Thoughts on the Inept Handling of Sam Bradford

You can take the guy out of Youngstown . . .

“Really? So there isn’t any information available to differentiate 1st round grades? You’re either in or you’re out? Man. What the hell do draft analysts, scouts, and agents do with their time? This spin is honest to goodness awesomeness that needs to be trumpeted from the highest recruiting rooftops.”

Amazingly when ESPN invites prospects to participate in the draft day extravaganza they always get the sure-fire early first rounders (sorry Aaron Rodgers, you should have been). I guess there’s no way for Bobbi to be privy to such classified information. Asshole.

Too bad Mack is too nice a guy to use this example when recruiting.

It all started by telling Bradford he wasn’t a top 15 pick after NFL scouts said the opposite.

When did Stoops do that?

Kobiashi says hi!

ponderos,

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/bob-stoops/

Tebow, a junior, and Bradford, a sophomore, were asked about the N.F.L. on Saturday night and gave wait-and-see answers. Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops, however, went on a diatribe that could have melted Mel Kiper’s hair gel.

"You don’t know that," Stoops said sternly to a reporter who said that Bradford projected high in the N.F.L. draft. "Those people who are projecting that have no idea about that. You guys are making something that isn’t there unless you have got a draft projection back that I didn’t. O.K.? So you’re going on speculation that rarely is correct. If he’s a top-five guy, he ought to go. If he isn’t, he’ll be a top-five guy at some point in his career. At least that’s my belief. There’s a big difference. He still has a lot he’ll improve and mature and physically grow and mentally handling everything. There’s so much that people don’t talk about that throw those projections around that don’t take into consideration."

http://www.tulsabeacon.com/?p=1304

Stoops said the average career in the NFL is only 3.5 years.

"I think they all see the value in another year’s experience improving their draft position," Stoops said. "Every time you improved five spots, eight spots, ten spots, if you improve a round, you have three or four times your money. That’s a factor.

He talked about the differences in salary between a second or third round pick and a late round pick; a first round pick and a second or third round pick and being picked in the top half of the first round versus the bottom half of the first round.

"They all want to take care of their parents, they want to be able to take care of their family," Stoops said.

"The second and third round money you’re going to be able to take care of yourself and that’s about it. First round, you’re talking about taking care of yourself and some other people. They want to solidify those positions and be in as strong a position as they can be when they enter the draft.

"So, when you do it that way and you jump draft positions forward, you really make a more significant amount of money and you’re more experienced and prepared for that atmosphere. So they see the value in that, and I appreciate those guys.

"I also think our players recognize the opportunities we have as a program to pursue more championships and that’s something that means a lot to all of us."

Kobayashi??

Stoops talking last January about how the Sooners will take care of Bradford and not risk his career…

http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2009-01-15/heisman-qb-bradfords-return-brings-sooners-hope

Ponderos,

C’mon man, they’ve posted those articles before. Your coach is a piece of shit. Carroll said the same things in regards to Sanchez, but atleast he apologized. Bradford would have gone before Sanchez for sure.

Bradford won’t get past the Rams this year.

My son’s school used to have a close relationship with OU until the head coach left four years ago (high school head coach had coached with Stoops family before). It then quickly soured after coach left and news flowed back from some of the kids up there. Stoops is only interested in the kids to the extent they can help him. Sam Bradford is a better man for his willingness to help his team more than Stoops can ever hope to be.

I think this topic has been a little over-analyzed. Apparently hindsight isn’t 20/20, it’s 100/20, or whatever’s better.

How much did UT fans complain when Vince skipped his senior year to go to the NFL? How many of us felt justified complaining when his NFL career started to fall flat? I know I’ve said many times that it seemed silly for him (and other similar athletes) to hurry up to go struggle in the Pros, rather than be Gods-among-men in college.

Sam made a choice. Bob Stoops may eat kittens for breakfast, but he didn’t force Sam to do anything. If Sam had gotten hurt in NFL training camp or had the pleasure of getting sacked 10 times a game while losing on the Detroit Lions, we would probably be thinking him a fool right now for skipping out on college football glory.

“Kobayashi??”

I didn’t feel like googling the correct spelling. Shall I join Margaret in facing the back of the room now?

“How much did UT fans complain when Vince skipped his senior year to go to the NFL?”

maybe we have different Longhorn friends but when Vince announced he was leaving I was happy for him. It was the right choice for him at the time and I don’t think any Horn I knew had an issue with it.

Any carping was because we knew what the team was losing when he left not because he left.

EastSide,

Bradford is such a good prospect that whatever team that drafts him is going to be shit, unless he gets lucky like Sanchez. He has a finite amount of time to earn. He’s already down a year and if he comes back next year he’ll be down two.

There are worse gigs in the NFL than throwing to Megatron and a talented TE like Gresham, I mean Pettigrew.

No real UT fan complained when VY bailed.

Valid point EastSide- though you realize none of us would be talking about this if Sam hadn’t gotten back out on the field a few days ago. The recent continuation of the narrative makes this timely and of interest to me. If he’d come back this season, gotten hurt against BYU, then sat out for the season to prep for the NFL I’d almost be willing to file it in the ‘shit happens’ box along with you. Almost. But that isn’t what happened. That’s why we’re talking about it – and I appreciate the reviewing the story from the beginning.

Well done btw Trips. We are sympatico in purpose. To heighten this I will get blonde highlights and work on my crossover dribble for two hours.

Eastside Horn- I know of no Longhorn fans who did anything other than wish Vince well. Most understood his draft stock would never be higher. Mack did not try to change his mind.

Barnes was the same with TJ Ford. Durant was a little different; we all knew that he was a one-year guy.

Personally, I could see an argument for Bradford returning, if he was ready to go the Matt Ryan route, i.e. polish your skills at the risk of dropping in the draft (which Ryan did his senior year, although obviously he’s not complaining now). I think Stoops really went wrong here by rushing Bradford back in an attempt to salvage the season. Obviously, that was the wrong decision for Bradford. When he was injured against BYU, Bradford should have shutit down and had the surgery.

Agreed Taylor, that is a better description of the point I was trying to make. It doesn’t make Bob feigning ignorance and falsifying his draft projection any less objectionable, but the return and reinjury are what truly solidify his status in the annals of douchebaggery.

I’m in the group that believes Stoops might have his Heisman QB back again next year, just so Bradford can prove that he is not “brittle” to the NFL.

Douchebaggery sometimes pays off.

BS: They’re lying to you son. They think they can take advantage of you because you look like an Amerasian gopher with a 1,000 yard stare. I’ll get you a fatter contract by winning you another Heisman and a Championship.

The last sentence made me shiver because of the ruthless effectiveness and the fact that it was probably actually said.

milk, I stole that from Doperbo. Ruthlessly and effectively, I might add.

srr50: That is fine but he will face some very good, fast defenses next year also. BTW, our D is not going anywhere with the way Will has proven to prepare guys.

I stole it from HenryJames so we’re even. He heard it from his best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend who heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night.

You know, this whole Bradford thing will kind of counteract the Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco effect. Thanks to those guys, four-year players might have the impression that the extra college years help you improve as a quarterback. But a guy like Bradford, who would have shattered in the NFL too, is going to be Example 1 for why you should go early and lock-down the money.

I seem to recall Mack saying that of course he wanted VY to stay, but that he couldn’t in good conscious advise him not to go pro. It’s hard to imagine Stoops (or Carroll) saying the same thing.

It’s hard to imagine Stoops (or Carroll) saying the same thing.

Except for the first part, before the but.

What’s the math look like on Bradford not re-injuring that shoulder sometime this season?

Suh > Aflac

“Barnes was the same with TJ Ford.”

In fact, it was reported later that the night before the announcement, Barnes had to re-convince TJ to go.

The knocks on TJ were his height and his shot. If he came back, and led the Horns to a NCAA championship, the scouts would have had an extra year to notice that he didn’t grow. If his shot didn’t improve significantly, it would have gone from a “concern” to a “flaw”.

If Bradford comes back next year, the concerns will be his mobility and his durability. His OL next year will give the scouts a chance to measure them.

Plus TJ had suffered an injury that threatened his pro career. Sound familiar?

In fact, it was reported later that the night before the announcement, Barnes had to re-convince TJ to go.

The story I have heard is a near tears TJ begging Barnes to let him come back and Barnes, stone-faced, telling him that he couldn’t come back.

The story I have heard is a near tears TJ begging Barnes to let him come back and Barnes, stone-faced, telling him that he couldn’t come back.

Man, I don’t know if that’s apocryphal, but that’s a chilling story. Chokes me up.

I’m reminded of the end of the Elite 8 game vs. Michigan State. Rick really loved that kid.

I’m also reminded of the story of Rick shooting Daniel Ewing straight during recruiting and essentially sending him to Duke. Seems like he takes care of these kids.

“As a dad, I can see how Mr. Bradford would be furious at the program, that is if he wasn’t complicit in clearing Bradford to play to begin with.”

Mr. Bradford is in the insurance business. Through the Crimson colored glasses obviously worn in that household, the insurance policy they bought for Sam may have been enough to justify the decision to come back for another year.

That and Stoops is a self serving liar.

“I’m also reminded of the story of Rick shooting Daniel Ewing straight during recruiting and essentially sending him to Duke.”

What I read was that Barnes was watching Willowridge play. He was asked about the college prospects, and pointed at TJ and said he’d start from Day One. He pointed at Ewing and said he wouldn’t.

Uh, where did ponderos go?

Ewing ended up being a player. He could have really helped us.

Thanks for sharing those stories.

“The interesting part is that Stoops foreshadowed his handling of Bradford by trying to coax Jermaine Gresham to forego surgery that would cost the tight end his season yet ensure his NFL carreer.”

I would love to see your link/proof of this. I firmly believed Bradford’s season/OU career needed to be over after the BYU game, and this would just be icing on the cake as far as a theory of mine about Stoops.

TaylorT, I believe what you proposed is EXACTLY what should’ve happened. Only a moron would think Bradford was ready for the NFL last year. He would’ve gone the Alex Smith route and ended up with a lot of guaranteed money, and his career would’ve been over very quickly. That’s not a career plan, it’s a get-rich-quick scheme, and it’s ignorant. Trips, of course, proclaims this as ideal. The NFL scouts wanted to see Bradford work behind a poor OL since that’s exactly what he would be doing as a high round draft pick. As soon as that experiment went bad against BYU, that needed to be the end of it. With Gresham out, the offense was completely crippled. That’s where I get sick because I find myself agreeing with Trips’ premise at its basest level.

Trips, Jimmy Wilkerson left early because those scouts/agents you so proudly proclaim the praises of told him he would be a 1st day pick no matter what. 3rd round at the worst. This was a guy who needed a huge cash influx desperately for his family. So, he bought in. Instead, he went 7th round, and it bit him in the ass severely. Stoops is STILL bitter about this. You should also keep in mind that Sam Bradford is a legacy of an OU alumni who was born and raised in Oklahoma. Would you have a hard time believing that a UT superstar QB would want to stay for his senior year if his father was an All-SEC player for UT and he was raised in Round Rock?
However, based on our recruiting trends alone, I agree that Stoops just isn’t the same coach as he was when he arrived in 1999. The team has taken on a more mercenary mentality, and I would readily concede that has come from the top down.

Don’t get me wrong. Mack Brown is a complete piece of shit, too. He did a phone interview live during an opponent’s game trying to whore for his team (even Bob Stoops thought that was too low…think about that), and, last time I checked, Sergio Kindle is still a Longhorn and never faced any punishment for (drunk) driving through a girl’s apartment after he already got nailed for that once and that while he was on the team. Save the bullshit about Chaisson. I’ve spoken my piece on that. Stoops being a douche doesn’t make Mack any less of a douche. Worst of all, he’s retained Greg Davis as offensive coordinator for all these years. If that doesn’t make him lower than guano, then your burnt orange blinders are too strong for common sense.

One last thing. Would someone please explain to me why every argument about Sam Bradford leaving early doesn’t apply to Colt McCoy? Particularly your hypothetical conversation, Trips.
Losing a number of offensive weapons? Check.
Shit offensive line? Check. (It is a miracle Colt McCoy wasn’t hurt last week)
Useless offensive game planning? Check.
Only going to go down in draft? Check.

Nate, do you really think the situations are comparable? Honestly?

Holy shitballs there was a lot of wrong in there Nate.

For starters, Colt wouldn’t have been a top 10 pick, or even close.

“Don’t get me wrong. Mack Brown is a complete piece of shit, too.”

Fuck off. Mack goes to the other extreme. If anything he’s too good of a guy.

Nate, if all you have is that Mack went on ABC after his season was over, you got nothin. Unless, of course, you can prove that Mack begged ABC to go on. Wasn’t Stoops interviewed during one of UT’s games last year?

It was funny though… I was watching the CFB squawkfest that passed for ESPN programming last Sunday night. I’d told my wife beforehand that Mack almost certainly would be a guest, and sure enough, he was first out of the chute.

I was going to point by point that NateHuepel rubbish, but it’s not worth it. That didn’t sound like the Nate-I-know-and-don’t-hate-as-much-as-other-OU-fans.

Nate, you’re better than that. Totally different situations.

Also, If Mack was a piece of shit, our team would consist of Jermie Calhoun and Dez Bryant.

To me, if I was a player or my son was on the team last year, I would want to know that my coach or my son’s coach did everything he possibly could to fight for us , and make sure that if we didn’t get in the championship then at least he tried everyway to make it happen. If you all remember he told the team that if they played their hearts out and won the rest of their games then he would do his part and fight for them… A championship only comes around once in awhile maybe never , if its that close your damn right I’m gonna do anything I can that isn’t illegal to get that shot, if anything … I admired the man for trying… obviously Ou will see it different, but If he had been quiet and not said a word… how would he be able to look that team in the eye when those rankings came out and they were on the short end of the stick … I would be pissed if he hadn’t done anything … we all know that stooops would have been crying louder than mack

>>Would you have a hard time believing that a UT superstar QB would want to stay for his >>senior year if his father was an All-SEC player for UT and he was raised in Round Rock?

How good would a UT player have to be to be All-SEC?

>>He did a phone interview live during an opponent’s game trying to whore for his team (even >>Bob Stoops thought that was too low…think about that),

Get off your high horse, Stoops has done these too.

Nate,

How can you lambast Mack for stumping for his team when Stoops has resorted to emailing AP voters to lobby for their votes?

“Know Excuses!!!”

Nate —

I disagree with your point about Bradford and I definitely disagree with your comparison of his situation with Colt’s. Let’s face it, Bradford was a top 10, possibly top 5 pick if he goes last year. And justifiably — he is a proto-typical NFL quarterback who is smart enough to grasp a pro offense. I would take him over Sanchez in the NFL. Also, this isn’t 2005. The NFL has worked really hard to protect its quarterbacks and Bradford would have been safer there than in college.

Colt, on the other hand, is no one’s idea of a proto-typical NFL quarterback. More like a Rich Gannon or Jeff Garcia type, at best. And I doubt he would have even gone in the first round. Although I agree that he would have been drafted higher after last year than he will after this year.

Mack is not a piece of shit. Never has been and never will be. I don’t even know if it’s actually possible for other schools to viscerally hate him. He’s not that kind of guy.

“Bob Stoops thought that was too low…”

That’s unpossible.

Calling Mack a piece of shit is like sucker punching Captain Kangaroo.

TxTower: How can you lambast Mack for stumping for his team when Stoops has resorted to emailing AP voters to lobby for their votes?

Actually, that was Stoops’ assistant sports media something title, Kenny Mossman. But ultimately, it had to have come from the top. All those land thieves that blasted Mack Brown for lobbying for his players and the OU dept. does the same thing.

Damn, Nate. You sound as unreasonable as I did 5 years ago. Those losses and the feeling that you will never beat us again are the ultimate in despair. If you weren’t a Sooner, I’d feel sorry for you. J

ust because your team is currently Mack’s bitch doesn’t make him a piece of shit anymore than Bob beating us 5 in a row made him a piece of shit. The difference is that Bob is a piece of shit. The winning or losing has nothing to do with it.

Nate – You’re better than that…

This is not the first time Stoops has pulled something like this on a QB.

Anyone remember putting Jason White back in the game against Texas? Ruined his chances at a pro career.

No. I do remember him going back in against NU with a torn ACL, in his RS freshman year.

Of all the lying, amoral pieces of human excrement that have coached ou over the years, Stoops might be the worst of the lot.

“Calling Mack a piece of shit is like sucker punching Captain Kangaroo”

Mr. Green Jeans had his back.

Nate,

I agree with the others, you’re better than that.

I am in complete agreement that Bob Stoops is a piece of shit and will do whatever illegal, underhanded, dirty, thing he can to win(see Big Red Imports). At the same time the last people on earth that should be championing the “Stoops is the Devil” campaign are Longhorn fans.

If Mack Brown had a single ounce of character neither Sergio Kindle, or Lamarr Houston would be playing college football this year. As it stands Mack is just as bad as the rest of them, and the biggest reason why he stands at 6-0 and has the easiest path to the Big 12 title is because he is a terrible person, who allows convicts to carry his team. He doesn’t care if Sergio Kindle goes out and kills someone while driving intoxicated as long as Mack gets to the title game. I can promise you that someone who has gotten a DWI while on Mike Leach’s team will never play another down of Texas Tech football. Unfortunately, in this day and age character and moral fiber hinder a football program from reaching championships.

Come down off your high horse Hornfans, as long as you have convicted criminals leading your team you don’t get the right to call out other programs. Now STFU and enjoy the gift of key injuries to every team standing in your way of the conference championship.

ransom,

nobody will ever top switzer. stoops may suck, but switzer is the kingpin of suck.

What a bunch of fucking blow hards. I don’t care what you think of Stoops, it is his job to win college games (Mack’s too) not send his players into the lion’s den of lowest level NFL teams, no pun intended. Telling Sam to come back after last year is his job. I would like some of the researchers on this site to put together a list of 1. Successful underclassmen QB’s, 2. Successful come-out-as-a-sophomore NFL QB’s and 3.. Unsuccessful underclassmen QB’s. With the push-back of the rookie salary cap to 2011, there was no reason for him to come out as he would have projected to be a top 10 either way, prior to two shoulder problems notwithstanding. One Lloyds of London policy later and SB has his $40 million signing bonus taken care of and maybe not another Alex whateverthefuckhisnameis. I can’t remember because he went into the NFL too early and is now a 26year old very rich forklift driver.

And GHOST, cudo’s for both your Colt remarks about the draft and some of your Mack comments. It is the VERY RARE Sooner fan who remembers lamenting the fact that Mack went to UT the year before Stoops went to OU and we desperately wanted Mack at the time.

“If Mack Brown had a single ounce of character neither Sergio Kindle, or Lamarr Houston would be playing college football this year. As it stands Mack is just as bad as the rest of them, and the biggest reason why he stands at 6-0 and has the easiest path to the Big 12 title is because he is a terrible person, who allows convicts to carry his team”

yep we should throw out an otherwise good kid like Lamarr because of a single DWI. You know because only pure evil college kids drive drunk ever.

If that should get you kicked off the team what should assault with a baseball bat or a screwdriver get you? a medical redshirt and some counseling apparently

Ah Tim. This site just isn’t the same without your completely illogical posts. Please, keep posting. I welcome the reminder of why I didn’t even consider Tech when choosing a college.

You’re so right Tim. I’m sure that Crabtree knew nothing about his roommate dealing blow. And texting is so much worse than that anyway.

I’ve been a much happier person since I started skipping Tim’s posts.

I have tim’s posts printed and mailed to me written in a nice cursive with a fountain pen.

Treasures, I tell you. Treasures.

Fantastic post, Trips. Your Op-Ed skills are underrated.

“Telling Sam to come back after last year is his job.”

As opposed to telling a kid he has maximized his pro value and should take the money? Seems to me that he will be doing some fast talking in living rooms for quite a while.

“One Lloyds of London policy later and SB has his $40 million signing bonus taken care of "

I’d be surprised if this policy covered anything more than complete football disability. This injury ain’t it.

Bob, I’d be surprised if the policy wasn’t voided after the initial and then subsequent injuries. It certainly sets up the insurance carrier for reasonable contestability if Sam did have a career ending injury involving the shoulder.

Trips, I can’t help but think that Dad looked over that thing hard, but you make a good point.

Sooners have suggested that the policy has a “bridge” in case an injury causes him to drop from his draft projection. If that were the case, I would expect the insurers to be involved in post-injury deliberations, with the right to approve his subsequent treatment.

As I understand it, the surgery will fix it so that particular injury can’t happen again. The only think that can kill his career for good would be if he returned in 2010 and played poorly or had more injuries.

Levander-
I was thinking more in terms of Keyser Soze. Is it time for him already?

Texas fans were disappointed that Vince wasn’t coming back, but none I knew were angry at Vince. To their credit, I can’t say that many OU fans would have felt differently about Bradford.

Stoops is a different story.

“You’re so right Tim. I’m sure that Crabtree knew nothing about his roommate dealing blow. "

The kid got busted for selling blow in his home town of New Mexico and never stepped foot on a Texas Tech athletic facility ever again. If he played for Mack Brown, he would have gotten a pat on the butt and been told not to get caught next time and our lawyers will take care of it, now suit up you’re starting Saturday.

That’s the difference in the programs, and the only reason Mack has been successful is because he has turned a blind eye, and allowed criminals to carry his teams, going all the way back to Ricky Williams. Sergio Kindle and Lamaar Houston are just the current examples of how Texas is able to succed.

You can point the fingers at other programs all you want, but every hornfan knows the truth, if it were not for criminals allowed to play Mack would have been gone a long time ago.

Tim.

You are a dumb-ass.

Love,

BC

Dont forget your promise Timmy. Texas goes undefeated = you never comment here ever again.

Tim,

Go take a shot of Clorox

Byron Hanspard and Bam Morris.

Discuss.

Who has Leach kicked off the team for a DWI?

Who has any coach kicked off a team for a DWI?

Oh no, Tim’s house of logic is crashing down all around him. We’ve never seen this before.

“Tim,

Go take a shot of Clorox"

Shouldn’t that be Vinegar and Water?

Sergio Kindle
Lamar Houston
Henry Melton
Andre Jones
Tyrell Gatewood
James Henry
Dre Jones
Robert Joesph

Discuss

You forgot

Hank Melton
Jim Henry
Bob Joseph

Who are people that have bukkake’d Tim?

“Who has any coach kicked off a team for a DWI?”

BYU DB Teo kicked off team for DUI
Mizzou Blaine Dalton kicked off team for DWI
Penn State WR McDonald kicked off team for DWI
Nevada’s Mike McCoy, Kenny Viser and Rocco Bene all kicked off the team for DUI’s
Florida State’s Parker kicked off the team for DWI
Florida Locke kicked off the team for DUI
LSU’s Aycock kicked off the team for DUI
Arkansas Battle kicked of the team for DUI

Should I go on? From the looks of it Mack Brown is the only coach who doesn’t kick guys off the team for being convicted criminals.

Tim you fucking moron, most of those guys you listed WERE kicked off the team.

Tim, Houston is a great kid by all accounts. He made a mistake and drank too much and drove, just like everyone on this site has done numerous times in their life.

Remember to know your limits Tim next time you’re having Zima shooters followed by sperm chasers.

Yeah, but those guys sucked, Tim.

It’s not Mack Brown, it’s society you fucktard.

Ray Lewis.
Jerramy Stephens.
Michael Irvin.

Discuss.

As far as Kindle goes, don’t blame him, blame Johnny Walker.

I wonder what the premiums would be for a $40 mil. policy for one year? Not even Big Red would cover that one.
?

“Remember to know your limits Tim next time you’re having Zima shooters followed by sperm chasers.”

Magnus wins.

BYU Teo: Lied about the DUI to his coach.
Mizzou Dalton: 2nd DUI.
Penn St McDonald: Joe Pa means business.
Nevada McCoy, Viser, Bene: McCoy wasn’t kicked off, just probation, Viser and Bene both had previous violations of team rules.
FSU Parker: Previous firearm, drug, and theft charges.
Florida Locke: First off, it’s fucking baseball, 2nd, he was reinstated to the team.
LSU Aycock: Was a walk on.

So of your examples, 4 had prior offenses, 1 lied about it, 1 was reinstated, 1 never had a scholarship in the first place, 1 was never even kicked off, and 1 count ’em ONE fucking guy was actually kicked off of the team for (as far as we know) ONLY a DUI. And that was Joe Pa.

Other than being 10% right, you’re doing ok, Tim.

ctex80, thanks for doing that. I started the research, and the first two I googled had priors. I then decided it wasn’t worth it, and went and made a sandwich (ham).

Yeah, Mack was way too kind to Andre Jones, Robert Joseph and James Henry. He just let them keep on playing after giving them a pat on the butt.

Seriously, Tim and ipowers are not real.

I know this is mixing sports, but I can’t help but compare Stoops’ disregard for his players’ with someone like Rick Barnes, who was widely reported to have forced LaMarcus Aldridge to leave for the NBA as a top pick rather than return to UT and risk (further) injury. That may have been a short-term loss for UT b-ball, but it worked out for both the player and the program in the long term.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4583890

Nordberg,

I can always find time to bust Tim’s ass. It’s a 15 minute job, tops. Although, I swear to God, if Tim and ipowers are really just Scipio or somebody driving page views, I’m gonna be pissed. Impressed, but pissed.

Hey Trips,

Didn’t Tim come by your tailgate at the Tech game?

Yes, it turns out dedfischer has been pulling off a magnificent scam.

But unfortunately Tim was his real persona and dedfischer was the fake.

So, dedfischer is Tim? Man that’s disappointing, but I’m not shocked.

Finkel is Einhorn!

Tim,

TT players dont get DWI’s because they arent smart enough to pass the written portion of the driving test.

“its like i dreamed it…in my head”

I’m still wondering where Ponderos went……..

Ok, who the fuck is ipowers?

There were a lot of things from last year’s 2 team runoff for Big XII South student body president that made me want to vomit, but one of the worst was Bob Mealymouth Stoops and Switzer talking about taking the high road by not going on the A&M/Texas game to pimp their program.

Stoops was on Mike & Mike and AT LEAST one other show doing exactly that during that week.

Stoops is a prick, and a hypocritical one at that.

What do the following things have in common:

- Sam Bradford’s shoulder
- Jason White’s knee
- Ryan Reynold’s knee

Answer – things that have had dirt rubbed on them and pronounced fit for duty

BTW, Tim, I’m not sure if your synapses could be firing any slower if you were dead.

Long time reader,

Look at the basketball thread about us being zoned from the other day. Therein lies your answer. Get your popcorn.

Hundredth!

Great. You guys gave HenryJames a reason to celebrate. I hope you’re happy.

Now I have to point out that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was trite and derivative to even things out. I hope it was worth it.

I don’t believe you can blame Johnny Walker for anything. But Mike Adams did punch a cop.

To the guy who got mad Vince left early — dude, you’re hanging out with the wrong crowd. Every true UT fan/alum was happy for him, including me and every other UT guys I knew. We hated as hell to see him go, but we cheered him on all the way, even bought Titans jerseys, went to see him when he was in Houston and rooted for him despite he being on the “wrong” team. I never once heard any of my fellow ’Horns or myself gloat about it when the Titans benched him. Like I said, get new friends, man. Or at least, hang out more with REAL alums.

P.S. How the fuck can anybody hate Mack Brown? Man, that’s like hating America, apple pie, and the flag, you commie.

Sugarpants,

Johnny Walker is Sergio Kindle’s dad’s name. It was more a way to blame the parenting Sergio got. Obviously it’s 100% on Sergio. I figured everyone on here would have gotten it.

And now Timmy has to spend the rest of his week trying to figure out how his drunken, incoherent, misfit of an excuse for a football coach just got schooled, at home, by one of the worst teams in Div I football. I suspect its because Sergio Kindle was texting.

Well, looks like it’s official. Bradford will have surgery and make himself available for the NFL draft:

http://oklahoma.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=28&tid=127367272&mid=127367272&sid=895&style=2

Before Bradford came back he went to see James Andrews in Alabama. Perhaps Stoops was able to convince Andrews to lie to Bradford and tell him the shoulder was fine when it was actually being held together by a wicked duct tape job from the Sooner trainers so he could complete his evil plan to wreck Bradford’s shoulder in exchange for a three point loss in Dallas.

I think the amount of contempt you horns show for Bob Stoops while rushing to the aid of poor Sammy Bradford is laughable. You guys make it out to be Stoops pressuring someone who has no free will and no ability to weigh the facts and circumstances and make a decision. If its that obvious to all of you internet agents and draft projectors that Sam was putting millions of dollars at risk by coming back to an OU team with a shit offensive line and the worst receiving corps in the Stoops era, then I guarantee that 22 year old Sam Bradford knew that too. Bradford has repeatedly said that his lifelong dream was to play for Oklahoma, and he didn’t want to miss out on another season of that because in his mind “money isn’t everything”. It is shameful that people want to turn the story of a guy chasing his dream and taking the attitude that playing for his hometown team instead of chasing the big dollars into the story of an evil coach and a stupid kid that he took advantage of for his personal gain. Sam came back for reasons that may be hard for most of you to understand because you start at the position that the NFL is the penacle and money is the most important thing in the world, but it doesn’t really matter if you understand them because it was his decision and they were his reasons.

Also, it was Sam’s decision to come back from the injury, and he was given information from the absolute best orthopedic surgeon in the business before he made that decision, so this talk that he was somehow tricked or pressured by Stoops is just nonsense.

Finally, I think this quote just shows how little the people on this blog know about the OU football team and its players, coaches, and medical staff. “But luckily for Jermaine, the adults in his life stepped in and gave Stoops a collective middle finger by getting a second opinion from an objective medical doctor.” The first error in this is assuming that Jermaine Gresham has some adults in his life to turn to besides the OU coaching staff. Most people who knew Jermaine growing up know that he was practically an orphan. By all accounts I’ve heard, his story is reminiscent of the guy from “The Blind Side”. In fact, Gresham most likely came back because the OU football team is the first familial experience he’s had and he didn’t want to leave them, not because they pressured him, but because he’s a pretty shy guy who wasn’t ready to grow up and head out on his own into the real world. He knew he was risking an injury to his knee (he had injured the other one in a similar fashion in high school), but he came back to be with his teammates. Then, when he got hurt, the OU medical staff sat down with him and they made the determination that when they went in for surgery, they would see if they could repair the meniscus and if they could, then they would and he would miss the entire season, but if it was beyond repair, they would clean it up the best the could and he would be able to play with a significant amount of pain. Guess which path those self-serving evil bastards took.

Funny thing is, if Bradford had gone pro then your Horns would have faced a redshirt freshman (Jones) who’d been practicing since pre-season as the starter, and who would had more than enough experience by last week to have kicked your overrated asses in the RRS.

Good thing you didn’t wildly speculate about events you have absolutely no knowledge of. That would’ve made for a real piece of shit article.

Oh wait.

First of all, to the incomparable situation argument: Colt McCoy is going down in the draft, not up. Do you all honestly think that the scouts aren’t going to look at his “improvement” and think, “Gee, he sure sucked balls against the only team he played with an actual defense”? Do you really think that they’ll say “It must’ve been Greg Davis’ fault” or “It must’ve been the flu”? McCoy made a huge gamble by coming back this year, even if he didn’t cost himself as much money as Bradford may have (which we don’t know yet), and the only reason no one here at Barking Carnival is flipping out about it is because McCoy wears burnt orange. Don’t pretend like you actually give a shit about Bradford. These are very comparable situations even if they’re not directly analogous.

Colt McCoy and Curtis Lofton are incredible parallels, and the comparison further reinforces my point. Both have physical limitations that give NFL scouts pause. Both have put up the kinds of performances in big games against top talent that should make said scouts know that they’re capable of great success in the NFL. Both had nothing more to learn from college football after their junior year. The difference is that Curtis Lofton made the right decision accordingly based on Trips’ premise (get your money first). Colt McCoy wouldn’t have been a top 10 pick, but if Josh Freeman can go 17th, Colt McCoy can go in the 1st round. He’s sure as hell not moving up on any draft boards.

I know this is deeply incomprehensible to Texas alumni and fans, but Sam is a born and raised Sooner. Hell, he’s part Indian, so he’s technically more Oklahoman than all the white-eyes rooting him on. This kid was raised on stories of OU’s glory days under Switzer from his dad who actually played for OU. How hard can it really be for you all to understand that this kid was living his dream as the OU quarterback and that he made what we would all not consider to be a rational decision because he has his own priorities? Stoops didn’t have to sell Bradford a bill of goods or any snake oil. Bradford already wanted to stay. How many men can say they got to live their boyhood dream at age 20?

Trips, do you have a response to SoonerVino’s statement regarding Gresham? He’s calling you a liar, and he appears to be correct.

Any thoughts about Stoops’ handling of Corey Wilson, Mike Balogun, and Mike Reed? Just curious if you were aware how the “piece of shit” handled those guys.

Mack Brown is most certainly a piece of shit. I could disregard every other argument and stick solely to the fact that he’s hamstrung you guys out of a couple of potential MNC seasons by retaining the services of one Greg Davis, and the fact that he voluntarily coached under Switzer at OU in 1984. And I’d still be right. (Note: If you didn’t catch the fact that this statement and the previous one like it were ridiculous sarcastic responses to the equally ridiculous original post by the references to Greg Davis, then I can’t help you.)

It really doesn’t matter what Stoops does, it will never satisfy anyone south of the Red River. Are you making these projections based on what Kiper or McShay say what would have happened? He would have been drafted high but opinions varied and every year we see college stars get picked apart due to style of offense, players were too good around them, doesn’t weigh enough, etc.. Bill Parcells, like other NFLers, told Bob Stoops Bradford could use more weight on his frame. There were questions on his true greatness having such great protection. Bradford wanted to come back. So did Gresham. So did McCoy. Those were 3 Oklahoma-bred kids that wanted to play for the Sooners. It’s perfectly fine when Texas kids did it year in and year out in the mid 2000s.

Bradford was cleared to play against Miami but was held out. That was a pretty big game for the Sooners where Bradford was likely the difference between a win or a loss. He threw the ball 49 times against Baylor. Never got hurt and that shoulder looked just fine.
  
Yes or No. Mack Brown should have pushed guys like Roy Williams out the door when he wanted to come back to Texas? Yes or No. Colt McCoy should have NEVER played against A&M in 2006? It’s a double standard with Texas fans. What would the story have been in Sergio Kindle was a Sooner and ran into a Norman apartment ‘texting’ late at night? Is Kindle and Mack Brown lucky as hell the resident was not in her room? Yeah. Did Kindle miss any playing time for it? No. If Stoops had done that, you guys would be all over it.

Nate,

The reason that the McCoy and Bradford situations are not analogous is as follows: Yes, both have seen their stock drop by coming back. The difference is that Bradford’s stock COULDN’T have gone up. Colt was projected 2nd or 3rd round, while Bradford was a consensus top 5 pick. It’s simple risk/reward. Not sure why the difference is so hard for you to comprehend, but apparently it is.

The fact remains that Stoops was not advising Bradford to go pro, even though that would have been in Bradford’s best interests. Granted, that may not have been what Bradford wanted, but I think we’ve all had times where our best interests and what we want find themselves diametrically opposed. Stoops put what was best for OU and Stoops ahead of what was best for Bradford.

ctex80,
I find the notion that a competent adult is to be told what is best for him by anyone but himself objectionable. Sam Bradford’s best interests should only be determined by Sam Bradford. He’s not a child, he doesn’t need anyone else deciding what is best for him.

Never said anyone should DECIDE anything for him. Said that Stoops should have ADVISED him to do what pretty much everyone but Stoops, Bradford, and Sooner fans could plainly see was in his best interests.

I think your premise that anyone knows what is in his best interest besides Bradford himself is extremely flawed.

So are you saying that “what Sam wants = what is best for Sam”? Do you not allow for the possibility that a 21 year old kid, with millions of dollars on the line, made a bad decision? That perhaps what he wanted to do (stay at OU) was not, in the grand scheme of things, in his best interests?

I think that if Sam Bradford really wanted to stay at Oklahoma to continue playing college football after carefully considering his options, then it cannot possibly be a bad decision. So it turned out differently than he would have liked it to or than he expected it to. That doesn’t make the original decision wrong.

In your statement, it appears that best interests really means best financial interests, which is not the only interest at stake here. It is ironic that you use the phrase “grand scheme of things” because I have always heard that used in the context of what is really important (usually in a sentence like “Yeah, I could have lied to that client to get him to sign and make me a whole lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things, money isn’t all there is to life and I have a soul to worry about.”). It is impressive that at 22 Sam Bradford is able to put things into perspective and recognize that “in the grand scheme of things” having ridiculous amounts of money isn’t as important as continuing to live his dream at OU.

Question for the sooners on this thread. Is Stoops being completely honest and truthful in the posted video with respect to the NFL draft process and how prospects are evaluated, grades they are given, etc. so forth? If your answer is yes, then I don’t see the point of discussing the matter with you, other than to say, yes, the adults CURRENTLY in Gresham’s life handled the situation better than the adults in Bradford’s corner.

Listen to the words that are coming out of Bob Stoop’s mouth for fucksake.

Just one more question for the sooner cognoscenti on this board considering Bradford has announced he’s having surgery and Bob Stoop’s proclaimed there was no further damage after the Aaron Williams’ hit.

If Bradford needs surgery now, and no further damage was done to the shoulder after the Aaron Williams’ hit, then doesn’t it stand to reason that Sammy needed surgery prior to the Texas game? Perhaps you need a sub-1000 on your SAT to make this logic work. A little help minus any spin would be appreciated.

“I think that if Sam Bradford really wanted to stay at Oklahoma to continue playing college football after carefully considering his options, then it cannot possibly be a bad decision.”

He clearly didn’t “carefully consider his options” as he made the wrong choice, not only from a results standpoint, but from a statistics standpoint. That does make the decision wrong. Sam hit on 18, and Stoops was the drunk friend telling him to double down.

You can keep believing all the “living the dream” bullshit if you’d like, but I bet, if Bradford could do it over again, he’d be suiting up for Detroit right now.

Sooners —

Maybe it was Bradford’s decision not to go pro. But it was definitely Stoops’ decision to play him against Texas.

To say that Stoops should have advised him to leave early is ridiculous. Stoops has done a very good job over the year helping his guys make the best decisions possible. Adrian peterson left early, Tommie Harris, Roy Williams. Stoops helped these guys gather all the info and make their own decisions. Bradford just made a different decision. It was right for him and I doubt he regrets it.

And playing Bradford against Texas was Sam’s decision, not Stoops’. To say differently means you don’t know Sam. Stoops had to OK it, but Sam wanted to play.

I heard from a reliable source that soonerfan 15 is actually Bob Stoops. Reread his posts and imagine similar comments spoken by an unsmiling and chinless demon in a visor. No wonder Sammyboy came back.

Where is the proof that Stoops advised Bradford to stay? In that press conference, he just explains the process he goes through with players and pushes back a little bit on the BS the local sports media peddles every day. For all you know Stoops told Bradford to leave. That is, unless you were there for the conversation.

Soonerfan and ThatGuy, I admire your desire to get the truth on the record, but I think we are wasting our time. I mean, it’s not surprising that fans of a team that puts a track around their football field would have trouble computing the idea that playing for your State’s school is a dream. Further, how much of a cheeto-muncher do you have to be to sit around writing blog posts about 20 year olds who accomplished more before their 10am shit than you accomplished in the last 30 years? I don’t believe this joker should comment “as a dad” because he’s not fooling anyone… the last time he saw female genitals was his own birth. I’m almost ashamed to comment on this POS blog.

You might as well have posted a picture of a white flag. Thanks for playing.

Ah, Sooner. Those of you lacked the initiative and courage to move to Bakersfield and Fresno, California when your entire state turned into a dried-up dust storm are no doubt extremely proud to play for your home state. I have no idea why, but I assume it is some kind of state-wide Stockholm syndrome type phenomena. And every year you manage to field a good team by luring some East Texas and inner-city Houston boys with $$ and incentives to come play for you. Kudos — until you get caught again like you did with basketball.

But if you morons honestly believe that it was Sam Bradford’s decision to play against himself against Texas then you need to fire Stoops immediately. Regardless of whether Bradford wanted to play — and I believe he did because playing well against Texas was the only feasible way to improve his draft stock after his injury — it is up to the coach to decide who actually plays. Your coach decided to play a guy with a bad wing. And the results were ugly. And if you don’t think that the injury he suffered, along with Gresham’s knee injury, are going to hurt you in the recruiting game then you are crazy.

Trips,

My understanding is that his shoulder surgery he is having is the kind that a lot of guys get where they end up tightening up all of the stuff that is loosened during a dislocation or a sprain of the shoulder joint. Adrian Peterson had the same thing in the spring after his freshman year. After Bradford saw James Andrews, he was told that he would eventually require surgery to repair the damage that was done, but he was cleared to come back and throw the ball and let pain be his guide. He couldn’t further stretch out his ligaments, tendons, and whatnot in his shoulder, so as long as he could throw the ball without significant pain or discomfort he could play without the risk of making what was going to already be repaired worse. Sam decided to come back and give it one more try to see if he could manage the pain and help his team. After the first week of throwing the ball, he was still in too much pain, so he didn’t come back for the Miami game. He felt much better after the next week, and went out and played against Baylor where he threw it without a ton of pain and even took a few hits without a problem.

One thing I do know is that Bradford did not want to numb up his shoulder with an injection before playing because he thought that 1) that keeps him from letting pain be his guide and 2) if he sustained a different shoulder injury during the course of the game while numbed up, he was afraid he’d be unable to tell and would do permanent damage by playing through something much worse than his current injury.

So, at the Texas game, he landed in the exact wrong spot and it caused him a lot of pain. It was not made worse, it was just back to the level of pain that it was during the BYU game (or maybe later because he continued to throw on the Sooner sideline after he came out for a few minutes, which he would not have been able to do at the BYU game). Sam probably realized that he would not be back to throwing pain free until very late in the season, and he still was at risk for another fall which would knock him out of the game and put him right back in the same place. Also, I know that he talked to Alex Smith about the surgery (Alex got the same surgery from the same doctor) and found out that there are some potential complications from the surgery. I’m not surgeon, but I understand that there is a wire put during the surgery that I guess helps tighten it up, and in Alex’s case that wire broke the bone in his shoulder leading to a significantly longer recovery time. So, Sam was looking at potentially coming back for like one game and then having a surgery that is projected to have him in recovery for 4-6 months, but could be much longer. I’m sure his thought process was he should just get it done just in case there was a complication.

That’s my understanding, hope it helps.

I have a question for you, though. You keep referring to these adults in Jermaine Gresham’s life. Now you’ve changed it to adults CURRENTLY in his life. I’m just curious – who are you talking about? You act like you know something, but I’m calling bullshit on that. You have no clue what you are talking about.

soonerfan15, the next time your boss at burger king gives you constructive advice concerning going to a juco to get your associate degree, tell him to go fuck himself because you clearly know what is in your own best interest as an adult.

Thanks a million for the awesome blog post! I don’t know what everyone else is doing, I can’t wait to get my <A href="http://defyboardshop.com/search.asp?action=search

Thoughts on the handling of DJ “Drunk Driving” Monroe?

DJ Monroe’s DWI was ineptly handled. Typical crooked UT.

Jesus…this whole article and most of the replies are a nasty combination of football ignorant and Aggie dumb.

Congrats, guys. You just proved that Longhorn fans are fucking retarded.

This kind of website is very cool, keep posting awesome material.