Anybody watch the Wimbedon Final between Federer and Roddick? What a great match. Roddick has done something I waited on for a long time. He finally matured. Picked his spots and played extremely well. Federer is...well...he is Roger Federer! Never panicked or lost his composure in the face of an opponent who payed a great tennis match. I loved it. But you know what? It's getting to the point now where you have to love your tennis like a Wimbledon ball girl...or boy...to sit down and watch it anymore. 

Why would I say that? Do you ever notice these kids running all over the place for errant tennis balls while a world of suspense and intrigue and the highest levels of competition go on around them? How do these kids get selected to work...say...the Wimbledon Final? Is it collective greatness throughout the tournament? You know...off the wall at just the right moment to keep the "out" serve from crashing back into the world class player...before it ever hits the wall! The perfectly timed leap from the net to track down an errant shot into the net...before it rolls another inch...thereby slowing the pace of a player who is in a hurry...like...say...Federer was on several occasions on Sunday. You know what I'm talking about if you tuned into the match. Roddick would walk up to the line, hold his hand up asking Roger to wait a second...and then...wham...Federer serves the ball anyway! Always having a dry towel and a smile on their face...or is it a dry towel and a grimmace of concentration! I'll say this much. They have to love the game to stand around there and put up with all the pressure...and nary a thank you...from the world class athetes competeing in front of their very eyes. These people point, hold out their hands in some form of quiet demand of the ball person just to have the new ball they gave them swatted back at them. Okay...they don't swat it hard but...you know! I still think these kids got to ove their tennis to put up with that. Well...maybe they get a nice tip after the match from the players...but they still got to love their tennis.

And as a spectator...at least on television...you got to love your tennis, too! Why? I know I can turn down the volume...and quite often do...when John McEnroe tries to make a point. This guy was...as a player...what you might consider a bit too competitive...even in a competitive world which is professional tennis. I always thought he was a bit...oh...I guess..high strung...might work! But he pushed it to a point where I think he was trying to be the clown he was acting like...on purpose. You know the old saying about it being better to be thought a fool rather than opening our mouth and removing all doubt? He played his career ignoring that little creed and he is doing it again as a commentator. I wonder if this little guy has ever been anywhere near a boxing match in his entire life. And yet he constsantly draws comparisons between a tennis match and a prize fight...or participants of each. I get so sick and tired of him making reference to a guy holding serve being like a guy who just took the opponents best punch to the solar plexis. What do you think a professional fighter thinks about whenever he hears that. Can you imagine Mike Tyson's response to that. "C'mon, McEnroe? Lemme hit you with a body shot under the kitneys and thee what you think!" Tholar plexis my ear chompin' ass!" Or how about when Roddick couldn't put Federer away in the tiebreak in the second set and McEnroe commenting on how Federer coming back was like a fighter getting off the canvas in a great comeback. I think John McEnroe missed out on his true calling life. I think he really wanted to be a little thug but instead he became a pretty fair tennis player who has carried that into a modest career as a tennis commentator. And whle I don't play the game on a competitive level...it sn't that hard a sport to follow. Just sayin'...!

I think we should have a match event. I think McEnroe should have to get in a boxing ring with...any fighter with any experience...in his weight class...and see how comparable the two are. And when it is over he can say that holding serve is definately NOT like taking a shot in the solar plexis. I understand comparisons in sports and trying to create the imagery of the event. But listening to McEnroe during that match did absolutely nothing to heighten the imagery of the event. It did...however...heighten the imagery of the little guy McEnroe taking one on the chin. I guess I should thank him for that.

Speaking of tennis! How is it that Serena Williams wasn't the number one player in the world in women's tennis prior to her winning Wimbledon? Apparently I'm not the only one wondering about that. When she was plaing with the press during her press conference after winning the tournament everybody was getting a big laugh from comments like, "I guess I'll just stay at number two with my major victories and she can stay at number 1 with...!" What has this Safin done to be ranked so high? I don't know how they rank them but it only seems to me...and the press covering Wimbledon...and Serena...that there is something amis in the world of women's tennis. Speaking of...check the seeding next year for the women's doubles and see if there aren't any questions about that, either.

And now...a blast from the past! As I came on here to post this I noticed a post from...Lisa Horne. Didn't read it yet but noticed it was there. She has surfaced in this sea of...whatever it is you want to call this Fox Sports revamp! But...she is alive and apparently well! That is good to see even if she irritates me sometimes and even if I irritate her. Hey folks, the bottom line to all of that with Lisa and I is this. We respect each others opinions even if we don't agree with each other all the time. And that...to me...is what this blogging thing is all about. The back and forth with differing opinions. Not having to read force fed Sportswriters with only one opinion who couldn't care less for communal banter in response to their posts. I'm seeing a whole lot more of those people around here in this changing atmosphere that is the Fox Sports Blog site. Personally...I'm now ecstatic that I see Lisa is here. Now if I could just figure out how to add friends (I feel like the boy next door who just moved into the neighborhood) and get to ther places in m profile. And that's the bottom line!

BOOMER SOONER!!!

A few years back in my wondering youth my older brother took me to a concert for my birthday. He took me to see Peter Frampton whose Frampton Comes Alive album was tearing up the charts. His fiance, a girl I dated now and then, and two other couples went out and enjoyed the show...tremendously!

Also from a young age...maybe 11 or 12 or so...I went out and bought my first pair of sunglasses because of a group called ZZ Top. Yes...as the song recommended they were cheap.

I remember kind of coming into my own and recognizing that I had certain taste in things. The first album I actually spent money on was the Beatles Abbey Road. My next entertainment purchase was the first comedy album I ever owned. George Carlin's "Occupation Foole." "Think I'd spell it with a final "e" on the application just to piss 'em off," said George!

On television in my youth I had to watch a show on Friday nights called "Here Come the Brides" because my sisters were infatuated by a guy on the show named Bobby Sherman. Teeny bopper, sweetheart kind of a guy who used his recording career to jump into television. Then I had to watch Tom Jones after that because...well...my mom was infatuated with him. I think these two shows followed a show called "Love American Style." These shows would be a little corny by today's standards but were entertaining back then.

As for sports...the first hockey game I ever went to was in...Oklahoma City! My grandmother took me there at an arena that used to be on the fair grounds, I believe. The Boston Bruins used to have a farm team down there. I remember it well because at one point during the game the puck got shot up into the crowd and opened up some guy's forehead. My grandmother knew the guy. How freakin' cool was that? I've been hooked on hockey ever since.

As I've mentioned before on here I had a brush with fame from the baseball world in Detroit, MI where I went to high school. In Michigan...not Detroit. I was called a little MF'er by Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees when some of my buddies and I were hassling him about the huge wad of chew he had going and the dirty book he was reading in the dugout. We were there that night to watch Mark "The Bird" Fydrich pitch for the hometown Tigers. Loved that about baseball and MLB back then. Sure...we annoyed Sparky which prompted his response. We deserved it and it never went any further than that.

The Twins used to have a right fielder named Hosken Powell. One day at the old Met Stadium a guy was giving Powell crap all day long during a game. One of the comments the guy made to Powell was, "Hey, Powell! Out of 500 Major League baseball players how come you have to rank 499th?" Powell waited for a second and between pitches responded to the fan, "Out of 3,000 fans here today...how come you're the only ****?" I still laugh abut that to this day.

I've met several sports "celebrities" but none as classy as former NFL and Vikings LB Matt Blair. I've never been formally introduced to Blair. But his encouragement in helping me rehab a major knee surgery was greatly appreciated. The first day our paths crossed was my first day of therapy. When I walked in Blair was working out on a CYBEX machine...and was literally moving it. His muscles had muscles. As they started to get me up to walk he came over to me, put his arm around my shoulders and said to follow him. He told me to go heel to toe when learning how to walk again and to have faith in the therapists because they were the very best at what they do. From that day on whenever I walked in and he was there or vice versa we would simply nod our heads at each other. No talking or an great relationship kind of a thing...just the nod. Four years later I was picking someone up at the airport when I walked past Blair who was in conversation with some other people. As I waited for the people I was waiting for he excused himself from his conversation and came over and asked me how my knee was doing. To this day I have still never been formally introduced to Matt Blair...but I consider him a class act.

And now as I sit around and watch what is happening in this crazy old world of ours the verse to that Peter Frampton song keeps playing over and over in my head. Only I woke up and realized that what I've been living in the past 20 years or so...could be the dream...or the nightmare. And I don't want to do that part again...but I'd gladly do what came before the past 20 years or so again! I guess people call it CHANGE...this thing that has been happening the past 20 years or so! And maybe it has been going on longer than that.

I can't stand MLB anymore It ain't about the game on the field now. Too much politics, imbeciles and arrogant people with infantile attitudes for me. Selig and Fehr and Faye Vincent and steroids and Bonds, Clemens, Giambi and recently Manny just make me sick. Not even so much that they did anything wrong...but more-so in the way they get portrayed by the media. These guys are people and in the grand scheme of things the really don't matter much. I used to sit on my porch with a baseball game where you put in your line-up and you spun a dial and what the needle landed on was what happened. As a little kid...if I wasn't actually paying ball you could find me and my friends playing that game. Take me back to those days.

We used to play table hockey. Kind of like what is now called bubble hockey. We used to play it for hours and hours and actually had tournaments playing it. If we weren't actually out skating...which we did...outdoors...for hours and hours and hours...we were playing that game. Now, these kids don't go outside and skate for hours and hours and hours. Too cold or they spend too much time in regimented hockey programs so they don't want to go outside. Parents spend too much money to have junior chase the NHL dream...and not always for the kid...to have them skate outside where no one is watching them. What a crock!

I could ramble on and on abut the NFL and how much that has changed. Back in the day...when Joe Namath guaranteed a New York Jet victory in Super Bowl #3 over the Baltimore Colts...people couldn't wait for them to get beat so this arrogant, cocky kid would have to eat his words. They didn't and he became a hero...sort of! The point is he was the different one. Now...the guy who goes to the field and keeps his mouth shut and works his ass of on every freakin' down and doesn't seek to glorify the effort for what they get paid to do...is rare! And when you retired...you freakin' retired. Now you can retire for 6 months, unretire and have the media chase down every thing ou say for months and months until youu say you will stay retired..until the next time you say you might not retire after all and that you have found another team who will play stage for our show. Only it gets boring and the retiree and the media make everyone sick of the schtick!

Unless you come to this site. Here...as we have all seen recently...change is a strong thing. And I ain't too fond of that, either. I don't recognize 3/4 of the bloggers on here now! I've seen one post by StevoinHTown...my Longhorn friend. A couple by Reverend Rhythm, SLSHusker has dropped a few comments. JokersWild and Bleed have left a few. KellyScott still can't get past it and I don't blame him. We now have bloggers who post on every half inning of KC Royals baseball games. I thought it was 2 people until I read somewhere that it was one who made up another site...apparently to communicate the scores of KC Royals baseball games to someone who actually cares. And has anyone noticed that the Featured Blogs are almost always those of Fox Sports Writers? They got a hockey guy, a baseball guy, a basketball guy, a football guy and I'm sure there is a NASCAR guy here somewhere. On one page of bogs the other day there were 16 blogs posted...14 of them belonged to their hockey guy. Apparently Fox has decided they weren't getting read enough so they have decided to force feed them to us. The problem with this is that besides wasting space they make it difficult to find blogs by people you actually want to read like the aforementioned bloggers. They (Fox Sports writers) generally never answer the comments they receive...which to me defeats the purpose of blogging. I come on here to post and make comments and get into discussion about things that I share interest in with others. I don't come on here to be inundated with sharp crisp news facts from people who have the personality of a babbling brook...that ain't got no water in it! If you were going to do this at least we could still have KSP and Lisa. I haven't seen anything by either of them since this started. At least they responded to you. 

I guess it is a Fox Sports site and they can do anything with it they want. But that doesn't necessarily mean that change is good or that change is needed...or wanted. But right now everytime I get on this site I ask myself a question...and you may be asking it of me after you read this ramble...which would certainly be your right. The question is simple really..."Who are all of you people and where the hell did you come from?"Ya'll kind of know where I come from now. Let's see if we dream again...and maybe get it right this time! And that's the bottom line!

BOOMER SOONER!!!

I'm feeling a bit cocky today. Cocky enough to shout out, Boomer Freakin' Sooner! Why, Gcoach, why are you feelin' so doggone giddy and cocky today? OK, I'll tell ya! Hey, you asked the question and now I gots ta respond!

It isn't the Sooner Women's Basketball team that had a great run cut short when the Paris sisters ran into a better team...at least on that night. I will say this however...Ashley took the training bit a little more seriously than Courtney did...and she looked better at the end of the year. Courtney couldn't get up and down the floor to be effective when she really needed to be. But...you certainly can't knock the career she had at OU. Good luck to her in the WNBA in Sacramento where PaPa Bubba can hang out at every game. What luck!

It isn't the Sooner Men's Basketball team that got as far as it could riding on one guys backside. Inconsistent play from everyone but Blake Griffin meant the Sooners were riding a one man rollercoaster and if someone else (or else's) didn't step up everynight they were pretty much done. And...they were. But the kid is a monster stud and I'm actually lookin' forward to watching him in the NBA...which will shock most anyone that knows me...'cause I don't watch basketball...as a rule...unless there is a Sooner involved. I told my dad the other day that he probably shouldn't expect much from the Sooner Men's BBall team next year and...sadly...he hung his head and agreed with me.

It isn't this past College Football NC game in which my Sooners left too many points in the red zone in the first half because...DeMarco Murray wasn't playing...Wilson calls too many running plays in a row (same play, same formation)...takes the ball out of Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford's hands...and keeps Jermaine Gresham out of the endzone for a third time...or fourth? It isn't because the coaching staff calls a different game at every...BCS Bowl Game they get to...than the game they call all season long.

But...it does have to do with the football team.

Here is why I am so doggone giddy! Here is why I'm happy to shout Boomer Freakin' Sooner!

I went and dropped in on College Football News Scout.com site and looked up an article that had to do with the potential top 250 draft choices in 2010 in the NFL. I know it is a long way off but I wasn't looking at what was available this year...that has already been beat to death and I'm not looking forward to Mel Kiper's rambling on and on about this kid or that kid or this team and that team. I'll get my ear full of that soon enough. I was looking at wo was left around college football enough to keep it interesting and I stumbled upon something. Something that...for a Sooner fan anyway...is kind of interesting. I'm not going to lay out all of their criteria in determining this because...well...quite frankly...I don't know it. I'm not going to scroll down the list of 250 because there are some who...quite frankly...I couldn't care less about. What they do though that interested me is break them down by position and in some cases identify them as "Franchise Stars" or "Franchise Prospects" or "Probable NFL Starters" and "The Best of the Rest." Here is what interested me about OU this year and the players they have on campus.

QB - FRANCHISE STAR #1 - Sam Bradford

RB - FRANCHISE STAR #4 - DeMarco Murray

TE - FRANCHISE STAR #1 - Jermaine Gresham

OT - FRANCHISE PROSPECT #2 - Trent Williams

DT - FRANCHISE PROSPECT #1 - Gerald McCoy

DT - FRANCHISE PROSPECT #6 - DeMarcus Granger

RB - PROBABLE NFL STARTER - Chris Brown (number 5 on list directly behind Murray)

DE - PROBABLE NFL STARTER - Austin English

OLB - PROBABLE NFL STARTER - Travis Lewis (3rd year sophomore)

OLB - BEST of the REST - Keenan Clayton

Ten Sooners expected to make some kind of impact on an NFL team near you...in 2010.

So what can we Sooner fans expect this year? Concern floated around Norman that Bradford wouldn't have anyone to throw the ball to now that Juaguin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson have gone. Well, that ain't quite true. Look for a kid named Ryan Broyles or a kid named Adron Tennell to step it up this year and provide Bradford with another group of receivers to get the ball to with regularity. These guys, along with Gresham, and a few others will keep Bradford loaded with targets this fall. Behind Murray and Brown, Mossis Madu, Jermie Calhoun and Justin Johnson are supposedly ready to help out. However, with Murray and Brown sitting out the Red-White game a couple of weeks ago Madu was clearly the better runner as the other two struggled to hit holes...well...the few that were provided...and didn't help the running game grade out very high. The offensive line has the aforementioned Trent Williams on it along with a few guys who didn't play in the Red-White game but have high expectations placed upon them. Guys like Stephen Good and Jarvis Jones. So the Sooner offense may not be as productive as they were last year when they went point crazy...(Alas, except when they really needed it) but me thinks they are still going to be pretty damned good. Bradford only played three series in the Red-White game but moved the ball effectively behind his new O-Line. The line struggled but...it was Spring ball...and not Fall practice. Based on what I saw...they need work but I think they'll be ready.

Defense stole the show. Granger, and Mccoy and English, Ryan Reynolds, Quentin Carter, Keenan Clayton and Brandon Crow didn't dress...and the defense dominated. Starting cornerbacks Dominique Franks and Brian Jackson put on quite a show. Look for guys by the name of Jayden Bird, Ronnell Lewis and Tom Wort to push for playing time at linebacker this year if Austin Box, Ryan Reynolds and others can't stay healthy. Bird wrapped up Johnson on one play and literally hurled him on the ground about 10 yards at the sideline. The hit and hurl caused a reprimand from Bob Stoops but you have to love the tenacity these three...freshmen...true freshmen brought out on the field. The last OU linebacker who didn't redshirt was Curtis Lofton who became a consensus All-American. Defensive Coordiantor Brent Venables said that if these three keep playing the way they are playing they may see some time this fall. Not my call on redshirting them...but if they can make OU better...now...well...we'll see, eh Brent! 

What does this mean for the Sooners and the upcoming college football season? Maybe a lot and maybe nothing. I've always been a "play 'em on the field" kind of a guy and that ain't about to change. Of course, that will probably ramp up some comments about the OU - Texas game last year but if it does...it is what it is...just remember...3 way tie...tie breaker in that case agreed upon by every team in the Big 12...so...it is what it is. But if we have so much talent ready to explode into the NFL in 2010...and we have so much talent waiting to make their mark...then I say expectations are high...and well they should be. So...on the field...if they all play to their apparent capabilities...avoid the critical injuries...Reynolds knees and Murray's missed Bowl games the past two years...why shouldn't these guys take the Sooners to another NC? If they do all of that then...the only thing standing in the way would be...the coaching staff again not doing what got them there in the first place...in another BCS bowl game. Personally...all of the tools are there...so...BOOMER FREAKIN' SOONER!!!

Unfortunately...the wait is too long...and thats the bottom line...

I left here a while back due to a new job with serious time constraints, a hectic high school hockey season, and disinterest in all of the complaining and haggling going on at this sight. Well I still have that job but am on spring break this week. The hectic hockey season ended with a valiant late season run that came up short for our Seniors but was quite a significant learning experience to our underclassmen. Excitement abounds for next season. And I have dropped in a few times to keep up on some of my favorite people here and have not really paid attention to the complaining or haggling. But this return will be brief. School starts again on Monday and I'll be busy through June. So those of you that stopped in before...I hope you do again. Those of you that have never heard of me and don't care...whatever. And for those of you that stop and decide you don't care for my little post...it is what it is.

A brief return and some lessons learned...and shared.

I am in Oklahoma this week on spring break because my dad lives there. Honestly, I preferred to be in somewhere really warm and hot to work on my tan. The only thing hot here is the wildfires burning houses down because of 40 to 60 mile an hour wind gusts. Well...that was last night. Lesson one....when the wind is blowing like that and there ain't any rain coming down...firemen can't keep up...at least in Oklahoma City.

 I coach high school hockey in MN and my dad is a big hockey fan. So I ended up at an Oklahoma City Blazers CHL playoff hockey game on Monday night. The things you do for your dad! Lesson two...don't go to a hockey game in Oklahoma City if you played it and coach it in MN...or anywhere else for that matter. I consider myself a pretty patient and understanding man. I understand the context of my surroundings and am generally able to get through things calmly. Half way through the third period I wanted to take the two women in front of me and slash, elbow, crosscheck, hook, throw offsides, and ice them...so they would finally know what the hell they were talking about. One of them thought the other team was offsides on every rush. When I tried to explain to her in the second period that a player can have one foot over the blue line before the puck is she looked at me like I had attempted to eat one of her young. In the third period one of the Blazer players blocked a shot...with his throat...and stayed down on the ice for a while. The referee blows the whistle and stands over the fallen player while the trainer comes out and does his job. One of these imbeciles takes this opportunity to chastize the referee for everything that was ever done wrong to the player down on the ice. Not just in this game...but...in his life. When I commented to my dad that she was embarrassing herself she again looked at me as if I had eaten one of her young. When we left with a couple of minutes left in the game she made a comment about people not speaking unless they know what they are talking about. That young one that I referred to...well...I didn't eat it but it may have a better chance if I had. Just sayin...!

Any comment concerning Texas football and OU football is likely to become the talk of the day...anywhere down here. It has been reported that the University of Texas placed a trophy or picture of the team on their locker room wall or somewhere in Austin claiming that Texas was the actual Big 12 Football Champion last year and added their own asterisk to it. Lesson three...asterisks are generally not considered a good thing...unless...apparently...it is associated with Texas football. I mean...ask Barry Bonds what he thinks of asterisks and he will probably tell you...in his own special way. Fortunately there is a man of sound mind and body in Austin, TX...we assume. Mack Brown ordered the thing taken down. But not before probably 2/3 of the population in Oklahoma rambled on about it all day. But...you know...down here...it is what it is...and thats what was!

My nephew is a huge Phil Mickelson fan and I...like many...enjoy the exploits of Tiger Woods. But we watched something the other day that was just plain...painful! Lesson four...show the same type of patience during a Tiger Woods press conference that you would at...say...a...hockey game in Oklahoma City. I was embarrassed by the questions that were asked of Woods. People think he is arrogant and cocky and carries an attitude about him. Maybe...and I'm just spitballing here...but...maybe...he is being kind when he anwers these asinine questions with short and quick answers. These people should be lucky he answers them at all. "What would you tell the first time Masters player who is 39 and will be teeing off  for the first time at Augusta?" Woods said he would tell him to hit it straight and make your putts. After a bit of a laugh the questions just got so...tedious! "How do you feel when you come here for the 15th year in a row?" Like they expect him to tell them it ain't no big deal. Just another course and another tournament. "How important was it to you to win at Bayhill before the Masters?" C'mon! How important do you think it was? If not to win at least to be in the hunt. This guy missed 8 months with reconstructive knee surgery. He is Tiger Woods but even he needs to know if all of the juices will flow again and if he is physically up to it. "Can Padraig Harrington win the Grand Slam and win all 4 majors in a year?" What was Tiger supposed to say to that? No! Of course not! He gave the perfect answer. Sure he can, he's done it! But it takes an awful lot to play that well in those settings four times in a row. But the topper was the guy who asked him after the first round 70 what it was about Wood's not being able to break 70 on the first day here. Tiger's response, "So, I've won it 4 times." I don't care what other people think about Woods...I kind of like the way he deals with the press. Short and sweet and in their face.

Enjoy your achievments while you can. Lesson five...you may not have a long time to do that. There is a certain young pitcher for the California Angels who pitched 6 scoreless innings the other night against the Oakland Athletics and was killed in a car accident later that night. A man who was intoxicated and over the leagl limit ran a minivan through a stoplight and killed the young pitcher and 2 others. There are so many lessons here that it wouldn't be fair to even try and list them. But the greatetst lesson of all would be...IF PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY LEARN ANYTHING FROM TRAGEDIES LIKE THIS! Sadly, this will continue to happen because people don't learn the lesson.

And finally, I visit the cemetarys where my grandparents and where my mom are buried when I get home...at least as often as I can. I'm 50 this year and for the first time I thought of things like the lessons they taught me when I was young and they were still with us. I thought of the moments of youth when I didn't listen to their advice and the lessons I learned from those outcomes. I remember the times when they told me my actions were inappropriate or unacceptable and that if the behavior continued I wouldn't be doing the things I really enjoyed doing until I changed them. Didn't take long for the behaviors to change because I understood and I respected those around me who had been there...and done that...and only wanted things to be better for me.

Lesson six...those people and those lessons are the ones that really matter. Not the bone-head who knows nothing about a game that shouldn't be played in a state that can't support it (1,000 people at a playoff game for a team that won 39 regular season games this year.) Not a bunch of people who have the time to waste on celebrating something that isn't theirs, and not reporters who ask insanely stupid questions because they can't think of asking anything that really matters to ask. The lessons from my youth and from my elders have helped to shape who I am today. I don't thank them often enough. But...I should. Thanks to all of those who taught me well. I hope I'm able to repay that in some way.

And that's the bottom line...

BOOMER SOONER!!!

This humble Sooner fan say's...congratulations to the Florida Gators, Utah, USC and the Texas Longhorns. Everyone ended up where they belong...ahead of the Sooners after the NC loss. I have no problems.

Well, actually I do but it is more with OU coaching staff than with anyone else. I said it last year and I'll say it again. Why does the game plan always seem to change in bowl games from what got them there. Three straight off tackle running plays from the 1 yard line. The same freakin' play and formation? With Jermaine Gresham and the Heisman Trophy winning QB (And I couldn't care less about hearing your differing opinions on that) on the field. Take the ball out of the hands of the guys who made it work for you all year? Are you freakin' kiddin' me? Leaving 14 points on the field from the red zone was killer against Florida.

And when Tebow realized OU hadn't taken control of the game...he did! I like to give credit where credit is due. If he is not the best college football player I have ever seen in person...he is damn well one of 'em! And Venables didn't have an answer for the 5th year in a row. The Sooner D looked like it had never seen that shovel pass in all of the film thay watched. NO ANSWER. And I can't help but think that there has to be an answer for Tebow when he starts to run...every other down! NOPE! Alas...it wasn't the Sooner D that let us down. The offense disappeared. To some extent credit Florida's D. I was there and the only yards after the catch I remember an OU receiver getting was on Gresham's second TD catch. Manny Johnson's hands disappeared and Juaquin Iglesias was non-existent. Of course, Duke Robinson acting like a one man "call a penalty on me" machine didn't help! All-Americans don't play that undisciplined on this big a stage. We went to a restaraunt after the game and found a couple of tables of Sooner faithful who were all grumbling the same things. Oh, well...it is what it is! And now we wait until next year. And probably longer than that if Bradford goes and with the graduation of the entire offensive line.

And I'm outta here! I have way too much going on with the job and coaching to do much of this blogging right now. And the constant bickering on this site has me a bit burned out. I just spent 3 days in the sun of South Florida with my dad and my sister and despite the outcome of the game...I had a blast. But now it is on to business. Reverend Rhythm...congrats and it is too bad we didn't hook up. The coeds in the blue nd orange sundresses were an added pleasure but, alas, not enough.

And that's the bottom line...

BOOMER SOONER!!!