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Former Jones QB Daxx Garman ruled ineligible to play at Southlake (Texas) Carroll

Posted by
on August 27, 2010 at 4:07 pm

The eligibility saga of former Jones High School quarterback Daxx Garman will not end with a committee’s ruling Friday that he is ineligible to play at Southlake Carroll. The ruling came just hours before Garman was to start the season opener for one of Texas’ elite high school football programs.

Garman’s attorney, Scott Adams, said the family will appeal Friday’s 4-3 vote by the executive committee of District 7-5A — the district Southlake Carroll plays in — to the University Intercollegiate League, a governing body for Texas high school activities.

“We are trying to stay focused, because it’s about a young kid,” Adams told the Dallas Morning News. “We think it was the wrong decision. They didn’t move here for athletic purposes. Daxx is a good kid. He’s the one who is hurt.”

According to the Morning News, Garman was twice declared eligible by the executive committee of the district Southlake Carroll played in last year. That was before a Dallas TV report aired Tuesday questioning whether Garman’s move from Choctaw was for athletic purposes, which is prohibited by the UIL.

Garman, who committed to the University of Arizona, was ruled ineligible last year by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association after he played eight games for Jones. The OSSAA ruled said he failed to file a hardship waiver when he transferred from Carl Albert High School before his junior season.

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So long, Ford Center; Hello Thunderdome?

Posted by
on August 26, 2010 at 2:24 pm

Get out your checkbook. The naming rights for the arena the Oklahoma City Thunder plays in are officially for sale.

The Thunder sent out a brief press release this afternoon to announce the Ford Center has become an arena to be re-named later. The team terminated the naming rights of the Oklahoma Ford Dealers after negotiations broke off.

Thus begins a “period of negotiations with other potential partners” during which the Thunder won’t be talking about naming rights. But that shouldn’t stop us.

If it’s not the Ford Center anymore, what should we call this place, at least for the time being? Wouldn’t it be cool to just call it the Thunderdome and be done with it?

The text of the Thunder’s announcement is below, and while you’re reading it, just think of how much extra it’s going to cost to take down all those Ford Center signs and put up new ones. Those yellow Ford Center golf shirts the ushers/security folks wore are coming soon to a consignment shop near you.

THUNDER BEGINS DISCUSSION OF NEW NAMING RIGHTS PARTNER FOR ARENA

Thursday, August 26, 2010- The Oklahoma City Thunder has begun the process of negotiating with potential new naming rights partners for the Ford Center arena, team officials announced today.

The original naming rights contract allowed the team to terminate the existing agreement should an NBA franchise come to Oklahoma City.

The Thunder entered into discussions with the current naming rights partner, the Oklahoma Ford Dealers, but a new agreement could not be reached. As a result, the Thunder has now officially terminated the existing naming rights agreement and entered into a period of negotiations with other potential partners.

Until those negotiations are complete, the team will have no further public comment.

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Former Jones QB Daxx Garman’s eligibility problems follow him to Texas

Posted by
on August 25, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Daxx Garman, the blue-chip quarterback who forced Jones to forfeit six games and miss the playoffs after he was ruled ineligible, has resurfaced at Southlake (Texas) Carroll.

And, according to this report by WFAA-TV in Dallas, so have the eligibility questions about him.

Garman has committed to Arizona — another Oklahoma-raised recruit lured to the desert by former Muskogee/OU fullback Seth Littrell, now an Arizona assistant under Mike Stoops. Whether he’ll ever play a down for Southlake Carroll, one of the most prestigious high school football programs in Texas or the nation, is now in question.

Garman was ruled ineligible last year by the OSSAA because his family did not fill out the proper paperwork after transferring from Carl Albert to Jones. According to Texas University Interscholastic League eligibility rules, out-of-state transfers are required to have been eligible in their previous state. They also prohibit students to transfer strictly for athletic purposes and require families to make a complete relocation that includes putting their former home on the market or sold.

According to WFAA, real estate records in Oklahoma show the Garmans’ family home in Choctaw wasn’t put up for sale until early August, the day a WFAA reporter interviewed a Southlake Carroll official to ask them about Garman’s move and eligibility.

A WFAA camera crew came to Oklahoma and photographed Garman’s father, Pat, apparently picking up mail at the home and hitching up a boat and heading to the lake. When the crew did an ambush interview of Garman’s father at a gas station, Pat Garman grew weary of questions about why he was still in Oklahoma and chest-passed a bag of ice at a WFAA cameraman.

Southlake Carroll athletic director Kevin Ozee said he contacted the OSSAA to inquire about Garman’s eligibility. He also said he had proof the family had put its former home up for sale last spring. But the WFAA report contradicted both claims and quotes OSSAA officials as saying they had not been contacted by Southlake Carroll.

The Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson will be writing on this topic for Thursday’s editions.

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Russell Westbrook’s rise continues: Thunder guard makes Team USA roster for FIBA World Championship

Posted by
on August 24, 2010 at 4:40 pm

The way it happened shouldn’t diminish the impact or importance.

On Tuesday, Thunder guard Russell Westbrook made the Team USA basketball roster for the FIBA World Championships when Rajon Rondo asked to be withdrawn from consideration. Feel free to read Rondo’s withdrawal the same way you interpret a coaching candidate withdrawing his name from consideration for a vacancy.

Rondo withdrew because he knew Westbrook had beaten him out. He told ESPN’s Chris Sheridan he thought he would be the final cut. “I think I’m on the bubble,” Rondo said Tuesday. “Just looking at the obvious — I got a DNP last game. That pretty much speaks for itself.”

Here’s what speaks for itself: Westbrook’s ascension, which shifted into hyper drive in April when he was the Thunder’s best player in the NBA Playoffs first-round series against the Lakers.

I’m like everyone else around here. Before the Thunder drafted him with the No. 4 pick in 2008 NBA Draft, I couldn’t have picked Westbrook out of a lineup. But then I saw him on youtube and in the Orlando Summer League — remember those black uniforms? remember the team without a name? remember watching those games online? And I started thinking “This guy could be Oklahoma City’s Rajon Rondo.”

Remember, that was just weeks after the Celtics had vanquished the Lakers to win the NBA title. And the ascension of Rondo, who when that season had started was considered the Celtics’ weakest link, had just begun. There’s considerable evidence that he’s been the Celtics’ best player the last two seasons.

And Russell Westbrook just beat him out. Let that one marinate for a minute.

Kevin Durant, we expected. In case you missed it, this is the Summer of Durant and he’s the Face of USA Basketball.

But Westbrook? This is the same Russell Westbrook who Oklahoma City’s instant NBA experts — you know who you are — proclaimed unfit to play point guard. The same Russell Westbrook who lacked leadership skills. The same Russell Westbrook whose lack of a 3-point shot would make him ill suited for international competition. (Did you see those two 3s he nailed Saturday against Lithuania?)

Don’t these folks ever get tired of being wrong?

You can bet, Westbrook isn’t getting tired of proving them so.

Anyway, if you’re the Thunder, here’s what may be the most encouraging thing about Westbrook’s Team USA experience. The first thing we heard when Sam Presti drafted him was what a great defensive player he was. Westbrook was the Pac-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year at UCLA, but for most of two seasons in Oklahoma City I really haven’t seen it. Good, not great.

But the flashes of defensive aggressiveness and potential in shutting down passing lanes he showed OKC have been a big part of his Team USA audition. It’s probably the biggest reason he made the team.

I’m not saying Westbrook is better than Rondo. He’s two trips to the NBA Finals and a title from even making that a conversation. But Coach K apparently thinks he’s better for Team USA, which only continues his ascension.

Next stop: NBA All-Star Game.

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Oklahoma City-Seattle franchise swap? Are the Arena Football League’s OKC YardDawgz the franchise to be named later?

Posted by
on August 24, 2010 at 1:47 pm

The team’s general manager has denied it each of the three times we’ve called her about it. But there are two reports circulating that the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz of the Arena Football League are moving to — wait for it, wait for it — Seattle.

Just when the Thunder-Sonics bad blood between the Great Plains and Great Northwest had subsided on message boards, along comes a report that, if true, would in some strange way make the Dawgz the team to be named later in a Seattle-OKC franchise swap.

Perhaps fittingly, the news arrived via a message board.

The first report came in this “Dawgz Moving to Seattle!” thread on aflfanzone.com: “The AFL FanZone Staff have received official unofficial information that the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz will be moving to Seattle, Washington.”

That was posted Saturday afternoon, and a couple hours later YardDawgz general manager Christie Cook told The Oklahoman’s Jason Kersey the report was false.

Today, two state Web sites are reporting the Dawgz are moving to Seattle, one citing “a source close to the Oklahoma City arena football league team.” The other cites the report on AFL Fan Zone.

Are they right? Cook, again, said no. I called her this morning and she mentioned other reports that Yard Dawgz owner Phil Miller was in Seattle, adding that Miller was in Oklahoma City today and yesterday. Cook said the Yard Dawgz are working on season tickets and lining up sponsors for next season. The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer just reminded me the YardDawgz recently opened a team store in the new Bricktown Red Dirt Marketplace.

Is the team being sold?

“No, not to my knowledge,” Cook said. “The directive to me has been to sell 2011 season ticket packages and sponsorships in Oklahoma City.”

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Twitter Updates for Mike Sherman

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on August 22, 2010 at 12:30 pm

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Twitter Updates for Mike Sherman

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on August 21, 2010 at 12:30 pm

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Twitter Updates for Mike Sherman

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on August 20, 2010 at 12:30 pm

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Twitter Updates for Mike Sherman

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on August 19, 2010 at 12:30 pm

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Twitter Updates for Mike Sherman

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on August 14, 2010 at 12:30 pm

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