Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Big 10 beating the Big 12

The Big 10 seems to have the Big 12's number this bowl season. Iowa beat Missouri on Tuesday night, and Illinois is ahead of Baylor, 24-7, midway through the third quarter. Several of OSU's 2010 season foes have completed their bowl games with victories. Troy and Tulsa won their bowls in blowouts.

Keys to selling out Boone Pickens Stadium

Oklahoma didn't sell out Boone Pickens Stadium this year -- never really came close. Ticket prices are part of the problem. OSU reduced some ticket prices to help put fans in the stadium. Now, the coaches and players must step up with a great performance in tonight's Alamo Bowl game. A victory would do a lot to bring more fans to the stadium. Three key off-season decisions also will could bring more OSU fans to the stadium. OSU quarterback Brandon Weeden and wide receiver Justin Blackmon have NFL decisions to make. OSU head coach Mike Gundy must select a replacement for offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen. Gundy will stick with the Air Raid offense because it fits OSU's players. If Weeden or Blackmon stay or if both stay and Gundy picks a well-known Mike Leach/Holgorsen disciple, The Cowboys should play to packed houses in 2011.

More on East Carolina

Miscues hurt East Carolina's offense in the first half, and ECU's defense is tired in the second half as Maryland jumps out to a 29-10 lead. East Carolina's offense resembles Oklahoma State's offense, but the Pirates look much slower than OSU's athletes. Also, East Carolina doesn't have a running back like Kendall Hunter, but few teams do. East Carolina runs a lot of passes over the middle, screens and some passes downfield.
East Carolina's offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley is 27-years old. He's younger than OSU's starting quarterback Brandon Weeden.

East Carolina coordinator mentioned as Holgorsen replacement

East Carolina plays Maryland at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN in the EagleBank Bowl. Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Lincoln Riley has been mentioned as a possible replacement for OSU offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, who is leaving the Cowboys after the Alamo Bowl game to be offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting at West Virginia.
West Virginia's offense looked terrible in Tuesday night's 23-7 loss to North Carolina State in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fl. I can see why WVU went after Holgorsen and his inventiveness on offense.
OSU fans may want to tune into East Carolina's bowl game to see Riley's offense and how it might work at OSU.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Who should punt for Oklahoma State?

Oklahoma State's kickoff specialist/punter Quinn Sharp is academically ineligible for Wednesday's Alamo Bowl.
That's bad news for the Cowboys.
Sharp kicked off 98 times this season and touchbacks were the result of 53 of those boots.
Touchbacks are great for the defense. Automatically, the opposition must travel 80 yards for a score. An 80-yard drive is pretty hard to manufacture consistently.
Oklahoma State's Lou Groza Award winning kicker Dan Bailey can handle the kickoff duties in the Alamo Bowl. He handled OSU's kickoff chores prior to the 2009 season.
Earlier this season, Bailey told me he would really like a shot at kicking off, but realized Sharp could consistently put the bowl into the end zone for touchbacks.
Bailey may not put every kickoff into the end zone, but OSU's kick coverage has improved greatly as the season progressed and shouldn't be a problem against Arizona.
Punting is the larger problem.
Sharp handled every punting opportunity this season. He had a 46.2 yard average and placed 15 punts inside the 20. He had a 78-yard punt against Nebraska.
Gundy has options.
Bailey, a senior, punted in high school but hasn't punted in college. OSU could turn to redshirt freshman Michael Reichenstein from Dallas.
Reichenstein didn't return to playing football until his junior year at Dallas Jesuit College Prep school. He played football in the fifth, sixth and eighth grades.
Reichenstein didn't have many opportunities in his senior year. He played behind Notre Dame signee Nick Tausch. In the National Combine Dallas semi-final, his punting average was 48 yards with a hang time of 4.17 seconds.
He has a lot of potential but, like Bailey, hasn't punted in a college game.
What does a head coach do?
• Go with your senior and hope he doesn't wear the leg out and miss a key field goal.
• Pick the redshirt freshman, putting him into a bowl-game pressure cooker.
• Hope the Cowboys' offense is so prolific that it doesn't have to punt or has to punt rarely in the Alamo Bowl. OSU punted just once in a 55-28 win over Baylor and didn't punt at all when it beat Kansas, 48-14.
You have got to believe Gundy will put the ball in the hands of a trusted senior for the punting chores as well and hope for the best.
Chris Day is sports editor for the NewsPress. He can be reached at 405-372-5000 ext. 220 or at cday@stwnewspress.com

OSU missing two players at Alamo Bowl

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Oklahoma State's kickoff specialist and punter Quinn Sharp and a long snapper Marc Yerry will not play in the Alamo Bowl, Cowboy head coach Mike Gundy said.
"Everybody made it except we're short two players who didn't pass the six hours," Gundy said. "It was just the two guys who didn't pass the six hours, Marc Yerry and Quinn Sharp."
According to NCAA rules, a student must successfully complete six semester hours of academic credit during the preceding term to be eligible to participate in post-season competition, including bowl games.
Field goal/extra point specialist Dan Bailey will handle kickoff duties for the Alamo Bowl. Either Bailey or Michael Reichenstein will punt.
"We worked on that a little bit Thursday," Gundy said. "Andrew Suter has done the snapping all year, so we should be in the flow there."
Oklahoma State's wide receiver coach Gunter Brewer learned his mother had died shortly after the team arrived in San Antonio. Brewer and his family left for Mississippi to be with their family, Gundy said.
"We got here and he was getting settled (when he received the call)," Gundy said.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Cowboys 11-1 going into break

The winter break concerns Oklahoma State's men's basketball coach Travis Ford.
Tuesday night, the Cowboys ran their record to 11-1 with a 79-68 victory over Stanford.
"I wish we were 12-0," Ford said. Oklahoma State's lone loss was a 56-51 loss on Nov. 26 to Virginia Tech in the 76 Classic.
The players should be proud and humble about the 11-1 record. The Pokes have won 11 games, and haven't played a complete game, yet, Ford said.
The coach hopes his charges won't go away for the holidays, get out of playing shape and forget everything they have learned and accomplished en route to the 11-1 record.
"We need to continue the climb up the ladder," Ford said. "I'm a little concerned about the break."
The Cowboys will travel to Spokane, Wash., to face Gonzaga on Dec. 31 before hosting University of Texas San Antonio on Jan. 3 in the final tuneup before Big 12 play starts Jan. 8 against Kansas State at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
"It was a big win before Gonzaga. ... We needed this win before we go to Gonzaga. Gonzaga is one of the toughest places to play," Ford said.
The Bulldogs (6-5) before Wednesday's game against Xavier posted their signature win of the season so far on Dec. 18 with a 68-64 win over the previously unbeaten and then-9th ranked Baylor Bears.
Gonzaga may be tough but the Big 12 schedule should be much tougher.
No. 3 Kansas is 10-0. Four teams – OSU, No. 25 Texas A&M, No. 9 Missouri and No. 15 Baylor – have one loss. Three teams – Iowa State, Nebraska and No. 18 Texas – have two losses and two teams – Colorado and No. 11 Kansas State – have three.
Oklahoma is at .500 with a 6-6 record and Texas Tech is 5-6.
The Big 12 has six teams in the AP Poll and USA Today/ESPN poll released Dec. 20. Oklahoma State isn't ranked but is receiving some poll votes.
A win over Gonzaga may put the Cowboys into the Top 25.






Friday, October 15, 2010

Oklahoma State's girls soccer team has been playing lights out since late August.
The Cowgirls could tie the program's longest unbeaten streak with a win Saturday against Nebraska.
Oklahoma State has not lost in 12 games. Thursday night, the team beat Colorado, 3-2.
Oklahoma State is ranked fifth in the nation and leads the Big 12 conference.
Nebraska is second in conference with a 4-2 record and are 11-4-1 overall.
Oklahoma State head coach Colin Carmichael expects a physical game from the Cornhuskers.
About when the soccer match ends, Oklahoma State's football team will start playing Texas Tech in Lubbock.
Oklahoma State hasn't won in Lubbock in 66 years. That's a long dry spell.
The Cowboys could end that drought Saturday afternoon. Texas Tech's offense looked good against Baylor, but the defense has stopped improving.
Oklahoma State should be able to come away from Lubbock with a "W," and bring a 6-0, 2-0 record into its homecoming game against Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers and Texas Longhorns also tangle at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Awards and athletes

You don't play football to win individual honors. The Heisman Trophy, Bilitnikoff Award, the Groza Award and Walker Award are by-products of success on the playing field.
After five games, three Oklahoma State football players are solid candidates for major post-season awards.
The Doak Walker Award honors the nation's top running back. OSU's Kendall Hunter is in the hunt. Through five games, Hunter has:
• a 140 yard per game rushing average (Fifth nationally)
• a 10.8 points per game scoring average. (No. 11 in the country, third on the team)
• an average of 164.6 all-purpose yards per game. (No. 13 nationally).
• a healthy 6.4 yards per carry rushing average this season.
Impressive numbers for Hunter, who has put the running game into the Air Raid offense.
Speaking of Air Raid offense, receiver Justin Blackmon say hello to the Fred Bilitnikoff Award, presented annually to the nation's top receiver.
"Big play" Blackmon has:
• 47 catches in five games.
• 11 touchdown catches so far this season. (No. 1 in the nation)
• at least 100 receiving yards in all five games this season.
• at least one 29-yard catch or longer in all five game this season.
• at least two touchdown catches in four of five games this season. He only had one TD catch in the Texas A&M game.
He leads the nation in TD receptions, scoring (14.4 points per game), receptions per game (9.4) and receiving yards per game (149.6).
Kicker Dan Bailey is phenomenal. He has kicked 163 consecutive extra-point attempts, an OSU record. He has kicked 11 of 11 field goals, including two career best 52-yarders against Louisiana-Lafayette last week.
Bailey has:
• scored 65 points this season
• averaged 2.2 field goals per game (No. 2 in the nation)
• not missed a field goal in 2010, one of 14 perfect kickers. His 11 tries are second most among perfect kickers
• kicked a game winner at the gun against Texas A&M. It was OSU's first walk-off field goal since 1981.
So far, Oklahoma State players aren't mentioned as Heisman contenders. The next two weeks could change that situation. If Blackmon or Hunter have huge games against Texas Tech and Nebraska, one or both might make the leap onto the Heisman list.


Thursday, August 19, 2010

Familiar faces new places

What do you want in a Chamber of Commerce president?
The answer is business know-how, integrity and a love for the city the chamber serves.
And that describes Jace Dawson, Stillwater's new Chamber president and chief executive officer.
Dawson's mother graduated from Oklahoma State University with an education degree. The family would return often to OSU and Stillwater during Dawson's childhood. When it came time for Dawson to pick a university, OSU was at the top of a short list.
He graduated in 1999, went to work in Tulsa, and longed to return to Stillwater. He returned in 2002 working for an engineering firm and then Stillwater National Bank.
Monday, he started his new job at the Chamber.
Dawson is a familiar Stillwater face in a new place.
New and familiar faces will be returning to Stillwater this week. Oklahoma State University cranks up on the Aug. 23, and students already are filtering into the city.
Local retailers are loving it, as students flood the stores to get everything from groceries to residence hall or apartment decorations.
Brings back fond memories of my years at Oklahoma State in the late 70s. Yes, I remember when Eskimo Joe's was just a bar. The Gray Fox Inn was THE place to hang out, and pitcher's were 2 bucks and $1.25 during happy hour. My favorite eateries was the Garden of Eatin and Hideaway. Running out to Spav's to dance, and stopping at the Coney Islander after the bars closed also legend in my mind. I can't forget the throngs of students on Washington Street a couple of nights before spring break as we waited for students to shed their clothes and 'streak' through the crowd.





Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hello, goodbye

The Stillwater Chamber of Commerce has selected Jace Dawson as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Dawson works at Stillwater National Bank, and will start at the Chamber on Aug. 16. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1999.
It's funny how many OSU students stay or leave only to return to Stillwater. A recently completed survey of OSU alumni who graduated between 2004 and 2008 shows many still call Stillwater home. A total of 3,149 surveys were completed. It surprised me to learn that 358 or 11.4 percent lived and worked in Stillwater. Only Tulsa had more 2004-2008 alums living and working there. You can read more about the survey in Sunday's NewsPress.
Writing about alums, OSU lost a great one this week with the death of Bob Fenimore. He put Oklahoma A&M football on the map, and played in the National Football League. Mr. Fenimore was more than a great athlete. He was an outstanding person who helped make Stillwater into the city it is today. He also touched and positively changed the lives of many people. He will be missed.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Open primaries for Oklahoma?

It's been a while since my last post. I took a week off to visit my mom and brother in Indianapolis.
Today, I went to my polling place and voted in the primary election. About 25 people had voted by 7:20 a.m.
Oklahoma needs to adopt open primaries.
The County Commission District 3 race is a good example why. Democrats and independents likely won't have any participation in the election of their county commissioner.
The candidates are running in the Republican primary. The Democrats didn't field a candidate. There could be an independent candidate file to run in the November election, but it's doubtful. Many voters won't be able to decide who represents them on the county commission.
I realize there are hazards in an open primary. In some races, voters will cross party lines, and vote against the strongest opposing party candidate. In theory, setting up their party candidate for victory in November.
We could do away with party primaries completely, and put a full slate of Republicans and Democrats in a July election with the two candidates receiving the most votes battling in November.
I'm sure this idea won't fly. It would be like Division I football doing away with the bowl system in favor of a championship playoff. It'll never happen, but it's fun to discuss.

Friday, June 11, 2010

I'm not a farm boy

I grew up in Tulsa. My step-father was a natural resources broker. I learned more about the oil patch than the cow pasture. I spent my days learning about business in Junior Achievement instead of getting an agribusiness background in 4-H or FFA. It didn't really surprise me when I captured third place in an informal cow-judging contest earlier this week. The contest was part of the Payne County farm and pasture tour. Contestants judged four cows, ranking them from most to least cow-like. I ranked the cows correctly, but misjudged the tiebreaker -- guessing the smallest cow's weight. It weighed 738. I estimated 650 pounds.
I may be a city slicker, but I've spent my time on farms, too.
I lived in Troy, Ala., (peanut country).
I've lived in Clute, Texas. Clute is in Brazoria County, and has the largest county fair in Texas. I covered that county fair, and the sale of the champions and reserve grand champions.
So, I now a little about horse and cow flesh.
Earlier this year, I wrote a story about longhorn cattle raised in Pawnee County.
Longhorns remind me of Bevo and the University of Texas.
The Big 12 conference is disintegrating. I expect Texas to bolt for the Pac-10 with OSU and OU tagging along. See Saturday's Sports section for more on the Big 12 exes to Texas strategy.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

A weekend to remember

I remember my childhood in Indiana. Memorial Day revolved around backyard cookouts, a transistor radio and the Indianapolis 500. Back then, The Indy 500 wasn't televised live. You'd listen to it on the radio, and watch it the next weekend on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Our family would gather in the backyard, put charcoal in the grill, turn on the radio and hand crank peach ice cream. We really didn't do much to remember our fallen war heroes.
As a journalist and a father years later, my family celebrated Memorial Day differently. I would always volunteer to cover the Memorial Day remembrances for the newspaper. My daughter and wife usually would accompany me to these events.
Usually, the celebration started with a color guard presenting the flags, and a pastor leading those gathered in prayer. Usually, the head of the VFW or American Legion would say a few words, and someone would read the names of local soldiers killed during war. A bugler would close the ceremony by playing Taps.
Often, the crowd watching the ceremony would be smaller than the contingent of people participating in it. Of course, I would return to the newspaper offices, write my story and ready my pictures for publication in the next day's paper.
I never could find the words to describe the lump in my throat and the chill that ran up and down my spine when the bugler played Taps, and I understood the sacrifices my neighbors made to keep me and my family safe and free.
At 9:30 a.m. Monday, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2027 will conduct a Memorial Day ceremony at Sunset Memorial Gardens.
I plan to be there. It would be exciting to see the number of spectators surpass the number of participants.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Changes ahead

The only constant in life is change.
The NewsPress, National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University experienced change in the last two weeks.
The NewsPress newsroom moved into its news center this week. The news gathering operation is still in the same building. We've moved upstairs in the portion of the building that once housed KOSU. Readers of the printed newspaper won't notice any changes. Those will come in the e-world. We will have more content for our website -- www.stwnewspress.com. The news center will have a studio dedicated to the production of online videos -- including daily Webcasts of the day's most important stories.
It also will allow us to produce more multimedia projects for the website, including slide shows, podcasts, oral histories and video stories.
On stwnewspress.com Thursday, we broke the story that the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is negotiating to buy the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. The Gable museum will be a branch of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame if the deal goes through. Buck Clark, the mayor of Waterloo, says the city supports the merger 100 percent.
Wednesday, I spent an hour interviewing the new dean of OSU's Spears School of Business. Dean Lawrence Crosby has big plans for the school, including a new building at the same site by 2015. Read more about Crosby's dreams for the business school in Sunday's NewsPress.

Friday, May 21, 2010

People best part of my job

The best part of being a journalist is the new people you meet almost daily.
Today, I talked with longtime Stillwater entrepreneur Joe George. He wrestled for Oklahoma State, and has had a slew of businesses over the years in Stillwater. He and Myron Roderick opened the Big Eight Drive-In in Stillwater in 1957. Roderick owned it, but George created the Big Eight-conference based menu. George, who will be 73 soon, says he is on his 15th and final business. He owns Sawgrass Equipment, LLC, formerly Honda Power of Stillwater. Read more about George in Sunday's NewsPress.
By telephone, I interviewed former Cushing resident Laura Shofner from her home in Boston. She was on her way to visit friends at Walden Pond. Shofner credits her small-town Oklahoma upbringing with helping her shine on stage in opera and musical theater. On May 8, she sang the national anthem at the unveiling of the Katharine Hepburn stamp, and will be performing all summer on the East Coast. Shofner said she begged her parents to let her do Star Search, the American Idol of the time. Her parents refused, waiting her to have a normal childhood, she said. "I glad they did. I had so many more opportunities in Cushing that I would have had anywhere else," she said. "I was able to spread my wings because I grew up in a small town." Kids growing up in Tulsa or Oklahoma City didn't get those opportunities. "In Tulsa or Oklahoma there are a lot of kids and fewer opportunities," she said. A story about Shofner is slated in June.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tornado trouble

Don't know about you, but I hunkered down in a small bathroom under the stairs in my two-story duplex while the tornado sirens were blaring and wind whipped around my building on Wednesday. I live a block off S.H. 51 behind a Mexican restaurant. The TV newscasters were saying the tornado is coming right down Highway 51. I wasn't alone in the bathroom. My two dogs were there too, and I had a portable radio with me in case the TV went off. It did. Stupid satellite TV.
I moved here from Florida last July. I tell you, I prefer hurricanes to tornadoes. Hurricanes give you plenty of warning although they are more fickle about when and where they're coming ashore. If a hurricane was coming, I'd go to the store and buy items for my hurricane survival kit. Food, medicines, money because the ATMs would be down for days, extra cans of gas for the car and generator, batteries, first-aid items, non-perishable food, etc.
Tonight, I'm going out to prepare my tornado survival kit. Many of the same items will be in it.
You know the best part of a hurricane or tornado survival kit. Getting to eat all the stuff in it once the hurricane or tornado season ends. Waste not, want not!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Taking the bus

Have you noticed the price of gas lately? It's sliding closer to the $3 mark. I wouldn't be surprised if it reached $3 a gallon by the Fourth of July. Last week, I took OSU's community buses to and from work for a couple of days. It costs 50 cents to to ride the bus with free transfers at the multimodal station if you need to go across town. It's a great value. A few thoughts about buses. It takes more planning to get across town. You can't just hop in a car and go. You have to be at the bus stop by a certain time and wait at the multimodal station for a while too. It took me about 45 minutes to get from my door to the NewsPress. It's a trip that usually takes 10 to 15 minutes by car, depending on Sixth Street traffic. The buses don't ride as nicely as a car. In fact, its a bumpy ride. The drivers are really nice. It's a plus to have a bus system in a town the size of Stillwater. Several people took advantage of the service. I'm guessing more will be riding if the price of gas skyrockets.