By JIMMIE TRAMEL Sports Writer on Feb 8, 2013, at 12:21 PM Updated on 2/08 at 12:30 PM
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
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Half a dozen reactions to recent sports news:
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Three thoughts on the Oklahoma State quarterback situation following Wes Lunt’s decision to transfer:
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Reacting to recent sports news:
1, Kansas followed a homecourt loss to Oklahoma State with a road loss at TCU.
Reaction: Though no one likes losing, my guess was Bill Self didn’t mind the loss to OSU because sometimes you can use a defeat to get players’ attention. That happened when Self was at Tulsa. His 1999-2000 Golden Hurricane team was ambushed by Oral Roberts. The Hurricane lost only four more times all season (three times to Fresno State, alias kryptonite) on the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The fact that Kansas players’ responded to the OSU defeat by losing at TCU leads me to draw one conclusion: Self wasn’t just playing a motivational card when, after the OSU game, he said his team was soft. Instead of finding some backbone after losing in Phog, the Jayhawks went the other direction.
2, OSU’s new offensive coordinator is 37.
Reaction: Who’s the first joker who’s going to say Mike Yurcich is three years away from manhood. #rant
3, Mississippi “won” recruiting.
Reaction: I can’t wrap my head around that.
4, Texas A&M and Missouri played an SEC basketball game Thursday night.
Reaction: I can't wrap my head around that, part II.
5, The OSU offensive coordinator hire was announced via Mike Gundy’s Twitter account.
Reaction: Because we live in a Manti Te’o world, I wanted to wait for double confirmation before writing a breaking news story about it. Did I think the report was false? No. But Twitter accounts have been hacked before and I didn’t want to be on the wrong end of a “gotcha!” by relaying the news before it was verified. Maybe the best “gotcha!” of the week came on signing day. Otherwise dormant fax machines are dusted off in football offices on signing day so they can be used to receive letters of intent from signees. Texas Tech fans faxed the menu of a Lubbock restaurant to former Tech coach Tommy Tuberville, who was allegedly at the restaurant when he left a dinner to take the Cincinnati job. I don’t know how Tuberville felt about that, but the prank -- if you can call it that -- ranked high on the clever meter.
6, A judge dismissed the last remaining count in Mike Leach’s wrongful termination lawsuit against Texas Tech.
Reaction: If the judge wore an eyepatch and had a parrot on his shoulder, expect a different outcome.
7, More Twitter.
Reaction: Once upon a time, if we referenced Twitter in newspaper stories, we had to waste precious space by writing a sentence explaining that Twitter is a social media outlet that blah, blah, blah. Now Twitter has become such an accepted part of the culture that we don’t have to waste throw in that clunky sentence anymore. Somebody want to tell me what an Instagram is?
8, Class 6A football appears to be splitting so schools other than Jenks and Union can get rings.
Reaction: This “Caddyshack” quote from Judge Smails applies: “The world needs ditch-diggers, too.”
9, Super Bowl blackout.
Reaction: To be replaced next year by a Super Bowl whiteout? In 2014, the big game will be played in East Rutherford, N.J. Isn’t the abominable snowman of blizzards descending upon that neck of the woods right about now?
10, No tales-from-the-recruiting-road until next year.
Reaction: Former Oklahoma State coach Pat Jones told a story this week about being an Arkansas assistant and accompanying Frank Broyles on a recruiting trip. Jones said he and Broyles had just eaten before making an in-home visit. The mother of the recruit offered pie. Broyles said he would like some pie -- never mind that he, according to Jones, had tried to eat “everything in the restaurant” before going on the visit. Jones politely declined the pie offer. As soon as the mom left the room, Broyles pinched Jones and told him that any time he was in a recruit’s home and anything is offered, you “take it and like it.” When the mom returned, Jones said he had changed his mind and would like a slice of pie. You can bet that he liked it, no matter how it tasted.
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