Somewhere, out there in the Sooner Nation, there is still grumbling.
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It may be your brother-in-law, or your too-eager insurance agent or that guy who always falls asleep in the back row at church, but you've heard it.
"How could Coach Stoops do this again?! What an embarrassment!”
"Are we ever going to win a bowl game again?”
"I think I'm going to set fire to my foam Sooner Schooner novelty hat!”
Dismay, thy name is Sooner fan.
But, take heart, if you hear someone in the middle of a Defcon 1 College Football freakout, Mr. Monday is here to lend a hand.
The solution isn't to focus on the immediate problems, like petty theft and poor tackling, but like a good American, to consider just how much worse it could be.
•For example, think of all of the teams that have done so much worse on much, much bigger stages — the Buffalo Bills, the French Army throughout the 20th Century, Mike Dukakis.
All of those folks were saying two things. One, at least we got to the championship. Second, we should have never gotten into that tank.
The same goes for the Sooners. They should be pleased with the fact that they made it to a BCS bowl — and were only blown out two times! — instead of going to the Alamo Bowl.
And they've never been occupied by Germany.
Good for them.
•Good thing for your OU fan friends, soon all will be forgotten. Sports fans will move on to more important things like American Idol and Roger Clemens' appearances before a Congressional committee.
And, thanks to the writer's strike, it's only a matter time before Channel 5 reruns the 2000 National Championship game again and that will make everyone forget the loss to West Virginia.
Why scratch your head about no one being able to wrap up on Noel Divine when you can get another chance to applaud the heady play of punter Jeff Ferguson after he gave Florida State that safety.
•Finally, friends, it's a new year, time to set goals for yourself.
One goal should be to not put so much emotional stake in the lives of 20-year-old men.
Here's a New Year's resolution for you instead.
Don't worry about the whims and plays of college athletes any more.
It's recruiting season.
Wrap your life around the whims and plays of 17-year-olds instead.
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Have been out of town for a few days since the Tuesday night debockle, but sorry, I have to comment. You can mention all the other Bowl Games the Sooners have lost, but it is pretty bad when all the Big 12 teams you defeated in 2007, went on to win all their Bowl Games, should be a total embarassment to Bob Stoops and the whole team! Hell, essentially, they bailed out the bowl performances of the Big 12's biggest loser, OKLAHOMA! There really are no acceptable excuses from team or coaches. Get your act together.....quickly! You've been given the benefit of the doubt too many times as it is! Also, I am sorry Stoops will allow Granger to continue to attend and play for Oklahoma. Please don't make excuses for his demonstrated poor character, no matter how good a player he is. All the gifts he was given along with the other players, and he shows his gratitude by he is in reality, just another thief! Of course, you could give him another chance and he might become another Michael Vick!
George (and any other OU fan with the same opinion) your attitude is weak and chicken----. Give Coach Stoops a call and request that we shoot for 4th or 5th in the Big XII so we can win our bowl game? Better yet, how about playing Union High School in the Oklahoma high school championship game and roll by 70. You're an idiot. I would like to see OU perform better in their bowl, but win the Big XII and a BCS invite and you're playing a conference champion who is a top 5 type team. Start listing better programs over the past 9 years... USC, ....? The BCS is 116 teams' goal. Only 10 get in. Where did Boise St. bowl this year? Where was West Virginia in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007 bowl games? Look it up.
Kent, you're wrong in part of your assumption. We do NOT "always play the right way." Did you WATCH our games against CU, Tech, and WVU? Did we play the "right way?" Ummm, no. Don't go tooting a horn that we haven't dusted off in recent memory.
What a bunch of bull, when you show you have the talent and ability to be the best team in the country, like in the big twleve championship game against Mo., and then you put on a performance like you did against W. V., then you deserve the criticism. In four games Bob Stoops has not had his players ready to play, I'd ratehr play in the Cotton Bowl and win, than play USC and get blown out, or get beat by Boise State, or get beat by a one dimensional team like W.V., it was an embarrassment. Stoops can't get his players to perform at a consistant level, and that's fine but don't tell us all the excuses and how we should be grateful that we are stuck in a position that always leaves us depressed at the end of the season. It's called character - and the soooners don't have it!!!
We should all ask ourselves several questions. Would we prefer any of our last three head coaches back instead of Bob? Or who out there is really a better coach, a better person, or runs a better program. While we may not always win we play the right way and everyone is held accountable for their actions. So while I was as mad as anyone at the outcome of the game, I remain exteremly proud, faithful, and loyal to the best program in college football. Boomer Sooner
Well OU has company now with Ohio State. Though the Bugeyes fought until the end instead of going on to the running game. LSU is the best team this year. Hell yes I'm still bitter. Boomer Sooner will rule again!
We've experienced about everything you can in a major bowl game, so Bob and our coaches should now be able to figure out how to prepare us for a national championship run in the near future. Boomer Sooner!
As a show of good sportsmanship, I'm thinking Bob Stoops has already called Les Miles to congratulate him on winning the National Championship that the Sooners pissed away.
George, my friend, allow me some more "minutia." Technically, OU also runs the spread offense. Is ours "the same" as Mizzou and WVU? Hardly. Calling all spread offenses the same is like lumping the Taurus, the Focus and the Shelby 500 GT in the same boat because they are all Fords. C'mon, man. Show a bit more sense than that.
""Apparently he is the only one that can't remember what Boise State, LSU, and USC did to us""...LSU barely beat OU by 7 in a "home" game and Boise beat us by one point and only by going last in OT and choosing to go for 2 instead....Break here and there and we are looking at 2-2 in the last four BCS bowls with a 2nd NC...Couple of embarrassing ones over the last five years no doubt, but I'm loving all the wins over our conference foes..Rather be able to talk trash to Horn and Poke fans than 'Eer fans
Is this guy kidding? So what you are saying is, I shouldn't expect my Sooners to go and win their bowl games, because they did good earlier in the year? That sounds like someone that wants to criticize the Sooner nation that expects more from it's football team than what they gave in Arizona. And notice, No one is blaming the players. It's quite obvious that it's not their fault that we haven't won these BCS bowls for 4 years. And this idiot is also saying we have short memories. Apparently he is the only one that can't remember what Boise State, LSU, and USC did to us. I think we need not only a better defensive cordinator, but a better sports analyst on this web page. He's obviously a moron and not a real Sooner fan.
They say that a loss is a loss, and it all goes down hard. But losing in a rout is harder still. Now you can say that such things happen. And they do. If you can remember a guy named Biletnikoff pulling in nearly 200 yards of passes against us for Florida State, or that horrible day in Norman, the last time we played West Virginia, then you can appreciate how a great team can have a VERY BAD DAY. In both of those games OU was unable to match up. Miami did it to us, too. But this situation is different. We DID match up. Check out the Mizzou game. We lacked FIRE during the first half, and in the second half Bob Stoops committed the coaching equivalent of premature ejaculation and the whole team wound up in front of a bus. Now THAT hurs.
I'm not sure losing 21-14 and dropping a game tying touchdown pass at the end of the game warrants a "pistol whip" in the sugar bowl, sounds like a pretty good game to me....
Maybe you guys should re-read the article, because either you're missing the point or you're spoiled because you became a fan in 2000. Move on...or go jump on another bandwagon.
I find all of this discussion amusing and totally un-warranted. Apparently Sooner fans have short memories. I submit one piece of evidence. Oklahoma 28-Texas 21. It was a very good year. Thank you Sooners. Don in Midlothian, Twxas
George from Plano, I'm not looking down at my nose at OU. I never said I was an OU fan, I never said I was an OSU fan. I'm just pointing out something I see as a basic difference between the 2 programs. Those 2 differences bring out the reactions from their respective fans. So you'd be happy with a 2 TD win the Insight bowl? Lighten up d-weed.
Not really. Here's what I'm saying...OU has a great team, one of the best in the country. If you look at recent BCS games, the participants are pretty much a select group of teams. OU is a team that has played in a BCS bowl 6 of the last 8 years. The other two years, they played in a 2nd tier bowl (Cotton, Holiday). Those are the bad years. I agree that something has to happen to improve the performance in those bowls, but I strongly disagree with your earlier statement that you'd rather be winning an Alamo Bowl (which is a third-tier bowl by my estimate) than losing a BCS bowl. I too want to end the season on a good note, but let's not dismiss the good. OU consistently competes for conference championship and remains viable in the national championship discussion. No other conference school--not even Texas--can say that.
All I can say is that it is a good thing for Sooners that the annual Bedlam game is not OSU's bowl game, like many suggest is the reason OSU usually plays OU so well.
Bottom line...I would rather go to the Alamo Bowl and win then go to the Fiesta Bowl and get pistol whipped,...errr, go to the Sugar Bowl and get pistol whipped...errr go to the Orange Bowl and get pistol whipped...err go to the Fiesta and bet beat by Boise State. What a boring discussion board! I'm out of here.
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