Tag Archives: Oklahoma

Man Cave

The Next Barry Sanders Is…Barry Sanders

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by Rob Loeber

If you watch Heritage Hall senior Barry Sanders run the football, you can easily picture him wearing a light blue jersey and a silver helmet just like his father did throughout the nineties with the Detroit Lions.  The younger Sanders is an electrifying talent and even though he may not be Hall of Fame material just yet, he is ready to take the next step in his football career.  Sanders is one of the top recruits in the country and would be welcome at any of the premier division one college programs.  I recently sat down with Sanders and asked him about carrying the weight of lofty expectations, how he’ll make his college choice, and what’s going through his mind as he tears through an opposing defense.  The following is an excerpt from that interview.

Loeber: Barry you’ve been given this amazing talent, but with that talent means expectations are also extremely high.  Can having the name Barry Sanders be a blessing and a burden at the same time?

Sanders: I’ve thought about it, and I think it’s more of a blessing than anything.  It’s a lot of opportunity that comes with it and I’ve just been trying to capitalize on it and do the best I can with it.

Barry Sanders Sr. won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma State and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2004. (courtesy profootballhof.com)

Loeber: Do you remember the first time you saw your dad run the football?

Sanders: I do remember going to a couple games.  I remember the first few times and I remember watching some of his highlights and realizing how great he was.  I’m still amazed at what he was able to do.

Loeber: Football or not, what’s the best piece of advice that he’s given you?

Sanders: Probably just to be the best man you can be.  We’ve talked about a lot of things off the field, but that’s probably one of the biggest things you know, take care of what you have to take care of and be responsible.

Loeber: Does it ever feel like the expectations placed on you are too high?

Sanders: If you ask me, no.  My mom and my grandpa might have something different to say but I would say no because I don’t look at it as expectations.  Like I said, it’s opportunity.  It’s opportunity hopefully to be one of the greats you know, that’s all you can ask for.

Loeber: Do you ever wish for a day or a week of anonymity, or do you kind of embrace the fact that you are the face of this (Heritage Hall) program? Continue reading The Next Barry Sanders Is…Barry Sanders →

Man Cave

Brighter Lights In A Small Town

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The cast of characters in the hit TV drama, "Friday Night Lights." (courtesy popdose.com)

by Rob Loeber

Recently, I’ve developed an addiction to Friday Night Lights.

The TV drama is set in a small town in West Texas and centers on the life of the high school football coach, his family, and his players.  FNL has its share of soap opera moments and sometimes the storylines stretch the limits of believability, but the captivating thing about the show is how it truly captures life in a small town.  The entire community shuts down on Friday nights to watch its team take the field.  The players are celebrities and the coach is scrutinized for every single decision and play call he makes.  More than anything else, passion for the game of football and pride for the town, come pouring through the screen.

If you get away from the metropolitan areas and keep driving past the suburbs, you can still find the same kind of passion for high school football here in Oklahoma.  There are still sleepy little towns that come alive when the lights come on.

Beggs is one of those towns.  The community of 1,300 people features old houses, weathered trailers, and beat-up trucks driving down poorly paved roads that eventually lead you to the high school football stadium.

“We got a Dairy Queen, we got a stoplight, we got a convenience store, and we got football,” Beggs head coach Bob Craig told me as we stood in the middle of the football field.  “You should see this place on game days.”

Continue reading Brighter Lights In A Small Town →

Man Cave

Get Over Yourself Tulsa

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A few weeks ago, the Tulsa World published this article about how more Tulsans are embracing the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Overall, the tone of the article is positive.  It cites increasing ticket sales and rising TV ratings from the East side of the state.  However, if you read the article and read some of the comments, you’ll quickly realize just how ignorant, jealous and petty so many folks are about the Thunder bearing the name “Oklahoma City.”

Tulsans don't need to go to this extreme, but you get the idea. (courtesy bleacherreport.com)

I don’t want to admit this is true, but having lived in Tulsa for almost seven years now, there is an inferiority complex for too many people when it comes to competition with OKC.  These are the same imbeciles who need something to be offended by, something to rant about on sports radio, and who cling to the past like it’s keeping them alive.  The ridiculous sentiment of this pathetic crowd is, “They’re not the Oklahoma Thunder, so why should I care? They don’t market themselves to Tulsa or play games up here, so why I am going to support a team that doesn’t acknowledge me?”

Really?  Sometimes you people sound like too much like the kid who gets picked last for dodge ball.  Did you ever think it’s because maybe you’re not good enough?  Instead of whining and complaining just get better.

The BOK Center is a start, bust more downtown renewal must follow.

Let’s face facts here; Oklahoma City had a vision back in the mid-nineties.  The MAPS project was executed flawlessly and now OKC has transformed itself into a big league city that is deserving of a professional franchise.  Tulsa is a fantastic place to live, and offers plenty of things that OKC doesn’t, but it just isn’t on the same level when it comes to being ready for pro sports.  Sure, Tulsa has the BOK Center downtown.  It’s a beautiful facility and it’s a huge step in the right direction.  But Tulsa also has a city council that squabbles incessantly, excruciatingly slow development along the river, and surface streets that make this town the perfect place to open up your own alignment shop.  What takes Oklahoma City ten years seems to take Tulsa 25 years to accomplish.  Believe me, Tulsa is changing and improving, but it’s not there yet.

Continue reading Get Over Yourself Tulsa →

Relationships

Live Oak Equals Our Living Marriage

May 5, 2011 note:  Today I went to the tag agency and while I was waiting on my requests to be processed I heard a man next to me provide his home address to the clerk.  I was surprised to hear he lived on “Clover Glen,” the street where Mick and lived in our first home.  This has been a week of weird coincidences, so I decided perhaps there was more at stake than just coincidence.  Therefore, I’m reposting this entry I wrote almost a year ago in preparation for another I’ve been writing for three days.  I’ve been writing, and thinking about, and researching, and writing more about the process of falling in, out, and perhaps…back in love again.
The gentleman at the tag agency ended up being a resident of the house you see in this photo on the left – he would have been our neighbor to the south.  He said he still gets mail for our former neighbors, and they’ve been gone over 20 years.  See you here tomorrow – Red Dirt Kelly
***

The setting was a cold February, 1986.

My husband and I had been married about six months when the bottom of the oil bust hit Oklahoma.  Thousands of homes in Edmond were being vacated after the interest rates within a group of “negative amortization” loans began to skyrocket as the oil jobs started drying up.

For newlyweds living in a tiny apartment like us with adequate income, the housing market was a real opportunity.  We purchased our first home from builders who had been paying interest on it for over a year.  They were desperate and we felt lucky.  We closed on the deal very quickly. Continue reading Live Oak Equals Our Living Marriage →

Man Cave

Does Capel Deserve More Time?

Could Jeff Capel's tenure at Oklahoma be over? (courtesy thespread.com)

Jeff Capel is a good basketball coach.

“Good” will cut it in just about any profession, just not Capel’s. Good coaches get fired every season and some in this state believe now is the time for a change in leadership of the Oklahoma program.

Capel’s detractors have a case. The Sooners finished the season last night with a 20-point loss to Texas and an overall record of 14-18. For the first time in 46 years, OU has posted back to back losing seasons.
Capel’s squad will also miss the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year. The Sooners haven’t been left out of the dance two years in a row since 1994.

There was a brutal string of nine straight losses at the end of last season. At one point this year, OU dropped eight in a row and wound up losing nine of its last eleven.

Can Capel win without Blake Griffin? So far, the answer seems to be no. (courtesy sportige.com)

The Sooners have fallen close to the cellar in the Big 12 conference. Only Iowa State finished lower than OU in the standings, and ten of the Sooners conference losses were by a margin of ten points or more. It isn’t just that Capel’s team was losing, it’s that his team wasn’t even consistently competitive. It looks worse for OU when you look at recent history against the top teams in the conference. The Sooners have now dropped four in a row to Texas, four in a row to Texas A&M, and six straight to Kansas.

Critics also love to point out Capel’s recruiting history. Willie Warren, Tommy Mason-Griffin, and Tiny Gallon were all McDonald’s All-Americans and were supposed to be the next wave of Sooner superstars. They were going to pick up the slack after the departure of Blake Griffin, and continue to keep the program in a position of prominence. Warren played two seasons and bolted to the NBA. Mason-Griffin skipped town after only a year and was quoted in the Houston Chronicle saying, “School work was just not in my comfort zone.”  Gallon also left Norman after his freshman season amidst allegations that he and his mother received $3,000 from a financial adviser. OU assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro was rumored to be connected to the adviser and the NCAA launched an investigation into Taliaferro’s actions.

Continue reading Does Capel Deserve More Time? →