Berry Tramel

Thoughts from The Oklahoman Sports Columnist Berry Tramel

Oklahoma City Thunder: What if James Harden had signed? October 31, 2012 | Comment on this article

The Thunder offered James Harden $53 million. Harden wanted a maximum contract; somewhere between $58 million and $60 million over four years. So the Thunder traded Harden to Houston. What if the Thunder dodged a bullet? What if the Thunder had signed Harden to the $53 million deal? Do you have any idea what... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Finishing the Ibaka/Harden debate October 31, 2012 Remember back in July, when we wondered if the Thunder would sign Serge Ibaka or James Harden or both or neither? There was much debate about which one the Thunder would keep if it had to choose. Well, the answer was, the Thunder tried to keep both. The Thunder signed Ibaka to a four-year, $49-million contract... Read More

Oklahoma State football: Repeat of 2008 Missouri? October 31, 2012 OSU, ranked but not high, goes into Big 12 North territory to face the No. 2 team in the land, seeking to turn the conference football race on its ear. Saturday at Kansas State? Yes. But also Oct. 11, 2008, at Missouri. Reader Randy Lara emailed me, pointing out the similarities between the the Cowboys’... Read More

College football: Who’s left in the national championship race October 30, 2012 Here’s my theory on the annual national championship race. You’re never out of it until you have two losses. Which, of course, is not good news for the Sooners or the Cowboys. But the theory has been solid except for 2007, when a wacky season ended with LSU as the national champ. Those Bayou Bengals had two... Read More

Oklahoma football: Bob Stoops making excuses

October 30, 2012 Bob Stoops talked Monday of being “on the wrong side of some judgment calls” against Notre Dame. He was referring to the holding call against Bronson Irwin on Blake Bell’s touchdown run late in the second quarter, and the no-interference call when linebacker Dan Fox broke up a fourth-quarter pass intended for... Read More

Oklahoma State football: Beware K-State’s defense October 30, 2012 To upset second-ranked Kansas State on Saturday, OSU needs a big game out of its offense. But even that will be a tall order. Hidden by all the Collin Kleinmania is this little nugget. The Wildcats are playing some defense. KSU is 13th nationally in scoring defense, 17.1 points a game. The ‘Cats are 30th in... Read More

Oklahoma football: What happens to uptempo offense? October 29, 2012 Two big questions from OU fans after the Notre Dame game. Why not more uptempo, and why not abandon the running game, which largely was ineffective, in favor of the passing game, which at times was effective. The two questions are not unrelated. OU’s uptempo offense had some nice moments, early in the game... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: What the James Harden trade means October 29, 2012 The James Harden trade has given the Thunder a new look. Time to move on. How does the Thunder look with its revamped roster? This is what the trade means: 1. The Thunder will miss Harden, no doubt about it. He’s a better offensive player than Kevin Martin, his replacement in the rotation. Martin is a good... Read More

Oklahoma City Thunder: Analyzing the James Harden trade October 29, 2012 I’ve used Jon Hamm in my blog before. He’s a network and systems administrator for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation whose hobby is the NBA. Hamm follows the Thunder and contributes to Larry Coon’s website, which tries to decipher all the intricacies of the NBA labor agreement. Anyway, Hamm... Read More

Big 12 football: Weekly rankings October 28, 2012 The weekly Big 12 football rankings don’t change much this week. The league is settling into some order: 1. Kansas State (5-0, 8-0): The Wildcats are having a special season. Can they win out? K-State finishes at home with OSU, at TCU, at Baylor and home with Texas. 2. Oklahoma (3-1, 5-2): The Sooners’... Read More

Oklahoma football: 1952-53 Notre Dame games the best October 26, 2012 The Oklahoma-Notre Dame series is marked by two things: the Irish’s epic 7-0 upset in 1957, which ended the Sooners’ 47-game winning streak, and Notre Dame’s 8-1 series domination. That overshadows the wondrous 1952 and 1953 games, which kicked off the series. Notre Dame won 27-21 in 1952 at South Bend and... Read More

Oklahoma football: Sooners to commemorate 1957 game October 26, 2012 OU will commemorate the 1957 Oklahoma-Notre Dame game by making Clendon Thomas and Jay Wilkinson honorary captains. Thomas was a 1957 all-American halfback who played in the Sooners’ 7-0 loss to Notre Dame, which ended OU’s 47-game winning streak. Wilkinson is the son of Bud Wilkinson, who coached the Sooners... Read More

Oklahoma football: More Notre Dame recollections October 26, 2012 Man, what a week. We’ve been writing our butts off about OU-Notre Dame, and the history of the series has prompted all kinds of memories and recollections from readers. We’ve written about some of them, but some didn’t really fall into a category, so I thought I would share them with you. WAYNE... Read More

Oklahoma football: Notre Dame tickets in hot demand October 26, 2012 The OU-Notre Dame ticket appears to be the hottest in Sooner history. All kinds of reports of people paying into the thousands of dollars. End-zone seats in the $700 range. “It’s a good game,” Bob Stoops said. “Doesn’t surprise me.” Steve Owens told our man John Rohde that fellow Heisman Trophy... Read More

NFL Predictions: Week 8 October 25, 2012 The NFL’s Week 8 arrives, and there’s celebration in the American Football Conference. The AFC is up to three teams with winning records. Tampa Bay at Minnesota: Vikings 23-13. Adrian Peterson’s legend grows by the week. He’s fourth in the NFL in rushing, 93.1 yards a game, averaging 4.8 yards per carry.... Read More

College football predictions: Week 9 October 25, 2012 College football’s ninth week arrives with more showdowns. Four of the top five ranked teams play opponents ranked in the 15. Notre Dame at Oklahoma: Sooners 23-7. This one seems clear. Both teams have stellar defenses. OU has the much better offense. TCU at OSU: Cowboys 35-30. This is assuming Wes Lunt... Read More

Oklahoma football: More on PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY October 25, 2012 Outstanding correspondence on OU-Notre Dame continues to roll in. Yesterday, I heard from former OU punter Brad Reddell, who kicked for the Sooners from 1989-92. Reddell’s dad, John, was an excellent end on Bud Wilkinson’s great Sooner teams from 1950-52 and then became an iconic Texas high school coach. Also,... Read More

ESPN GameDay: WSU flag doesn’t have to go far October 25, 2012 On Oct. 18, 2003, ESPN GameDay was in Madison, Wisc., for a Wisconsin-Purdue game. A Washington State University flag appeared out of the crowd. That was Game 1 of a very impressive streak. Saturday on OU’s South Oval, the WSU flag will appear in the GameDay crowd for the 127th straight show. And this time,... Read More

Oklahoma football: More on PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY

October 24, 2012 Sam Muzny was a freshman walkon on the 1972 OU football. Muzny emailed me about my column in the Wednesday Oklahoman concerning the PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY sign that Bud Wilkinson mounted above the door in the OU locker room. You can read that column here. Anyway, Muzny now lives in Prague and volunteered... Read More

Oklahoma State football: All-purpose yardage leaders

October 24, 2012 I blogged about all-purpose yardage last week and ran the numbers for OU. So this week, let’s talk OSU all-purpose yardage, courtesy of OSU historian Chris Putnam. The Cowboys have some serious all-purpose numbers. Remember, all-purpose yardage is rushing, receiving, kickoff and punt returns, interception and... Read More