Jenni Carlson Blog

Opinions from The Oklahoman sports columnist


  • Predictions for the New Year

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Wed, Dec 31, 2008

    Just a quick post to say best wishes to everyone in 2009. My bold prediction for 2009 — made earlier this week on The Press Row — is that the Thunder are going to make a significant off-season move. Not sure who it will be, but I believe that either by trade or by free-agent acquisition,...

  • Cowboys make quite a statement

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Mon, Dec 29, 2008

    Let’s take a little trip back in time. It’s not a long journey. Just a few months. Perhaps you’ll remember the talk before this football season about Oklahoma State. The Cowboys looked like they were going to be better with an experienced offense and an improving defense. But where were...

  • Sidekick to Slingin’ Sam

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Thu, Dec 25, 2008

    You might have seen his face or heard his name a week or so ago when Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy. Kelsey Cline was part of the Oklahoma quarterback’s traveling party. Some of you may have wondered who he is. Others may have wondered where you’d heard that name before. Cline is...

  • Naughty or nice in the sports world?

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Wed, Dec 24, 2008

    He’s makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice. Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. Yep, Santa Claus is comin’ to town, and if he’s makin’ a list of the good and the bad in the world of sports, well, those could be some interesting lists. There has been some very good and some...

  • More fun with Oklahoma, Florida fans

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Tue, Dec 23, 2008

    The column that I wrote today about Florida fans has stirred a good number of folks. I’ll be sure to share some of those sentiments here on my blog later this week, but first, I wanted to share something fun that was run across in recent days. The Oklahoma fan site Crimson and Cream...

  • More from The Q&A: Lou Holtz

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Sat, Dec 20, 2008

    Lou Holtz is never shy with his opinions. He dished in The Q&A about his choices for player and coach of the year as well as his thoughts on the national championship game match-up. But he had plenty more to say. Jenni Carlson: I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but is it time...

  • New Heisman Park statue revealed?

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Fri, Dec 19, 2008

    A fun photo is making the electronic rounds. Oklahoma football fans should get a kick out of photo-shopped spoof. I suspect this won’t end up being the design for the Sam Bradford statue that will one day be dedicated outside the stadium in Norman, but no moment was more dramatic in this...

  • Blake Griffin Hype Machine Rolling

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Wed, Dec 17, 2008

    Just ran across something fun. Oklahoma basketball star Blake Griffin is doing a video diary for ESPN.com, and his first installment is up. It’s a little bit dated; the footage is from the first days of practice. But you definitely get some fun insight. The locker room. The apartment. The...

  • Not to toot our own horn, but …

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Tue, Dec 16, 2008

    So, The Oklahoman sports staff did an exit poll of Heisman Trophy voters last week. We solicited the ballots of 100 voters and determined that Sam Bradford would win the award, Colt McCoy would finish second and Tim Tebow would finish third. Nailed it. Yes, our exit poll was right on the...

  • Heisman greatness foretold?

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Mon, Dec 15, 2008

    Let’s rewind for a minute to the summer of 2003. There was a quarterback battle brewing at an Oklahoma City high school. The football team had become known for producing good quarterbacks but for not starting them until they were seniors. At one point, they had the guy who set the...

  • Thoughts on the Heisman

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Mon, Dec 8, 2008

    HeismanPundit.com asked me to answer a few questions for a Heisman Trophy voter round table that will be posted on that website later this week. You can check out all the answers from around the country there, but because the questions were so good and so thought-provoking, I thought I’d...

  • More from The Q&A: Tarrion Adams

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Sat, Dec 6, 2008

    Tulsa tailback Tarrion Adams hopes to cap an already stellar senior season with a Conference USA championship today. Thing is, he knows that a conference title could’ve meant a whole lot more if college football had a different way of crowning its national championship. Here’s what Adams...

  • Red River Rivalry boils over

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Thu, Dec 4, 2008

    That plane circling Texas’ campus with a pro-Oklahoma banner is front-page news not only on our website but also on the Austin newspaper’s site. The Austin American-Statesman posted a story and a photo during the lunch hour of the banner that says “HEY MACK. QUIT WHINING U KNEW...

  • And you thought the BCS was hard to predict

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Thu, Dec 4, 2008

    The unopened package has been on my desk for a couple weeks now. I don’t need to open it to know what’s inside. Any time I get something in December with the return address of Deloitte and Touche Certified Public Accountants, I know that my Heisman Trophy ballot has arrived. I have yet...

  • What if Texas had finished higher?

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Tue, Dec 2, 2008

    There has been an excessive amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth since the BCS standings were announced Sunday afternoon. As everyone knows, Oklahoma finished ahead of Texas, and that broke the three-way tie in the Big 12 South. Since then, college football has been in a tizzy. Fans are...

  • Another flaw in the BCS mess

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Mon, Dec 1, 2008

    So, let me get this straight — a team routing a bottom-of-the-barrel opponent at home is more impressive than a team beating down a top-15 team on the road.  Doesn’t make sense, right? Neither do a couple of the latest human polls in college football.   Voters in both the...

  • More from The Q&A: Desmond Mason

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Sat, Nov 29, 2008

    When I went to talk to Desmond Mason for my Q&A before a game the other night, he was toting a Starbucks cup. Had to ask. Here’s more from my chat with the Thunder forward:  Jenni Carlson: So, what’s in the Starbuck’s cup? Do you do coffee, or are you fancy pants? Desmond...

  • Happy Turkey Day, sports fans

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Thu, Nov 27, 2008

    Thanksgiving is in the air. Even with all the madness going on in the sports world this week, it’s impossible to avoid that holiday spirit. Besides, there’s so much to give thanks for in sports. I’m thankful for college football. It might be maddening. It might be unpredictable. But it...

  • Memo to Brooks: Run, Thunder, run

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Tue, Nov 25, 2008

    Scott Brooks has only been on the job a few days, but I’ve got some advice for the new Thunder coach. Play faster. The Thunder has gotten off to an abysmal start, winning just once in its first 13 games. What’s worse, this team has looked like it was playing in sludge much...

  • More from The Q&A: Linda Cohn

    Jenni Carlson | Published: Fri, Nov 21, 2008

    SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn loves to laugh. That quickly became obvious when I sat down to chat with her earlier this week in Norman. She was in town for the Delta Gamma Foundation Lectureship in Values and Ethics, and she answered all sorts of questions. Here are a few that didn’t make...



Jenni Carlson


Want a different take on sports? Jenni Carlson provides her unique insight on everything from the pros to the college ranks to the preps and everything in between.


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