Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Let's do this one more time

I am nearly beaten by the topic, but I think we can squeeze one more morning out of Sooner-Duck. I was sent some very interesting columns that should be read by both sides, I think.

The first one is Pat Forde; I am not sure I could say it better myself: Presidentially Preposterous


The Dash understands why Sooner Nation (2) lost its collective mind after the officiating fiasco at the end of the Oregon game, which was won by the Ducks 34-33. The non-call on the onside kick stunk. The inept review of the call was worse. The Pac-10's one-game suspension of the offending officials was completely justified.
But the Oklahoma reaction has become an overreaction. In fact, it has transitioned from righteous indignation to outright insanity.

The actions of school president David Boren (3) make you wonder whether he isn't actually the booster club president instead of the guy running an institution of higher learning. The former governor and U.S. senator pushed out his pouty lip and dashed off a petulant letter to Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg (4) that is embarrassing on multiple levels. "… The Big 12 should request that the game should not go into the record books as a win or a loss by either team in light of the level of officiating mistakes," Boren's letter said.

And strike the Kansas City Royals' 1985 World Series title from the record books because of that terrible call at first base by Don Denkinger, too!

"It is truly sad and deeply disappointing that members of our football team should be deprived of the outcome of the game that they deserved because of an inexcusable breakdown in officiating," Boren concluded.

What's truly sad and deeply disappointing to The Dash is the fact that Boren should have such an inexcusable breakdown in perspective.

Is there really nothing better for the president to do at the University of Oklahoma? Like, maybe check in on the college of arts and sciences? Or, if he's that terribly concerned about the football program, perhaps he could lend a hand to the compliance office and help monitor players' jobs at local car dealerships. Y'know, make sure they actually show up and do some work.

If the president can put down his pompon for a minute, he'll realize a couple of things:

1. Bad calls happen. In every game. A few times a year, they can play a critical role in a game's outcome. Are we going to set a precedent of presidential hissy fits after each critical blown call?

2. The game did not end on this bad call. Oklahoma still had the lead, still had a chance to win. It didn't get the job done.

But instead of absorbing this as an object lesson -- life is not fair, but you have to deal with it -- the school president is setting the sore-loser tone.

Coach Bob Stoops (5) went off shortly after Boren, all but declaring the officials and the Pac-10 unforgiven for the damage done to Oklahoma's season. (Bob: You can still win the Big 12 title and go to a BCS bowl. And you weren't going to win anybody's national championship anyway. You might have sustained the illusion for another few weeks by winning this game, but it wasn't going to happen.)

When asked about Boren's letter, Stoops thanked the prez for taking time away from reviewing game film to join in the bitchfest.

"We have a great administration," Stoops said. "President Boren is the absolute best president a head coach can have."

Clearly. The question is whether he's the best president a math professor can have.
Then again, maybe Boren is simply following presidential precedent at Oklahoma. It was OU prez George Cross who once explained to the state legislature a need for more funding because, "I would like to build a university which the football team can be proud of."

In closing, The Dash will take the obnoxious step of quoting itself, just to help the honorable president Boren. This was from an August column enumerating 23 new rules of conduct for college football fans:

If the scoreboard says you lost, you lost. That's not going to change. Take an hour to vent postgame, then try to regain your sanity. Do not diminish your quality of life -- and the quality of life of those around you -- by spewing for days about the refs who cheated your team, the flagrant league bias against your team or the complete lack of class displayed by the team that beat your team. Your team l-o-s-t.
Try to deal.


Here is more on the replay official’s experience


first you should know that Riese didn't see the ABC television feed that viewers watched at home, which you, your spouse and your children know showed an Oregon player touching the ball before it traveled the required 10 yards. And you should know that Riese will not talk about specifics on the call, but said: "My supervisor knows what happened up there and that's all that matters."

A source in the replay booth on Saturday said that Riese found himself crunched for time, pressured by television and the on-field referee for a rapid decision, and there was such a delay in getting the video feed to Riese that he never even got to properly review the play.

The Pac-10's coordinator of football officiating confirmed that Riese didn't get all of the replays that ABC was providing.

With all the cameras working the game that one half of the country was watching, Riese saw only a single frame of video, the source said. The angle was bad. But it appeared to show an Oklahoma player touching the ball with his helmet before it hit the Oregon player. (From other angles, clearly, it hits the Ducks player first.)
With no other video immediately available, and television waiting, Riese did what he's told to do when he's out of time and has no conclusive evidence.

He upheld the call on the field.

The university president wants this to go down as a no-contest. Some Oklahoma fans want retribution. Some conference officials just want this to quietly go away because it smacks of a serious problem with the replay process. And what we're really probably entitled to any regular American fifth grader would tell you is a playground do-over.

Adults don't do those things, though.

Kill the umpire, right? Zebra hunt?

This is probably a good time to remind ourselves that sports isn't war. It's not life or death. College football is supposed to be a pleasant, passionate weekend diversion, void of death threats for sure. There's just something that doesn't feel right about villifying Riese, especially after further review.


And even noted Sooner homer Berry Tramel reminds Bob Stoops of his mantra:


No excuses.

That's what Stoops proclaimed the day he was hired and that's how he's coached these eight memorable seasons. Such a mantra has served him well.

Now Stoops teeters on the edge of excuse-making. Yes, the refs rooked him Saturday in Eugene. Yes, barring miracle of miracles, the game is over with the proper onside kick call.

Yes, it's accurate to say that Mister Gordon Riese of Portland, Ore., cost the
Sooners the game.

But so did a blocked field goal. So did OU's sudden allergy to pass defense. Riese's brain lock, or whatever caused this scandal, did not end the game. This was not Lubbock.

The Sooners had time to recover from this and darn near did.

Stoops began his press conference Tuesday with a short acknowledgement that the Sooners were accountable for part of their demise. He ended his informal sortee with writers the same way.

Stoops assured that he and his players have moved on, and the actions of his players backed him up. The young among us are resilient. They bounce back.


In news that had nothing to do with Sooner-Duck
Bradie James is now locked in, too


First the Cowboys took care of two-time Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten. Then they took care of three-time Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams.

On Tuesday the Cowboys took care of inside linebacker Bradie James, who they hope will be a Pro Bowler. The team signed James to a five-year extension worth $20 million that includes an $8 million signing bonus.

---
Since 2003, the Cowboys have guaranteed nearly $35 million to linebackers in bonus money as part of free-agent or rookie deals to James, Bobby Carpenter, DeMarcus Ware, Akin Ayodele, Kevin Burnett and Al Singleton.

The Cowboys have six other players who could be unrestricted free agents after this season: center Al Johnson, defensive end Kenyon Coleman, safety Marcus Coleman (who is on the suspended list), right tackle Marc Colombo, center Andre Gurode and linebacker Al Singleton. Punter Mat McBriar will be a restricted free agent.
Farther down the road, the Cowboys will have to work on a deal for cornerback Terence Newman, who is signed through 2007.


Last night in Denver, Marty Turco and the Avalanche trio of Sakic, Brunette and Hejduk reminded us of late April, But isn’t this the biggest story?


Briefly: When Colorado's Andrew Brunette opened the scoring at 1:49 of the first period the musical selection confirmed that the Avalanche is among the many teams in pro sports that has junked the song, "Rock and Roll Part 2" as a celebratory anthem in the wake of Gary Glitter's conviction on molestation charges in Vietnam. That's especially significant because the old NHL Colorado Rockies team introduced the song to major league sports back in the late 1970s. The Avalanche now is using Blur's "Song 2."


Players come to your house to watch the game


Former Vikings John Randle and Chris Doleman and ex-Bear Shaun Gayle are part of an eBay auction in which the winning bidder will get all three to come to their house -- snacks and beverages included -- to watch the game. Bidding, which goes through 11 a.m. Thursday, had climbed over $1,000 by Tuesday afternoon. Proceeds will go to the Jimmy V Foundation, and bidders must be 21 or older and live within 75 miles of either the Metrodome or Soldier Field. Go to www.ebay.com/millerlite to bid.

"Fans are a part of what makes the game great," Randle said Tuesday afternoon. "This is one way to give back. I'm psyched about it."

Randle said there's no real plan other than watching football and hanging out. The one guarantee: He won't be wearing his trademark face paint.

"That's been retired," he said with a laugh.


Ebay Link is here for the Miller Lite auction ….

Coach Fran’s decision is defended in San Antonio


So it wasn't the smartest decision. I liked it.

Last Saturday night, Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 31-yard line, while nursing a 28-24 lead against Army in the Alamodome.

Everyone inside those four tall walls — apparently except for No. 94 on the defense, end Cameron Craig — figured 275-pound Jorvorskie Lane would earn that yard with 2:58 remaining. And the four-touchdown favorite Aggies would run out the clock on a narrow victory.

It didn't quite go that way, with an amped-up Craig busting past an A&M offensive line collectively yelling, "Ole!" and planting a startled Lane backward in the fake grass. Lane said Tuesday he never saw Craig coming.

Fortunately for the Aggies, A&M's defense held on a goal-line stand and saved the victory — and Franchione from his most embarrassing defeat as Aggies coach — 77-0 at Oklahoma notwithstanding. That loss came in Franchione's first season. This is his fourth.

Franchione said he went for it because he believed in his players. Presumably he still does, and said Tuesday he'd go for it again.

People have asked if Franchione rolled the dice on offense because he didn't believe in his defense. If that was the case, he'd rather have his defense face an 80-yard drive late in the game, than one from 30 — so that argument doesn't make sense.


Actually, it does make sense. If you go for it and make it, you don’t have to send your defense back out there. I believe that goes a long way in telling you he doesn’t want his defense to decide the game…

Revo tells us Showalter should stay …and his mole in the clubhouse makes another triumphant appearance…


I keep reading and hearing that the Rangers are uptight, that the clubhouse is tense because of Showalter's micro-managing.

Horse hockey.

Is that why they've been playing some of their best baseball of the season lately? Or is it because the Rangers have suddenly been getting solid pitching from four starters and the bullpen?

"Players whine, that's how it is," a Rangers staffer told me Tuesday. "They're not thinking about Buck when they're playing defense or at the plate.

"This clubhouse isn't tense. There's nothing to be tense about."

When Oakland was in town, the A's players were grousing about manager Ken Macha. Some Angels players had choice words for manager Mike Scioscia. But not to his face, of course.

"Hey, Joe Torre's been fired. Tony La Russa's been fired. I got it," Showalter said. "I want to rise above it."

In any clubhouse there are a handful of players who think the manager is great, a handful who can't stand him and maybe 15 riding the fence.

"The secret of managing," Casey Stengel once said, "is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided."

That's a tough job.

There's no question that Showalter's style wears on players, especially veterans. It's just little stuff, mostly petty, but it's cumulative. It happened in Arizona, too.

It's not like Showalter doesn't know this about himself, and that he hasn't tried to ease back some. But he needs to do even more.

If he gets the chance.

He needs to take another giant step back next year and turn the clubhouse over to his veterans, like Michael Young, Mark Teixeira and Mark DeRosa. Tell them what's expected and then leave it to them.


Today’s A-Rod is a jerk story from the New York Post and Sports Illustrated

This will be on our show today or tomorrow I think:

Steve the Grape Guy’s website


He has caught a grape thrown by hand – 177 feet

He has caught a grape shot by a slingshot – 267 feet

He has caught a grape dropped from the 22nd floor of the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas for the longest outdoor catch.

He has caught a grape dropped from the 15th floor of the World Trade Center in Dallas for the longest indoor catch.

He has caught 1189 grapes in 30 min. from 15 feet away.


Today’s email bag:


I am listening to you guys on the Internet right now and you are talking about the football game on Saturday. I am obviously an OU fan but I try to come to the table logically, and I mostly agree with everything you said (not Dan, who obviously didn't see the game at all). The flaw I have with your argument is that it was blown on the instant replay, which is actually ridiculous, in my opinion. I have yet to hear anyone who has seen the replay on the onside kick who thought that (A) the ball wasn't touched by the Oregon player before the 10-yard cushion and (B) it wasn't recovered by the OU player. I realize that the onfield crews have to make split second decisions that can go either way and can be wrong against one team or the other. That is why we now have instant replay.

The problem is that after 59 minutes of getting the calls relatively right on both sides (and keep in mind that OU had two TD's brought back due to a penalty and a reversal of an onfield call due to the player stepping out of bounds), the officiating was decidedly in Oregon's favor when it was clutch time. If nothing else was called right, it was very important that the replay official see what everyone else in the world saw - penalty on the Oregon player for illegal touching and OU ball after a recovery of the onside kick. OU could decline the penalty and easily run out the clock at that point. The choking by the OU defense aside, OU deserved to win the game.

Also addressing the comparison to OU/Texas Tech basketball game, I agree 100 percent. Many OU fans were smug in telling Knight to go home and insisted that there was nothing wrong with the clock - there obviously was. However, Texas Tech more than evened the score on that last year when that final drive had several calls that went against OU (a fourth down spot of the ball that was a yard past where the player was down, a questionable catch in the end zone that was juggled all the way to the tunnel, and the final game-winning touchdown in which the running back for TT has still not scored).

Given that the last two true road games played by the Sooners (TT was the last true road game for OU last year if I remember correctly) were lost on a last-minute failure of instant replay officials to make the call as it appeared to everyone else, it must be difficult for OU coaches to get their players to believe they can win on the road when they have to take on the "12th man" in the instant replay booth. I know it sounds like sour grapes, but I question whether Oregon would have won that game had there been no officials on the field at all. My guess is that they would have lost 33-27, which is the score as it should have been.

And lastly, if OU deserved to lose because of the horrendous play of their defense (which forced four turnovers, by the way), then how do you feel about the play of the homefield Oregon defense who forced no turnovers and allowed Peterson to dominate running the ball in the fourth quarter (I heard 147 yards but I can't prove that)? Both teams deserved to win, but only one team earned the win on the field. Oregon should have their instant replay official win taken away and take pride in winning on the turf and not in the booth.

Sooner Jeff
---
1st – In response to your Hollis Price and your comparison to officials or home cooking, you have to agree that Hoops and their 35 games season and college football and their 12 game schedule has nothing to do with each other. Yes it happened in Norman, but it was a conference game that each team plays 16 of them, and it didn’t effect both teams opportunity to play in the NCAA’s and chance at a championship.

2nd – In response to your President Boren argument…you are dead wrong….OU is football and the entire country relates to the State of Oklahoma as a football state……he is stepping up and doing what the million of fans want him to do………..have a voice and represent your fans and alumni with a voice that can make a difference.

3rd – This has never happened in college football……….and don’t mention the Missouri-Neb 5th down play because they didn’t have instant replay during that season.
This is unprecedented and that’s the reason why the uproar……….

4th – And the part that hurts the most…..Most experts think OU could go undefeated if they win 2 games..Oregon and Texas……..They were half way there until they were robbed of a win……..

5th – This has nothing to do with the porous defense…..Did Texas deserve to win the Rose Bowl when they gave up 600 yds of offense?
Saying “they should of played better defense” is a cop out and has nothing to do with the argument. If the official make the correct call, OU wins by 6 and are undefeated.

Since the PAC 10 says it was the wrong call….there you have it………….The only RIGHT thing to do is take the loss away from OU so that their National Championship dreams aren’t ruined by two guys who made wrong decisions last Saturday……

John
---
Browns tight end Kellen Winslow spoke out in the locker room Monday, saying the coaching staff is holding back the offense and it's time to unleash it. He also said he doesn't understand why he's not on the field on third down.
-- Cleveland Plain Dealer

I took the above quote from the Truth & Rumors section of SI.com today. Dude, this guy is either crazy, or has the biggest set of man marbles I have ever seen. Let me get this straight. You come out of college as a loudmouth, brash, but supremely talented player, only to get injured forthe entire year in your first NFL game. You then follow up that stellar year with another complete season lost to injuries, this time by pretending you are Evil Kneivel.

So here we are in year three, and after the second game of your third season, your THIRD game ever as an NFL player, and you have the audacity to call out your coaching staff??? Seriously, is this really happening??? What say you Bully Sports Sturm?

Eric Brigance



Steve Young: on today’s show at 1:30



Being a Saints fan is summed up in 1:36:



Will Ferrell for Ipod

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

1st!

Anonymous said...

I'm first. Can we get a replay? Does my president need to call for Bob's head?

You've ruined my national blogger comment championship hopes!

Anonymous said...

Bob
How would you have reacted if the bad play call had happened to a team you dont dislike? I liked Junior's comparison this morning: What if Dirk was driving to the basket, took a shot, was fouled hard by Shaq and then made the basket to win the game, and then the referee called no basket. The officials then took five minutes to review the play, could clearly see that Dirk was fouled hard and did make the basket, and then said the play stands. Would there still be the cop-out excuse of "Well the Mavericks should have played better defense in the game"?

"American Movie" is on IFC today and I forgot to record it. Noooooo!!!- imagine that in a Darth Vader voice.

Interested to hear your thoughts on the A-Rod story.

Go BaD radio

Anonymous said...

Wow, I feel really bad for Bob having to read all those long emails. Why can't people control themselves?

Anonymous said...

Please, please, please let the Badgers or Packers get screwed by a late game blown call.

Just so we can see double-standard Bob lose it.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I think the ghost of Steve Prefontane is responsible for all of this.

Sturminator said...

Any chance we can wait until I show a double standard before I am called "double standard Bob"? On this blog, you have access to every sports thought I have had in since Jan 22, 2005. Surely, you can find the evidence right here. I don't erase old entries.

Bob

The Packers have been "screwed" by the refs in the past (49ers playoff game of 1999 comes to mind), and I dealt with the almighty scoreboard.

Anonymous said...

I remember sitting in a Humperdinks looking at one of the TVs thinking "What the F is going on in the Saints game?", then turning to my friends and saying "Look at the F'ing Saints game", something that hadn't been said in probably decades in that Humperdinks.

Then, after the score, making the asshat comment "Wouldn't it be great if he misses the extra point?"....

Good times. Good times.

I think Double Standard Bob would secretly be really really furious with the refs if it had been Badger-Ducks ot Packer-insert team, and he would want the OU pres to call for the game to be nullified. However, I think he would lock all that up and force his official opinion to be that if they played better it wouldn't matter.

So really Double Standard Bob is just Normal Human Bob.

Anonymous said...

Put it this way: Even with one of the worst calls in the history of college sports, Oregon still managed to roll up 125 yards & 14 points in 2:30 on what was supposed to be one of the better OU Ds in recent memory. Then OU somehow manages to get a huge KO return, which they almost choke away by calling a running play with no timeouts and only 18 seconds left on the clock. The icing on the cake is the blocked FG of course. That makes 4 distinct spots where OU could have closed this game out regardless of the bad calls:

1) Stop Oregon on 3rd & 14 at the OU 35 with 1:47 left.
2) Recover the onside kick and show the ref you have the ball instead of walking to the sidelines with it like Patrick did.
3) Don't let Oregon drive 52 yards in 16 seconds for the go-ahead score.
4) Block well enough that your FG kicker(who was 4/4 prior to this attempt) can get the kick past the line of scrimmage.

If you can do any one of these four things, Oklahoma comes home with a W. Does that sound like a team that deserved to win the game? No.

-JB

Anonymous said...

Double-standard Bob originates from the NBA Playoffs, but not so much due to his own personal whining.

No, it's because Double-standard Bob loves to rail on the fans of teams he hates (Spurs, Sooners, etc), yet give a free pass to the fans and even owners of teams he likes (Mavs), even when their whining was 10x more profound than anyone else's in sports history.

Anonymous said...

I think a better question is what if the same thing happened to the Longhorns or Aggies. Sooners would be saying too bad, should have played better defense.

I'm hoping and praying that OU beats Texas thanks to a ridiculously bad call. Then I want to see Boren send a letter stating that he is instructing OU to wipe the win off of the record books.

Sooner needs to quit the double-standard talk, because they would have a double standard too if the roles last Saturday were reversed.

Anonymous said...

I'm not going to rehash my arguments from the past two days.

Above all else, I hope my team's offense and defense plays well enough in the rest of the games this season that the game won't come down to a blown call.

I also hope for the sake and integrity of college football that the Pac-10 drop it's rule mandating that Pac-10 officials be used for all non-conference games where the Pac-10 is the home team.

And for the sake and integrity of replay, that the NCAA mandates that a technical snafu is no reason to not get the call correct.

That's the source our frustration, non-Sooner fans and Sooner haters. The fact that a replay system failed to do what it was supposed to do.

That's the last I'm going to talk about it. If you still can't see our POV, then you nothing short of watching your team get screwed in the last minue of a game on a blatantly blown call that replay, for some reason, doesn't overturn will get you to see our POV.

When that inevitably happens, don't come crying to us.

Anonymous said...

Everybody sees your point of view. We just don't give a s*$!.

3 days of crying already. Dry it up.

Jay Beerley said...

This is totally ridiculous. It's football, people. Not worth death threats and the leadr of a EDUCATIONAL institute getting involved.
The Sooners barely got by UAB.
The Mavs analogy is bogus because the Sooners weren't losing and lost the chance to win. They were winning by 2 TOUCHDOWNS and couldn't hold the lead. Trust me, if I cared about them, I'd probably be mad too. But in our world of the blame game, they need to man up and be mad at themselves, not a $400 replay ref. Easy out, fools...

Anonymous said...

I also would love to see Texas lose to OU by a bad call...Texas would probably buy their way out to expunge that from the books, then Mack would alternate between two quarterbacks...again

Flaco said...

Bob, thanks for the linkage yesterday to my blog.

Bob Loblaw..... your Maverick analogy doesnt make sense. The Sooners still had time after the bad call to man up and play some defense. The game didnt end on the onside kick.

(For the record I dont like the Sooners or the Burnt Orange...or the Ducks for that matter.)

And Bob is right about *SOME* of the Sooners fans and spares fans.

shutup already.

Anonymous said...

I didn't get to listen much yesterday and Monday, so I don't know what I missed from Craig. But Corby was absolutely killing me during the time I did listen Tuesday afternoon. What a load of GARBAGE! [/Norm]

Here's how I sum it up: you cannot do anything about the ref's call, but you had plenty of opportunities in the play on the field to actually affect the game. Here's an idea: make a play some time when it counts.

Anonymous said...

You guys are looking too much into the Mavs analogy. The point is that game would have been over if the call was right. Are we really avoiding the fact that this was one of the most garbage calls in sports.
Dosen't Sooner have some right to be upset.
And yes we get it, the their defense is terrible.
Go Ducks!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

you misspelled doesnt, but you have a good point nonetheless. At least all this discussion draws attention away from fubar football program that is Texas A&M. THanks guys

GO AGGIES!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wah wah wah. Bad calls happen all the time and in college, people don't realize the conferences own up to the all the time, too. But the result never changes.

Case in point, the SMU-Marshall game last year. The Marshall qb absolutely fumbled (and SMU recovered) the ball late in the 4th quarter on Marshall's drive to force the game into overtime. The officials on the field called it an incomplete pass. Though it should have been, it wasn't even reviewed. The next day, the conference apologized to SMU for blowing an obvious call. Now you might say what difference does it make, but if SMU had won that game, they would have finished second in C-USA West and 4th overall in C-USA and gone to a bowl game, the first in 21 years. That is something to b!tch about.

Anonymous said...

"Case in point, the SMU-Marshall game last year. The Marshall qb absolutely fumbled (and SMU recovered) the ball late in the 4th quarter on Marshall's drive to force the game into overtime. The officials on the field called it an incomplete pass. Though it should have been, it wasn't even reviewed. The next day, the conference apologized to SMU for blowing an obvious call. Now you might say what difference does it make, but if SMU had won that game, they would have finished second in C-USA West and 4th overall in C-USA and gone to a bowl game, the first in 21 years. That is something to b!tch about."

Bob still says you should get over it. Because a missed call on the field and a missed call by the video review judge are one in the same to him.

Nevermind that the ref on the field has one shot to get the call right while the video review judge ought to have access to multiple angles and slow motion to get the call right.

And just so you know, I forgive Bennett Salvatore.

I can't believe Bob didn't link to Tim Cowlishaw's excellent column from today.

It's actually has some constructive ideas!

Anonymous said...

I agree brandon at gsr.

anonymous 11:58: did you seriously just bring up SMU into the conversation? Your argument officially went out the window. get your shinebox.

This message board has just turned into a major power down. We have heard all the sides. We should all listen to the grizzly man theme song and move on.

Anonymous said...

Brandon (or anybody who knows),
How do you put a link in an post like that?
Thanks.

P1 Mike

Anonymous said...

[a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/092006dnspocowlishaw.24405d4.html]excellent column[/a].

Just replace the brackets with "<" and ">".

Anonymous said...

Anonymous guy 11:58AM,
Anyone that writes "wah, wah, wah" in a post is a gay.

Anonymous said...

Stars talk, anyone?

Anonymous said...

That means your g ay, too.

Anonymous said...

I think Junior Miller must've strained a muscle REACHING for that Mavs analogy.

It WASN'T a scoring playing for either team. It didn't DECIDE the outcome of the game, because Oregon still had to score afterwards.

Dumbest.Analogy.Ever.

Anonymous said...

I had to turn off the Hardline yesterday because Corby was busy auditioning for "Around the Horn" with his screaming jag.

And I really don't understand his anger in particular. Isn't his real team undefeated and ranked higher than Oklahoma?

Anonymous said...

You are right Evie, it was a great call the officials made.

Anonymous said...

Agreed about Corby. I can't believe the crap they let him get by with.

Anonymous said...

"It WASN'T a scoring playing for either team. It didn't DECIDE the outcome of the game, because Oregon still had to score afterwards."

I don't have the lifeforce, Evie.

In other news, the Stars are still Colorado's bitch, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

i think what we've figured out here is that everybody is a hypocrite

Anonymous said...

Exactly. Bob is a biased homer just as much as the guy in the next cubicle over is. Can't we move on to more fun topics, like how much Aggy is going to spare us to death this season?

Anonymous said...

Eric,

True, true.

I've remarked in the past that Oklahoma's defense just hasn't been the same since the shellacking they took in the 2005 Rose Bowl to USC.

A Texas fan who is a regular on SF.com remarked that if Mike Stoops was still the Defensive Coordinator, he would have had those boys spitting fire on after the onside kick.

I think he's right.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Badger sides with Sooner. So is Bob going against his leader?!?

Courtesy of ESPN.com...

"When I first came here [as head coach in 1990], we used to have split crews," Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said. "My first game here was against Cal, and we had a split crew."

Alvarez said that use of split crews ended because "the Pac-10 guys protected their teams." With a nod to the Oregon-Oklahoma debacle, he added, "It's still not uncommon, obviously."

Alvarez's Badgers played home-and-home series with Oregon and Arizona during his 16 seasons as head coach. He felt Wisconsin didn't get a crucial call late in a game at Oregon in 2001, when what Alvarez believed was a fumble by Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington was ruled an incomplete pass. Oregon maintained possession and won, 31-28.

Unknown said...

i missed OU sucks talk from corby and craig, but if the PODCAST was updated i might be able to hear some of it.

Anonymous said...

Brandon, if Mike Stoops was around Oregon wouldn't have scored the TD before the onsides kick either. You guys kept the wrong Stoops.

-JB

Anonymous said...

"Brandon, if Mike Stoops was around Oregon wouldn't have scored the TD before the onsides kick either. You guys kept the wrong co-defensive coordinator. At least, according to the last 15 games."

Fixed.

While Bob Stoops is the head coach and has a background in defense, he is not the defensive coordinator. He's responsible for choosing who the coordinators are and has a hand in teaching the players proper defensive technique, schemes, etc. etc.

Maybe Brent Venables can find something to help this defensive unit gell in due time. And even as great as Mike Stoops was with the defense, it took awhile for him to work his magic.

Anonymous said...

And now for a moment of levity.

I've added my signage suggestion for Lee Corso. Add yours good sweet clean P1's.

Anonymous said...

Corby is crying again. Good GOD, shut up! "The worst play in college football history!" Get a life loser.

Anonymous said...

I agree.

The 95 hour window for complaining just closed. Time to look ahead MTSU.

And then to Texas.

Anonymous said...

And speaking of Texas...

"I feel Corby's pain. I understand why he would go so off the hook over Oklahoma football. He's probably the most energetic and vocal pro-Sooner at the lil ticket. But at least, Corby can feel great about the solid education and opportunities an Oklahoma education has provided him, and that all those warm feelings of his 4 years there can never be taken from him.

Oh. Wait."

As we all know, all Longhorn fans graduated from UT.

Oh. Wait.

Anonymous said...

Top drawer Brandon....top drawer.


OU lost. Stop crying.

Anonymous said...

Bob: What are you doing? Quoting Berry
"Let's steal the Hornets from N.O." Tramel and posting the River City Relay
(that I was there in person for)?
The Saints are 2-0 and coming home where they belong and the Jags are going all the way this year.
Enough about the OK whiners already.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm sorry Anon at 12:50. Six points were indeed awarded to Oregon as soon as they were granted possession of the ball.

Yeah..that's what happened.

Anonymous said...

Just one last thing...my second favorite moment of today was Corby's warped justification of OU's non-existant defense.

Let's see...Texas allowed USC alot of yardage, but they still won the National Title. Therefore, just because OU allowed Oregon 500 yards, doesn't mean they should be responsible for winning the game.

Lets just conveniently forget the fact that if UT doesn't get the biggest stop in the game, they never regain possession...and that's Bob's entire point.

Yes, it was a horrible call and it shouldn't have happened...but OU still had the opportunity to stop the Ducks WHEN IT MATTERED THE MOST.

Additionally, I sincerely hope that I don't wake up in another four hours to hear more "Poor OU" talk...three days is enough.

King Selfish said...

Verily, Verily, I say unto you...

Non Sooner fans are giddy that OU took a major screwing. Understandable. If this had happened to the Aggies my joy would know no bounds. So please, embrace the schadenfreude. Drink it up, wallow in it, hell, use it as a personal lubricant.
But know these things. It is irrelevant how many yards OU's defense allowed. Or that they could have made a stop after the blown calls. Or that they had a chance for a winning field goal.
What matters is that the on field refs determined possession after the onside kick without ever seeing the ball, much less seeing it in the hands of a Duck. And, that the replay official failed to correct the horrible calls that were made on the onside kick.
It's ok to hate the Sooners--the devil does. But don't let your hate cloud your mind and keep you from seeing the truth. Or do, I don't care.

Anonymous said...

"It is irrelevant how many yards OU's defense allowed. Or that they could have made a stop after the blown calls. Or that they had a chance for a winning field goal."

Its irrelevant? What the hell?

Is it irrelevant becuause you say so?

What a great sports point!

Anonymous said...

Your right, the referees and replay officials didnt do anything wrong. They were great.

Another great sports point

Anonymous said...

Missed plays do not excuse bad officiating. Bad officiating does not excuse missed plays.

Such a simple concept that so many idiots here cannot grasp.

Anonymous said...

I'm still laughing at the fact that all sooner fans say that this cost them a chance at the National Championship. They had NO chance of a Championship. The barely beat UAB. They are not a good team. They will lose 2 more games this year. Sooner has real problems on the field. Does it matter if they go 10-2 or 9-3? Nope. No National Championship. No Big XII Championship. No Big XII South Championship. Enjoy the Holiday Bowl.

Anonymous said...

"Your right, the referees and replay officials didnt do anything wrong. They were great.

Another great sports point"

I haven't seen anyone, in this blog commentary, or anywhere else" claim that the officials "didn't do anything wrong". Nobody is claiming it was a good call - just that there were certainly other variables that were under OU's control, that led to the loss BESIDES the bad call.

Reading comprehension is sorely underrated.

OU grad?

Anonymous said...

"I'm still laughing at the fact that all sooner fans say that this cost them a chance at the National Championship."

Stereotype much, jackass?

Anonymous said...

"I'm still laughing at the fact that that jackass sooner fans on this board named Brandon say that this cost them a chance at the National Championship."

fixed.

King Selfish said...

At 8:52 AM, Anonymous said...

"It is irrelevant how many yards OU's defense allowed. Or that they could have made a stop after the blown calls. Or that they had a chance for a winning field goal."

Its irrelevant? What the hell?

Is it irrelevant becuause you say so?

What a great sports point!

---------------------------------------

Dear Anonymous,

Concepts such as these can be difficult to comprehend, therefore I will type slowly so you can keep up.

The items mentioned above are irrelevant because all that was required, had the onside kick rulings been made correctly either on the field or in the replay booth, was for the Sooners to kneel down twice. Game over. OU is not a good team, probably ranked higher than they should be even after this loss, but they're good enough to execute 2 kneel downs.

Had the on field refs not determined possession of the kick until they actually saw a player with the ball--hey, that's an idea!--or had the replay system worked on any level, what OU had done to that point would have been enough for a victory.

Now, go your way, and quit being a hater.

Anonymous said...

The key phrase to your own failed argument is that it WOULD HAVE BEEN enough for a victory. But given that the wrong call was made, it wasn't. Therefore, the game winning td pass to Paysinger and the subsequent block of OU's FGA seems pretty signifcant. Those are actually plays that put points on, and kept points off of the scoreboard.

Do you think Stoops felt the rest of the game was irrelevant? Did the players?

Tell me again how letting a team score 2 touchdowns in 73 seconds is irrelevant.

Let me put it another way.

Was it possible to keep the offensive juggernauts known at the Oregon Ducks from scoring from their own 48 yard line with just over a minute to go?

I realize its not nearly as easy as taking a couple kneel-downs, but you might want your secondary to make a little bit better showing on those last two drives.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 12:44,

"I'm still laughing at the fact that that jackass sooner fans on this board named Brandon say that this cost them a chance at the National Championship."

For the record, I never said such a thing.

Now stay classy, Longhorn.

King Selfish said...

By golly Evie, it appears that none other than the PAC-10 commissioner agrees with me. Or maybe he wrote this letter because he's a swell guy.

My memory is pretty weak so maybe you can tell me when the last time an entire officiating crew was suspended for incompetence--since instant replay officials were instituted.


Just in case you don't want to read the excerpts below let me point out a few key phrases from his apology to OU:


"...suspended...officiating crew and instant replay officials..."

"...errors on the onside kick altered the game..."

"Errors clearly were made and not corrected..."

"...it is regrettable that the outcome of the contest was affected by the officiating."




WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- The Pacific-10 Conference has suspended for one game the officiating crew and the instant replay officials that worked Saturday's Oklahoma at Oregon football game.

"The fact that the errors on the onside kick altered the outcome of the game is most unfortunate and unsettling," Hansen said. "We had a solid veteran crew assigned, and the instant replay official had a fine career as a referee in the Pac-10. We believe in the ability and integrity of each individual involved. It should be noted that not all of the seven officials were directly involved in the play in question, but the entire crew bears responsibility for every play. Game officials and replay officials have positions of great responsibility and must be accountable for their actions.

"Errors clearly were made and not corrected, and for that we apologize to the University of Oklahoma, Coach Bob Stoops and his players.

...it is regrettable that the outcome of the contest was affected by the officiating.

"Because of the ramifications, we are taking action against both the members of the officiating crew and the instant replay official and his assistant. Each individual will be suspended for one game, and their work in future games closely monitored.

Anonymous said...

Heh heh, I feel your pain. But I did not have sex with that woman ...

It reminds me of the Iowa v. Florida game in the Outback Bowl this year. Iowa was staging a comeback and recovered the ball after an onsides kick with maybe 50 seconds remaining and a chance to take the lead. Drew Tate had tossed the winning touchdown pass with something like 12 seconds left the year before, so he could do it.

The asshole ref's called offsides against the Hawkeyes and handed the ball to the hated Gators and the game was over. The replays CLEARLY showed nobody from Iowa was offsides and the announcers were even screaming about the bad call.

Tough titties. BFD. WTFC?

Sooner nation, get a life. Win out first, get snubbed by the BCS for the national title game and THEN and only THEN will you have squat to whine about.

But I must say I did love that blocked field goal as time expired. That was priceless.

GO DUCKS!

King Selfish said...

Birdman said...

Sooner nation, get a life. Win out first, get snubbed by the BCS for the national title game and THEN and only THEN will you have squat to whine about.

----
Sounds like somebody's favorite team has never won a championship. So sad. I feel your pain. Mine has only won four...unless you count the 3 they won before I was born.

Anonymous said...

Can you point out the part where he said the rest of the game was irrelevant?

Because, by golly, he agrees with you, right?

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Since the rest of the game was clearly irrelevant after the onsides, I don't understand why Stoops bothered putting anyone at the line of scrimmage.

Maybe he should've just told his defense to lie on their backs and grabs their ankles.

Oh wait....