I am so frickin' torn. Even though I know it might not be a good idea, at all, part of me would really love to see Scotland stick it to the English, and go out on their own.
Nick C and I even have a great idea for their new currency: The 'notes' (bills) would be called The Scots Dram. And their coins would be called Rocks, like the ice in their drams of whiskey.
And, two,
Even though the Wife does not believe me, I have officially suspended my support for the NFL for an indefinite period of time. We are through. It is just too much shit to take, and I would not be surprised, or even that upset, if the NFL ceased to exist. I am done with it.
In my defense, I have quit major sports before. I quit the NBA nearly ten years ago, and have not watched a single regular season game all the way through since then. I have seen some Mavericks and Warriors playoffs games, but my interest is pretty weak. I am barely engaged, and hardly even know the players these days.
As for college football. Well, if the Sooners sucked, I would probably abandon it, as well. The Sooners are a weakness I might not be able to defeat. Maybe the Sooners could win it all this year, start sucking next year, and I could kick American football all together!
And, oddly enough, the private plane he was in crashed in to a row of homes in South Bend, Indiana, the home of Notre Dame University. On Saint Patrick's Day.
Davis played for the Sooners from 1972 to 1976, running the Wishbone Option as quarterback for Barry Switzer as coach. As a starter Davis compiled a record of thirty two wins against only one loss and one tie. Davis was the winningest quarterback in the Sooners' proud football history until last year when Landry Jones broke his record. Davis won two National Titles with the Sooners in 1974 and 1975, and was named the Most Valuable Offensive Player in the 1976 Orange Bowl which sealed the deal on his second National Title.
Those mid-Seventies Sooners teams were some of the greatest in College Football History, as Davis played alongside such legends as the Selmon brothers, Joe Washington, Tinker Owens, Elvis Peacock, and Jimbo Elrod.
Davis later became a college football broadcaster for CBS Sports in the Eighties.
Davis was born in Sallisaw, Oklahoma and lived in Tulsa. He was sixty years old. He was also a man of devout Christian faith, testifying wherever and whenever he was called upon.
************
(I watched this game in Tulsa, Oklahoma with Grandma and Gramps. I was not yet eight years old.)
************
My favorite Davis/Switzer story is the "Molecules in the Universe" story:
I was standing beside Steve Davis late in the game, and we heard the boos starting. Here was a kid who had quarterbacked at Oklahoma for three years and had never been beaten in twenty-nine games, and now some of the home fans were booing him. The clock was ticking down and it was inevitable that we were going to lose the ball game by twenty damn points, and nobody in the world hurt worse than Steve did. It was hard to believe that our fans would boo the whole bunch of us, who had had such success. I put my arm around Steve on the sideline and told him, "These people we hear are really insignificant. We can't let them influence us or anything we have to do. These people are just molecules in the universe."
************
And, here are my thoughts on Steve Davis, the Sooners thrilling 1975 Title run, and the sad state of Big Time College Football today; published in this space in November 2011.
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.)
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.
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?
It is remarkable how quickly it can change. How one incomprehensible and awful decision can ruin what otherwise was a stellar, wonderful career.
The end of the line.
The board of trustees absolutely did the right thing. There is no way that Joe Paterno should have been allowed to return to the sidelines for those last few games, and retire on his terms. Although, the graduate assistant should be canned, as well.
And the students are not covering themselves in glory right now, either. The terrible, tragic, criminal things that happened to those young boys should be the prime concern for everyone at Penn St right now, not their football team.
(I often watch a dvd of the Sooners winning their sixth National Title at the 1986 Orange Bowl versus Penn St. It will always be different now, seeing Sandusky and Paterno tread the sidelines.)
First, happy birthday to Jock Ono Lennon, who would have been seventy-one years old today.
And, secondly, keeping with the Beatle theme, the Scorsese-directed, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, despite some crack editing, fabulous-sounding music (natch), and some great interviews, is a bit of a let-down. It is especially a let-down to Beatle/Harrison fanatics like myself. Although, as my wonderful wife, Renee, pointed out, the film looks much better to folks unfamiliar or ambivalent about the Beatles or Harrison. (And it is only the true Beatle nuts, like myself, who are stunned to discover that anyone could be unfamiliar or ambivalent about the Beatles.) Renee definitely has a point, and she is still watching the 208 minute doc in pieces, and she is enjoying it immensely and thus, lifting my feeling about it, as well. The thing I am most disappointed about is the gloss over the Patty Boyd/Eric Clapton issue. Scorsese got Ms Boyd to sit for an interview, she, the subject for two of the greatest rock songs of all-time, Something and Layla, but we never really get in to the crazy details of how these relationships started, changed, and dissolved. I am not asking for some titillating TMZ/E Network grit-fest. I trust that Boyd and Clapton (and interviews of the deceased Harrison) could handle this amazing Rock Story in a tasteful way, I mean, all three loved each other, right? (But just as I typed this, I also remembered Renee's reaction to some of Clapton's interviews, "He's kind of a jerk, isn't he? He is so full of himself." Spot on, Renee. Just when I gave Slow Hand some credit for the George Harrison memorial concert, I go and see his nibs all smug and Blues-snooty in this documentary. Clapton should just play guitar and "you, don't talk so much" [h/t This is Spinal Tap].) The film also does not discuss the My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine lawsuit, at all, a massive, glaring, unforgivable omission, and glosses over the infamous 1974 US tour, with a coked-up Harrison, insisting that Ravi Shankar be a part of the bill; Harrison's voice shot, wheedling about God to the audience on every stop. My other problem with the film is something Scorsese suggested but should have taken pains to really punch, and that is the paradox that was Harrison. Harrison, the Roman Catholic from Liverpool, who went on a spiritual quest, not attached to Western Organized Religion, was also the same guy who was a tightwad with money, reluctant to even pick up dinner checks sometimes (but had no problem mortgaging one of houses to raise four million dollars to produce Life of Brian), who wrote the song Taxman, who published one of the most self-indugent, over-the-top, autobiography editions in recent memory, who was the man who organized the first big-time rock star benefit concert of all-time, who time and again, seemed to have an insanely insightful consoling nature with his friends and loved ones re death and loss and grief, who loved racing and super expensive sports cars, and on and on and on. Like I said, much of that is in the film. I just think Scorsese should have made that the focus of his film, his contradictory nature, as opposed to his Spiritual Quest. Enough kvetching! Here is the good stuff from the film: I did not even know Astrid Kirchherr was still alive, and when she unleashed that photograph of Lennon and Harrison in Stuart Sutcliffe's studio, that was taken right after Sutcliffe's death, I was near tears. (Once again, here is Harrison, at eighteen, having some kind of other-worldly insight in to death that is beyond most folks, well before he discovered Eastern Spirituality. Amazing.); the Phil Spector interviews about All Things Must Pass are well-worth watching, Spector wearing a Beatle-like wig, and his right hand shaking the entire time, discussing how George also liked to do nine million takes; all the Olivia Harrison interviews are spectacular, particularly the toughest one about the home-invasion and attack, and it is great to finally meet Ms Harrison, who is a smart, grounded, amazing person, in her own right, who Harrison was damned lucky to find, and marry. Plus, their son, Dhani, seems to be a great guy, too, and he is v v v good-looking. ... The addition of TCU to the Big 12 is a smart move, albeit one that should have been done last year. I love TCU football, they have built their whole program on stout defense and a power-rushing attack, my favorite type of football, to be honest, but I still believe the conference is in trouble, and that their idiotic concession to let UT have its' own network is supremely unfair to the other great Big 12 athletic programs and could (prob will) fracture the conference in the future. (And every Sooner fan knows that the last team to beat the Sooners in Norman was the Horned Frogs, many years ago.) ... Renee and I loved Moneyball; Pitt was great, reminding me of seventies stars like Redford or Newman, in fact, the whole film had that 70s star-studded comedy feel to it; the script is great (Aaron Sorkin, co-wrote); it does not get bogged down in super stat-geek stuff; the guy playing now Ranger Manager, Ron Washington, gets a great laugh line (which you see in the commercials); it was long but not too long; it was just really good. And it is wonderful to see a good, solid Hollywood comedy. They are few and far between these days. My only problem was the amazing Seymour Hoffman's talents were sadly wasted here, he hardly has any scenes. ... Renee and I also loved Love Crime, a french thriller, obv influenced by Chabrol and Hitchcock. Renee said it best, "It was sexy despite showing hardly any sex and it was violent despite showing hardly any violence." A real must-see, folks. ... Still have not seen Drive, yet, maybe next week. ... Poor Justin Verlander seems to bring rain with him, wherever he goes. He has had the worst luck this post-season, and yet, the Tigers remain a formidable foe. And they are saying there could be more rain tonight, too. Oh boy.
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'tdo 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.
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.
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.
This post may be terrible, a little loopy, disjointed, etc, ... but after what happened last night I have to get something down.
It is amazing the runs my teams have made over the last dozen or so years. Sooners football has a National title, four trips to the title game, numerous Big 12 Titles, Sooners basketball made it to the Final Four once and almost made it another time. The Stars have a Stanley Cup and two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. The frickin' Rangers after years of lameness last year won their first ever pennant, losing in the World Serious to the Giants, as I am sure all of you know.
Then last night.
Before Renee & I started dating in 2002, my teams had given me two titles in the last few years, the Sooners in 2000-1, and the Stars in 1998-99.
Then the years of frustration started rolling, to wit:
Sooners make it to Final Four, lose to eventual Champion Carmelo's Syracuse.
USMNT defeats Mexico 2-0 in World Cup, makes it to QFinals in World Cup, loses to Germany 1-0 after outplaying them the entire game.
Sooners make it National Title game, a game they probably did not deserve to play in after getting rocked in the Big 12 Title Game by Kansas St, they lose to LSU. (Tigers get the Trophy but AP declares USC Champions anyway.)
Sooners make it to National Title Game, we do not have cable at the time and we watch game at local sports bar with Meghan. We slink out at halftime, Sooners down 35-7. Final 55-19. (NCAA vacates USC's Title for numerous violations but once again the AP does not give a shit, USC are still champs.)
Mavericks are up two games to love in NBA Finals but get robbed and let the the refs get in their heads and lose four straight games to the Miami Heat.
Sooners lose to the Longhorns but still get Big 12 Title and lose to Jebus freak, Tim Tebow, in the National Title Game.
USMNT wins Group, loses in first round to Ghana in OT. (World Cup 2010.) Texas frickin Rangers beat damn Yankees in ALCS, win their first pennant and are crushed, 4 games to 1 by the SF Giants in the World Serious.
So many times. So close, yet so far away. Renee has been with me for all those heartbreakers. She is not really big in to sports but carries a really great attitude, having to live with a sports freak like me. Who knows what she thought about my teams and how their failures to get over the hump reflected on me, personally? Or, if she thought that, at all.
And then there is my personal relationship with the NBA to consider. I know, I know. So many hardcore sports fanatics feel cheated by the the League Commissioners and refs. (Just talk to any Raiders fan.) And that a lot of that is garbage. But the NBA had a big scandal. They punished the one "bad apple", eleven months in jail, and pretty much brushed it under the rug. But I truly believed the Mavs were robbed in 2006. David Stern hates Mark Cuban. (You will notice that David Stern handed the Trophy to the Mavericks' original owner, Donald Carter, and not Cuban last night, presumably at Cuban's request.) And then after the Warriors humiliation of the Mavs in 2007 (the "bad apple" ref'd one of the games in that series, a Mav road game that they were favored to win) I swore off the NBA for good.
I had not seen a single NBA game from start to finish until I watched the Mavs against the Heat. I did not follow the Mavs, at all. I would check out Blake Griffin, former Sooner, occasionally, all the awesome dunks, and I would sometimes check the sports section to see how the OKC Thunder were doing.
But my Ranger chat buddies at Baseball Time in Arlington dragged me back in. I knew how dangerous that could be; how my hopes could be dashed by a v good Heat team (the Heat and Wade again?) or I might be cursing David Stern again.
Dirk is from Wurzburg. I've been there, was probably there when he still lived there, 1994.
But we did it. Moreover, we were the David in this fable. The Dallas fucking Mavericks had practically the whole country behind them due to King James monumental display of "The Decision" hubris. The words being used to describe the Mavs Title are: Heart, Toughness, and Team.
Dirk gets a Title. Jet does not have to take the tattoo off. (There is some lame hubris, too.) Jason Kidd gets a Title at thirty-eight.
Of course, everyone is saying the Heat choked. Of course, everyone is saying LeBron choked, that the Heat lost the Title more than the Mavs won it. The Mavs and their fans do not care. Talk talk talk all you want pundits. The Mavericks are World Champions and finally, one of my teams got over the hump when everything mattered.
We are the Champs.
(Now, let's go Rangers and keep this great run for Dallas going.)
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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:
