Monthly Archives: December 2016

A blind man could have seen this one coming…The Mullett man played his fans and players like a cheap suit by threatening to leave for Baylor.  Wow, what a bunch of chumps or Aggies.  Of course he knew his next opponent was a weak Colorado team.  Of course right on cue, the Buffs starting quarterback goes down with an injury.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Colorado and I am excited with their turnaround season, but the Pac 12 with the exception of USC will always be a soft conference, a perfect prey for an OSU team in the Alamo Bowl, their home away from home.

Expect to see of this on Saturday when Alabama annihilates Washington, another Pac 12 team.  However if OSU had played the Trojans, as expected the outcome would have been like the original Alamo, a massacre in the other direction.

One must wonder how much it cost the “Pick” to convince Rudolph and Washington to return for their senior years.  Hope it works out for both of them…What am I saying, they are both on T. Boone’s payroll…How can it not work out…

The prevailing wind…

Five days ago the wind was blowing out of the north so Berry Tramel and the rest of the media types were bashing OU and Joe Mixon. You would have thought that Joe Mixon was the worst human on the face of the earth and Bob Stoops was a close second.

Yesterday, the wind changed directions and began howling out of the south. As a result Berry and company were back riding shot gun on the Sooner Schooner. What gives

As for Tramel, he is simply going with the flow to save a dying newspaper. As for the national guys they are just simply uneducated to this issue. Fickle is as fickle does and thus is the life of an OU sports fan when it comes to the press.

After a week of persecution, Joe Mixon was finally allowed to take the stand to defend himself. Joe apologized profusely for what happened to Mia Molitor some three years ago and did so with incredibly heartfelt genuineness.

Call me a chump, but I thought his emotions were real. Obviously, getting all of this out of the way three years ago would have been nice.  Of course given today’s litigious society that was not going to happen.

As I had suggested earlier Joe was basically a kid coming out of high school and was like most kids Joe was a work in progress. He also grew up in the inner city like a lot of today’s athletes minus a father figure.  Bob Stoops has become that father figure and for my money has done a damn good job.

Finally, I am taking additional pleasure from the latest turn of events. I went out on a limb for Joe and as expected took some heat for it.  I just had a gut feeling about thi kid.  Having been in the education business for some forty years I have seldom given up on a kid and I am glad that Bob concurred and gave Joe a second chance.

Just as importantly, this time last week the Sooner boat was taking on water in a big way. Today the ship has been righted itself and everything is coming up Crimson and Cream…Bob Stoops’ reputation as a player’s coach has been solidified and the chances of Joe returning for his junior year have spiked.

I expect the Sooners are already working on next year’s game plan.

Boomer Sooner…

Rodney Anderson – The next man up…

I lied when I said I would not mention Joe Mixon’s name again.  Given the uproar over the tape, it is time for everyone’s sake for Joe to move on. Bob Stoops’ feet are getting wetter by the minute so Joe’s time in Norman is over.

Given the fact that the Sugar Bowl is simply a consolation game for the Sooners, it will not hurt my feelings if Joe decides to bypass the game to prepare for the NFL draft.

Do I hate this trend, of course, but in this case, Joe and OU will gain nothing from his appearance in this game. Joe moving on would also give OU coaches an opportunity to prepare for life after Joe Mixon.

The key now is Samaje Perine. We need Samaje to forgo the draft and help OU win another National Championship.

It Baker can make that happen, OU will have a chance with Rodney Anderson waiting in the wings to make this happen.   Rodney is an oft forgotten four-star recruit from two years that has been injured both of his two years at OU.

From all accounts, this guy is a big-time player who can help us get over Joe Mixon. With much of this year’s team returning and with eleven members of this year’s recruiting  class joining the team for spring practice, next year’s team will be loaded.

Unfortunately, OU does not have a T. Boone to pay the Lloyds of London insurance premium for guys like Samaje, so his return is probably a pipe dream. Then again given Samaje’s character, it could happen.

If so, the Samaje/Rodney show will replace the Samaje/Joe story history. Call me a homer, but I believe that OU will not miss a beat with the Samaje/Rodney combo.

In any case, I hope Joe Mixon kills it in the NFL. I for one appreciate his time as a Sooner… but it is time for someone else to write the next chapter of OU football.

Boomer Sooner…

 

 

 

Joe Mixon…

Berry Tramel and I agree on one thing regarding the Pickleman’s Café episode.  Joe Mixon should not have punched Mia Molitor.

Then again Berry makes his living writing for simplistic readers and OU-haters. I, on the other hand have the luxury of seeing both sides of any issue and writing what I damn well please so as you might imagine our opinions after the first statement are different.

The OU staff has done a marvelous job of keeping Joe from the press so in the case of Joe Mixon’s character, Berry knows about as much as I do about that subject. Joe’s attorneys did the rest by forcing Joe to stay mum on the subject.

What seems to get lost in all of this is that there were two combatants involved in the Pickleman’s Café episode that night.   One party was drunker that Hooter Brown.  That person apparently had been raised to disrespect black people and possibly football players.  One party was itching for a fight and did everything she could do to make it happen.

The other party had a solid right hook and it is that party who will be vilified by the local press until the cows come home. Again, Joe should have walked away, but then again, I have never been a black man and the victim of racial slurs so I don’t know if I could have walked away.

Many in the press have roasted Bob Stoops for keeping Joe on the team, but as for me, I applaud Bob for his consistency. To my knowledge, Bob has never kicked a player off the team for one incident.  In this day of political correctness when playing up to the press is valued, I am reassured that Bob can take the heat and do what he believes to be right by his players.

Just like the rest of us, 17-year-old kids (turned 18 that day) do dumb things, particularly in the heat of the moment. We were not sent to the gallows and neither should today’s kids.

For those who assume that Joe Mixon has gone unpunished for his part in this sordid affair, let me remind you of the price he paid to stay in Norman.

…Joe was dismissed from the football team for one year.

…Joe was not allowed to practice or even associate with the team for one year.

…Joe lost his scholarship for one year and had to pay his own way to school.

…Joe pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and served a thousand hours of community service… (that is the equivalent of 12 months at 20 hours per week)

…Joe has been vilified in the press…

…Joe will be forever known as the guy who punched the blonde chick.

If I had been Joe, I would have taken the easy way out and packed my bags for California. Three years later he would be making millions in the NFL.

Lost in all of this is the fact that Joe decided to honor his word and stay at OU. Loyalty to your coaches, teammates and to a university 2,000 miles from home is a rare commodity these days.

Sounds like a man of character to me…

Boomer Sooner…

 

 

 

Go Army…

For the first time in almost 20 years the Black Knights did what appeared to be the unthinkable, they beat Navy. I know this is not OU-Texas or even Bedlam to OU fans, but to these guys it is bigger than life itself.

These two teams epitomize what the college football forefathers had in mind when they dreamed up this wondeful game over a century ago. The Army/Navy game is about  student-athletes who dedicate themselves to four years a grueling classwork only to be topped off by five additional years of military service.

Back in the day, these programs were once the toast of the town. Heisman Trophy winners Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard of Army and Roger Staubach of the Midshipmen led their teams to big wins year in and year out.

The Academies and the Ivy League pretty much controlled college football during the first half of twentieth century. When the game outgrew these teams the Ivy League decided to punt.  The Academies stayed the course through some rough times.

Today Army and Navy are much more competitive and on this Saturday the Army/Navy game dominates the airwaves. By choosing to cut some academic corners in recent years Navy has dominated Army for a decade and a half.

If the truth be known, the Naval Academy still had the better players on Saturday, but Army had the bigger heart.   After 15 years these Cadets simply refused to lose on this day, even after Navy pulled ahead in the fourth quarter.

The only bad thing about the loss was the fact that t.v. viewers did not get a chance to see one of the coolest post-game ceremonies ever. When it was time for the Navy players to stand for the Army alma mater, the Long Gray Line of Army had engulfed the field and the Navy team could not get close the Army band.

That’s okay, the view of the Cadets in their cool gray uniforms mobbing the team and the stadium was a close second to the alma mater deal.   I just hope that my former player Katie Wilson was part of that mob.  After losing to Navy three years in a row, she deserved to be there.

Go Army…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samaje…

I love living longer than dirt…I saw something on Saturday that I had never seen before…I saw a running back take a knee one yard away from pay dirt.   As the entire stadium was about to explode as the Sooners were set to rub it in the noses of the hated Cowboys with a final touchdown, he abruptly stops and takes a knee.

Trust me no one including the coaching staff saw that coming. Even more impressive is the fact that Perine had been the beneficiary of helmet-to-helmet attack from an Aggie cheap shot artist earlier in the game.

I hear a lot from so-called Christians these days about how people should live their lives. Samaje lets his actions do his talking for him.  I would love for that other crowd to take note of Samaje and how we should treat others.

Don’t get me wrong, I was right there with the other 85,000 Sooner fans wanting revenge after OSU players had played dirty ball all day long. We wanted blood after Sooner players were attacked time and time again without retribution from the officials.  The Baylor Thugs have nothing on this OSU bunch.

In typical Jesus fashion however, Samaje chose to turn the other cheek. This guy must have one heck of a set of parents.  They raised this kid well.

Samaje Perine…You the man…

Boomer Sooner…

 

 

 

 

Alabama or Auburn…

One of these teams will likely be OU’s next opponent. For most OU fans the answer to this question is a no-brainer, but as Lee Corso would say, wait just a minute…

70% of OU fans would go with facing and likely winning the consolation prize, Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. The other 30% of OU fans are of the opinion that facing any team including Alabama in the Championship series is the way to go.

Haven been embarrassed by Clemson two years ago, I have to admit that I am tired of that scene. Nothing to gain and everything to lose…It also smells a lot like Aggieism.

There is a reason OU plays a Houston and Ohio State while OSU plays high school teams during the non-conference slate. Players come to Norman to play for championships.  Another argument is that OU suffered a worse loss (40-6) in a non-final four encounter two years ago and then lost to Clemson in the championship series by a 37-17 score last year and actually hung with the Tigers for a half.

Recruiting got better after the first game, but recruiting really took off after the last game. Same will be the case this year, make it to the FCS and this recruiting class will top off an already excellent year with a couple five star players.

If Colorado beats Washington, and if Baker and Dede can have big games and OU dominates OSU, the selection committee may jump the Sooners over the Big Ten trilogy of Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan and of course Washington.

Is it a longs shot, yes, but that is why they call it Sooner Magic.

If we want to run with the big dogs, we must compete against the best, otherwise we might as well stay on the porch.

Boomer Sooner…