What does "Pulp Fiction" have to do with OSU's bowl trip? I'll explain.
Published: 12/24/2012 11:43 AM
Last Modified: 12/24/2012 11:43 AM
Quentin Tarantino’s new movie -- “Django Unchained” -- is opening at theaters on Christmas Day. What does that have to do with Oklahoma State and a trip to face Purdue in the Heart of Dallas Bowl? Everything.
Before delving into the OSU stuff, Tarantino movies are full of the same chunky goodness as sporting events. Viewers are on the edge of their seats because they really have no idea what is going to happen next. I could cite multiple scenes from “Pulp Fiction” or “Inglourious Basterds.”
Back to OSU: There’s a scene in “Pulp Fiction” where Bruce Willis is a boxer who is being paid to throw a fight. The fixer tells him to ignore the little voice in his head that tells him to win the fight. That little voice is pride. Don’t listen to pride. Willis listened to pride and it caused him all sorts of aggravation. Zed? Still dead.
Could pride be OSU’s downfall in the Heart of Dallas Bowl? OSU has been to better bowls. The Cowboys were in the Fiesta Bowl last season. Can players be motivated to bring their A-games when nothing really will be at stake on Jan. 1 except a ballgame?
OSU players need to get over the punch to the pride gland that they took when they slid far down the pecking order of Big 12-affiliated bowls. The Cowboys tied for third in the Big 12 and, on bowl selection day, got passed over like the guy wearing an NBA replica jersey and knee high tube socks for YMCA pick-up games.
A last-minute bowl shuffle isn’t happening. It’s time for the Cowboys (who, to their credit, are saying the right things) to forget completely about pride and concentrate on the fact that they are in a bowl a short drive from Stillwater and they get to play in a historic stadium and they have a chance to be 8-5, which sounds infinitely better than being 7-6.
A little voice in the heads of Cowboy players may be telling them that they deserve to be in San Diego or Arizona or San Antonio and they deserve to be playing a better opponent than the 6-6 Boilermakers.
Don’t listen to the little voice. It’s just pride.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
