Fiesta sting just won't subside
Published: 6/21/2007 12:36 PM
Last Modified: 6/21/2007 12:36 PM
Nearly six months after his Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State, Bob Stoops is still being asked how much it hurt. And as much as Sooner coaches, players and fans want it to all go away, there seems no end to the Broncos' Cinderella story.
Consider these passages from a recent ESPN column by Pat Forde, one of the most respected writers in college sports...
"Out in the Arizona desert on New Year's Night 2007, the working press box at University of Phoenix Stadium became a screaming, howling on-your-feet-in-utter-amazement press box. The event that destroyed decorum and pulverized professionalism? Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42... definitely the best football game I've ever covered."
And the second-best game of any kind Forde ever covered, ranking behind Duke's epic NCAA regional win over Kentucky in 1992, aka The Christian Laettner Game.
Forde claims when Ian Johnson took the ball from behind Jared Zabransky's back and ran in the game-winning 2-point conversion, he bolted from his chair and screamed, "They ran the Statue of Liberty! Are you (bleeping) kidding me?"
To which the Sooner nation replies, "They ran the Statue of Liberty SIX MONTHS AGO! Are you (bleeping) kidding us?"
The reality is, until something from the 2007 season comes along to top what the Broncos did to OU -- and you know it will -- the Sooners are stuck in their own nightmarish version of Groundhog Day, with everyone but them glad to relive the events of New Year's Night.
(For the record, I didn't make a peep when Johnson won the game. In fact, I wasn't even in the press box. I was down on the sideline, and when Johnson scored I could barely move, let alone speak. I just kept hearing Jack Buck's voice in my head ... "I don't believe what I just saw!")
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
