What is OU doing tipping off in the middle of the night?
Published: 11/25/2009 3:43 AM
Last Modified: 11/25/2009 3:43 AM
That was the question that came up when a bunch of us media geniuses were killing time waiting for Oklahoma football practice to end Tuesday night. The Sooners start their first game at the Great Alaska Shootout at 12:45 a.m. It's listed as a Wednesday nighter, when really it's the earliest morning game OU will have ever played.
What's more, the Shootout has been whacked down to six teams for the first time. The Sooners are in a three-team pool with San Diego and Houston, with the round-robin winner advancing to Saturday's championship.
The question isn't so much why the all-nighter? It's why bother to play in this thing in the first place?
Luckily, we have Luke Winn of SI.com to help us out. He reports that the Sooners "signed a contract to play there while walking off the court in Anchorage in 2004."
Wow. Recapping the Sooners' 2004 Shootout experience: They lost to Washington in the semifinals... Guard Lawrence McKenzie was caught trying to use a fake ID to get into a bar... Drew Lavender and Brandon Foust broke curfew... And OU signed on to come back five years later for an insomniacs-only opener.
At least there is a happy ending here: The Sooners, according to Winn, plan to spend Thanksgiving week in Maui next year.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
