Storybook endings don’t write themselves

For one paragraph, I’m shedding my neutral journalist hat and trading it for an OSU fan hat:

Worst. Game. Ever.

(OK, back to unbiased fairness now.)

Rivalry runaway

Oklahoma smacked Oklahoma State in Bedlam football today, 27-0.

At first, I didn’t think the Sooners would lose two straight, and their egg-laying in Lubbock the previous week seemed to be too perfect of timing.

Also, I’ve seen the Cowboys blow one too many games. There’s this thing called the “Poke Choke” that gets them into trouble.

And, as with all rivalry games, throw the rankings out the window. An unranked OU team can beat a No. 11-ranked OSU team any day, as it showed Saturday.

But my confidence grew a bit as the week went on until seemingly all I heard was “BCS this” and “Fiesta that.” With so much on the line, how could the Cowboys possibly let a game this important slip away?

Placing blame

I read a number of interesting stats today on OSU’s woeful offense. Here’s one: OSU put up just 4 yards of offense in the second half. You’ve got to be kidding.

Blame the play-calling. Blame the butterfingers. Blame the quarterbacks.

But credit OU’s defense. The win wasn’t entirely due to the mystique of “The Streak.” True, there’s a little something magical going on that has led to the Sooners winning 30 straight at home, but they did have to work for it.

Recall that OU already had two shutouts at home this year. Granted, Idaho State and Tulsa aren’t world-beaters, but the zeros still count. OSU makes three.

No destiny involved

Some co-workers were saying thank goodness OU had the injuries it did, or else the score could have been much more gruesome.

I interjected with this: If OU had been healthier, would OSU have come more prepared and motivated?

It seemed to me that part of the reason why the Cowboys lost was that they just didn’t show up. It almost seemed like they thought they were destined to win, so even with a BCS bowl on the line, the motivation wasn’t there.

I read a very telling quote from Zac Robinson in Bill Haisten’s story: “It just wasn’t our day. They always play well at home, but we didn’t expect it to be like this.”

Really? You didn’t expect to lose 27-0? You didn’t expect to be limited to 44 passing yards? I have the utmost respect for Zac Robinson, especially for playing while hurt, but I think it’s clear he and the rest of the Cowboys expected to win that game. Coaches included.

All in all, I have to say as a longtime sports fan (at least since the late ’90s, so longtime for me), that was the worst football game I’ve ever seen. No, worst sporting event I’ve ever seen. Worse than the Stars giving up eight goals or the Rangers allowing 19 runs.

Bo-ring… mute it, please

I admit if I were a Sooner supporter, I probably wouldn’t say “worst game ever,” but OSU punted 14 times and only once even dipped a toe into OU territory. The game was downright boring.

I wonder how many people fell asleep while noshing on turkey leftovers. Personally, I watched the wedding episode of “The Office” to build up a live cache on my DVR because I was so tired of the play reviews and the idiotic commentary from the Fox announcers.

Seriously, you don’t have to remind your audience every time a call is reviewed that it’s a bang-bang play on the field and that we have the advantage of looking at it from multiple angles in slo-mo.

And Antoine Lucien? Who’s that? And it’s the 104th Bedlam, not the 103rd. Geez. I’m sure there were more goof-ups, but I did a lot of fast-forwarding between plays.

Expect OSU to rebuild, OU to return to dominance in 2010

Let me be the first to proclaim OSU’s 2010 season will be tinted with shades of ’05. And I’m not just being pessimistic; I’ve been chewing on this for a while. Check out OSU’s roster yourself. I count 14 key players lost to the NFL or graduation. The Cowboys truly did blow their chances for a BCS bowl this year.

OU will only be hungrier and more dominant next year. With the sheer volume of injuries and defections the Sooners have endured, it’s highly impressive they are bowl eligible. I fully expect OU to return to a BCS-bowl season in 2010.

Well, that’s it for the regular season of college football. I can’t believe it’s already over. I’m ready to sink my teeth into basketball season though. It’s always a nice change of pace.

Mike Singletary: Man on a mission

Wow!! Texas Tech just overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Texas A&M in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. Mike Singletary led the Red Raiders with 43 points, breaking the tournament scoring record of 38.

The game ended about 40 minutes before deadline. Go figure the best game of the night is the late game. My heart goes out to my colleagues at work tonight.

I have to admit this game was only on because we were too lazy to change the channel after OSU’s win over Iowa State. That was a good game too, although it was too close for comfort most of the game.

I’m really impressed by Marshall Moses. Finally, OSU has some kind of inside presence. I’m pumped for Bedlam III tomorrow.

You know what they say, it’s hard to beat a good team three times.

P.S. It’s Byron “EE-tawn”. Not “Ea-TAWN”. Stupid announcers.

Hard to watch

On a rare Saturday off, I spent the better part of a beautiful, 75-degree February afternoon indoors watching college basketball. And I’m a little frustrated.

First off, the world is not right when Oklahoma State sucks at basketball. (The men, not the women. The Cowgirls can hold their own.)

OSU got whooped by Kansas, 78-67, in Lawrence. Yes, the Jayhawks are ranked, defending national champions and were at the Phog.

But I don’t care. I hate OSU’s style of offense right now.

I admit I know much less about basketball strategy than baseball, football or hockey. But even I can tell when something is broken.

You live by the 3, you die by the 3. OSU died by it today. Missed shots all over the place. And when a shot would clank off the rim, a Kansas player nearly always snatched it up. That made for many short possessions, which is frustrating to watch. OSU gets the ball, brings it down the court, takes a quick shot from beyond the arc, misses, and it’s KU ball again. Over and over. It’s a very impatient offense.

My favorite thing to yell at the TV is “REBOUND!!!”, and I did that quite a bit today. (“FOUL!” is a close second.) It drives me crazy when no one is there to get the ball back after a missed shot.

I have to admit that when the system works, it is too much fun to watch. The 3-pointer is one of the most exciting plays in all of sports. I think it’s the delicious anticipation that occurs between the release and the swish. And I have seen it work for OSU this season against lesser competition. That style of offense is great when it works, but unbearable when it fails.

One more thing: While I love the exposure of nationally televised games, I hate the announcing. While I am certainly not the first person to complain about this, the mistakes were ridiculous today.

During the OU-Colorado game, the announcers were talking about the work ethic of Sooner bench player Ryan Wright, and how “Kelvin Sampson” works with him in practice. Really?! This is only Jeff Capel’s third season at OU! Give the man some credit.

And during the OSU-KU game, someone said Rotnei Clarke (a former Oklahoma high school standout) was at Mississippi State. He’s actually at Arkansas. Ugh.