We just got a phone message suggesting a temporary dome be constructed over Southern Hills in an attempt to limit heat casualities.

Pretty good idea.

I can't argue with your list. I would like to add, while risking the opening of an old wound, that OU football being #2 is precisely why the local media gives the Sooners more attention than all others. Again, whether one agrees or disagrees with it, tis the facts.

While traveling to OKC today on business, I tuned into the Sports Animal on the way there and back. Here are my new perspectives:

1. Mike Steele (or is it Steeley?) and Curtis Fitzpatrick are ok, but the other two are bad. The morning show as a whole was not good today. They don't spend enough time on sports, and aren't funny enough to emulate Phil and Brent. I should have listened to KMOD. Incidentally, I think Mike and Curtis do a great job on Saturdays during the football season. I think the Animal's pre and post game shows for both OU and OSU are the best in the area.

2. Al Jerkins and Pat Jones make a good team. I have always respected Big Al...even though he's a Yankee fan. I think this must be due to his family being in the horse business in the northeast. Nothing more honest than good horsemen I say...

3. Only caught the first hour of Traber's show, but he started a discussion of what each local team's record would be this coming football season. Gave OU 11-1, OSU 7-5, and TU 8-4, until he remembered that Paul Smith was still a Hurricane, thus changing their mark to 9-3. My thoughts: OU certainly has the talent to go 11-1, but I'll say a 2 or 3 loss season is more likely. The OL is stellar, but the leaky pass D can't be helped by losing so many players in the front 7. I'd say OSU's mark is about right. They should be a tad improved, but Traber said their schedule is a beast. As for TU, I think that they will scare the you-know-what out of the Sooners in September. Paul Smith is very savvy, and the Sooners will look past them like they did a few seasons back. TU has played them tough recently...

Herb: There's a big difference in being of world-wide importance and in playing a one-country sport versus, face it, softies.

Jeremy: Concerning radio, let me just say this. There's a reason local people are local.

On the morning Animal show, they give the impression of not liking their listeners very much. Heard 'em once, you've heard 'em forever.

I like coach Pat, too. Only one on the radio to give OU some nice little digs. Goes a little too Hog wild for our taste sometimes. The way Arkansas ignores this state, I'd be prone to return the favor.

King and Plank on the other sports network have rallied and now regularly push good guests.

Gene: You have heard of major golf tournaments?

The Open starts bright and early on the tube tomorrow morning, unlike the way the snobs at the Masters concent to show us glimpses here and there.

OU probably has a shot at 11-1 because of its beautiful home schedule.

There are about 8 games on TU's schedule that are 50-50.

Until OSU figures out how to tackle, I don't know how you can project that team much past 50-50.

TAB: You're right, the car they apparently buried in what used to be a septic tank deserves mention.

Why didn't they park it at Fine Parking at the airport or somewhere like that?

That a community could get so excited says something for the community doesn't it.

Point taken, Mr. P. But there's a relatively large contingent of non-smokers out there who believe that placing golf in the 'sports' category rather than the 'hobby' field is also stretching it a bit. I mean, c'mon, even though some pot-bellied endomorph can swat a ball a couple of acres with any degree of accuracy doesn't make up for the fact that he also rides a go cart between shots and has a would-be jockey toting his golf clubs about.

Herb: There are two kinds of sports, major and minor. If you can bet on it, it's a major sport. No bet, minor sport.

Picker...interesting view. However, you can bet on just about everything from gubernatorial elections to the number of days Paris will stay in jail at just about any wagering window in Clark County, Nevada, but it still doesn't make 'em minor sports. Actually, I'm just yanking your chain, P. So, are you a poker player? All those years I spent in T-Town playing with the same set of bozos every month or so and I could have been dipping into your life savings?

Here's the deal...Numbers 2-5 are debatable on several levels, but the picker is 100% correct on Southern Hills and the "world championships" that it has brought to this city. If you disagree with the picker on that fact (not opinion, but fact) then you are not only wrong, but you are naive and not worthy of being called a sports fan. Listen Herb, Oklahomans on the edge of their seats during an undeniably impressive 47 game winning streak is child's play compared to the entire world focusing their eyes on 61st and Lewis for four consecutive days in June or August. It's just an innane discussion and the idea that somebody could have the opinion that a localized college sports team's winning streak is bigger than major championships being decided by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tiger Woods, etc. is the reason why the other 49 states poke fun at many Oklahoma sports fans.

Well, I think we must all agree that ON A WORLDWIDE, OR EVEN NATIONAL SCALE, the golf events at SHCC are definately #1. ON A LOCAL SCALE, the 47 in a row could be #1 to some people who don't care about golf. It's all about perception.

As for the US Open, I have no problem watching the pros have trouble with a course. I like it when the winner is -3 and the fifth place finisher is +1. I don't even mind the winner finishing above par. What I do mind is watching those guys play in conditions I can't relate too...or in conditions that could do harm to the players. I'm sorry, but hitting the ball out of 6 inch rough is just stupid. 300 yard par 3's are stupid.

Again, I love watching the pros scratch and claw their way to a 70...but this can be done without 6 inch rough and 300 yard par 3's. It isn't realistic. If the course is tight and the rough is somewhat thick and the greens are firm, then it will be plenty tough.

I will never forget watching the USGA having to water the green in a recent US Open in the middle of a round. The USGA wants their Open to be different, but let's not get carried away. If 4 or 5 of these guys hurt their wrists trying to hit it out of that rough (which could be baled for hay), then the USGA has gone too far.

They interviewed an Oakmont rep on the golf channel the other night. He said that they wanted to restore Oakmont back to its original links style...we're talking 50 years ago. Can you imagine playing Souther Hills CC this August if there were no trees?? The caddies would be carrying the umbrellas open for shade. Course, the added breeze would be nice...

Just finished looking at the football schedules for OU, OSU, and TU. I didn't realize that the OU-TU game was a Friday nighter. Incredible. I figured Stoopsie wouldn't have wanted to disrupt the players' routines. It will be kinda odd sitting in Skelly on a Friday night watching a football game that doesn't include Jenks HS or Booker T vs McClain. Noticed that Hurricane ticket office is selling minipaks with OU, UAB and Houston for around $110 (give or take). Can I get $5 for the UAB and/or Houston tix (smirk)???

Herb--I think the discussion has to do with a single event. No single OU home football game, other than the ND loss, means, or has meant, close to as much as any major at Southern Hills. Just because golf pros are over-paid, arrogant sissies doesn't make their game less worldly. Anybody who does anything 1,000 times a day as a kid is going to get pretty good; golf probably moreso than anything. You and I, Herb, with a rich daddy, could have been Masters contenders. So on the single event angle, golf majors at Southern Hills win the contest, however many to one.

Herb: Here is where you are missing the point...the other 49 states don't care about the streak...they just don't. Do you really think that people and Los Angeles were crushed when Southern Cal's recent 30+ game winning streak ended?? Sure, those that are deeply connected to USC were probably devastated, but the majority of the LA population either didn't know they lost or watched the game and forgot about it on their way to the Viper Room that night. Herb, I am an Oklahoman and proud of it, so please don't lump me in with the "couple million poor stumblin' Okies" that you made reference to. I have full confidence that there aren't a couple million people in this state who would offer such sophmorish commentary on this subject as you have. As a matter of fact, this state, and more specifically Tulsa, has a very cultured group of sports fans that know what a world event such as the U.S. Open or a PGA Championship means to this city and our state. The fact that you bring up old men playing in the NASL, which is akin to the seniors tour making a stop in Tulsa, shows just how weak your grasp on this subject really is. Do you understand that Tiger Woods is the most popular and recognizable athlete in the world? Contrary to your belief, Phil Mickelson is a more recognizable sports figure than Bob Stoops...do you really think that more sports fans in America, let alone the world, have more familiarity with Adrian Peterson than, lets say, Sergio Garcia? If you do then you need to travel outside of the state once in a while.

Gee, RR, if you're a 'proud Oklahoman' as you claim, then I didn't lump you into the 'stumblin' Okies' category - you did that all by yourself (see the last paragraph of your first blog entry...you did it by implication). And by stating that 'the majority of the LA population either didn't know they lost or watched the game and forgot about it on their way to the Viper Room that night', you simply made a point about the state of mind of the average LA "sports fan", which is, in effect, a sine qua non (look it up) to the discussion at hand. If you are indeed a true fan of not just Oklahoma football but of college football, you'd realize that the 47 game streak is one of the most hallowed in not only college football, but in any sport. And just because you live in Neuvo Tijuana (Tulsa), let me tell you my friend, you are no more cosmopolitan than a sports fan in, say, Anadarko. I, myself, grew up in T-Town and know whereof I speak. And as for golf? How pathetic it is to watch a grown man slavering over a bunch of "athletes" whose only claim to fame is the ability to stroll across a grassy field chasing a ball with a stick. Tiger Woods? Sure he's popular and sure he's recognizable; but so's Tony the Tiger. And as far as me "traveling outside the state once in awhile", forgetting for a moment that your idea of "traveling outside the state" is probably a day-trip to Fayetteville, I happen to live in G(N)ome, my friend. And if you think Tulsa is a big city, you should try visiting our fair city. Oh, and by the way, go back to sleep, Ben, or, better yet, try piecing together a couple of correctly spelled words on your own rather than sucking up to the quasi-literate on here.