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Cardinals, Future Raven and Cookies
Published: 2/3/2009 8:01 PM
Last Modified: 2/3/2009 8:01 PM

Three random sports thoughts on the eve of national signing day:
1, For years, losing a Super Bowl carried some sort of stinky stigma. Though horribly unfair, the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills were branded as quasi-losers after dropping multiple Super Bowls.
But has any Super Bowl loser gained more respect in defeat than the Arizona Cardinals?
Up until now, the Cardinals were to football what Barry Manilow was to gangsta rap. But the Cardinals gave the most tradition-rich team of the Super Bowl era all it wanted Sunday night and -- admit it -- you think more highly of the Cardinals now than you ever did in the history of mankind.
2, Forget the golden boy image. Michael Phelps should get no pardon in the court of public opinion. He should be branded a goofball just like any other athlete who lets fandom down by smoking dope.
Why would Phelps, who stands to lose sponsorship dollars, do something so silly? He has Baltimore roots. Maybe he was auditioning for a job with the Ravens. Or, maybe his next commercial will have background music -- "Smoke on the Water," perhaps.
3, Heard about the tiff between ESPN's Doug Gottlieb and Nebraska coach Doc Sadler?
Gottlieb called one of Sadler's games and saw behavior he didn't like from Husker point guard Cookie Miller. (Off the subject question: Does Nebraska, former home of Cookie Belcher, automatically recruit any prospect named Cookie?)
Anyhow, Gottlieb said Miller was acting like a punk. Sadler heard about it and got riled up. Gottlieb explained that he didn't call Miller a punk. He merely said Miller was acting like a punk. There's a difference.
When Gottlieb was asked by a Nebraska beat writer about the run-in possibly costing him any future gigs involving Husker hoops, he stuck to his guns and -- I'm paraphrasing here -- said he's going to say what he thinks and ramifications be danged.
Who's right and who's wrong? Gottlieb and Sadler were both right.
It's fair game for Sadler to stick up for his player. And Gottlieb got where he is by speaking his mind instead of being muzzled. He has a right to say what he wants, even if someone doesn't like it.


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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