Big D

Big D

Monday, October 09, 2006

What a Win!



Sure, OU had won the previous 5 games in Dallas prior to 2005. And Bob Stoops has owned Mack Brown in the past pre-Vince Young. Whatever the past results in the Red River Shootout between these two coaches can now be thrown out the window going forward. Because Mack Brown has changed the momentum in this series and the talent gap is widening between Texas and Oklahoma. Since the 2004 Orange Bowl, Oklahoma is just 11-7 and the recruiting for Texas is like a runaway freight train for Mack Brown.

In a convincing 28-10 victory that I had the good fortune of witnessing from Section 19 with Sarah and her parents, the Longhorns have exorcised any demons that may have existed from past Mack Brown teams. See 63-14 on that cold, dark day in 2000 and the play below in 2001 on a perfect October day shortly after 9/11 as examples of how painful this series was for Longhorn fans during that era:

See if you can spot Cuyler on this clip who was the handler for Bevo during this game and I have seen on other replays of this painful play.




Commentary on Cotton Bowl

While the TX/OU game will remain in Dallas through at least 2010, you can't go to this game and not wonder what could have been had the City of Dallas not missed their opportunity to bring the Cowboys to Fair Park. The area around the Cotton Bowl and Fair Park is very run down as well as crime-ridden and it will most likely will never recover from the city's mistake. By losing the Cowboys, the city has probably lost any chance of connecting Fair Park to downtown and reveloping the land that has become a wasteland between Deep Ellum, downtown, and Fair Park. It's a very distinct possibility that development similar to what has happened in Uptown would have occurred in the area around Fair Park with new Cowboys stadium and all the money that comes with Jerry Jones. If this money had been dedicated to fund such development in the form of money from the Cowboys, private development and the City. The Super Bowl, Final 4, and many other marquee events may still be played out in Arlington, but what a pity for the city of Dallas and for this area in general by missing such a great opportunity.

The Cotton Bowl may or may not be able to keep a game that is played once a year, and the people who live around the cotton bowl will fear for their lives on every other weekend of the year. But you know what, yay for Arlington and for the bastards in Fort Worth who were probably the main reason professional starts where put in Arlington in the first place. I'm not bitter or anything..


While the stadium itself was actually in pretty decent enough shape, a couple minor problems included seats being way too small (everyone stands anyways) and the concession stands are a huge problem with people standing in long lines thanks to above average temperatures. I will admit that I hope the schools decide to keep this game at the Cotton Bowl for the next 50 years. Tradition is a thing lost on many in this generation and I would hate to see a day when the TX/OU game isn't played in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl.

Best Player of the Weekend

The honor goes to Cal's Desean Jackson who not only had a sick TD catch but had this punt return that was downright nast in Cal's thumping of Oregon.



On the same play, an Oregon kicker jumpkicks a Cal player an inexplicably doesn't even get flagged on the play after officials review. Expect a suspension in this one



Mean Green take 7 overtimes to get by Florida International. And the kicker missed about 4 other field goals before kicking the game winner in the 7th overtime.


Denis Hopovac's fifth field goal of the game in an NCAA record-tying seventh overtime gave North Texas a 25-22 victory over Florida International on Saturday night.


Hopovac connected from 34 yards after he and Florida International counterpart Dustin Rivest each missed four field goals in overtime. Hopovac also tied an NCAA record with nine attempts




Tigers End Yankees

In a scene right out of Major League with players like Kenny Rogers and Carlos Guillen going into the stands and celebrating with fans (check video below), the Tigers somehow managed to beat the mighty Yankees with a lineup compared to their 1927 team. Good pitching always beats good hitting in the postseason and just because the Yankees had the NY on their hat didn't mean they could go against that old adage that all Rangers fans knows all too well.




The Yankees house is crumbling with Steinbrener fuming, Torre's job on the line, and A-Fraud being rumored to be on the way out of town. A-Fraud is the root of this mess if you ask most Yankee fans. The knock on him throughout his career has been that he puts up empty numbers and gone into a shell when it really matters. The stastics bear this reputation out. Check out these numbers:

3-29 .103 AVG -- Last two playoff series

4-41 .098 AVG 0 RBI Last 12 playoff games

It's hard to argue with the curse of A-Fraud and he has managed to not only bring down Joe Torre and turn a Derek Jeter led team from a Champion into a 200 Million Dollar laughing stock with this collapse and the "Biggest Choke in Professional Sports" history. You have to start to wonder about A-Fraud. Either that or the fact the Yankees ran out a broken down Randy Johnson and mediocre Jarret Wright in games 3 and 4. Despite the shock many seem to make of this happening, The Yankees were a puny 2 games better than the Tigers during the regular season and anyone who followed the American League knows the Tigers had the best record in baseball for much of the regular season not too mention much better pitching.

Can't wait to see the A's/Tigers series and I really have got to give major league baseball credit for providing great drama and my baseball renaissance continues and even more drama awaits....

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