I will be in Norman, OK on Saturday, October 27

For the epic Sooners/Notre Dame Top Ten tussle.  The Irish have seven wins against no losses, and are ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll.  The Sooners are five and one, and are ranked No. 8 in the AP.

The Sooners have only beaten the Irish once in their history, and have never beaten Touchdown Jesus at home.

It is going to be one of the coolest things I ever do.  The game will be nationally televised, and should be one of the most heavily viewed college football games of the BCS era.

We will be striping the stadium, as well.  Alternating sections of the bowl, fans are instructed to wear either crimson or cream, depending on where you sit.  My parents informed me today that we will be sitting in a crimson section.

I will take lots of pictures and give you the whole lowdown on fauxluxe when I return.

(The video above retells the Sooner Magic story of Oklahoma scoring late to beat Nebraska in 1976.  Galen Hall was OU's offensive coordinator, and Elvis Peacock (great name!) was instrumental on the game-winning drive, which included a halfback pass and a hook and lateral play to set up the winning score.)

I love you all!
BOOMER SOONER!






michael

A junkie speaks, volume 2 (UPDATE!)

First of all, I cannot tell you how happy I am to see -- for the second year in a row -- the two Oklahoma schools battle for the Big 12 Title.

It does not look good for the Sooners, to be sure (they are trailing 24-3 at the half) but the thing you have to know about Bedlam (as this series is called) is that the Sooners always get the calls in this series, and that the Sooners own the Cowboys.

I really want the Sooners to win but I am not going to be heartbroken if that does not happen.

Good for the Cowboys, for once, right?

(But, I bet if you talk to any serious OSU fan right now, up 24-3, they are still freaking out.  It is like the Red Sox v Yankees before the down three love miracle.)

I still wear my #22 jersey with pride.  Tonight.  Even if the Sooners go to the crummy Holiday Bowl, I am still proud.

It is not over yet.  Yeah, it pretty much is.

And kudos to the frickin Cowboys if they win.  

They deserve it.  What have they won in football? Pretty much nothing.  Oklahoma State is a basketball/wrestling school.

Pistol Pete or Boomer Sooner, the world will be alright tomorrow.

(Plus, Baylor beat the 'Horns.  Ha ha ha.)

I will give you an update later.

Kisses,
Ardent

Boomer!

Sooner!

UPDATE! It is over, folks.  All congrats to the Cowboys who frickin whooped the Sooners tonight.

Their first (Cowboys) Big 12 Title.  Have fun in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Sooners are headed to some bowl like the Holiday.

It is all okay in the universe.

Kisses,
xxxoooxxx

A junkie speaks: (Updated x 3!)

So, I get home, and Oregon is getting waxed by USC.  Stanford lost.  Oklahoma St lost (gosh, I feel bad for them.)  And the Sooners are in a dogfight with Baylor.  (I cannot watch this game, I am following it on what our family calls, "tap tap" i.e. the computer.

Really? This is what the College Football Gods want? A rematch of the "Game of the Century", the most boring college football game evah, or to see LSU obliterate the Sooners for the Title?

For the record, there are no College Football Gods.  There are baseball Gods, however, and they are capricious, vengeful bastards, that often reward the nastiest of folks.

-Ardent

PS:  I'll keep you posted.

AH

UPDATE:  Sooners trail by one touchdown late in the third (I am not too concerned, yet.)  I am more concerned that the Ducks are creeping closer to the (hated) Trojans.  Ick.  (It is like rooting for the Yankees.)

More soon.

UPDATE x 2:  The world is returning to normal.  Sooners really in a hole now.  Oregon has a chance to tie or win, late in 4th.

Final update, prob v soon.

UPDATE x 3:  Oregon loses.  The Sooners are within one TD.  Less than six minutes left.  Is there some Sooner Magic available?

I have bashed Bruce Jenkins enough (UPDATED w/ the good newspaper version quote!)

Times to be honest and give him his due when he is right.  (And I have never had any problem with his writing style.) 

No one wants to play with you anymore.  You are such a pain in the arse.

And in his most recent 3-Dot Lounge column of Saturday, Nine, Twenty-four, he is most righteously right.  Unfortunately the link I am about to give you here is a shortened version of the newsprint bloggy column, but I have saved that and will update later. 

Basically, Randy Galloway is also right, all "Texas does is greed." 

The Longhorns are about to destroy their second conference in as many decades.  I, and many others, are sick of their arrogance and greed and smugness. 

I wish the Sooners and OSU would just leave the frickin' Big 12 (9?), join the SEC, and let Texas play Baylor and Tech and Rice over and over and over again, watching endless replays of these pointless contests on their Elite Network, alone.  In the basement, with a bag of chips, and a Mountain Dew. 

Ugh.

************

UPDATE:  Here is the rest of what Jenkins had to say, from the complete newspaper edition of his 3-Dot Lounge column (9/24/11):

"As Randy Galloway wrote in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 'Texas doesn't do equality.  It does greed.' ... That includes the competitive angle, as well.  In a weakened and vulnerable Big 12, Texas has a better chance to dominate than if placed in a 16-team conference including USC, Oregon and Stanford ... One of the great athletic universities in the country, Oklahoma, has been made to look foolish in all this.  How we'd love to see the Sooners smoke Texas- say, 38-3- at the Cotton Bowl in two weeks ... Texas' opulent network comes in a massive conflict-of-interest partnership with ESPN.  What if the 'Horns break a few recruiting laws and come under investigation? Does ESPN ignore the story?"

Jenkins goes on to talk about Jayhawk basketball, too.  You have really got to feel for them, as well.  I agree with Jenkins.  Imagine Kansas in the ACC (?!).  That would be a basketball Super-Conference.

Well well well

The first pitch today, Los Angeles Angels of Disneyland at Baltimore took place at prob I am guessing, 4.07 pm PDT.  Maicer Izturis flied out to deep center.  One out.

************

The song Well Well Well by The Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon) released 1970, Lennon's first Album statement since the Beatles broke up, is on the face of it, a pedestrian skewed blues.  It is essentially the same blues changes repeated ad infinitum with lyrics and primal screams.

It is still one of my all-time fave tracks.  I loved it as a teenager, writing a play around it and other solo Lennon tracks.  It is also fairly obv that tracks from this stellar album (Plastic Ono Band) were massive influences on artists today, such as, Lenny Kravitz (who basically owes his career to Plastic Ono Band) and Jon Spencer, whose fans should realize that I Found Out is one of the cornerstones of his entire career.

************

"I took my loved one out to dinner/So we could get a bite to eat/And though we had been much thinner/She looked so beautiful I could eat her/Well well well oh well"

*************

Rangers and Mariners, prob a stupid Star Wars early start:  Ian Kinsler fouls out to first.

************

There is something about sports, is not there? Is not there? The absolute joy that I am feeling across three time zones, men successful, men defeated.

My wife.  My wife, "Why must you wish others lose, why is that so integral to your happiness?"

*************

"We sat and talked of revolution/Just like two liberals in the sun/We talked of women's liberation/And how the hell we could get things done/Well well well oh well"

Sooners receive the ball at about 5.20 PDT, the Angels are flailing and the Rangers are beginning to rally.

************

Josh Hamilton, you may have heard of him, has single-handedly, today in Seattle, decided that he alone decides the AL West.  And fuck everyone else.   It his him you should consult, thank you v much, if you have questions.

************

Results are pouring in.

The Dems cave.  The Yankees win.  Mariano turns in to gold before our eyes.

*************

There are whispers.  Perhaps the standard bearer, the Nation's number one, are not up to the task.  Perhaps it is the same again to a gazillion Sooner fans.  He is not Huepel.  He is not Bradford.  He is not ...

*************

The Angels lose.  Santana allows five in the first.

*************

My goodness, they are trotting him out, ...

*************

It fits the profile of the home team upset, the kid, coming off the bench, leading his team to victory w/ a 56 yd TD pass on 3rd and 28.

*************

It is over in Seattle.  The magic number is seven.

*************

"I took my loved one to a big field/So we could watch the English sky/We're both feeling guilty/And neither one of us knew just why/Well well well oh well"

It is over in Tallahasee.  Stills.  (He says, yawning, so tired, drunk.)  Stills.  Stills.  (They will dread that catch for decades in No. Florida.)

*************

That is the magic of sports. Today was an absolute Home Run, 2 games shaved off a Magic Number and a huge road win against a quality opponent.

But there was sweat.  And blood pressures rising.

But there is bliss, falling to bed tonight, ESPN barely blaring in the quiet dark of my bedroom.

Only sport gives you that.

Lee Roy Selmon

Suffered a stroke last night.  He is in serious condition but improving, says his brother, Dewey. It is very sad news for Sooner fans (and football fans) all over the country.

"Thank the Lord for Mrs Selmon."

Selmon, who won two National Titles (1974 and 1975) and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was one of the most dominating defensive players of his generation, college and pro.  That 1974 Sooner defense was one of college football's greatest.  After being the first pick of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Selmon helped lead and form Tampa's defense which was one of the best in the NFL for a nice run of years.

Selmon played at OU with his two brothers, Lucious and Dewey, also defensive players.  Sooner fans will always refer to the brothers as Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

And, I am told, that Sooner players, to this day, end their pre-game prayer with, "And thank you, Lord, for Mrs Selmon."

Football fans everywhere are hoping for a speedy recovery for Selmon.  And our thoughts go out to his entire family.

BOOMER SOONER!

Here we go, yet another

BCS trap game for Big Game Bob & the Sooners.  The Sooners are 2 touchdown favorites today & you know the UConn kids will be pumped up to knock off a good but not great Sooner team.

The Sooners must not turn the ball over early in the game & let UConn e'en think that they are in this thing.

The Sooners end the Big XII as champions, again.

All due respect to UConn but I want a blowout today.  I want OU to pulverize UConn and see the Sooners finish in the AP top 5.

Boomer Sooner!

(You know, one of my facebook friends took particular

Relish after the Aggies beat the Sooners earlier this year, commenting on how the Sooners' season was ruined.)

The interception that turned the game

Oops! After the Aggie loss the Sooners crushed somebody at home, thumped Baylor on the road, make Pistol Pete cry in Stillwater, and beat Nebraska again for the Big 12 Title.  Big Game Bob now has seven Big 12 Titles in twelve seasons at OU.  He has lost the Big 12 Title game just once, to his mentor, Bill Snyder, coach of Kansas State.  


Nebraska's defense played a stellar game yesterday.  But they could not throw the ball and they fumbled too many times.  And Nebraska should have absolutely no complaints about the officiating yesterday.  There was no Big 12 "fix" or conspiracy against the 'Huskers for leaving the Big 12.  


Btw, see 'ya Nebraska.  


Sooners get UConn or Stanford on New Year's Day.  


(Correction:  In the Bedlam Delivers post earlier I had stated that Big Game Bob was undefeated in Big 12 Title games.  He was actually 6-1, losing to Kansas State, as noted here.  My apologies.  Big Game Bob is now 7-1 in Big 12 Title games.)

Bedlam delivers.

Sooners make Pistol Pete cry again.  

What a fantastic college football game last night in Stillwater.  You gotta feel for the Cowboys.  Let us see, the Cowboys run back a kick for a TD w/ about two minutes left in the game, have one of college football's plays of the year (that amazing tag-team interception), put up forty-one points and still lose the game!  Always the bridesmaid.  This was their best chance in ages and the Sooners rained all over their parade.  


Of course, I did not get to DVR this game because I live on the left coast.  I got the pissing down rain snoozefest, also known as Notre Dame/USC.  Ugh.  Oh well, I'm sure ESPN will replay the game soon.

Meanwhile, in the twelve years Bob Stoops has been at OU, this will be the eighth (and last) time that the Sooners have represented the Big Twelve South in the Big 12 Championship Game.  Big Game Bob has never lost the Big 12 Championship game, either.  But we all know what happened last time the Sooners played at the Cowboys new Enormodome.  


Way to go Sooners.  Sorry OSU fans, Longhorn fans, A&M fans.  

Well, (OU/Texas, Part Deux)

I was right about the point differential, and pretty close on the over/under but I got the schools wrong.

The Sooners survive.  You gotta feel for the kid who muffed the punt.  This has been a tragic, awful week for the UT campus.  (& I absolutely do not support conceal carry on our campuses.  Ever.)  


For the 'Horns it just gets tougher.  They get a week off to prepare for a trip to Lincoln.  The Cornhuskers are a much better team than the Sooners at this point of the season, so it is going to be v tough for the 'Horns, and they could be looking at a four or five loss season.

As for the Sooners, I will see their next game, in Norman, against Iowa State.  It is the first time I have seen the Sooners live in over thirty years.  It will be great fun and I will post some pictures. I am still underwhelmed by this 2010 team, though.  I keep waiting for them to be exposed.  Heck, I thought UT was going to expose them.  They could get it together and finish like monsters, like they did two years ago.  I hope they do.  But Landry Jones is still scary and their defense struggles with good offenses.  (Baylor hung half a hundred on Kansas yesterday.  That OU at Baylor game could be interesting.)  The Sooners do have Tech at home.  But they finish at College Station and Stillwater.  Those will be v tough games for a school that has struggled mightily on the road the last few years.

Meanwhile, Josh Hamilton is back.  We'll find oot today if we face Tampa or New York.  Playoffs start Weds.

And check this oot:  If the Padres and Braves win today then the Padres and Giants will meet in a 1 game playoff for the West title and the loser of that game would then face the Braves on Tuesday to decide who gets the Wild Card.  Crazy.

It is v obvious (OU/Texas)

To me that the Longhorns were looking past a, let's face it, not so good UCLA team.  And the Sooners, though undefeated,  have played just one good game and have not looked v good themselves.  Do not get me wrong about winning, though.  (I have a game that I play w/ my sweetie every college football Saturday, in which I ask the all-important question, "What ya gotta do on Saturday?" And Renee replies, "Ya gotta win!") And the Sooners had not won a road game in eons, so I'll take the Cincinnati win (but I'm not thrilled w/ the Sooners' performance.)  


The OU/Texas series runs in cycles.  It has ever since the Sooners got good in the 50s (before then a Sooner victory was nearly always seen as an upset.)  We are currently in a UT cycle, they have won four out of the last five.  The century started in an OU cycle, incl a five game winning streak, 2000-2004, which was the longest winning streak for either school since the Switzer days when the Sooners also reeled off five straight, 1971-1975.  Occasionally, a school will win a game against the run of play, as it were.  The best example of this would be the Marcus DuPree show where OU beat a ranked Longhorn team 28-22.  It was OUs only win against the 'Horns in a six-year stretch.  


Also, considering that the 'Horns generally get the benefit of the doubt re turnover questions, penalties, etc, whatever, I do not see the Sooners winning this game.  UT will not turn it over like they did last week, Landry Jones will.  The Sooners should have some success running the ball but UT will not be shredded again like they were against the Bruins.  UT is ready for this game (so ready they forgot about last week!) and the Sooners are still struggling w/ their identity, and a new defensive co-ordinator, and serious defensive issues, particularly in the secondary, and will Jones become a great OU QB, like Bradford, White, Heupel, yada yada yada, ...

The Sooners certainly can win this game, and they are favored by about a FG right now, but, as much as I hate the Longhorns, UGH! I'm calling it here, now:

UT 31 OU 23.