Elle Grace Brannick

Cori and I felt a human's most joyous emotion on Monday, May 6, 2013. The arrival of our daughter, Elle Grace, brought on an immediate love we hadn't thought possible.





 

 

 

There are a thousand more pictures, I just cannot put every one of them on my blog.







 



Bedlam Continues

A cover vote for the newest edition of EA Sports' Madden video game has been ongoing over at ESPN for sometime now. Finally, they've reached the finals. The final vote for who is going to grace the cover of Madden '14, due out in August.

Who wants to? Probably every sports fan. Who doesn't want to? Probably most active professional athletes. It is an honor, there's no doubt. But the curse of the cover is too real to ignore for current athletes. Since John Madden removed himself from the cover and began adding players in 2001, the following season has been less than admirable for the stars, some of whom have even suffered injuries that caused time off or even season ending trips to the doctor.

More importantly is who are the finalist's for this year's cover vote. Barry Sanders, who retired from the NFL in 1999 after ten years with the Detroit Lions is up against Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings. Arguably the greatest running back of all time is going up against one who could be the greatest running back of all time after his time is up. Fascinating.

What makes this even more interesting is the matchup for who graces the cover of Madden is now the newest, and unintentional, bedlam battle. Oklahoma versus Oklahoma State. The matchup we all love to throw ourselves into.

Sanders did things at Oklahoma State nobody had seen before and has seen since. Some call what Sanders did in 1988 the greatest season in college football history. 2,850 yards rushing and 42 touchdowns, the yards a record. He won the Heisman that year and ranked number two in the Greatest College Football Players of All-time by ESPN.

Peterson, well, what he did at Oklahoma most of you know about. AP Freshman of the year, stunning runs, powerful runs. Peterson was well on his way to breaking the Oklahoma record for rushing yards and could have challenged Sanders in his senior year but "AD" went to the NFL after an injury shortened junior season.

Both Sanders and Peterson enjoyed stellar NFL careers, Peterson still doing incredible things for the Minnesota Vikings. Whoever wins the cover of Madden is no doubt a deserving winner. I don't care who wins, I vote for Barry. I'm just glad to see a little Bedlam continuing post-university.

OklaSports Perspective

In 2010, I ran. I ran a lot. All because on Sunday, May 1, 2010, I ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. Half-marathon to be exact. My only goal was to finish and that I did. I was elated to know that I finished a mere 15 minutes ahead of the first place full-marathoner.

(AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L Ryan) 

On Monday, at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two separate bombs went off killing three people and injuring many more. The immediate reactions were fascinating. My thoughts were how strange it was that in Oklahoma City we run to remember the bombing victims and it serves as a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon.

Also interesting were the reactions of the students at the University of Central Oklahoma, where I work in student media. Some began racing to change how we would present the news at 5:00 and others were scrambling to redesign our newspaper. The debates never got too serious but the comments poured in throughout the remainder of the day about what had taken place.

Now a day later, the images forever burned in our memories, the tragic events of yesterday serve as an unfriendly reminder of the reality of life. What can happen in an instant, when no one is expecting it and changes our lives forever. I've heard people mention someone they knew that either ran in Boston yesterday or stood their cheering ultimately to scramble to a social media site to assure to their families of their safety.

These events are real and these events are sad. OklaSports just wants to tell the people involved, the people from across the world, they are being thought of.

The Master's

"A tradition like no other," coined by Jim Nance, one of CBS's most famed sports broadcasters. You know what it means, what it's talking about. You know the music that plays over the sights of one of the most beautiful golf courses in America. It's The Master's.

What I love about The Master's is the same thing I love about every other golf tournament; sitting in my recliner on Sunday afternoon watching the final round matches nothing else. There is nothing like getting home from church and eating a sandwich and plopping down to begin following the magic.

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

There is always magic. Whether it be a miraculous shot or well, mostly it's just miraculous shots. Some guy bending his iron around a tree and dropping the ball feet from the cup. The improbable shot from the rough that doesn't look pretty but also drops the ball in the perfect spot on the green.

My favorite Master's moment still remains Tiger Woods in 2005. One of the most incredible chip shots I've ever seen, the ball just wouldn't quit rolling until it found itself in the bottom of the cup.

Moment number two would be Phil Mickelson finally winning his first major and how high the guy jumped on the 18th green. Magical.

This year's installment has begun and it won't be long before we have our "magical moment." My pick is Tiger Woods as this year's winner. He is playing with more comfort now than he has in a while. Enjoy the tournament and comment with your picks.

Like, For Real Baseball Season

Basketball season is over in the NCAA and this means we are one step closer to it being baseball season. 

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

I know baseball season has started. It is in full swing in the college ranks. The pros are getting their feet underneath themselves and baseball season is in complete, full force. But, for real baseball season is a different thing.

For real baseball season is after the NBA Finals are over and when we really aren't talking about the NFL very much and when there isn't a huge friggin' golf tournament quickly approaching.

For real baseball season is almost here and it's almost time to hear all the other sports fans talk about how much they can't stand this time of the year. The time of the year I love. Think about the perfect summer day.

You wake up (every morning is beautiful in the summer), then you knock out a few chores, maybe mow the lawn. Next up is the lake. Do a little fishing in that spot that only you know about, or so you'd like to think. Drift off to a quiet spot and relieve yourself from the scorching sun by taking a dip. Finally before your day can be complete, you head back into town, stop by the closest 7-Eleven and pick up some sunflower seeds and peanuts and head to the ball park.

For real baseball season is almost here, get ready.

Keynotes: 

-Make a playlist for mowing the lawn, my picks are country.

-Never get mad while fishing.

-Don't jump in the lake with your cell phone, they haven't made that a feature yet.

-Only buy enough snacks to fit inside your girlfriends purse, if she has a small purse, buy her a bigger
one.

-Finally. Think of fun games to play during the baseball game.

Football In March

Football in March doesn't get the recognition it deserves. From September to the first weekend in February, football is the sport the makes the world go 'round. But, in March it doesn't get the mention that it deserves. Maybe that could be due to the fact the biggest tournament in sports is being played at the same time. But that doesn't mean we should shove our favorite football team's foam fingers to the back of the closet until the leaves turn.

(AP Photo/Paul Connors, File)

For starters, the rule change. Runningbacks being charged with a penalty for lowering their helmets before running into a defender. That is the clear  and dry version of the rule. Let's put it this way. The 200 pound guy running with the ball, sees the 270 pound guy coming for his life. The defender lowers his head and leads with the shoulder, it's okay (he can't lead with his head either). But if the runningback lowers his head as he braces for impact that is an offensive penalty. All I can say is wow. I understand the reasoning behind it. Roger Goodell, the NFL's Commissioner, wants a safer league. He should, all the old veterans are suing him because of past head injuries.

I just don't believe this is going to solve any issues. Playing in a game that demands instant reaction doesn't allow for players to think about whether or not they should duck their head. A single play can last just a few seconds and it is human nature to brace yourself before contact. Especially when the contact you are bracing for could put you in the hospital.

Let's Talk About Sports

Talking about sports is something that occurs in my life as often as blinking. I don't mean I talk about sports as much as I blink, what I mean is that everyday there is an absolute zero chance that I don't talk about sports. Even in the moment of my day I think I'm getting away from the madness, sports comes up. Talking about sports is just like talking about anything that you talk about.

So let's talk about sports. Last weekend I watched an enormous amount of college basketball. We all did and we all will next weekend. The thing about last weekend was that I haven't really watched that much college basketball during the entire season. Probably since last March when we did this same thing. The difference in this year's madness is my bracket being entered amongst a group of peers. This made everything so much more interesting, the constant checking of our rankings thrilled each of us. Even those of us, myself included, near the bottom of the standings.


Twitter also made a difference. Last year I enjoyed each of my 30 or so followers. Yup. I know, this was big time. (so..... follow @chrisbrannick85). Now, with a substantial difference in that number and an equal difference in my involvement on the social media site, following the games became so much more.


I like to talk about sports and irrelevant are my successes in a game between friends. What is more important to me is to talk about sports more. Yes. More. We want more, we want more. My postings on here just aren't enough. Similar to my early days as a user of Twitter or even more fascinating, my early days as a Facebook user, as in I didn't own a computer and cell phones didn't offer such a unique app. The hope is that like my use in any social media app, my presence on this blog will be so much more in the future. Preferably in the near future. It's not like sports ever take a break anyway.

How Exciting

The most recent weekend in sports in the great state of Oklahoma competed with all of the other weekends as the best of the year. Why? Most of the state's basketball championships were played in either Oklahoma City or Tulsa. Wherever they were played, the excitement followed the ball around like a nagging fly.

On Thursday, day one, in Oklahoma City, we got our first taste of real basketball-in-March excitement. In a matchup between southeastern success story Hugo and the traditionally dominant Millwood High School (from Oklahoma City) the game came down to the final play. The officials put three seconds on the clock and Hugo inbounded the ball. A successful inbounds play would mean the elimination of Millwood and that Hugo fans could exhale and schedule at least one more night in their hotel rooms.

The inbounds play was successful. What happened after the player caught the ball shall go down as the strangest ending to a basketball game of any kind maybe all time. The Hugo player caught the ball, took a couple of dribbles and shot a lay up in the goal as time expired. The bucket counted too. However, the bucket counted for Millwood because the Hugo player shot the ball in the wrong goal. To make matters worse, this basket wasn't a slap in the face shot in the wrong goal basket. It won the game for Millwood and Hugo had to check out of their hotel room.

--On a side note, maybe high school basketball would be better if there was a reality t.v. moment after the game and the losing team literally had to check out of their hotel room--



This might be the most memorable moment of this years tournament but that depends on where you are from. Edmond Memorial High School has a different memory. They went to Tulsa for their tournament and appeared on a collision course with Midwest City for the championship. The teams met twice this season with each team winning one. The championship game would see these two and would see the excitement of an entire year of basketball work itself down to one final play.


I can't narrate a play that I didn't see happen so just now that Oklahoma Sooner to be Jordan Woodard didn't score a field goal the entire game until the one he scored as time expired. So I leave you with a famous sports quote that applies to this situation.


"Big time players make big time plays in big time situations." 

Oh Seattle

"With all due respect to Seattle I do hope they get a team someday. But let me be perfectly clear: It is not going to be this team." Sacramento Mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson.

Oh Seattle. All of those years without a franchise. The pains of sitting at home watching the greatest athletes in the world play basketball knowing you can't go to the game yourself and scream your lungs out while stars like Kevin Durant and LeBron James battle it out. Just when you think basketball is coming back to Seattle you see a quote like this on the television. Wait! We're not getting a new team! That's what I imagine coming from the couches of those ever so loyal Seattle fans. Those ever so loyal Seattle fans who travel to games, sitting behind the bench of Oklahoma City and mocking the players and coaches and the rest of the oraganization for leaving your city behind. The ever so loyal Seattle fans who never thought it to be a little weird that even though somebody "stole," your team, stealing another team is perfectly acceptable.
 
Seattle fans do have an interesting argument in the matter: The deserve a team. Because no one else doesn't deserve a team. Sure there are some bad teams with even worse attendance records but to think that you get a team because you deserve one is far-fetched. Why do you deserve a team? Those bad teams with bad attendance counts was Seattle. In 2007, Seattle had their chance to save their team and it dropped the ball. It appears Seattle has dropped the ball again. Which only means the city that chastizes Marshawn Lynch for fumbling the ball might ought to look in the mirror.

Deserving a team doesn't go to anyone. Appreciate the fact that you have one, or had one. Because just like your favorite player could get traded on any given day of the year, your team might be gone one day too. You don't deserve a team, unless the NBA is willing to establish a new league with 93,000 teams. Hey, those playoffs would be exciting though!

The Good Life

I decided years ago that sports journalism was the way to go. I watch the news every day and I watch sports news like 5,000,000 times more than that. It is just what I love.

So I got into it. Began to learn how the job is actually done. Now, as Sports Editor of my university's newspaper, I rack my brain day in and day out trying to figure out how on earth the very small group of interested sports writers I have working for me are going to cover the enormous amount of sports happening at UCO. My first semester as Sports Editor was a rush. I did a ton of work because there were only two of us. This semester, there are four. This results in me spending more time being an editor than actually going to a basketball game and covering it live.

(Photo by: Aliki Dyer)

Until tonight.

Tonight I covered two games live, tweeting my butt off and writing a story about a game while it was still in progress. I rushed to the coaches office immediately following the game for an interview and published my account of the night's festivities withing 20 minutes of the final buzzer sounding on another Broncho loss. I LOVED IT!
 
I haven't had the opportunity to do this almost the entire spring semester. And do I ever miss it.

I want to send out an order to anybody who stumbles upon this blog and may or may not find themselves in the situation I fell into. Enjoy every second of it because in a very short period of time you will spend all of your time re-writing cover letters and tailoring your resume to different companies desires. You will be preparing for that huge summer internship and your brain will be working double overtime trying to find a way to make it in this world.

Covering sports is what I love and if doing what I did tonight was the way my life turned out, then I would have to say that would be a good life.

Memories In The Snow

With the snow blowing in this week, my excitement grew and stayed at a recent high. I love the snow. I embrace it. Even when every weather channel is insisting nobody step foot out of their house, I do. Because why wouldn't you? Why would anybody not cease the opportunity to go outside and make a snow angel or have a snowball fight with their friends and family. Maybe try and make a snowman taller than yourself or even get crazy and call every person in the neighborhood and play a game of football.
This is my favorite memory of the snow. Records, not my memory, indicate a blizzard blew through Utica, New York on the day I was born. The snowfall in the western part of that state is regular and each winter comes in bunches. I have plenty of good memories of that. But, as a young kid, calling every other kid whose phone number I knew and telling them to meet us at the football field for a game in the snow is absolutely and easily the best memory of the snow I have.
Walking around campus with snow all over the place caused a yearning for that childhood memory I haven't felt probably since I was a child. What I would do for one afternoon of football with my brothers in the snow followed by a host of the local pre-teens gathered around the heater vent in my house waiting for someone to learn how to make hot chocolate.

Dave Rhea

I loved what Dave had to say about embracing the digital age. He made so many great points about how to use it and the importance of using it.

I also really liked his blog hub for The Journal Record. The idea that all of the journalists at the newspaper each had their own blog was terrific. Writers all need to have their own voice out there and it is extremely important for them to do that. It is also important for writers to... Write! Yup, I said it. Writers need to be writing.

If a reporter has one story per week published in the paper and then has two blogs per week posted on the publications website, it is only going to be a matter of time before his writing picks up. Writing the news story will become much easier the more a reporter writes and to have all of the writers blogging regularly, and of course related to their beats, is genius.

Baseball Season Is Coming

Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, so what will this season bring us in baseball.

The Toronto Blue Jays are the early favorite to win the World Series. First off, the early favorite to win the World Series almost never wins the World Series. But they have an opportunity.

I can specifically remember watching Joe Carter blast a game-winning home run in the 1993 World Series, the last time Toronto was relevant in baseball. Oct. 23, 1993. Now, nearly 20 years later, the Blue Jays boosted their payroll by almost 50 percent in the offseason in an attempt to regain relevance. 

Signing the reigning National League Cy Young Award Winner, R.A. Dickey, is a very important step for them. Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera are also huge steps for a team that wants to be relevant. Oh yea, and they have Joey Bats. 32 years young Jose Bautista has a knack for the home run. The all-star outfielder hit 54, 43 and 27 the last three season’s respectively. Last years shortened because of an injury. This guy can hit the ball. The key factor however will be actually playing the games and doing so successfully.

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

More news from the American League came on Tuesday when King Felix completed an extension to keep the ace in Seattle long enough to become a SuperSonics fan again.

The San Francisco Giants of the National League will look to repeat as World Series Champions, something that hasn’t been done since the Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000. The Giants won three seasons ago and have won eight out of their last nine in the World Series. San Francisco does have the talent to win it, obviously, they are the champs. The question will be, can they repeat? It seems extremely hard to do.

No talk of baseball is complete without the mention of the New York Yankees. This may not be exactly true for every baseball story, but this is definitely what makes opponents of the pinstripes despise them even more. Why talk about an aging team that may or may not win half of their games? 10,000 simulations done by ESPN have the Yankees winning less than 90 games, which is actually more than half, but not the same as their 95 wins a year ago that won them the A.L. East.

Alex Rodriguez provides an interesting storyline as he often does but personally I’m over A-Roid and all that comes with that. More importantly, for the Yankees, the greatest closer in the history of baseball is preparing to make a comeback from a devastating knee injury. Mariano Rivera tore his ACL last season while fielding fly-balls in batting practice. The 43-year-old closer has 608 saves and may have retired after last season had he not been injured.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

And then there is the captain. Number two. Derek. Jeter. Almost to 2,600 games played as a Yankee, Jeter will turn 39 in mid-season. This actually brings up the biggest question mark for the Yankees. Can the old guys win?

Whether or not they can is irrelevant. Can they? Yes. It's a game played between to teams, somebody has to win. Will they? Probably. Is this year’s version of the Evil Empire strong enough to endure the next nine months and get hot at the right time and pull out an amazing postseason run and topple some much younger more athletic team who is favored to win? Absolutely.

What's next?

Sports has officially reached the point that most fans think is "Boring."
Boring to me would be the time of the year when there are no games on television or there is nothing happening in the area that I can go and watch. The interesting thing about that is, there is never a single day in the modern-day calendar where that happens.
Maybe sports get to a boring part because football won't be on television again for more than 200 days.

Maybe there is a lull in sports after the NBA season has come to an end. But there is always more than one sport happening each and everyday. Christmas? Yup, that's actually a big day for sports. Thanksgiving? Of course. You are kind of supposed to watch football on Thanksgiving. New Years Eve and New Years Day the same and the rest of the holiday's included, sports do not have a Boring Season.

Football is over and I am a little sad about that. I am partial to watching football on CBS because of their theme music that plays going out to commercials and coming back in. I also love to watch football on any other channel just because it is football!
Not having that until later in the summer is going to be a bummer, but now I get to focus my entire attention to basketball. March Madness is right around the corner. The Finals are coming soon. Hockey is actually playing again, I bet most people didn't even realize that. And pitchers and catchers report this month!
Sports don't get boring, they just keep going.

Super Bowl Blog

The Super Bowl is here. The moment we’ve been waiting for. All season we’ve cheered and jeered. Thought about why our team couldn’t win or if the reason we were winning was legitimate or not. Did we just win that game? How do we win this game but lose this one? Now it’s officially the end of the road.  We have come to the finale, some of us happy and most of us picking a team based on some random rationalization of our football knowledge.

The Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, or for some of you, the Niners and the Ravens. Who will win? Who is better? These guys can do this but those guys can do this. My favorite part of the Super Bowl might be the two weeks leading up to the biggest spectacle in all of sports. 

Of course watching the game is cool too, watching the commercials is fun and gathering watch parties is always a blast. But the fun facts that pop up on a daily basis before the game actually gets played are so intriguing.

Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis announced his retirement just before the playoffs began, sparking a momentous occasion worth discussion every time he did anything. The fun fact, Lewis’ first sack was against the 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh would play against Lewis in practice everyday just two years later.

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Speaking of Harbaugh, if you haven’t been tuning in, there are two of them. Brothers, friends, comrades and opposing coaches. What a storyline. It has dominated the two-week layoff pre-Super Bowl. They played against each other on Thanksgiving in 2011 with Baltimore nabbing the victory. John Harbaugh of the Ravens and Jim Harbaugh of San Francisco will provide the most fascinating storyline.

These go on for days, 14 days to be exact. Following their respective victories in the Conference Championships, these two teams instantly became the topic of discussion and have frequently been so since.

The next quirk and very interesting factor is that of the 49ers and their starting quarterback. Colin Kaepernick, starting quarterback for San Francisco for exactly nine starts in a season of 16 games. Two playoff starts included, Kaepernick has shocked the world by replacing a starting quarterback who took this team to the doorstep of last year’s Super Bowl and actually doing better.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Reminiscent of the year a certain Tom Brady replaced the New England staple Drew Bledsoe at quarterback and turned out to be… The best quarterback of our generation. Also, the last time the Super Bowl was in New Orleans, a second year quarterback, Brady, took over at starter following an injury won the Super Bowl. Get ready New Orleans.

All of the storylines are interesting and all of the talk about them is fun. The debate over who will win the game is just as interesting and a lot more intense. Baltimore has a stingy defense and when done right their offense is rather efficient. (Another quirk: The Ravens fired their offensive coordinator in week 14.) But Baltimore has 44 touchdowns in 16 games and they came from a balanced attack, 17 rushing and 22 passing.  For San Francisco, 44 touchdowns, 17 from rushing and 23 from passing.

The comparisons continue through kickoff when the teams actually play the game. Who will win? Baltimore, 27-20.

The Glass Half Full

Timeout. The glass is actually half full. The glass in reference being one decorated in orange and blue. The Oklahoma City Thunder have completed the first half of the NBA season and have done so with the best record in the NBA. Much can be said about such an accomplishment.

Does it matter that they are the best team now and have been most of the season? Well, not exactly. Is it relevant? Sort of. What is most important is to think of the first half of the NBA season, in terms of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is that their glass is half full. And, it doesn’t matter how much they seem to drain out of that glass, it just continues to remain half full.

 (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Alright, analogies aside, the first half of the Thunder’s season does bring some rather interesting notes. One being that Oklahoma City actually does have the best team in the NBA. Defeating the second best team in the league, the L.A. Clippers, by an average of 9 PPG proves there is some difference. Playing alongside the Miami Heat last summer apparently served as the equivalent of eating just one potato chip. 

With the taste in their mouth the Thunder have shown all season how hungry they are to not only get back to the NBA Finals but actually win the series. 

OKC has shown different ways in winning this season, which is why they have made their way to the top. Winning a game from the opening tip all the way to the final buzzer, winning a game that maybe they shouldn't have because they played like crap or winning a game at that final buzzer because they gutted it out and gave absolutely everything they had. Any way you draw up the win, the Thunder have won.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Growth is always part of the equation when it comes to professional sports. This is something that the fans in Chesapeake Energy Arena have seen in tremendous bunches in the first half of the season. Russell Westbrook has officially improved statistically. Despite the criticism in each of his errant maneuvers throughout the season, Westbrook has actually gotten better. You do not want to have to try and guard him and if you are trying to get around him your night is not going to easy by any definition of the word. Entering the top-10 in scoring at 23 PPG and adding 8.2 assists and a shade under two steals per game, Westbrook is shall we say, Russellin-Russellin-Everyday-He-Russellin.

Then there is the superstar Kevin Durant. Just when you think there isn't any more this guy can do, he does. For instance, Tuesday night against those Clippers. 32 points with five 3-pointers and nine rebounds. The rebounds are coming in at a career high for Durant as are many other statistics. The Thunder are better because Durant is better now. This is kind of scary because of the early accolades of the young world-star, but KD is careering it in a handful of categories.

Oklahoma City has a target on their back this season, which is something new. The Thunder are suddenly and strangely expected to win and be atop the NBA. The glass half-full attitude has translated to the way both fans and critics look at OKC. Lets hope the second half of the season tastes as good as the first.