On the other hand.....
2/9/2010 3:29:00 PM
This newspaper published a story today about how the Big 12 owns the best RPI (it's a power ranking used to select and seed NCAA Tournament teams) in college basketball.
Some coaches believe that going 8-8 -- or even 7-9 -- in Big 12 games could be enough to merit consideration for the NCAA Tournament.
Now for the bad news:
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, chairman of the Division I men's basketball committee, participated in a teleconference Tuesday. Asked a question about whether the RPI has been de-emphasized in recent years, Guerrero answered "no." But he also said conference RPI is something that the committee has decided to remove from the equation.
"It's no longer on the team sheet," he said. "We don't look at conference affiliation. That is not a factor for us."
The committee does not look at any given conference and say that conference deserves x-number of teams in the tournament.
So, the Big 12 may not reap any windfall from owning the best hoops power ranking in the land -- unless playing in the league just happens to boost the RPI of each team that is trying to piece together a resume.
"As we look at each and every team, we look at them on their own individual merits," Guerrero said.
"Obviously the quality of competition certainly comes into the fray. If, in fact, a particular team plays in a conference where there are a lot of good teams, then certainly that has a factor, but it's not necessarily reflective of an entire season because we're still looking at the body of work. There are a number of teams that play outstanding schedules in non-conference, as well."
P.S.: Regardless of what the company line is, people on the committee will go into the meeting knowing the difference between the power rankings of the Big 12 and the Mid-South Peninsula League. And, barring a mind-wipe, they will select and seed teams accordingly.
'Parish' the thought: An all-happy Super Bowl
2/8/2010 5:07:24 PM
Is it just me or did the Super Bowl seem less than super?
The game was cleanly played and the outcome wasn’t decided until the final minutes, but it still seemed like a really good Week 12 regular season game instead of a scrum for all the marbles.
At least that’s what I was thinking. Then I heard Big Al Jerkens say something that put everything in perspective. He said there was no one to dislike -- no villain -- in this year’s Super Bowl. And everything suddenly made sense.
People tend to have strong feelings when franchises like the Cowboys, Patriots or Steelers play in Super Bowls. On this side are legions of rooters. On that side are fans who cheer against what they assume to be evil empires.
But this Super Bowl was a feel-good match-up -- Drew Brees and the post-Katrina Saints vs. Peyton Manning, a quarterback who is such a stand-up guy that he became a victim of too-good-to-be-true backlash when Heisman votes were counted.
Pop culture warning: I recall an episode of “The Simpsons” where Lisa was reading a Tiger Beat-type publication called “Non-Threatening Boys Magazine.” Brees and Manning both could have been cover subjects. They’re the kind of lads moms and dads would love for their daughters to date. What kind of deviant would cheer against either of them?
So we were left with a Super Bowl that was going to make most people happy, regardless of the outcome, and therefore, nothing emotional was at stake unless you were a participant or you lived in Indy or the state with parishes.
P.S.: Among people happy for Brees is Oklahoma basketball coach Jeff Capel, who met Brees at the 2009 Iba Awards in Tulsa. “Amazing” was the word Capel used to describe Brees.
“I got a chance to visit with him behind the scenes a little bit and you could feel his energy,” Capel said Monday. “You could feel his confidence. You could feel that he was a leader and that he was very passionate about anything he was involved in. We heard him speak up there at the Iba Awards and you could feel the connection that he had with the city of New Orleans, just how appreciative he was of the organization really taking a chance on him (after a shoulder injury), because that’s what it was, a chance.
“I was really happy for him last night, just how well he played and for him to win the Super Bowl and be the MVP. Again, we are not friends or anything. But just being there and being around him and getting a chance to visit with him a few minutes, I was just really happy for him. I know it’s something that means a lot to him.”
New Orleans: Stop the presses and start them again
1/28/2010 4:36:00 PM
What was it like Sunday night in New Orleans after the Saints clinched a trip to their first Super Bowl?
That's the question I asked in an e-mail to Roger Dunaway, a former University of Tulsa sports information assistant who now calls New Orleans home (he's the sports info director at Tulane).
I thought his reply was interesting.
Wrote Dunaway, "It was pretty amazing to see people both young and very old celebrating in their own way. A lot of people stayed at the Dome and left way after the game was over and then thousands filled the (French) Quarter. It was gridlock
"I've discovered that the Saints aren't an NFL team in New Orleans. They are New Orleans. And, living here, you can't help but have an attachment to them. You can't go anywhere without seeing a Saints logo or hear a 'Who Dat!' in the streets.
"It was a long awaited relief for this city, 43 years worth. The Times-Picayune has had to reprint Monday's edition three times now. It sold out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Pretty amazing considering newspapers are considered obsolete by so many now, but you can't carry the Internet home and frame it on your wall.
"Mardi Gras came early this year and they've actually changed parade schedules to accommodate the Super Bowl. This city will be in party mode for the next four weeks!"
Super Bowl? It's the Iba Bowl
1/24/2010 9:42:00 PM
And the Super Bowl winner is.... the Rotary Club of Tulsa.
The Rotary Club of Tulsa is the group behind the Henry P. Iba Citizen-Athlete Awards, presented annually to male and female athletes who excel at their sport and show by their actions a desire to help others.
For the first time ever, a Super Bowl will match starting quarterbacks who are past Iba Award recipients. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning won the award in 2002. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was the Iba recipient last year.
Thought No. 1: Good guys don't always finish last, but one of them will have to finish second.
Thought No. 2: Thanks to the Rotary Club, some of the best athletes on the planet have dropped into town long enough to pick up an Iba trophy.
Thought No. 3: Beware Manning's handshake. He can crush walnuts with those mitts.
Thought No. 4: Manning called me for a pre-Iba interview while I was covering a state track meet. I told him I was swamped and could I please postpone. Sometimes, when dealing with star athletes who value their time over yours, this means end of interview. He agreed to call back later -- and did. Big time brownie points for Manning.
Thought No. 5: The pre-Iba Manning story was about how he grew up in New Orleans and somehow wasn't tainted by neighbors like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and vampire-loving author Anne Rice. Now Manning will play against his hometown team (the one his dad played for) in the Super Bowl.
Thought No. 6: I didn't think it was going to be possible to get a phone interview with Brees before the Iba Awards, but got a pleasant surprise while on vacation when his agent called out of the blue and said "I've got Drew for you today." I think I was standing in front of New York, New York or Excalibur in Las Vegas when the call came and the only thing I had to take notes on were scraps of paper in my pocket. Thankfully, a Tulsa World teammate agreed to do the interview for me. Brees (injured) and the city of New Orleans (post-Katrina) were both considered damaged goods when he arrived in the Big Easy. Both, obviously, got better.
Got questions. Need answers.
1/22/2010 10:10:51 AM
Know anybody who thinks they have all the answers?
Good, because I’ve got lots of questions:
--Did you see the leather jacket that Jerry Jones was wearing during the Wade-Phillips-gets-a-contract-extension press conference? When did he change his last name to Fonzarelli?
--I take a lot of pride in my ability to say, hey, that guy looks like (insert famous person’s name). But I’m stumped when it comes to Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress. He looks like someone (maybe a character from “The Simpsons” or Brian Doyle-Murray), but I’m not sure who. Help?
--Allen Iverson, who has played a whopping 19 games this season, was voted by fans into the starting lineup for the NBA All-Star Game. Tracy McGrady, who has played almost as many games this season as deceased British comedian Benny Hill (rest in peace, Benny), almost got enough votes to be a starter. Should the NBA do the electoral college thing when it comes to the All-Star Game and do away with the popular vote?
--Did the Indianapolis Colts ever see “Saving Private Ryan?” It’s a movie where, instead of executing a captured Nazi, the good guys show mercy and let the bad dude run away. Later, bad dude comes back and kills one of the good guys. Indianapolis could have knocked the Jets out of playoff contention during the regular season, but the Colts instead benched star players and essentially let the Jets win. Now the Jets are back, like the Nazi who got away. Oops.
--Will Tiger Woods leave golf for show business and become Doc in the “Love Boat” remake? Sorry, Tiger. Couldn’t resist.
--Will you feel cheated as a sports fan if Kobe Bryant and LeBron James never meet in an NBA Final? What if there had never been a Larry vs. Magic championship series?
--Do you want Kentucky basketball to do well considering that coach John Calipari barely got out of town before the NCAA cops arrived at his last two college stops? You get the idea that, when Calipari played Monopoly as a kid, he had three extra “get out of jail free” cards stashed in his sleeve.
--OSU quarterback Zac Robinson is playing in the Senior Bowl. If he is still hurt, and if he has NFL ambitions, is that a wise move?
--In this sports asterisk age in which we live, should we put an asterisk on the 2010 PGA Tour season if Tiger sits out the year?
DeBerry's advice to coaches: Treat players how you want your kids to be treated
1/15/2010 9:29:49 AM
Three college football coaches lost their jobs because of alleged mistreatment of players.
That raises this issue: Where do you draw the line between tough love and malpractice?
"What I always challenged our coaches to do is I told them they would never put their hands on a kid," Grove resident and former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said.
"The other thing I told them is we didn’t use profanity. Never profane a kid because I think that causes a kid to lose his self-esteem more than anything else in the world. If you profane him in front of his peers, that really lowers his self-esteem, you know, and it makes him feel like he is not worth a dad-gum.
"But everybody has a way of doing things and I’m not saying that’s the right way. We all want results. But what I told our coaches is to treat our kids exactly how you would hope that if your son or daughter was playing for a coach at another university, how you hope that coach would treat your own kid."
DeBerry, by the way, co-authored a new book and proceeds from sales will benefit children in single-parent households. He has a book signing scheduled 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the Barnes & Noble store on 41st Street.
Tennessee: What Comes Around, Goes Around
1/13/2010 10:14:00 AM
In case you haven't heard the are-you-kidding-me news of the week, Lane Kiffin is leaving Tennessee after just one season to become USC's next football coach.
Ever seen one of those classic Universal Studios Frankenstein flicks, where villagers grab pitchforks and torches to chase the beastie?
That was sort of the scene in Knoxville when the news broke yesterday. Angry students burned Kiffin shirts. Students gathered at the football complex and shouted curse words at Kiffin. According to ESPN's Chris Low, a player outside the complex said the departing Tennessee coaches are "nothing but a bunch of traitors." On blog sites, Kiffin is being referred to as a weasel and scum.
Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt told the Knoxville News Sentinel that she was disappointed Kiffin chose to leave.
"You only want people who want to be here," she said. "I understand the ties (to USC) but why move your whole family here and leave?"
Later today, Tennessee's athletic director will hold a press conference. I hope he doesn't complain about how unfair it is for a coach to leave after only one season.
Reminder: When Tennessee needed a basketball coach a few years back, the school didn't seem to have any ethical issues about stealing Buzz Peterson away from Tulsa. Peterson had been TU's coach for only one year. What comes around, goes around.
Weary of SEC? Try this stat: 105-1
1/8/2010 9:51:28 AM
Tired of hearing about the SEC's football dominance? Let me throw a little Big 12 men's basketball propoganda out there.
In fact, let's start with this stat: 105-1.
Big 12 basketball teams won 105 out of 106 home games during the nonconference portion of the season.
Your first reaction is to tell me they played quite a few schools with hyphens followed by the words "Pine Bluff" and "Eastern Shore."
And I'm here to tell you that you are missing the point.
Yes, every team played its share of bums at home. But you still wouldn't expect the record to be 105-1 because bad days at the office are darn near inevitable, regardless of the quality of competition.
Here's what it really tells me: It's going to be harder than ever for Big 12 teams to salvage road wins in league play this season. It doesn't matter where you go -- Manhattan, Ames, Waco. It's still going to be a street brawl.
More Big 12 bragging points, courtesy of the league office:
--The Big 12's .828 nonconference winning percentage is the nation's best and the league's 29 nonconference losses are the nation's fewest.
--Big 12 teams averaged a nation-best 11.67 wins in nonleague games.
--The Big 12 is 28-10 against the five other "power" conferences -- ACC, Big East, Big 10, Pac-10 and SEC.
--The Big 12 won a single-season record 140 nonconference games this season. Two Big 12 teams (Kansas and Texas) started at least 14-0 for the first time in history. The Jayhawks and Longhorns are ranked 1-2.
Travis Ford, word-for-word, on Marshall Moses
1/6/2010 10:27:00 AM
After a Tuesday night game against Coppin State, Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford essentially participated in a press conference after his “normal” press conference.
A group of writers huddled in a hallway outside the interview room and asked Ford about his decision to suspend Marshall Moses for only one game following the junior forward's marijuana-related arrest. The length of the suspension was a hot topic Tuesday in public opinion forums.
Because of time and space constraints, not all of Ford’s comments appeared in Wednesday editions of the Tulsa World.
Full disclosure? Following is a transcript of Ford's press conference that followed the press conference:
Question: What all do you weigh when you decide what a player’s punishment should be?
Ford: I hear that people are upset (that) I’ve only done it one game. People have no clue everything else we’re doing. I could stand up here and list it all of everything he has got to do.... but he probably wishes he was suspended for three games.
I’m around these young men every single day. I know what Marshall Moses is about. I know this is the first thing he’s done to get in trouble. I’ve heard it all. People, I guess, need something to talk about. And they can talk. But people have no idea what else he’s doing. He would probably like to be suspended more, I can just tell you. If they are thinking I need to suspend him more because he needs to be punished, they don’t have to worry. They can relax and sleep at night. I don’t want to keep them up at night, worried that he’s not suspended more. They can relax and sleep at night.
Other than that, I don’t know why we would need to do it more.
Question: If you suspend him for more games, are you punishing other players because you may lose games during his absence?
Ford: No question. No question. Marshall fully understands what he’s done. He fully understands it and he knows where we stand and he knows his punishments and where we stand from this day forward. We’re dealing with this, no question. I’m not happy about it.
People are (saying it was a one-game suspension because OSU played Coppin State). I don’t care who was next. He would have been suspended a game. That has nothing to do with it.
Question: You haven’t dealt with a lot of these-type issues since you have been here. Do players know what your rules are?
Ford: Absolutely. They know. And, again, I just get tired (of people second-guessing disciplinary matters). Walk in our shoes a little bit. We’ve got to deal with these young men every day. It’s difficult decisions when you start trying to figure out what you are going to do to guys -- punishments. There are other things. Guys have done things that people don’t know about.
We’re dealing with it. Believe me. We’re doing everything we can to punish him to make him not want to do it again. Our job is to make sure he learns his lesson. That’s what it’s about, whether we suspend him one game or 10 games.
It’s not like I made a quick decision. I sat and thought about it. I’m the one who went and got him out and sat there with him and tried to mentor this young man. I tell you, Marshall has come a long way. No question, I’m telling you. I’ve been around this kid for a long time. Am I disappointed in him? He knows I am. But he feels bad about it. So hopefully, as I told him, you can try to make a negative into a positive the best way you can. Mentoring him and doing some things we’re doing to hopefully make him a better person, to hold him accountable for his mistakes, I can guarantee you 100 percent (those things) are being done, so everybody can rest assured of that.
Question: What kind of learning experience is that when his coach comes to pick him up?
Ford: I think it shocked him a little bit. The word family when, you’re around teams, is used very loosely all the time. I look at it that way. These are my kids. When I got the phone call I went straight there immediately. I wanted him to know that he’s going to be held accountable by me. And also we’re going to support him as well. He is hearing everything else that everybody is hearing.
But I told him, ‘I’m not going to just throw you out in the middle of the sea and let you swim by yourself. We’re going to make you learn your lesson. And you need to become a better person for this.’ And sometimes you need a kick in the head. There’s no excuse what he did. He just needs to learn from it. But he’s learning his lesson.
Question: Is that standard that it’s the coach who gets the phone call?
Ford: Yes. He knew who to call.
The person Texas Tech should hire is....
1/2/2010 10:35:07 AM
Nobody at Texas Tech asked for my advice, but this is who the Red Raiders should hire to be their next football coach: Steve Kragthorpe.
The former University of Tulsa and Louisville head coach knows the turf. He is a former quarterback at West Texas State (located in Canyon, Texas) and served on coaching staffs at North Texas and Texas A&M, where he coordinated a Big 12 championship offense in 1998.
Kragthorpe and his staff recruited in the state of Texas during his stint as TU's head coach and he elevated the program from wretched to conference championship before moving on to Louisville.
So what happened at Louisville? Friends and family members will tell you a major housecleaning was needed when he arrived.
Is Kragthorpe damaged goods because of the Louisville experience? Forget about Louisville. Everyone has a misstep or two. Sylvester Stallone, for instance, made "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot" and "Judge Dredd."
Texas Tech should only look at Kragthorpe's body of work when he was coaching in Oklahoma and Texas. That resume is the one that made him one of the nation's hottest up-and-coming coaches. I think the former up-and-coming coach deserves a shot at a comeback.
Sooners vs. Doak Walker, again
12/31/2009 1:21:00 PM
Oklahoma is facing a chunky Doak Walker Award winner in an El Paso Bowl game.
2009?
Yes, but it also happened in 1993.
OU was matched against Texas Tech and Doak Walker Award recipient Bam Morris in the 1993 Sun Bowl (it went by a corporate name, the John Hancock Bowl, that season).
Sooner defensive players got so tired of hearing about and reading about Morris in days leading up to the game that they got motivated to shut him down. OU became the second team that season to hold the 240-pound bruiser below 100 rushing yards. Morris netted “only” 95 yards on 27 carries and OU rolled to a 31-point victory.
“Bam, they gave him the Doak Walker Award for being the best running back in the nation and everything else,” Sooner defender John Anderson said. “But you can’t play in an inferior conference the whole season
and then come out and beat a team like Oklahoma.”
Morris accumulated just 65 yards until Tech’s final drive.
Said linebacker Mike Coats, “We wanted to prove to the nation that we could shut him down.”
Question: The next Sun Bowl just kicked off. Are the current Sooners so tired of hearing about 2009 Doak Walker Award winner Toby Gerhart, a 235-pound battering ram, that they will be motivated to put the clamps on him?
Stay tuned to see if the Sooners can turn back the clock to ‘93.
The stories behind the Pirate (Mike Leach) story
12/29/2009 6:59:00 AM
Injuries and suspensions aren't funny, but this is too easy of a target: Is anyone surprised that a Pirate enthusiast (Mike Leach) would exile a player to Davy Jones' locker?
Leach, Texas Tech's suspended football coach, is alleged to have instructed one of his first mates to put injured player Adam James in an isolated, dark place.
Leach is a smart guy (he has a law degree), so he should have been savvy enough to know it isn't going to stay a secret when you subject the son of an ESPN employee (Craig James) to solitary confinement.
The story behind the story is that coaches have been intentionally treating injured players like war prisoners since forever.
X-rays, MRIs and cat scans aside, coaches and trainers have no way of knowing if players pretend to be hurt just to avoid practice.
Because of that, coaches often make not practicing more grueling than practicing. If injured players can't run, they do push-ups. If players have an injured arm or shoulder, they run or ride a stationary bike for the duration of practice. This magically accelerates the healing process.
But where do you draw the line? It's somewhere before putting a guy in a dark room by himself, unless he is a photographer and film (who uses that anymore?) needs developing.
Another story behind the story is that some college football coaches, whether they intend to or not, become the supreme rulers of their little kingdoms. They sucker themselves into believing that they have to answer to no one and, therefore, can act any way they want. Oops.
May every coach be blessed with someone on his staff who isn't a "yes man." We all need someone to tell us when we are wrong, even rulers of football kingdoms.
Leach is a colorful guy who makes college football a more interesting place. I hope he doesn't walk the plank and I hope he emerges from the suspension smarter than he was before.
Christmas Eve bowl memory and forgiving Pat O'Brien
12/24/2009 4:55:54 PM
Sixteen years ago on Christmas Eve, I was dispatched to El Paso to cover a Sun Bowl (then the John Hancock Bowl) game between Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
Richard Linihan (the Fair Meadows guy who has dated at least two Hollywood starlets) and I were riding a hotel elevator.
The elevator stopped on a floor and the doors opened. Pat O'Brien, who was part of CBS' bowl broadcast crew and more recently has anchored shows like Access Hollywood, took a look at the two ruffians in the elevator and decided he would catch the next one, or at least that's what we gleaned from his body language.
I've been offended ever since, even though O'Brien may have had a perfectly good excuse for choosing not to ride shotgun with us.
On this day, Christmas Eve, 2009, I am going to channel holiday spirit and forgive him.
Basketball coaches aren't paying attention
12/22/2009 6:35:28 PM
College football and basketball polls, because they are opinion-based, are never going to make sense. If you expect them to make sense, you are asking way too much
Want to know which poll makes the least sense? Coaches polls. It's obvious they are too busy doing their real jobs to make a credible attempt at being a pollster.
Here's exhibit A: In the latest USA Today basketball coaches poll, Oklahoma State, Tulsa and Missouri State are among non-top 25 teams who are receiving votes.
Missouri State beat Tulsa, which beat Oklahoma State. Since a food chain has been established, logic says Missouri State should be ranked ahead of Tulsa and TU should be ranked ahead of OSU.
Instead, coaches gave OSU the most votes, followed in order by Tulsa and then Missouri State.
It's like they filled out their ballots upside down. Or maybe they just aren't paying attention.
Biggest dog-gone upset in A&M history
12/22/2009 12:04:00 PM
Sports has gone to the dogs. Or is it the other way around?
The American Kennel Club, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary, joined forces with PawNation.com to compile a list of the top 125 dogs in popular culture. And sports mascots crashed the party.
No. 1 on the list was, of course, Snoopy.
But No. 2 was Reveille, the collie that serves as Texas A&M’s mascot. Reveille finished ahead of Scooby Doo, Toto, Benji and Old Yeller, providing A&M with -- my opinion -- the biggest upset in school history.
Is it too late for a recount? What’s Reveille ever done except bark at Eddie Sutton?
A&M’s pup has never solved a mystery, melted a witch (give Toto an assist for that one) or chased bears and rabid hogs away from Arliss and Travis.
How did this travesty of justice come about? Popular vote, which explains why the U.S. picks presidents by way of electoral college. People are too goofy to be trusted to do the right thing in popular votes.
According to a press release issued Tuesday, AKC experts created the initial list of pop culture dogs and ranked them accordingly. The public voted each week, from Sept. 15 through Dec. 14, in a series of 11 polls on PawNation.com. Nearly 76,000 people cast votes and my guess is A&M fans stuffed the ballot box.
Among other sports mascots on the list were Georgetown’s Jack the Bulldog (No. 8), Georgia’s UGA (No. 12), Boston University’s Rhett the Boston Terrier (No. 48), Yale’s Handsome Dan (No. 58), Southern Illinois’ Saluki (No. 95) and Fresno State’s Timeout the Bulldog (No. 112).
Lists like these are great for sparking debate, just like the all-decade sports lists that will be published in our Sunday sports section.
My biggest non-sports complaint with the dog list? Superman’s dog, Krypto, was nowhere to be found. Maybe there’s hope for Streaky the Super Cat, Comet the Super Horse and Beppo the Super Monkey if pop culture lists are compiled for other critters.
The complete dogs in pop culture rankings can be found on www.akc.org.
|
