Emails in on OU women & Texas’ asterisk

The new emails are in, and it’s heavy on women’s basketball, with a little on college football.

Larry, a resident Texas Tech fan, wrote about asteriskgate, Texas’ claim to the 2008 Big 12 football title. “Can you believe those guys? Disgusting! Is there anything more irritating than a bunch of people who just can’t concede that their team actually lost fair and square?”

I think Larry is trying to start something.

John: Every OU fan going to the OU-Texas game this season should wear a t-shirt that says Big 12 Champions.”

Winning the game would be a more impressive statement.

Steve wrote, “I am certainly glad I am not from Oklahoma, but just live here. I have a heart problem and I feel all the angst Oklahomans are feeling over the asterisk might cause me another heart attack, if I cared. I guess it is good for space filler. I wish the sports writers at the Oklahoman would realize that not everybody that reads the sports section cares one bit about Oklahoma football or basketball or any of their sports. I am a sports writer who has covered national sports from World Series games in Florida and Minnesota, when the Marlins and Twins were champions, to college hockey championships and professional hockey in Minnesota. And Shaquille O’ Neal when he was a kid with Orlando and was being schooled by Michael Jordan in the NBA playoffs. I am a huge college football fan but could care less about the U of Oklahoma and would like to read more about the entire world of college football, not just the little piece of it occupied not very well by the Sooners. I am now covering a little high school softball, track and football, while waiting to die from congestive heart failure. I am being kept alive by the great cardiologists at the OU Health Center. More should be written about theses great physicians and the work they do than the football and basketball teams. At least the doctors are successful. All my friends all over the country and world are amazed that it took my coming to Oklahoma to have my problems diagnosed and treated properly. Doctors in Florida were treating me for TIA’s or small strokes, instead of heart trouble. I have a major wish which is probably a pipe dream. It is that the next time Oklahoma is offered a spot in the national championship football game, they either decline the invitation, or in a perfect world, the invitation is never made again until the once-mighty Sooners can prove they can win a low level college bowl game a couple of years in a row.”

Wow. Nothing like dying bitter.

Roger: “Three years ago, Kelvin Sampson signed some highly rated high school players but left for Indiana before they got to play for OU. Because of the coaching change, the players were permitted to void their written letters of intent. One of the players who left OU was Scottie Reynolds. Ironically, point guard was probably OU’s weakest position this year. Imagine if Reynolds was teamed with the Griffin boys this year, and Austin Johnson was just a good sixth man. That change alone would be enough for OU to make the Final Four. It seems wrong when a player is allowed to change his mind after he has signed a letter of intent. To change his mind after a verbal commitment is much like breaking off an engagement; voiding a written letter of intent seems more like being left at the altar. There must be a logical way to ensure that coaches are not recruited until after their last game is over or until the Final Four is over. Let schools have the months of April thru June to hire a new coach who is currently with another school. Players can sign a binding letter only after July 1. Similar rules of course are needed for football.”

How about this for an idea. Coaches honor contracts. Then all problems are solved.

Bill wrote about the OU women’s loss to Louisville. “Stevenson’s shot didn’t go in, for sure. but something else didn’t happen and that was not one foul was called on Louisville on their offensive end, and if you check your TIVO will see that the Cardinals fouled just about every time. and the foul called on Hand after she got an offensive rebound and was mugged, with the score 58-58, was a referee-initiated turning point in the game. As was the traveling on Ashley Paris a minute later.”

Blaming refs is for losers.

Greg: “Frankly, I thought the game came down to allowing the Louisville star, McCoughtry to run track on the next to last basket for Louisville, and then, at the other end of the floor, call traveling on Ashley as she made a basket getting judo chopped to the face by not one, not two, but three Louisville players. Not to mention they pushed her about two feet from her initial shooting stance. Women’s officiating, even in the Final Four, lags so far behind the men at this level. The Courtney phantom foul on her third was just another instance.”

Blaming refs is for losers. But women’s basketball officiating does stink.

Bob: “My opinion in brief is that Courtney Paris should have kept her mouth shut to begin with. Talk about providing motivation for Louisville! Joe Namath is the only person I recall who delivered on a guarantee of this magnitude. Even more disappointing was Bubba Paris’s comments calling out Sherri Coale. Great way to show your support for the team and promote cohesiveness. He is all about what is wrong with sports, and the meism present in athletics today.”

So, Bob, is it your stance that if Courtney had said nothing, Louisville would have played in its first Final Four with something less than 100 percent motivation?