Berry Tramel

Oklahoma City might not have the best team in the NBA. That’s becoming more and more clear as this San Antonio series takes seed. But can we all agree that OKC has the most entertaining team in the NBA? Maybe the most entertaining team in sports. Of course, some define entertaining as...

The New Orleans Hornets won the NBA Draft Lottery — they will pick first in the draft and get Kentucky star Anthony Davis. And for those who say the NBA rigged the lottery to reward Hornets owner Tom Benson for buying the franchise, I say, it’s about time the league did something smart. The...

Yesterday, we saw how the ACC has really produced solid non-conference schedules. Today, we return to normalcy. The Big Ten largely isn’t interested in a quality September. The Michigan schools are a notable exception, of course. Let’s compare the Big Ten to the Big 12 scheduling. Games...

Today we rank the ACC’s non-conference schedules, and what a switch from the Big 12. ACC teams actually play a competitive, entertaining schedule. I know it’s a beleaguered conference. I know it’s gone in one year from a hunter to the hunted. I know it sees itself as a basketball...

We’re driving home from San Antonio, not knowing if we’ll be back for a Game 5. It’s never sad to leave a city you have no use for. But that doesn’t describe San Antonio. I love San Antone. Hope to be back soon, if not for the Thunder’s sake, at least for mine. I was sitting in the...

I don’t know if the Thunder is going to be able to stop the Spurs. Certainly doesn’t seem so if the last five quarters are any indication. San Antonio has scored 39, 28, 27, 37 and 28 points. The Spurs have made 59 of 98 shots, 60.2 percent, over those 60 minutes. To win a game, much less...

In Game 1 of the Thunder-Spurs series, Manu Ginobili scored 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He spent 23 minutes and 21 seconds on the court with Thunder defensive whiz Thabo Sefolosha. Which means Ginobili spent 10:42 on the court without Sefolosha. Against Thabo, Ginobili scored 13 points in...

Big 12 football’s non-conference schedule stinks. I use the word “stinks” because my editors might get mad if I used the word “sucks.” So I didn’t. But it sucks, too. It’s an embarrassment. It’s an abomination. The next time you hear anyone in the Big 12 crowing about what a...

The Spurs turned nasty just in the nick of time. Now it’s the Thunder’s turn. Game 1 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals went San Antonio’s way Sunday night. The Spurs won 101-98 after coach Gregg Popovich’s “I want some nasty” speech captured his team’s attention and his...

The Spurs popped the Thunder 101-98 Sunday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, a game not as close as the score indicates, even though the Thunder led by nine with 111/2 minutes left. And here’s the sobering fact for the Thunder: these Baby Boomers, despite performances that...

There lots of comparisons between the Thunder and the Spurs, current combatants in the Western Conference. The most common comparison is the Big Three nature of both teams. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden for the Thunder. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili for the...

Big 12 expansion talk is boiling over. Who knows what’s valid and what’s not? But after the Big 12/SEC bowl partnership that was announced a week ago, the Big 12′s instability is a distant memory, and the Big 12 has become a desired locale for many schools. Clemson officials announced...

Tim Duncan hates Kevin Garnett. So says Chris Ballard’s recent Sports Illustrated profile of Duncan. The Spurs superstar and Garnett have been combatants for 15 years. Here’s an excerpt: “Duncan hates Kevin Garnett. Hates him the way liberals hate Sean Hannity. This information comes...

Earlier in the week, I wrote about the likely end of the Thunder Alley watch party in the wake of eight people being shot and the atmosphere on Reno Avenue turning ugly even before the gunplay. A similar situation ended the tradition of  Eskimo Joe’s anniversary weekend in Stillwater...

We’ve written a lot about Thunder Alley and the Monday night shooting. But I haven’t seen much in terms of peace officer viewpoint. I received an email from a cop and thought I would share it with you. “I am a law enforcement officer. Your recent write up on Oklahoma City getting a...

The Thunder Alley watch party is no more. The pregame street festival will continue, but the party ends at tipoff inside Chesapeake Arena. Many people are disappointed. Some have complained. Others have tried to think of solutions. Including this intriguing idea: move the watch party indoors....

If you’re like me, you need a reason to get interested in any one particular baseball game. So here’s a reason. Thursday night, 2004 Perkins-Tryon graduate Jeremy Hefner will be the starting pitcher for the New York Mets, who host the Padres. Here is Hefner’s story. He originally was...

Thunder Alley will return to being a pre-game festivity only. No more watch parties on the giant screen on Reno Avenue. I don’t know what other option the city had. The answer clearly was beefing up the police on duty, but the city can’t afford that. It’s not any more complicated than...

I got an interesting email Wednesday morning from Jay Crabb, who is a tax analyst over in Tulsa and occasionally writes me. He was responding to my column in the Wednesday Oklahoman about the shootings in Bricktown after the Thunder-Laker game. You can read that column here. Anyway, here...

Thunder-Spurs for the Western Conference Finals is going to be something. Most pundits already are proclaiming it the NBA Finals. You’ve got the Thunder organization’s desire to be all things Spurs. You’ve got the Riverwalk copycatting. You’ve got the lovable, laudable superstars in...