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.

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." 

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.

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.