George, Tulsa (3/13/2008 8:01:11 AM)

This qualifies as news? Wow...

kram, (3/13/2008 9:27:24 AM)

--Actually, that article is lot more interesting than reading a bunch in stats, coach speak, & player remarks.
Being part of the overall university sports program, the mascot in a lot of ways is the designated “symbol” & representative of the sports dept. What they do to help promote or to embarrass the program affects the overall appearance of the athletic dept. This scuffle reminds us of the Sooner Schooner miss hap @ the Orange Bowl a few yrs back. By the way, Don’t cats eat birds?

Scott, (3/13/2008 9:34:31 AM)

I actually didnt realize it was a real fight. I thought it was something they had worked out before the game. Wow.

Bkt, Tulsa (3/13/2008 9:52:16 AM)

I'm with you #3, I thought they were playing around. Some fight!

jb, tulsa (3/13/2008 10:06:37 AM)

UFC presents the biggest showdown between two of ultimate fightings most hated opponents since Royce Gracie and Chuck Liddell ORU's Eli "the Eagle Claw" Eagle and IUPUI's Jawz "Enter the Jaguar" Jaguar at the UMAC April 24th.At their last fight Jawz Jaguar did a behind the back takedown and won the match early in the first round.After the fight Jawz told Spike TV his feelings on the outcome"I punked his eagle butt,he did'nt even see me coming when I slammed him to the floor and nailed him with some rights to his beak".On the flip side a dejected Eli "the Eagle Claw" Eagle said to Spike TV "I did'nt even hear the ref say are you ready to rumble ,then let's get it on,I got my bird butt kicked,I want a re-match!"Well you heard it first fight fans Eli wants to get some.... back to to you Dave.

John, Tulsa (3/13/2008 10:52:10 AM)

The real news is how poorly the whole Summit tournament was run. Even in the final game, close to half the seats were empty because the conference chose to raise the ticket prices and cut the number of tickets available to the schools. It's not the big 12, and no one expects to pay $20 or $30 for a seat, and the students who are used to seeing their team for little or nothing are not invested enough to spend their money on admission. Even the school's staff had to pay full price for a seat to sit in the student section and not get to sit in the seat they paid for, but amid screaming students that never sat down. And what was the deal with the parking? All the best spaces were sectioned off for VIPs so parking was either at the far end of the parking lot, north of the school, in Sam's lot where the moron police officers yelled at you (from their cars of course) if you dared to park in one the 500 empty Sam's spaces, or across the street at Hobby Lobby. And leaving the parking lot was a nightmare. The only traffic control were off duty Tulsa police who never got out of their cars or did anything to help except block the street and help back up the traffic.

The UMAC even had an older lady whose whole job appeared to be to try to keep the students from having too much fun in the student section. If Mike Carter is such a "gift" to ORU, why doesn't he do something other than smile and claim the credit for what Scott Sutton has done. He couldn't or wouldn't do anything to get the local support out for ORU. He will be one of the 5 fans in Fargo next season for the conference tournament. I bet he takes the university jet. I don't think the tournament was a good experience this year except for winning the tournament. Even buying a ticket from the ticket booth was an ordeal. It was a 5 minute process to buy one ticket. No wonder the ticket lines were so long. I also sure that will go better in Fargo too.

Lawrence, Tulsa (3/13/2008 3:36:52 PM)

I agree 100% "John" #6.....I think the Tournament folks seemed to think a little too much of their tourney did so well the first time around.

tbone77, (3/13/2008 4:31:35 PM)

Wow John! Amazing how somebody can only see negatives in something that has been VERY good for the city, VERY good for the conference, and VERY good for ORU fans in Tulsa. Did you know that official attendance Tuesday night was 4200? Of course there were not 4200 people there as a lot of companies buy tickets and then don't get people to go. So the seat is empty, but it produced revenue. I paid $52 for two tickets on Tuesday and was glad to get them in the lower section as there weren't many left. Did you know that you could attend sessions for free if you volunteered as dozens and dozens of us did?? Did you happen to hear any of the university presidents or coaches or players comment on what a good job Tulsa Sports Commission did in putting on this tournament. I did. Many times. Most of the comments were just like we have heard each year... Tulsa has done a better job than any other conference city in its history. And it has produced a profit each of the first three years. I sure hope we did again this year. You obviously don't have a clue what Mike Carter does for ORU, how much money he raises for ORU's sports programs, or the fact that he turned down one of the best jobs in the country to stay at ORU.

Sam's doesn't owe you a parking space, and you can have a VIP at the UMAC if you want to pay for it. A lot of people did. It is called community spirit. Would I pay $250 to park closer. No way. I paid it because I believe it is important to Tulsa and to ORU to have a successful tournament. Have you attended a football game ANYWHERE??? Try OU, OSU, TU, or even Jenks. You will walk a ways to get into the staduim.

Lighten up dude. It was a great tournament. Come on out and volunteer sometime. Give something of yourself and you will be amazed how much better you will feel about things.

Matt, Michigan (3/13/2008 4:46:17 PM)

I was at the tournament the first two years it was there, including for Oakland's "The Shot". I love the enthusiasm of ORU fans, especially when I was there with Oakland. But it was terribly run both years I was there. I know how much has to go into an event, but for everything that was done right, they seemed to skip the easy stuff.

Anyway...

This is not the first time the Eagle got into a fight during what should have been a "dance-off". Him and the OU grizz got into the first year in Tulsa, and it ended with the Eagle in a headlock. Didn't draw the national attention though. Thanks ESPN PTI for pointing it out!!!

Good luck ORU.

Jason O'Brien, Sapulpa (3/13/2008 5:24:17 PM)

Somebody forgot to tell the ORU mascot that ORU is all about peace and love...

..., (3/13/2008 6:23:06 PM)

The IUPUI mascot punched the UMKC mascot in the head a few times the night before. A thirteen year old girl was inside the UMKC mascot!

Trevis, Tulsa (3/13/2008 9:48:23 PM)

It was totally self defense. Bedsides ORU is now about good financial management. We gotta keep that costume in tact people!

John, Tulsa (3/13/2008 11:31:07 PM)

Well tbone77, I guess I owe everyone an apology. I thought the tournament was about the Summit League crowning a tournament champion. Turns out you say it is all about money. I had no idea. And I had no clue all that Mike Carter does. I just saw him as one of the people on the Vice-President's council at ORU that allowed Richard to do all that he did, and was a willing participant in promoting the "climate of fear". tbone77 went after me like I had slapped his sister silly and called her ugly. I have been to OSU Bowl games in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Shreveport, and this year in Tempe where there were 100,000 people at the Tempe New Years Eve block party after the game. I've walked miles to get to stadiums, and paid big dollars for tickets, flights, hotels, and meals. I've seen OSU play in the big dance.

I enjoyed the ORU games, and I am glad the city gets to host the tournament. My point was that $26.00 was kinda steep for a half empty building, and that the whole event could have been run better. I apparently was not alone in that opinion. Here's some suggestion since I remember the UMAC being standing room only last year. If there are seats that are paid for, give them to someone, like maybe some of the faculty and staff for ORU, or the kids at the boys home or girls home instead of just leaving them empty. Improve the ticket sales situation so that it is an easy trip to the box office for a ticket. There had to be a better and faster way. I don't care about the parking distance, I do care that the VIP section was mostly empty and could have been used more efficiently. And if you are going to hire cops to do traffic control, get them off their butts and do traffic control. And your comment that Sam's doesn't owe me a parking spot was just stupid. Sam's could have roped off their parking lot instead of hiring a cop to sit in his Tulsa Police car to yell at people over his loudspeaker. You have apparently treated people so badly for so long that you don't realize that not everyone has your level of insider knowledge and knows all the right places to park, and the right people to "contribute to". Lastly, you have no idea how much time and effort I contribute to anything you arrogrant snob. It was a great tournament, but apparently unlike you, it could have used some improvements. That's not negative, thats constructive analysis.

orangedeluxe, Sand Springs (3/13/2008 11:38:45 PM)

That cheerleader didn't put up much of a fight against Eli. Wuss.

robert goolay, (3/13/2008 11:43:41 PM)

good to see ELI on top...

Red River WAR, Houston (3/14/2008 8:29:36 AM)

Who cares??

Richard R., (3/14/2008 8:42:33 AM)

That Lindsay is a fighter isn't she!!!!

Tony, Tulsa (3/14/2008 9:16:33 AM)

I'm out last night having a beer with some friends and what pops upon the television screen but ESPN running the tape. Wow. 24/7 wall to wall really reduces nort spews, uh, sports news, to its lowest common denominator....like everything else.

big jim, tulsa (3/14/2008 10:23:22 AM)

4200 was the official (reported) attendance? That is horrible for a conference championship game. What a joke.

BasketballFan, Tulsa (3/14/2008 4:07:32 PM)

John, What tournament were you attending? Or do you just enjoy griping?

What I saw… Tulsa police directing traffic (and not sitting of their cars) at the main entrance of the parking lot. Many people parking across the street at Hobby Lobby and the police stopping traffic for a pedestrian crossing. (Did not see any police yelling at anyone parking there.)

I parked in the Sams lot (away from the fence) and at no time did any police officer yell at me from his car. A portion of the Sams lot WAS roped off with police do not cross tape in addition to the police cars sitting in the drive. (Ever occur to you that they don’t rope the drive off in case of an emergency?)

How would you propose having VIP parking without keeping it reserved for VIP parking? If you have another alternative that could be a contribution to a future better tournament.

You had to wait 5 minutes for a ticket? Wow! I’m sorry that was such a hardship. I guess that is why there weren’t more people at the game. Huh? (Ever tried to buy a one game ticket at a Tulsa Talons game? Now, there is a wait!)

If the UMAC wasn’t packed full this year it is more likely that after four years in Tulsa the Summit Tournament just isn’t going to draw the causal fan in the same numbers as previously.

Your comments really do come across as just one of those that like to gripe about everything. Could things have been done better or differently? Yep, sure. Never been to any event that can’t be improved in some way.

But let’s keep things in perspective. In your second post you say you liked the tournament and you are glad that Tulsa had it. Kinda missed that in the first post.

Hans, Plainview, NE (3/15/2008 11:51:01 AM)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece and the comments that followed. It's the funniest item I've seen in months! Don't take life so serious.

C.R. Delough, Tulsa (1/27/2009 7:44:55 PM)

Not sure why, but the clip was just shown on "Disorder in the Court 7" Guess they use a broad interpretation of "court" for the show. :-)

missy...m, my town (1/28/2009 3:29:01 AM)

Well at least it didnt knock his socks off.