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Just saw the strangest thing — Les Miles in a low hat.

Everyone in these parts knows the former Oklahoma State coach’s signature look. Whether in his old job with the Cowboys or his new gig at LSU, he always seemed to wear those ball caps with extremely flat, high fronts.

Around headquarters, those lids spawned a nickname for Miles.

The High Hat.

In any event, I happened to catch some footage of Miles’ post-practice interview Thursday, and I did a double take. Seeing Miles in the more, um, well, normal hat made him look a bit like a football coach from the 50s. He looked a little bit what I imagine Bo Schembechler looked like in his early days at Michigan.

I almost expected the camera to pan down and catch of glimpse of old-school canvas Chuck Taylor’s or something.

You can check out video of Miles here.

He happened to be talking , by the way, about some comments that stirred controversy earlier this week. LSU defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois said the Tigers would be going after Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, trying to knock the Gator gunslinger out of the game in their big showdown Saturday.

“The idea that he would hit him and hit him hard is something that every quarterback in this league, including ours, is going to have to deal with when it comes to Saturday,” Miles said.

He continued, “We want to get to the quarterback, but we want to get to the quarterback every week. It doesn’t make a difference if it’s Florida’s quarterback or Auburn’s quarterback or whoever we play.”

Listen, I didn’t have a problem with Jean-Francois’s comments. Of course the Tigers want to get to Tebow. Every defensive player wants that every week, every play. Most just don’t say it.   

Jean-Francois was being honest, saying what every defensive player is thinking.

Hard to criticize a guy for that.

Two weeks into the college football season isn’t enough time to know everything about the local squads.

Still, two weeks is enough time to know this — it’s OK to be excited.

Watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below:

If you’re a college football fan in our fair state, go ahead and feel good about your team. Like where they’re headed. Speculate about what this season could be. Because it looks like things could be even better than expected for Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.

The reason is two-fold — these teams are as good, maybe even better, than expected and their competition isn’t as good.

Let’s start with Oklahoma. A blowout of Tennessee-Chattanooga in Week 1 meant little, but beating up on Cincinnati in Week 2 showed that the Sooners have a stout squad. The offense is smooth, and the defense is able to adjust.

And if you look at the other teams at the top of the heap nationally, what the Sooners did in these first two weeks looks even better. Several of the top teams have struggled. Ohio State escaped Ohio. West Virginia lost to East Carolina. Those sorts of things open the door even wider for OU.

Oklahoma State’s door has opened even wider, too. The teams that the Cowboys are going to be trying to climb over in the Big 12 South are vulnerable. Texas A&M is weak, and Texas and Texas Tech aren’t as good as their rankings suggest.

And the Cowboys look like they might be better than expected, too. Their offense is stout, and maybe that isn’t a shock, but when you lose Dantrell Savage and Adarius Bowman, missing a step wouldn’t be out of the question. Instead, Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant have emerged. A pair of blowouts to open the season make a strong statement for the Cowboys.

Tulsa has scored a pair of beat-downs, too, prompting some pundits to ask if the Golden Hurricane could be this year’s BCS spoiler. Could it be this year’s Hawaii or Boise State?

Heck, why couldn’t it? Tulsa lost Paul Smith, a guy who’s now cashing an NFL paycheck, and yet, David Johnson steps in and things just keep humming along.

Now, granted, all three teams have questions, but their questions are no bigger and certainly no worse than those of their closest competitors.

So, go ahead, and be excited about your team. We may not know everything we need to know after two weeks, but there’s enough evidence to feel darn good about the teams in our fair state.

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.

Perhaps you’ve heard the name Becky Hammon.

More specifically, perhaps you’ve heard a bit about her story.

You can watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below: 

Hammon is a point guard for the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars. She was born in South Dakota and went to college in Colorado. She is fair skinned and blond haired. In another words, she’s an all-American girl.

And she’s playing basketball in the Olympics for Russia.

While she is one of the best point guards in the WNBA, she doubted her chances of making the U.S. Olympic team, so she decided to play for Russia. She plays professionally there when the WNBA isn’t in season.

Her decision created something of a firestorm. ESPN jumped on the story, and Team USA coach Anne Donovan had some strong words for Hammon, questioning her patriotism.

I’ve got questions, too, but they have little to do with patriotism. We’ll get to those questions in a minute.

There are at least eight other American-born athletes who are headed to the Olympics to play for other countries. Chris Kaman, the Los Angeles Clippers center, will be playing for Germany. His connection — his great-grandparents were German. There are two other men playing basketball for Russia, where they play professionally. There is also a guy pole vaulting, another wrestling and another boxing for Mexico. One gal is playing basketball for Mexico. The Canadian softball team will also have a gal who’s an American.

Rules allow for a limited number of foreign-born athletes to play for teams in the Olympics, and if you’re up in arms about these Americans playing for other countries, be sure to realize that the U.S. Olympic contingent has its fair share of foreigners.

The Americans will send athletes who aren’t Americans to Beijing to compete in everything from table tennis to marathon and badminton to triathlon.

Which leads back to my questions.

Where is the uproar about these athletes? The scrutiny and the indignation over Becky Hammon was pretty intense, and yet, no one seems to be screaming about Chris Kaman trying to help Dirk Nowitzki win a medal. No one seems to be up in arms about a guy named Langowski wrestling for Mexico.

Is it because Hammon is playing for Russia? Are the Cold War feelings still hot when it comes to Olympic competition?

I don’t know the answer to those questions. The only thing I do know is that the Olympics are supposed to be about the best of the best from each country going against one another. Apparently, the part about “from each country” is up for interpretation.

College softball has suffered a huge loss.

Plus, a video commentary first — fun sound effects. You won’t want to miss it.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below, though you’ll have to watch the video to get the sound effects:

After a baker’s dozen games at the Women’s College World Series, a disturbing trend has emerged.

Shorts are dead in softball!

Used to be, just about every softball team that came to Oklahoma City to play for a national championship did so wearing shorts. They would wear shorts that fell just above the knee with stirrup socks that stretched all the way to the knee. It was a fun look, a different look, a look that set softball apart from baseball.

Teams that wore pants were oddities.

Now, short-wearing teams are the odd ducks.

You had to be paying close attention this week during the Women’s College World Series to find a team even wearing shorts. Through four days, only Louisiana-Lafayette sported shorts and the Rajun Cajuns only did so once. They went with pants in their other two games.

I don’t know why, but I found myself lamenting the loss of shorts in softball. Just maybe it felt a little bit like softball was trying to look more like baseball.

Boy, would that be a bad idea.

Softball is a fun, vibrant sport that is growing by leaps and bounds. People love the energy and the enthusiasm. They love the way the game is played. Heck, spend a few minutes listening to John Kruk on the ESPN broadcasts, and he’ll sound like Shakespeare waxing poetic about how softball is played the baseball should be.

Softball needs to keep its unique identity, and how the players look is a part of that.

But you can say this much for the gals, at least they wear their pants the right way. See, I’m a big advocate of the old-school, pants-to-the-knees, stirrup-socks-from-there look. It’s crisp. It’s sharp.

And it’s completely dead in baseball.

These days, the last thing a baseball uniform is, is uniform. You’ll see guys with pants to their knees, pant that go all the way to their shoe tops, baggy pants, tight pants. And they’ll all be on the same team.

The guys need to take a fashion tip from the gals. Then again, when is that not true?

Softball knows how pants should be worn, but that doesn’t mean they should always wear them.

Bring back the shorts, softball. It was distinctive. It was fun. It was one more reason to love this sport.

Danica Patrick has yet to win the Indianapolis 500.

But on Sunday, she grabbed the headlines.

Check out my latest video commentary or read below:

Admit it: you wanted to see Danica Patrick make it all the way to Ryan Briscoe’s pit.

If you were watching the Indianapolis 500 over the Memorial Day weekend, you know what I’m talking about. Heck, even if you weren’t watching, you’ve no doubt seen the footage.

Patrick’s run at Indy ended unceremoniously when she was trying to exit the pits. She was nearly clear of the chaos after a pitstop when Briscoe pulled out of his pit stall and clipped her back wheel. The wheel bent at an odd angle. The car went into the wall. And Danica’s day was done.

Briscoe’s car was in bad shape, too, so a few minutes later, both cars and their drivers were back in their pit stalls. When it became clear to Patrick that she was finished, she got out of her car. Rather than climb behind the wall and head to the garages, she started walking down pit row. It was a purposeful walk, and everyone knew where she was going.

Eventually, a security guard intercepted Danica. This was a man who looked about twice as tall as her.

I’ve got to admit — as I watched the two walking together, I really wanted Danica to break into a run. Sure, the guy could’ve stopped her, but he would’ve needed to catch her first.

But Danica didn’t run, and the security guard eventually diverted her from her mission.

Who among us didn’t want to see her get to Briscoe’s pit?

No one! Everyone wanted to see what would’ve happened if the 100-pound Patrick would’ve gotten to Briscoe. Would she have yelled? Thrown her helmet? Thrown a punch? Maybe she knows kickboxing.

It’s probably for the best that she didn’t reach Briscoe, but man, oh man, was I pulling for it. I couldn’t tell you much about Scott Dixon’s winning strategy, but I remember every detail of Dueling Danica’s walk down pit row.

Wasn’t there a room of IndyCar officials somewhere yelling for that security guard to let her go?

The IndyCar Series comes to our neck of the woods in a few weeks, by the way. Texas Motor Speedway will provide the backdrop on June 7. Track president Eddie Gossage is enough of a wheeler-dealer, he might just propose a Danica-Briscoe cage fight before the race. I can tell him this much — he’d have at least one excited viewer.

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.

The best thing about the NCAA Tournament, of course, is the games.

But the final stanza, the ending note is pretty darn good, too. Granted, I may be a little cheesy for thinking that the “One Shining Moment” montage at the end of the tourney is the best way to end things, but so be it. I’m willing to be a little cheesy. I always watch it at the end of every tournament.

Monday night, though, there was no montage.

At least not in Oklahoma City.

Severe weather and our good buddy Gary England kept us from seeing ”One Shining Moment.” Listen, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ll sit and watch hours of weather coverage on TV.

But keeping us from “One Shining Moment”?

Boo, Gary! Boo!

Fear not, though. YouTube to the rescue. This year’s “One Shining Moment” is not only on there, but you can also see the montage from 2002 when Oklahoma last went to the Final Four. Among the years not archived on YouTube is 2004, the year that Oklahoma State last went to the Final Four, and the Cowboys were front and center in that montage, everything from John Lucas’ shot to the Bobik Sisters’ dance.

If you like wasting time reflecting on college basketball seasons gone by, YouTube can help you do that.

And last I checked, there was no severe weather preempting anything there. 

Spring football makes its return this week.

Yawn.

Sort of.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below:

It’s heresy to say in this state, but I could do without spring football.

Oh, I know. It’s football. What’s not to love?

But so often the heroes of spring are never heard from again. If starters are the least bit injured, they will sit out the spring, allowing for reserves to shine. They’re lauded. They’re loved. Then when the fall begins and the starters return, they’re lost.

It all seems worthless.

But not this year. The spring will be worth it if only for one player.

Artrell Woods.

You remember, the Oklahoma State receiver was seriously injured in a freak weight room accident last summer. He needed emergency surgery to repair a dislocated vertebra in his back. That’s every bit as serious an injury as it sounds.

Now, less than eight months later, Woods is on the verge of returning to the football field. He was cleared to start jogging and running again in January. When the Cowboys start spring drills, Woods won’t be allowed to participate in any contact drills, but he will run routes and work with the receivers during individual sessions.

Amazing.

Woods’ return is perhaps the most amazing sports story we’ve ever seen in our fair state. Sure, Jason White came back from two knee surgeries to win the Heisman Trophy. That’s pretty amazing in its own right. Still, Woods had no feeling in his legs after the accident. There was paralysis. But next week, he’ll be back on the football field.

That makes spring football this year more than bearable this year. It will make it down right enjoyable.

Want to know more about the Cowboys and the Sooners as they prepare for spring drills? Check out Sunday’s Oklahoman, then make sure you don’t miss our Main Event on Monday, which will be dedicated to spring football.

There are heroes in sports.

Just not always where a spotlight shines.

Watch my latest video commentary or read below: 

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.