Berry Tramel

Thoughts from The Oklahoman Sports Columnist Berry Tramel

Ranking the playoff games January 31, 2008 | Comment on this article

Here’s how good are the NFL playoffs. The Green Bay-Giant epic, played in the deep freeze of Lambeau two weeks ago, is the best game of the bunch, but not by a longshot. It wasn’t an easy decision, even though New York’s overtime victory is one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Here are the 10 playoff... Read More

Hello, circus January 29, 2008 My first Super Bowl Media Day came on familiar territory. I was in Glendale, Ariz., just four weeks ago for the Fiesta Bowl. University of Phoenix Stadium looks rather different now. Oh, the stadium seems the same, but the grounds have been transformed. The entire stadium grounds are fenced off, and the... Read More

Getting it from both sides January 29, 2008 Before I filed my column Monday night, I had received two emails from Bedlam basketball fans. An OSU fan wanted me to address the OU fans who chanted “OSU sucks!” near the end of the game. An OU fan wanted me to address the cheap-shot fouls he thought the Cowboys committed. Let me be perfectly clear. I am... Read More

Going to the circus January 28, 2008 Tomorrow I fly to Phoenix for Super Bowl media day. I expect disorganized chaos. I’ve never been to a Super Bowl media day, when literally thousands of journalists, some legit, some not, descend on the stadium along with each team. The questions asked are classic. It was at a Super Bowl media day that... Read More

Separation in Big 12 basketball January 27, 2008 Blake Griffin’s performance Saturday in Waco, Texas, was nothing short of amazing: 17 points, 15 rebounds in his first game after suffering a knee sprain and almost three weeks earlier than some projections on his return. Griffin didn’t look exactly like his old self. The explosiveness wasn’t... Read More

No promotions for the Ryans January 26, 2008 It appears to be another NFL off-season when the league’s franchises say no Buddy Ryan’s boys. I keep waiting for one of the Ryan brothers to be promoted to NFL head coach. They certainly seem to have earned their stripes. The Ryans turned around the defenses of the Bedlam rivals in the late 1990s. Rob... Read More

Best jobs in America January 25, 2008 An OSU fan engaged me in some dialogue about the Cowboy basketball job. How good is it? It’s an excellent question, and one of my favorite topics, discussing the status of various jobs in college football and basketball. A couple of years ago, I ranked the best college basketball jobs in America. Here’s how I... Read More

Coaches grades are in January 24, 2008 Coacheshotseat.com is a fun website. During the college football season, it ranks coaches’ job security, trying to figure out who might be staying and who might be going. It’s not to be taken seriously; the website has no credibility, I don’t even know who runs it. It’s for amusement only. Not... Read More

Let’s see the Cowgirls January 23, 2008 The state’s biggest college basketball game of the week, at least before Sunday, is not on television. Oklahoma State’s women at Texas. OU-Texas Tech tonight in Norman is on KWTV, but that’s a sidelight to the Big 12′s big game. Can the Cowgirls, 4-0 in the Big 12, keep winning? No reason to... Read More

Boone the owner January 22, 2008 Some OSU fans are upset this morning that I referred to Boone Pickens as the OSU “owner.” I don’t know why. I’ve done it before. And it is an accurate analogy. OSU’s athletic department is modeled, by accident or design I don’t know, after a major-league franchise. The Cowboys have an owner who funds... Read More

I told you so January 21, 2008 This really isn’t my nature, but I’ve been doing radio with Jim Traber for three months, so some of this can’t be helped. But I told you so. When it comes to Eli Manning, I told you so. I told you eight days ago, in previewing the Giants-Cowboys playoff game, that New York had a big-time quarterback, but... Read More

Analyzing the Big 12 race January 20, 2008 Wild day in Big 12 men’s basketball. Six games, and only one blowout, and that blowout came in what figured to be the game of the day, Texas A&M at Kansas State. The Wildcats rolled 75-54. Three games were decided by two points: Texas 69-67 over Colorado, Baylor 72-70 over Nebraska and OU 63-61 over Texas... Read More

Scheduling idea for OSU football January 19, 2008 OSU football is contemplating moving its Oct. 4 home game against Texas A&M to a Thursday night, Oct. 2, for ESPN. Personally, I hope the Cowboys do it, because that means I could get to both games that week, OSU-A&M and OU-Baylor. Not that I’m in any hurry to see Baylor, but I like to see both teams as... Read More

The Iowa connection January 18, 2008 Jay Norvell’s return to the OU staff reinstates the Iowa connection that once was so prevalent among Bob Stoops’ coaches. For a month in 2002, Stoops’ staff was awash in ex-Hawkeyes. The Stoops brothers, ex-Iowa safeties. Chuck Long, the Hawkeyes’ great quarterback from the 1980s. Jonathan Hayes, a tight... Read More

Starting to build in Stillwater January 17, 2008 Four days after Gallagher-Iba Arena filled to the brim for Bedlam women’s basketball, and Oklahoma State celebrated the historic night with an 82-63 thrashing of the Sooners, here were the attendance figures: OU drew 5,400 fans for a game against Nebraska. OSU women drew less than 3,000 for a game against... Read More

Stoops can’t hide his feelings January 16, 2008 We in the media have not talked to Bob Stoops since his three juniors have turned pro. Instead, OU has released a statement from Stoops about each player. And Stoops could not be more transparent on his feelings concerning each decision. First, Malcolm Kelly. “We’re excited for Malcolm and his family,”... Read More

Pulling for Reed January 15, 2008 The loss of Curtis Lofton to the NFL draft puts OU in a bad way for linebacking. But maybe it opens a spot for Mike Reed. The junior-college hotshot was supposed to be OU’s linebacker savior a year ago. But he never made much progress, due to personal problems and unfamiliarity with the defense. Reed ended up... Read More

Barry Sanders’ special year January 13, 2008 ESPN.com has tried to put Tom Brady’s spectacular season in perspective. The Patriots quarterback threw an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes this season. How epic of a year is that? ESPN.com ranked the 25 greatest individual single-seasons in sports history. Barry Sanders’ 1988 season at Oklahoma State ranked... Read More

A Saturday of hoops January 13, 2008 I wrote an NFL column for Sunday’s paper, so I didn’t have a basketball assignment. I could have gone to any of the three interesting games: Texas Tech at OSU men, with Bobby Knight going for his 900th win; Kansas State at OU men, in the matchup of great freshmen; or Bedlam women, with the Cowgirls trying... Read More

A Heisman for Vince? January 12, 2008 Some people are speculating that Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy will be vacated. I don’t know if the Downtown Athletic Club can force Bush to give back the hardware, but it certainly can remove him from the rolls and annual honors. That’s the thing about the Heisman; it’s an ongoing award. Steve Owens has... Read More