on a ranch in Western Oklahoma, rode to his second world title last season with a separated shoulder on his free arm. That meant every time he rode, he was swinging that arm around like a mad man. Talk about painful.
And he took no painkillers, not even an aspirin.
Heck, mention the thought of taking something, and McBride practically growls the answer.
“I didn’t take any Advil.”
How about this litany of injury reports? Concussion with brief loss of consciousness after being stepped on. Dislocated left shoulder. Pinched nerve in neck after landing on his head. All of that happened last season.
Oh, by the way, McBride won the world championship last season.
At only 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, it’s difficult to imagine our fair state has any athlete tougher, pound for pound.
Want to know more about McBride and how he became the world’s best bull rider? Watch for our coverage of this weekend’s Copenhagen Bull Riding Challengers Tour Championship here in Oklahoma City.
Doing Oklahoma proud
An Oklahoma native is making major waves in the sports world.
Wes Welker?
Think again.
Watch my latest video commentary or read below:
He was a local sports standout, born and raised in the Oklahoma City area.
He was expected to be a decent college player but emerged as a team leader.
Now, he is playing for one of the best teams in the land.
Yep, Darnell Jackson is having one heck of a season.
Oh, you thought we were going to talk more about New England Patriots receiver Wes Welker? We’re not ruling it out, since the Super Bowl is this week, but for now, let’s talk about Jackson.
The power forward played high school ball at Northwest Classen, then at Midwest City. He was a solid player, averaging 12.6 points and landing third-team Big All-City honors as a senior. Really, though, that isn’t the resume most players take to Kansas. The Jayhawks usually build around guys who are All-Americans, not all-city third-teamers.
Jackson had three decent years at Kansas, but this season, he has blossomed. He is second on the team averaging 12.8 points a game. That’s more than Brandon Rush, who considered leaving school early for the NBA. It’s more than Mario Chalmers or Russell Robinson, the talented guards who make the team go. Only Darrell Arthur is averaging more points than Jackson.
What’s more, Jackson is shooting 65.8 percent from the field.
He has become the Jayhawks’ most consistent player and just made their best player. Kansas has a star-studded bunch. You don’t make it to the final week of January with an undefeated record without some serious talent.
Thing is, Jackson’s play might be the difference between the really good Kansas teams of the past few years and this year’s team, arguably the best in the country.
No doubt Wes Welker is getting lots of love these days, but Darnell Jackson is every bit as important to his team and its championship hopes.
Another Oklahoma athlete doing well. Doing us proud, too.
Race in sports
It’s MLK Day. There’s much to celebrate, but there’s also much to do.
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Happy birthday, Dr. King.
Had he not been cut down by a sniper’s bullet 40 years ago this spring, Martin Luther King Jr. would be 79 years young. Today is the day we celebrate the life of the civil rights leader. Nowhere is the change that he helped initiate more evident than in sports. Yet, nowhere is the work that remains more evident.
Sports is one of those places where the color of an athlete’s skin is less important than the color of his jersey. Oklahoma fans cheer Sam Bradford the same as DeMarco Murray. Oklahoma State fans love Brandon Pettigrew as much as Zac Robinson.
Sadly, though, racism remains in sports.
A couple weeks ago, a Golf Channel anchor joked that the only way to stop Tiger Woods might be to “lynch him in a back alley.” Then, in its coverage of that incident, Golfweek used a picture of a hangman’s noose on its cover.
More than 3,400 lynchings of black folks were documented from the late 19th century through 1968. Most of them were killed by mobs of whites who used a noose as their murder weapon.
Martin Luther King Jr. marched in the streets of the South so that the lynchings and the hangings would stop.
Four decades later, the images remain.
What would Dr. King think?
This weekend came more disturbing news. Former West Virginia offensive coordinator Calvin Magee has alleged that a school administrator told him he wouldn’t be a candidate to replace Rich Rodriguez, who jumped ship for Michigan. Why? Magee says the administrator pointed to Magee’s black skin as explanation.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered hundreds of speeches so that the dreams of men and women would not be limited by their skin color.
Four decades later, the limitations remain.
What would Dr. King think?
He began the work, but on the day that we celebrate his birthday, it has never been more obvious that work remains. Sports is only a small fraction of society, and yet, it has always been a looking glass into what is right and wrong with society.
What would Dr. King think?
We’ve made strides, we’ve run a good race so far, but we’ve still got a ways to go before we reach that finish line.
Locks of love
It’s not every day you get to opine about sports figures and their enviable hair.
Today, I have.
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I am in awe of Kurt Budke’s hair.
Really. I am.
I came to this conclusion Wednesday night at his post-game press conference. His Oklahoma State women’s basketball team had just defeated Missouri and pushed its record to 15-1, the best start ever in program history, and yet, I found myself mesmerized by Budke’s hair.
Part down the middle. Feathered back from there. The comb marks above his ears visible.
It makes Budke look a little bit like a televangelist, but in a good way. If that’s possible. It is Budke’s signature look.
All of this got me thinking about other sports types in our fair state with distinctive hair. Let me tell you, it’s amazing what you find yourself thinking about on a late-night drive back from Stillwater. And heck, it’s never bad to pull occasionally from the off-the-wall file for a video commentary.
So, without further ado:
Sherri Coale. Could you imagine her with anything other than her curly blond hair? What if she dyed her hair black or straightened it out? That’d just be weird.
Mr. Spiky Hair. Mike Gundy could fund a small country with what he spends on hair product.
Doug Sauter. It’s not the hair on his head, but rather the hair on his face. The Blazers coach has a beard that Rip Van Winkle would’ve died for.
Phil Loadholt and Duke Robinson. The dreaded duo was more than a nuisance to opposing defense. The Oklahoma offensive linemen have some of the coolest dreadlocks around.
Larry Fedora. I know, I know. He is no longer in our fair state, having left OSU for Southern Miss, but his hair was a regular topic of conversation in our office. I chalk it up to jealously. Who wouldn’t want Fedora’s abundant locks?
At the end of the day, all those looks are good and fine, but the one that still gets me is Budke’s. I’m almost hoping that his team wins the conference or something so someone will muss up his hair like Arizona’s players did to Lute Olsen at the Final Four.
Talk about a hair-raising experience.
For Pete’s sake
Has the California sun baked Pete Carroll’s brain?
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Pete Carroll has it made at Southern Cal.
He wins games by the dozen. He holds La La Land by the tail. And he lives in a place where it’s always sunny and 78.
Why would he want to leave?
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself after news surfaced last week that Carroll was talking seriously with the Atlanta Falcons. These are the same Falcons, by the way, who have lost their starting quarterback to the federal pen in Leavenworth and lost their first-year coach to Arkansas. These are the worst of times in Atlanta.
And still, Carroll wants to leave the best of situations for the Falcons.
Heck, this is a guy who’s big-time in Hollywood. How many people can honestly say that?
So, what gives with Carroll wanting to bolt from USC? I suppose it could be that he wants the challenge of coaching in the NFL again. He had decent success in the league before, but why the Falcons? Why now?
Carroll has entertained other overtures from teams. It’s difficult to believe that if he really wanted to coach in the NFL again that he couldn’t do better than the Falcons. Right now, Miami is in better shape than Atlanta, and the Dolphins won all of one game this season.
Perhaps Carroll is intrigued by the chance to be the coach and the director of player personnel. Falcons owner Arthur Blank has dangled that carrot in front of Carroll. Being able to control roster moves is a perk many NFL coaches want but few receive.
Still, that seems a shaky reason to go back to the NFL.
All that leads to one question: what’s different now compared to times when the NFL temped Carroll before?
The biggest thing that comes to mind: possible NCAA sanctions hanging over his program’s head. I wrote a bit Saturday about the allegations swirling around Reggie Bush, which are detailed in the new book, “Tarnished Heisman.” The former Trojan star may have taken as much as $300,000 in illegal benefits during his final year at USC. It’s a story that’s made headlines but flown largely under the radar, considering the seriousness of the violation.
Carroll’s interest in the Falcons, though, may signal that this is a bigger deal than most folks think. He might want to get out before things get bad.
Leaving USC seems silly, but leaving USC for Atlanta seems down right crazy. Just maybe, though, a situation that’s been so very good for Carroll is about to turn so very bad.
Heroes in sports?
There are heroes in sports.
Just not always where a spotlight shines.
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The word “hero” is thrown around often in sports.
A quarterback leads a late-game drive, and he’s called a hero. A guard knocks down a last-second shot, and she’s called a hero.
But really, a hero is so much more. It is someone who shows courage amid danger or adversity. It is someone who displays self-sacrifice. It is someone who is looking out for the greater good. Because of those definitions, there are plenty of folks who believe there are no heroes in sports.
I’ll say that a game-winning touchdown or a goal-line stand does not a hero make. But that doesn’t mean sports is without its heroes.
Sports has heroes.
Plenty of them.
Many of them, though, are unsung. Their work is celebrated by the people closest to them, but beyond that, they are largely unknown. Perhaps they coach little league but are as concerned about the rules of life as the rules of the game. Perhaps they officiate rec league with a smile. Perhaps they encourage folks to join the Tuesday night bowling league.
Heroes in sports come from all walks. There are up-and-comers and weekend warriors, coaches and teachers, officials and referees, fans and encouragers. Others work in the concession stands and take the tickets and run the chain gangs and prepare the fields.
So, do you know a hero in sports? Maybe it’s the golf course starter who always has a kind word for your son. Maybe it’s the coach who is always willing to bring your daughter home after practice. Maybe it’s that person you know changed your life through sports.
If you know an unsung hero in sports, I want to know about them, too. Soon, we will begin telling the stories of unsung heroes in our sports section. E-mail me about your sports hero at jcarlson@oklahoman.com.
Make no mistake, there are heroes in sports. Let’s just make sure the real ones are unsung no more.
Tired of hearing about Oklahoma’s Fiesta Bowl loss?
You might want to look elsewhere, then.
If you can’t get enough about the Sooners, watch my latest video commentary or read below:
Oklahoma needed DeMarcus Granger.
And Reggie Smith.
And Lendy Holmes.
The Sooners needed all of them Wednesday night with the 11 other defenders already playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Give OU 14 guys against West Virginia. Maybe then, the Sooners could’ve tackled someone.
The Sooners’ night in the desert was a total disaster. The Mountaineers were supposed to be the team in disarray, the program in peril. Instead, the Sooners were the ones who looked discombobulated.
Another big game for the Sooners.
Another big loss.
Granted, OU has needed to win its share of big games just to make it to six BCS bowls in the past eight seasons. But after winning in their first two BCS appearances — the 2000 Orange and 2002 Rose – the Sooners have lost four consecutive BCS bowls. They’ve lost them by an average of 16 points, too.
Not good.
Not good at all.
Before the Fiesta Bowl, some thought Oklahoma had a legitimate argument that it should’ve played in the national championship game. After the way the Mountaineers stuck it to the Sooners, though, it looked more like West Virginia was the one with the should-been-in-the-title-game argument.
This game continues the tarnishing of the Sooner shine.
Used to be, pundits and prognosticators thought OU was one of the four or five elite teams in the country. Now, the Sooners are bound to be lumped in with a much bigger group of teams that are still very good but aren’t those chosen few. That perception change matters as long as humans are involved with the BCS formula.
Look at Ohio State. The computers liked the Buckeyes this season, but the thing that propelled them to the BCS championship game were the humans. Ohio State finished third in the computer rankings but was first in both of the human polls.
If OU’s in a similar situation next season, will the voters be as generous? It’s impossible to know, of course, but continuing to lose BCS games signals at least in part to the voters that you have a soft regular-season schedule, that you struggle to keep up with elite teams, that maybe you don’t belong.
Not good for the Sooners.
Not good at all.
In search of a title
Oklahoma’s opponent in the Fiesta Bowl lost its coach over the weekend.
Why did Rich Rodriguez bolt from West Virginia?
Watch my latest video commentary or read here:
It’s hard to blame Rich Rodriguez for leaving West Virginia for Michigan.
No doubt you heard the news over the weekend that Oklahoma’s opponent for the Fiesta Bowl is without a coach and Les Miles is official off the hook. Rodriguez has decided to become the next coach of the Wolverines.
In doing so, he leaves a program that lately has been better than the one he’s going to. The Mountaineers played in a BCS bowl two years ago and are back for another this year. The Wolverines have slipped a bit from such lofty pedestals.
Rodriguez is also leaving his alma mater. When he gathered his players over the weekend to tell them he was leaving, the emotions overflowed.
But at the end of the day, Rodriguez had to go.
Why?
The reason: even though there are more and more programs that can derail a contender’s national title hopes, there are still few programs that can actually win a championship.
These past few months, parity fueled one of the wackiest, wildest college football seasons ever. And yet, look who’s playing for the title.
LSU and Ohio State.
Could there be two more traditional, more storied powerhouses?
Granted, the likes of Kansas and Illinois and West Virginia are playing in BCS bowls, too, but they aren’t playing for the title.
More than ever before, there are teams who can compete with the big boys. I’d guess there are 40 or 50 teams in college football that you could line up against LSU or Ohio State and think they’d have a pretty good shot at winning. The talent would be comparable. Ditto for the coaching and the facilities.
But competing with a team like LSU or Ohio State is entirely different than becoming a team like them. Look at the title game match-ups over the past few years. Ohio State-Florida. Texas-USC. Oklahoma-USC. OU-LSU. Ohio State-Miami.
Despite increasing parity, very few programs are still in a position to actually play for a title year in a year out. That number is sure to grow, but it isn’t there yet.
Rich Rodriguez knows as much. That’s why he left West Virginia for Michigan. That’s why he left a place he loves for a place he can play for a title.
