Tulsa World: Football season not a good time to double date

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Football season not a good time to double date

By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
Published: 7/12/2008 2:04 AM
Last Modified: 7/12/2008 2:22 AM

What a difference a day makes, especially when that day is Dec. 7, 2008.

That date could someday be remembered as one of the most important in the city of Tulsa's bid to become a major player on the national stage when it comes to hosting sporting events at the BOK Center.

The thought that it almost didn't happen is mind-boggling. It makes one wonder what in the heck officials at the University of Tulsa and the University of Oklahoma were thinking when they planned for their men's basketball teams to meet on Dec. 6 inside our city's new arena.

They obviously weren't thinking very far ahead.

Even a dim-witted sports columnist's light bulb immediately illuminated when word leaked out in May that TU had graciously agreed to move the OU contest from the Reynolds Center to the BOK Center. It would be an historic event; the first college hoops game in the new facility.

It was a great idea, but on a bad day.

Why? Well, what if you held a really compelling basketball game and nobody came?

College basketball generates a lot of spectator interest in this state. But Oklahoma will forever and always be ruled by King Football.

Dec. 6 had been slotted for more than a year as the day both the Big 12 Conference and Conference USA will hold their league's 2008 football championship games. And there's an excellent chance that both OU and TU will be in those title contests.

Not even today's absurd gas prices will stop thousands of OU fans from making the drive to Kansas City, Mo. After all, if the Sooners win the South Division, they will be playing for a record third straight Big 12 title against the North Division champion at Arrowhead Stadium.

Most TU fans won't even have to burn a tank a gas if coach Todd Graham's football team is as good as most people think it is. In C-USA, the title game is held at the site of the team with the best regular-season conference record.

That means a refurbished Chapman Stadium could also make history if the Golden Hurricane has a good enough record to host its first C-USA football championship game on Dec. 6.

Depending on the starting time, many TU spectators could have attended both the football and basketball games. But what if TU's playing for the title on the road, and the telecast conflicts with the hoops contest?

Even if the BOK Center was already being used on Dec. 7, the game should have stayed at the Reynolds Center and not scheduled on Dec. 6.

The embarrassment of the TU-OU basketball game being played in front of thousands of empty seats was averted when the two schools recently realized the error of their ways and agreed to move the game to a 3 p.m. tipoff on Dec. 7.

The new date and time should all but guarantee a sellout in the 18,000 seat arena. It will afford those OU fans in Kansas City plenty of time to make it back home and enjoy a football-basketball doubleheader weekend.

Watching OU power forward Blake Griffin and TU center Jerome Jordon square off is worth the price of admission. Griffin could be the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, and Jordan is already drawing praise from NBA scouts as he prepares for his junior season.

A sellout will give the Tulsa Sports Commission another bargaining chip as it attempts to attract several sporting events to the BOK Center. It would be proof positive that strong fan interest exists in Green Country.

The Sports Commission is going after men's and women's basketball regionals in the NCAA Tournament. It has already landed the C-USA Tournament in 2010, and continues to chase the Big 12 Tournament, which will be held in Oklahoma City next March.

The city of Omaha, Neb., is currently demonstrating that Tulsa shouldn't limit itself to basketball tournaments. The Qwest Center in Omaha is holding the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, where standing-room only crowds have witnessed several world records being set.

No, the BOK Center won't include a swimming pool. Neither does the Qwest Center. All you need is the space; USA Swimming brings it own pool and sets it up.

Olympic Trials, the women's NCAA Final Four, the NCAA Wrestling Championship and ice hockey's Frozen Four for both women and men are just a few of the national sporting events Tulsa can host once the BOK Center opens this fall.

We just have to make sure we keep our dates straight. By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

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Misplaced Okie, Claremore (7/13/2008 6:09:40 AM)

I say something but Jay Cronley said we couldnt, besides, I like Dave Sittler's columns...Good story Dave...oh crap, did I meet one of Cronley's rules.

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