Berry Tramel

Thoughts from The Oklahoman Sports Columnist Berry Tramel

OU football: UConn women’s streak eerily mimics Wilkinson’s December 31, 2010 | Comment on this article

The Connecticut women’s basketball winning streak ended at 90 games Thursday night. UConn lost at Stanford, the last team to beat the Huskies before Thursday night. The UCLA men’s basketball streak reached 88 games in January 1974 before a loss at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, in January 1971, were the... Read More

Big 12 football: Stinking in bowl games December 31, 2010 The Big 12 as we know it is going out with a whimper. Kansas State lost 36-34 to Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl. I know, the ‘Cats got screwed by a horrible call, but look at it this way. Even without the celebration penalty on that late touchdown, K-State had only a 25 percent chance to win in overtime: 50-50... Read More

OU football: Sooners rise from the ’09 ashes December 30, 2010 Bob Stoops gathered his team before this season and made a point. No Sam Bradford, no Jermaine Gresham, no Brody Eldridge. But don’t forget, the Sooners didn’t have those guys last year, during the injury malaise that struck the Sooners. Look around, Stoops said. Basically the same guys OU played with... Read More

OSU football: What was Blackmon thinking? December 30, 2010 Justin Blackmon went all DeSean Jackson on us Wednesday night in the Alamo Bowl. With an easy touchdown, yards behind the Arizona defense, Blackmon curved left and ran parallel to the goal line, prolonging a 71-yard touchdown play. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Jackson did the same the other day on a final-play punt... Read More

Replay: Berry Tramel Power Lunch chat December 30, 2010 Power Lunch: Live chat with columnist Berry Tramel Read More

Big 12 football: Mizzou drops the ball December 29, 2010 I believe in bowl games as a barometer for conference strength, for a very simple reason. There is no other barometer. Most college football programs have surrendered to easy schedules; there aren’t enough interleague games in September to determine conference strength. Most BCS-league schools play just one... Read More

OU football: Staff morale should be high December 29, 2010 Bob Stoops has lost five coordinators in his 12 seasons as the Oklahoma football coach. He has promoted from within all five times. On defense, Brent Venables replaced Mike Stoops. On offense, Mark Mangino replaced Mike Leach, Chuck Long replaced Mangino, Kevin Wilson replaced Long and Josh Heupel replaced... Read More

OU football: Venables becoming vocal leader December 28, 2010 This is going to sound strange, but Brent Venables is becoming a vocal leader for the Sooner football team. I know, I know, how can a 40-year-old defensive coordinator, a 12-year member of Bob Stoops’ staff, be a vocal leader. Or, if he can be, how could he not be before? But the truth about the Stoops Era is... Read More

OU football: Heupel says Landry maturing December 28, 2010 I wrote about Landry Jones for the Tuesday Oklahoman, and my hope was that OU fans would realize they’ve got a pretty good quarterback on their hands. Not a superstar. Not yet, anyway, and maybe not ever. But a really good quarterback who can get things done. “Ultimately, you determine a guy off wins and... Read More

OU football: Fiesta Bowl is no Sun December 27, 2010 A year ago at this time, the Oklahoma Sooners were in El Paso, preparing for the Sun Bowl and being told where not to go. Now, it’s Notre Dame’s and Miami’s turn. The Sun Bowl story from Sunday was that the Fighting Irish and Hurricanes will not be allowed to travel over the border into Juarez. Notre Dame... Read More

OU football: Heupel to be upstairs December 27, 2010 New OU offensive coordinator Josh Heupel will be upstairs for the Fiesta Bowl. Heupel said Monday he would watch the game from the pressbox. Heupel has been on the field during his five years as the Sooner quarterback coach. Kevin Wilson, OU’s offensive coordinator those five years, has been up in the booth... Read More

OU football: Fiesta Bowl pep rally December 26, 2010 Here’s a strange day in the sports business: Fly to Phoenix to begin coverage of the Fiesta Bowl, read Death to the BCS on the Southwest Airlines jet, then cover the teams’ arrival at Sky Harbor Airport, at which the Fiesta Bowl puts on a rousing welcome. Mariachi band. A couple of hundred volunteers who form... Read More

NFL Network: Minor-league telecasts December 24, 2010 I’ve watched every NFL Network game this season, and I have a question. Why are the NFL Network telecasts so inferior to CBS’, FOX’s and ESPN’s? Everything from audio/video sync, timing on commercials, quality of announcers, the NFL Network clearly is a step below the more-established networks. If this... Read More

Chat with Berry Tramel at 11 a.m. December 23, 2010 Chat with sports columnist Berry Tramel at 11 a.m. Read More

Thunder: Schedule about to even up December 23, 2010 I like to scan the NBA standings every day. All kinds of good stuff in there. Today, I focused on the schedules. The Thunder is 20-10. That’s 30 games. Half have been at the Ford Center (10-5) and half have been on the road. With four straight home games coming up — Denver (Saturday), Dallas (Monday), New... Read More

OSU football: Holgorsen meets West Virginia media

December 22, 2010 West Virginia staged a press conference Wednesday for its soon-to-be offensive coordinator and eventual head coach, Dana Holgorsen, and its eventual ex-head coach, Bill Stewart. Mountaineer athletic director Oliver Luck has drawn fire for the way he’s staged this strange transition. WVU will 1) Play the Champs... Read More

OU football: The first coach-in-waiting

December 22, 2010 The coach-in-waiting is all the rage in college football and basketball, so much so that it’s starting to have enough failures that it might lose steam. Coach-in-waiting schemes at Texas and Maryland have blown up just this month. This is a formula that was officially started by DePaul with coach Ray Meyer... Read More

Let’s do lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings on NW Expressway December 22, 2010 Just because Christmas is fast approaching doesn’t mean we’ll skip Buffalo Wild Wings on Northwest Expressway. I’ll be there from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, like always, to meet sports fans and talk about anything you want to talk about. From 11-11:30 a.m., I’ll be doing my online chat live. Then... Read More

Grant Hill: Could ageless wonder score his age?

December 21, 2010 Sunday was a funny day. I sat in the Dallas Cowboys pressbox, directly below Calvin Hill, the 1969 Dallas tailback who now works for the organization. We talked about how old Calvin is; I guessed 63, since I knew he had a son of a certain age. Monday, we talked a little about that son. How Grant Hill threw the... Read More

OU football: Stoops lauds Stephenson December 21, 2010 Bob Stoops hadn’t staged a press conference since the Big 12 championship game, so Tuesday he took the time to laud the players who performed exceptionally well against Nebraska. And to me, the most notable name on the list was Donald Stephenson. The offensive tackle had been considered a rising star early in... Read More