Posted by Dr Fro 11:01 PM
Adam and I have been compiling a list of stupid things people do at the poker table. Some are common. Some are not, but they are things we have actually seen. Here is what we have so far (in no particular order):

1. Failing to bet/raise with the nuts in last position. This one just kills me. It is rare asituation in poker that a decision is 100% wrong, all of the time.
2. Calling a bet "just to see what he had" OK, you think this is bad in the base case, but get this....ARH saw a guy be the SECOND CALLER and make this statement. That is terrible.
3. Saying "You called with THAT" when you bluff and get called by a person holding bottom pair or maybe Ace-High. HELLO...the call was becase they put you on a bluff, not because of "THAT" Somebody (was it Tiffany Michelle?) did this on Tuesday night on ESPN.
4. Calling trips a set It isn't that stupid, it is just semantics. However, it is evidence that you probably don't read many poker books
5. Cardrooms that force you to post a blind when you join a table Really? I just waited 45 minutes on a waitlist to sit and play 3 hands for free before I jet when the BB comes around. The rule makes sense online, but who is going to go through all that trouble in a B&M cardroom?
6. Misapplication of the show-one, show-all rule The rule is intended to disallow showing your hand to one person only, not to disallow showing one card only
7. Bluffing into a dry side pot Refer to earlier discusssions
8. A home game that has a no-check-raise rule This is rare, but it is blasphemy
9. Limits on buy-ins in a NL game This didn't exist 10 years ago. It first existed in online poker. It spread to B&M games post-Moneymaker because it was beneficial to the cardrooms to fleece the sheep rather than skin them. I understand the cardroom's motivation in putting in this paternalistic rule. But why do players and home games support this blasphemy? If you have $132 in your stack, what is the difference between me having $133 or $1,000,000,000,000? None. None. None. The confusion comes from a mentality that is born in tournament poker (which, due to TV, is many people's primary perspective on poker). In a cash game, it doesn't matter. And when Person A does not want Person B and C to buy in for more money, it just means that B and C can't get a juicy side pot going. In the ultimate irony, the side pot just might get B or C to fold, which would help B win the main pot. But we aren't dealing in reality here, just in stupidity rooted in ignorance.
10. Asking for a new deck
11. Telling me I didn't have the pot odds to call when you failed to count all of my outs
12. Calling time on yourself This is so great. The obvious cause of this is the confusion over what saying "time" means. In most sports, it buys you time. In poker, it limits your time. God, I find this one funny.
13. "Who's turn is it?"

Your thoughts?

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Posted by Johnnymac 10:08 AM
"Think about it. Those Hollywood types are a lot smarter than me. That's why I listen to them!"




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Posted by Johnnymac 9:50 AM
Look everybody, a typical Obama supporter! (for what it's worth, I don't like paying for my gas or my mortgage, either)




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Posted by Dr Fro 10:16 AM
KTL can tell me if I got this right:

Game 5, had it been a regular season game, would have been counted as a win for the Phillies if it were a regular season game. This is because:
- the game lasted at least 5 innings
- the 1/2 inning played does not count
- Philly was winning at the end of the last complete inning

I do not know if I got that right.

I also understand that there was an acual, written rule change a few years ago that made a special case for the playoffs that if the game was tied EVEN if the tie came in the middle of an inning, that game would be continued on another day. Additionally, Selig and the Stonecutters others had some sort of gentlemen's agreement to continue the game even if Tampa failed to tie it up.

Did I get that right, too?

What I do know for sure is that Mike and Mike reported yesterday that Vegas paid out the game as if Philly had won because, I believe, Vegas' rules reflect the regular season rules and there is no special rule for the playoffs. Regardinng futures bets (e.g., "Phillies to win it in 5), you would really have 8 possible "games" and how would you count that? Surely, you would throw out the partial game 5 and just look to the winner of the "real" game 5. Of course, Philly won, so no-harm, no-foul. I also managed to turn $8 into $10 by taking them to win the series.

My friend, Little Pony, bet on game 5 on intertops, and they refunded his bet as a "no-play". He is curious if anybody bet on the Rays and, if so, did they also get a refund?

I had mixed emotions about my old friend, Brad Lidge, but in the end, I was happy for him. We can all relate to his quote after the game that the trials and tribulations leading up to this victory made him appreciate it all the more. Dr. Fro felt the same when he won the Rose Bowl in January 2006.

Can somebody explain one more thing to me? Why did the Dallas Morning News not put the World Series on the front page this morning? Since when did the Mav's season opener become bigger news than the championship in one of America's 3 biggest sports?


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Posted by Dr Fro 11:35 AM
I think I dislike Tiffany Michelle more than I dislike Hellmuth. So do these guys. It isn't so much what she says or does as much as how she says it. She really seems to have a higher opinion of herself than Hellmuth does. A few weeks ago when she was bouncing around the Rio every time a woman got eliminated seemed wiered, but last night's antics with calling the clock on the guy, bitching about petty stuff, snide comments like "just keep doing that" and her bitchy refusal to count her chip stack show her true colors.

Several players that previously exhibited poor behavior (Hevad Kahn, Scotty, heck, even Hellmuth and Matusow) were on much improved behavior this year. I wonder if she will regret her actions and behave more professionally next time we see her on TV.

That, and she is not hot.

And if you have no idea what I am talking about, you need to Tivo the WSOP.


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Posted by Dr Fro 2:04 PM

Texas is now 8-0 and about to go play 8-0 Texas Tech. It is a showdown of two top-six teams, each with a shot at the conference and national championship. By every measure, it is a very big game.

Texas has been in some big games before (Ohio State twice, OU many times, NU a couple times, 4 Big XII championships, and two Rose Bowls to name a few). In just about every one of those games, I felt that it would be great if we won, but if we did lose, I could take solace in the fact that the there is no shame in losing to USC, Ohio State, etc.

I can't say that with this game. If we lose to Tech, there is no solace. They are Tech. It is embarrassing to lose to them even if they are 8-0 and appear to be good.

This might be the biggest game ever played by Texas Tech. It certainly is the biggest one since I've been watching college football. Think about that. This is their biggest game ever. Where do you think it ranks for UT? Probably rounds out the top ten. Any time the game is bigger to your opponent than it is to you, you are in trouble. Think Tech-Cal Holiday bowl in 2005. Plus, it is in Lubbock....at night. I am not going to sleep well tonight.

I'll still stand by my opinion that, no matter what happens on Saturday, Tech won't win the conference. Stoops, Gundy or somebody will throw a wrench into their plans at some point.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Mike Gundy may be 40 (actually 41), but he needs a new haircut. Hello, it is 1983 on the phone and it wants its hair back.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Tressel's decision to punt

With about 4 minutes left, Vesty McVestpants decided to punt when down by 4. Why? Not picking on him as it seems every coach this side of the West Texas Pirate seems to do the same thing in the same situation, but I totally disagree. Go for it on fourth. If you fail, trust the defense to hold them to a FG (after all, when you punt, you are trusting your defense to stop). Worst case (if your defense is successful) is to be down by 7 with the ball. The downside is quite small (down by 7 v down by 4) but the upside is huge if you convert. This is on a long list of coaching "conventional wisdom" with which I disagree.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I have been playing $3-$6 no limit on Pokerstars lately. I have had no losing sessions in 9 tries (one session was break-even). I love it. People are just good enough to be able to put on a hand but not so good that they can easily do it back.

Something I have seen more than once lately is a guy raising pre-flop and making a continuation bet on the flop and the turn before checking the river. Can you say insta-shove? Seriously, either stop after firing one shot unsucessfully (Steve Zolotow's approach) or fire a bullet on every street. Firing bullets just to stop on the river is the way to maximize your exposure whil giving yourself no chance to win.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

According to intertops, you can get 5:1 by betting on McCain. Risking $1 on Obama would net you 12 cents. Anybody else think that Sarah Palin will pose nude in Playboy in 8 years? Kinda like how Kim from Different Strokes did when she ran out of money.

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Posted by Dr Fro 12:38 PM
Shall we pause in the middle of the season to grade my predictions?

Green means I am doing well, Yellow is iffy, Red is a prediction that is unlikely to come to fruition.

1. UT will win 10 games. It is hard to imagine not winning 3 more games since we have either 6 or 7 to go
2. OU will win the conference... They need help.
3. ...and go to a BCS game They should go, possible as an at-large
4. ...but not win the NC Feeling good about that. Now Manuel Johnson is hurt too (with Ryan Reynolds)
5. A&M will start Jerrod Johnson at some point Done
6. The SEC will win the NC ... Roll Tide
7. ...over USC They'll certainly be put ahead of pretty much any other 1-loss team (deservedly so or not!)
8. Tebow gets the Heisman He is fifth right now. Plus, he just said he is voting for Colt, so there's one vote he won't get.
9. Pat White is the runner-up Um, no. Not even close.
10. WVU to the BCS They are 2-0 in conference
11. UT finishes higher than Tech in the B12 Looks more likely than not
12. UT finishes higher than Tech in the final AP Looks more likely than not
13. Coach Mangino manufactures a controversy Just wait.
14. The SEC is decided by a blocked field goal attempt. Just wait.
15. Junell is still gay at season's end. Done
16. Kansas loses to South Florida Done


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Posted by Dr Fro 8:50 PM
Brilliance.


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Posted by Dr Fro 8:57 AM



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Posted by Dr Fro 7:43 AM
You probably saw this on ESPN yesterday, but they were comparing Romo's decision to miss a few weeks with Trevor Wikre. Who is Mr. Wikre? A bigger man than Romo (and than Dr Fro!):


+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Trevor Wikre was willing to forgo a finger for football.

The Mesa State College senior offensive lineman fractured his right pinkie so severely in practice on Tuesday, doctors told him he needed immediate surgery. His season and career would be finished.

Instead, Wikre told them to amputate the finger. He's now missing a good portion of his pinkie.

"I'm just short one," Wikre said with a chuckle. "But this game means that much to me. This team means that much to me."

Wikre will miss the Mavericks' game Saturday at Colorado School of Mines, but will be back the following week -- albeit with his finger covered in a cast.

"Football is something that's been in my blood," said Wikre, who's from Berthoud, Colo. "It's something I have a passion for. The game quits everybody eventually -- you want to hang on to it as long as you can."

Wikre was going for a block in practice when he caught his finger in a teammate's jersey. At first, he didn't give the ailing pinkie a second thought, thinking the sensation he was feeling inside his glove was a piece of tape that had simply slipped off.

But when he removed his glove, the bone was jutting out, and he was immediately sent to the hospital.

Doctors informed Wikre he would need surgery to insert a pin and that he'd likely be out for up to six months as the finger healed. He couldn't bear the thought of his career ending so abruptly, so he decided to forsake the finger.

"This was the best way to get me back out there," Wikre said. "There are worse things in the world -- a pinkie is not that bad in my mind."

The four-year starter is still a little sore that he can't play this weekend. Mesa State, a Division II school in Grand Junction, Colo., has won its last three games, and Wikre didn't want to mess up the mojo.

"We've got a great team," said Wikre, who was an all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player last season. "We've got to keep this rolling."

Instead, he'll mentor his backup on the sideline, shouting encouragement and advice.

"I'll be that big supporter," he said.

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Wikre said he'll never glance back at his decision with remorse.

What's done is done.

"Never look back on the decisions you make," he said. "Everybody thinks I'm crazy, but anybody that loves sports and has had this camaraderie knows what it's like."

That's why he was willing to part with his pinkie.

"This will be a great story down the line," Wikre said.


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Posted by Dr Fro 10:52 AM
Senior With Down Syndrome Crowned High School Queen


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Posted by Dr Fro 4:32 PM
Big Game Bob's Fake Punt

Was it a good call?

I think there are some poker analogies that could help to answer this question, but first we need to understand the conundrum of "a good call" in football.

One criterion for a call being good is that it fundamentally gives you the best chance of achieving your goal (independent of the chance of the defense anticipating such a move). A second criterion is the the chance of the defense anticipating such a move. As a general rule, the better a call measures on the first criterion, the worse it does on the second, and vice versa. A third criterion is how well the play could work out even if the defense anticipates it. It is because of the third criterion that the QB sneak on the goal line is called so often - it usually works even when it is entirely expected.

If Bob Stoops had waited for a situation that measured better on the first criterion, it would have measured poorly on the second criterion. And unlike a QB sneak on the goal line, it would have little chance for success if the defense were expecting it. So, there wasn't going to be a better time later. (Ergo, people who claim that he did it "too early" are wrong.)

The fact that it came up only 0.5 yds short is proof positive that it was not expected (i.e., that the first and second criterion were met and the third criterion was n/a).

There is, I believe, a fourth criterion: if the play fails, what do you lose? I think this is measured in terms of field position given to UT. We were returning punts well and the punt was against the wind, so it would be naive to assume that a punt would have pinned us deep. Even so, UT was able to score from seemingly wherever it started. So, rather than considering field position as an indicator of the ease with which UT might score, you could actually view field position as an indicator of how quickly we might score (i.e., how quickly OU gets the ball back). With this view, OU gave up nothing and perhaps gained something by giving up some field position.

In summary, the upside was huge and the downside was low. And since nobody expected it, the odds of success were pretty high. I call that a good bet.

Where is the poker analogy? I am going with a Post Oak Bluff against an experienced and tight opponent. Comment if you have a better one.


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Posted by Johnnymac 8:34 AM
This is the first political poll I think is remotely accurate this year. Take it out of Harlem and extrapolate the results to 99% of Obama supporters in America and it still works.

(strong language warning - it's Howard Stern after all)




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Posted by Dr Fro 8:39 PM
I moved up to $3-$6 a few weeks ago and have been doing much better than I was at $1-$2. Here is the penultimate example. Wow.

PokerStars Game #21176122649: Hold'em No Limit ($3/$6) - 2008/10/13 21:35:45 ET
Table 'Shaula' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: TheMinion ($735.10 in chips)
Seat 2: mayhem29 ($600 in chips)
Seat 3: phreaux ($586 in chips)
Seat 5: chulwoo ($585 in chips)
Seat 6: HannaBananaL ($146.50 in chips)
Seat 7: Luciferian ($168 in chips)
Seat 8: piscogay ($788 in chips)
Seat 9: NutsInYoEye ($680.60 in chips)
chulwoo: posts small blind $3
HannaBananaL: posts big blind $6
mayhem29: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to phreaux [Ah Ac]
Luciferian: folds
FRiaR SKanK has returned
piscogay: folds
NutsInYoEye: folds
TheMinion: folds
mayhem29: raises $18 to $24
phreaux: raises $36 to $60
chulwoo: folds
HannaBananaL: folds
mayhem29: calls $36
*** FLOP *** [Kc 5c Th]
mayhem29: checks
phreaux: bets $120
mayhem29: calls $120
*** TURN *** [Kc 5c Th] [8d]
mayhem29: checks
phreaux: bets $406 and is all-in
mayhem29: calls $406
*** RIVER *** [Kc 5c Th 8d] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mayhem29: shows [Ad Kd] (a pair of Kings)
phreaux: shows [Ah Ac] (a pair of Aces)
phreaux collected $1178 from pot


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Posted by Dr Fro 7:47 AM
I love the smell of fried bacon in the morning...

Random thoughts on the game:

What can I say? Saturday was simply awesome. No doubt, the best TX-OU game I have been to. My record has improved to 9-3-1 when I attend the game. Other notable statistics:

- UT is getting very close to having the 2nd most wins in football:

Michigan 871
ND 828
Texas 826
Nebraska 811

I think it is safe to assume we will pass ND this year.

- To my knowledge, we are 2-2 versus the #1 teams since I enrolled at UT. We beat USC in 2005 (season) and OU in 2008. We lost to Ohio State in 2006 andOU in 2003. Help me out here if I am wrong. That seems unlikely to have even had four games against #1 in 5.5 years, much less to win 2 of them. Hmm.

- We have now won 3 of the past 4 against OU by a cumulative margin of 61 points. They beat us by 7 last year. Nevertheless, the public perception will continue to be that OU owns us. Our experience from 2000-2004 has a disproportionate effect on public perception.

- We are 58-40 against the Land Theives all-time. I think there are 4 ties in there, too.

How about a few pics?






How do I feel about being #1? Not great. It was wonderful to fly under the radar for a while. I reckon our opponents will want to knock us off our perch. Heck, three teams that have been ranked #1 (USC, UGA, OU) have already lost this year. Let's just say that I ain't booking a flight to Miami just yet...

I did, however, put $5 on UT to win it all several months ago. If that pays out, I get $95. A friend of mine (we'll call him Radam Rickey) didn't have the confidence to make the same bet when we were in Vegas this summer. Sucka!

As far as being #1, I think that it is hard to discern much difference between Alabama, PSU and us. I think PSU has the easiest remaining schedule. Bama and UT have some tough ones and a conference championship game. I would not be surprised if we both dropped a game down the stretch. That said, I think we have a >90% chance of winning the conference, as we would have to drop 2 and OU would have to win them all (notice I am ignoring Tech) to not win the South. I am not afraid of the B12 North in the championship game.

One funny outcome of the game was that Sam Bradford put up great statistics (better than Colt except the 1 real INT), but because his defense let him down, he dropped in the Heisman polls. Go figure.

We got to our seats only to learn that two OU fans were sitting next to us. I guess that they finally figured out that they could have more fun by moving and found two UT sorority girls sitting in the O-Who section to trade with. These girls were showing about 93% of their mammary glands. Mrs Fro told me not to look. I did my best. Can somebody tell me when "whore" became en vogue for UT sorority girls? It was not en vogue when I was in school (1991-1996), but man it is now. It isn't limited to UT sorority girls, I think that it is kinda in style for all women. Is it the Paris Hilton effect? Whatever it is, it is the coolest thing that has happened this side of Will Muchamp moving to Austin.

Big Game Bob lost again. What is his record in big games? He's lost several straight (to my recollection, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003) BCS games, 3 of 4 to us and he dropped the B12 CCG in a big way in 2003. Seems to me that Stoops is Poops. No, seriously, he is a very good coach. He exudes confidence, and his teams thrive off of that. He goes for shock-and-awe, and that helps him pile it on inferior opponents. But when he plays a team that is not afraid, he loses that advantage. Then it becomes Xs and Os. This weekend, he didn't expect three Os lined up on one side running crossing patterns. He also thought our Xs in the secondary could not cover. They could.

Bring on Missou. They are terribly overrated (still), and we have their number We have OSU's number, too. Neither one has beaten us in Austin since we formed the conference. The game in Lubbock will be a war. Should be fun.


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Posted by Dr Fro 5:09 AM
HOME DEPOT SCAM: BE ON THE LOOK OUT

A 'heads up' for those men who may be regular Home Depot customers.
Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping at Home Depot. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be very traumatic for me. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends.

Here's how the scam works:

Two seriously good-looking 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a ride to another Home Depot. You agree and they get in the backseat. On the way, they start undressing.
Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen June 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th & 29th. Also July 1st, 4th, twice on the 8th, 16th, 23rd, 26th, three times last Saturday and very likely again this upcoming weekend. Please tell your friends to be careful.

P.S. Wal-Mart has wallets on sale for $2.99.


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Posted by Dr Fro 11:10 AM
Work Webcam



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Posted by Dr Fro 10:45 AM
From the undisputed objective observer of OU football, Hornfans.com:

This is Sooner Football


“A black limousine crawled along the dirt road in front of the Burris farmhouse and stopped at the end of the furrows...stepping gracefully from the sleek automobile was Jewel Ditmars, the richest woman in several counties...Jewel and her family were among the wealthiest in the state. When she wasn't counting her money, she was following her favorite football team--the Oklahoma Sooners…‘Buddy, come here,’ Jewel said. ‘I want you to meet my new friend...the new coach of the Oklahoma Sooners...This is Jim Tatum, the man who's gonna lead us to the national championship. Jim wants you in Norman. I think he has a few goodies you might be interested in.’ Buddy was invited to the Oklahoma campus for a recruiting visit. At the time the National Collegiate Athletic Association was in the process of assembling its first investigative staff, and the hounds had yet to sniff out the trail. Tatum peered across the desk at Buddy and said ‘OK, King Kong, how much you need up front?’

’Jeez, Coach, how 'bout a thousand now and some more later?’

’You got it.’ " -- Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“Recruits who visited the campus were led into [OU football coach Jim] Tatum’s office, where the coach was normally found sitting in his underwear, smoking a cigar. As the player took a seat across the desk, Tatum would open a deep desk drawer and say, ‘feast your eyeballs on this, big fella.’ Mountains of large bills caused eyes to pop. The slush fund, which amounted to $125,000, had been raised during the war years….During the season, players would receive twenty-five bucks for touchdowns, fifteen bucks for interceptions, and ten for fumble recoveries.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“During our session I asked [OU head coach Jim Tatum] if he had given presents to the members of the football squad during [the Gator Bowl]. He admitted he had…Knowledge of this violation placed me in a most uncomfortable quandary. From a strictly ethical point of view, I realized that I should report the violation to the conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, but, on the other hand…it would mean also the ruin of the university’s football program for the next few years. I finally decided to tell the regents of the university and let them decide what should be done…My suggestion apparently was not considered by the board; the unrecorded decision was to ‘keep quiet’ about what had happened…” -- former OU president George Cross, Presidents Can’t Punt

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“From the records available to us it appeared that the basis for payment to the members of the football squad has been $15.00 a month plus room and board for single men and $75.00 a month for married men. But there were no records of work performed by athletes, and it seemed clear that the year’s operation had been in violation of the regulations of the conference – in violation also of the 1946 NCAA code.” – former OU president George Cross, Presidents Can’t Punt

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“No one was more tightly tethered to Oklahoma football than Big Boy [OU booster E.G. Johnson]…when OU tackle Dub Wheeler’s concentration was drifting, Big Boy paid off Dub’s debts…Three years later, at the height of the recruiting battle for ‘Indian’ Jack Jacobs, Big Boy stashed the quarterback/punter at his lake house in Arkansas…Some OU players were regularly treated to ‘loans’ from Big Boy, who also picked up the tab for expensive suits at McCall’s Men Store.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“One major factor caused Bud [Wilkinson] to gravitate to Big Boy [OU booster E.G. Johnson] like a bug to a light. On the night he signed on, Johnson had promised to launch a fund-raising club to assist the football program in its quest for more national championships. He promised money galore from the big guns. The Sooners would have cash to spend on the best players…” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“[OU president] Cross was unaware at the moment that [OU assistant] Coach Gomer Jones had a vast amount of cash locked away in his desk drawer for the purpose of paying for players’ tickets. Jones paid ten times face value. He also paid ‘advances’ on ticket money if a certain star player was strapped for cash.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“It seemed to me that a winning team had done a great deal for the state of Oklahoma, but not nearly as much for the university.” – former OU president George Cross, Presidents Can’t Punt

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“Oklahoma and the Touchdown Club—How Does a Third-rate College Football Team Suddenly Become One of the Best in the Country?” –headline from True Magazine, 1950

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“As [OU president] Cross dug deeper, he learned that funny money was everywhere. There was no system of checks and balances inside the athletic department. When university administrators tried to track expenditures, they were often led down blind alleys or treated as if they had no business sticking their noses into football matters.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“Besides the largess from the [OU] Touchdown Club, which was distributed through official university channels, athletes pick up extra money by holding campus job sinecures. The job titles include janitorial services and grounds maintenance, but even the university president doesn’t pretend they work at them...” – The New York Times, commenting on the OU athletic program, March 1951

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“…Quintin Little, a member of the Oklahoma board of regents and a man who had opened his heart and his wallet to Sooner football. [Oilman Roy] Guffey was [OU player] Jimmy Harris’s sugar daddy and, along with paying a huge premium for game tickets, had bankrolled a trip to James K. Wilson, an expensive men’s store in Dallas, after Jimmy signed with the Sooners in the spring of ’53.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“…football fans, and some sports writers, are inclined to regard the sport as belonging more to the public than to the university and to consider football more important than anything else that goes on in the institution. An increasing number of Oklahomans thought of the university primarily in terms of the ‘Big Red’ ”. – former OU president George Cross, Presidents Can’t Punt

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“By the mid-1950s, the NCAA enforcement division had quite a large file on this illegal activity at OU. [OU president] Cross made two trips to Kansas City, hoping to dissuade executive director Walter Byers. But Byers was having nothing to do with it, citing boxes of letters accusing Oklahoma of operating a slush fund.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“As the rumors swirled about dirty laundry, [OU president] Cross called [OU coach] Wilkinson into his office and asked if money was changing hands. Wilkinson admitted that some players had been paid, that the ticket business was healthy. But he pointed out that Oklahoma was an equal opportunity employer—linemen as well as backs and end were reaping the benefits.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“…[OU president] Cross picked up the trail of Arthur Wood, an Oklahoma City accountant who was overseeing a stash of money earmarked for the football program. Wood freely admitted to Cross that he had disbursed funds for years to Bill Jennings, OU’s chief recruiter. The demand for money became so great, Wood said, that more had to be raised by the Touchdown Club. NCAA enforcers interviewed Wood, but he refused to open his books. When [NCAA executive director] Byers persisted, Wood moved himself to Reno, Nevada, in the mid-1950s, taking the financial records with him.” – Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“The NCAA wanted to know who was responsible for the development of athletic policies at OU and who had the responsibility of making sure that approved policies were followed. Especially pointed was a question about whether a fund or funds were available for use by the Department of Athletics that were not administered by the university...Wilkinson and I had several conferences during the course of the investigation and the preparation of the report. He was undisturbed by the inquiry and assured me that his coaching staff had been following the policies of the Big Seven Conference and the NCAA ‘to the letter.’ There was nothing to fear, he said, from any detailed investigation the association might make. Bud proved to be a poor prophet. Soon we would learn that we had much to fear.” – former OU president George Cross, Presidents Can’t Punt

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"The alternates were in the [1955 OU-Texas] game in the third quarter and moving the ball with ease, when [OU quarterback Jay] O'Neal pitched to fullback Dennit Morris, who slid out-of-bounds at the Texas nine in a tangle of arms and legs. The side judge marked the spot by dropping his cap on the yard marker. Then he dived into the pile of bodies to retrieve the football. Along came a female Sooner cheerleader, strutting along the boundary line. She spotted the cap, stopped, looked both ways, and kicked it all the way down to the four-yard line. Returning to the field, the official marked the ball precisely where his hat now lay. The Sooners, however, were held on downs and didn't score, a sign, perhaps, that God had disapproved of the ruse. Even [head coach Bud] Wilkinson would laugh on Monday when, during the team meeting, he ran the film projector back and forth, replaying the cheerleader's devilish deed."--Jim Dent, The Undefeated

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“…football enthusiasts no longer had the game in proper perspective. They were placing disproportionate emphasis on the importance of not just winning but winning by overwhelming margins. I began to think it might be wholesome if OU lost a game or two.” – former OU president George Cross, Presidents Can’t Punt

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“OU in the early years "outbought" UT for Texas high school stars. Only later did the Sooners suffer NCAA major probations for cheating, because NCAA rules prior to 1953 wouldn't frighten a girl scout.” – Robert Heard, writing for ESPN.com, 2001

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“One OU spy began his work at least as far back as 1972, but Texas did not learn his identity until four years later. During the construction of the upper deck at Texas’ Memorial Stadium, the spy donned a hard had and watched ‘closed-door’ Longhorn practices from that deck before the Oklahoma game…Royal had not used a quick kick for four years, but he put it in for [the OU-UT] game. The spy saw that, and that one piece of information turned the game around. The Longhorns faced third and 16 from the own 25, trailing, 3-0, late in the third quarter, when they had the wind. Royal called for the quick kick…The Oklahoma players knew immediately. Before Texas broke its huddle, the Sooners yelled, ‘Quick kick!” …Oklahoma tackle Derland Moore, anticipating the snap and not worried at all about a run or even a pass, shot past Texas offensive tackle Jerry Sisemore and blocked the kick. The ball bounced into the end zone, where Oklahoma’s Lucious Selmon fell on it for a touchdown. The Sooners went on to win, 27-0, even though their offense scored only one touchdown.” – Robert Heard, Oklahoma vs Texas.

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“That’s not the way Switzer operates. It’s a rumor in the past, saying someone was watching Texas practice. If he did, he did a poor job. I died laughing when I heard it. Did they catch [the spy] in Austin this week? Last year? The year before? I know why [they haven’t caught the spy], ‘cause he didn’t do it.” – OU assistant Larry Lacewell, 1976

“Yeah, [UT coach Darrell Royal] was pretty right [about the spying charge]…I’m not always proud of one or two things. This is one of them.” – former OU assistant Larry Lacewell, 1979

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“[One result] of Oklahoma’s football fever is a college football program grossly out of control, a team and a head coach running away with a university. It is football madness, with a vengeance…Oklahoma is the quintessential example of an academic institution warped by an athletic team.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“…it’s all out of control. Seventy thousand people driving 900 miles to see a football game, rooting for us the year around, basing their whole identity on a game. It was never meant to be like that.” – Barry Switzer to the Houston Chronicle, 1979

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“[Before] the Nebraska-Oklahoma rematch in the 1979 Orange Bowl, an unnamed individual handed Nebraska coaches a note pad belonging to an Oklahoma coach. Nebraska had put in a special set of plays for the game in secret workouts. The note pad containing diagrams of those plays, including the blocking assignment for each player. Lance Van Zandt, Nebraska defensive coordinator, said, ‘It had our terminology and other information in it they shouldn’t have known about. The plays, diagrammed in detail, had never been used in a game.’ Head coach Tom Osborne said, ‘What concerned me was the fact that we had never even used that formation this season – and never with motion. Yet that note pad not only showed the play – with motion – but how they intended to defense it. They couldn’t have learned that from looking at the films of our past games.’ “ -- Robert Heard, Oklahoma vs Texas

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“We look at this game as though it were the national championship.” – Barry Switzer on the 1979 OU-UT game, in the Daily Oklahoman

“We now face the task of bouncing back to try and win the Big Eight. That is more important than beating Texas.” – Barry Switzer to OU season ticket holders, two days after losing the 1979 OU-UT game.

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“We’re a young state, striving for excellence, and football has been the one place where we have achieved excellence…It’s unprecedented [for] a home daily newspaper [to] assume such a petty adversary role.” Charles Engleman, OU regent and publisher of the Clinton News, commenting on the Daily Oklahoman’s coverage of the mid-seventies OU athletes’ ticket scalping scandal

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“OU players could buy four tickets to each game and eight to the especially lucrative Texas game. The school sold all of the tickets to the players in advance of the season. Coaches would sell the tickets for them, and the OU-Texas tickets occasionally brought as much as $300 each. The players made $1,500 to $2,000 a year from these sales.” – Robert Heard, Oklahoma vs Texas

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“Switzer is not the problem at Oklahoma. He is like the point man in a lynch mob. The mob marches whether he or another leads it. He merely is one of the better lynch mob leaders. He knows how to encourage the mob to continue to be and do what makes it a mob…When Switzer leaves, another Switzer will take his place. If the new coach is not a Switzer, the mob will shove him aside and get someone who is.” – Robert Heard, Oklahoma vs Texas, 1980

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“After Bud Wilkinson's great career at OU, 1947-63, Okie fans, sensitive about the "outlaw" tag, argued the Sooners started winning the recruiting wars because of "tradition." There is truth to that. But it is a tradition built on cheating.” – Robert Heard, writing for ESPN.com, 2001

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“The '76 game dripped with drama. OU under Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer had beaten Texas five straight after copying, at Switzer's suggestion to Fairbanks, the new (196 wishbone formation that Royal used in his last victory over OU, 41-9, in 1970. Worse, Royal accused Switzer of spying on UT practices and offered $10,000 each to Switzer, defensive coordinator Larry Lacewell and the spy he named, Lonnie Williams, if they would take polygraph tests. Turned down and also ridiculed by Switzer, Royal, in an AP interview with me, called the OU coaches "sorry bastards," a phrase Okie fans chanted outside Royal's hotel room the night before the game. Lacewell later admitted the Sooners benefited from spying, and, later still, Switzer confessed it, too.” – Robert Heard, writing for ESPN.com, 2001

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“The most serious of 14 [NCAA] recruiting violations involved the doctoring of the high school transcripts of quarterback Kerry Jackson and linebacker-defensive end Mike Phillips of Galveston…Oklahoma had to forfeit the eight games in 1972 that Jackson had playerd in, including the one it lost – to Colorado – on the field…The Oklahoma football brochures continue to note forfeits in 1972, but only three of them – to Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma State.” – Robert Heard, Oklahoma vs Texas, 1980

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“The question [REDACTED] that I’d like you to just think about for a second is, the timesheets for the summer indicated that you worked about [REDACTED] hours uhm, for the complete summer. And at a pay rate of about $10 an hour, that would get you to about [REDACTED] but for the summer, Big Red has indicated you earned [REDACTED] for that summer, so there’s a discrepancy of $2,500 and we’re just trying to get a sense of how that could be…” – OU Associate Athletic Director Keith Gill, interviewing “unidentified player 2”, August 3, 2006

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“How would you feel if you confronted the president of a major university, asked him about the recent crimes committed by his football team, and the man dismissed the actions by calling them ‘isolated incidents’? That’s what I asked Oklahoma’s interim president David Swank, the former dean of the OU Law School, and that’s how he responded. For a second I thought, jeez, maybe the guy is right, maybe I’m overreacting. Then I remembered I was asking this bespectacled professor of jurisprudence about three alleged rapes, a drug bust, and a shooting; and I recalled that Jerry Parks’s bullet had missed his teammate’s heart by three inches, and that Parks had then pointed the gun at his own head and allegedly pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired. So, except for the intervention of blind luck, there would have been a murder and a suicide to go along with the other felonies. And it all happened in just twenty-five days. Isolated incidents? Dean of the law school? The Twilight Zone?” – Rick Telander, The Hundred Yard Lie, 1990. Swank regarded the penalties as too harsh. Swank later took a leading role with the NCAA, as chair of its Committee on Infractions for most of the 1990s, and pushed for key reforms in enforcement structure.

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“The special treatment afforded some Sooner athletes coupled with the revered status of the football team, has pushed some faculty members to the breaking point. ‘When we go to professional meetings, we get kidded about the latest cheating in the athletic department,’ says Alan Nicewander, chairman of the psychology department. ‘I really resent it. The stain spreads. I don’t think the acting president has accepted that. I think he’s blinded by his devotion to athletics.’ ” – Jerry Kirschenbaum, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“The evidence suggests that the Sooner football program is an ethical wasteland. Oklahoma churns out good football teams, but can it churn out good people too?” – Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“The NCAA had determined that [OU booster William] Lambert had given linebacker Kurt Kaspar the free use of a car and had paid him $6,400 for summer work that was never performed. Lambert, an oil man in Lindsay, Okla., told The Daily Oklahoman that he had employed an estimated 100 to 150 Sooner players and assistant coaches during a period of 15 years in the 1970s and ‘80s. This abundance of goodwill toward Oklahoma football came after Lambert’s release from federal prison, where he served a four-year sentence for possession of $300,000 in stolen stock certificates. ” – Jerry Kirschenbaum, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“The special treatment afforded some Sooner athletes coupled with the revered status of the football team, has pushed some faculty members to the breaking point. ‘When we go to professional meetings, we get kidded about the latest cheating in the athletic department,’ says Alan Nicewander, chairman of the psychology department. ‘I really resent it. The stain spreads. I don’t think the acting president has accepted that. I think he’s blinded by his devotion to athletics.’ ” – Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“Oklahoma: A Sordid Story – How Barry Switzer’s Sooners Terrorized Their Campus” – Sports Illustrated cover copy, February 27, 1989

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“Indeed, the year before Switzer had bragged to me about how many Oklahoma football players were getting their degrees and making the dean’s list and how all-American tight end Keith Jackson had graduated in less than four years. Jackson, of course, later admitted to taking improper gifts and money from alumni while at OU, but justified it by saying, ‘Football is a business and that includes college football. When you shut down Oklahoma, you’re hurting the business all around the nation.’ ” – Rick Telander, The Hundred Yard Lie, 1990

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“Oklahoma’s concern wasn’t that the players had done wrong, but that they had raised a ruckus off the field, they had dared to make noise when they weren’t supposed to. This thing wasn’t about reform, it was about embarrassment.” – Rick Telander commenting on the late-eighties OU football program, The Hundred Yard Lie, 1990

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“Think about what the pursuit of football victories has done for the University of Oklahoma. On a national level, it has made the school a laughingstock, a caricature of a greedy, low-minded hick institution that can find satisfaction only in beating somebody at a violent game, sort of like a hillbilly who just loves wrasslin’ fellers till they cry ‘Uncle!’ ” – Rick Telander, The Hundred Yard Lie, 1990

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“I asked [former OU president Frank Horton] if he wasn’t disgusted by all the problems that have occurred with the Oklahoma football program in recent times. To my surprise, he said that he didn’t think that what was happening with any big-time football programs anywhere in the country was that unusual or reprehensible. ‘ Was it sports that created these problems?’ he asked. ‘There are issues in society that sports are not exempt from. But when it’s associated with athletics, then it becomes a major issue. But it is just PART of society.’

What about the Zarek Peters shooting? What about the quarterback selling cocaine? What about handguns and ammunition in a university athletic dorm? Are those things normal?

‘I don’t know that there aren’t rounds of ammunition in any dorm in America, generally,’ he replied.

To say he wasn’t giving the responses I had expected would be an understatement.” – Rick Telander, The Hundred Yard Lie, 1990

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“The state is infatuated with football, and Oklahomans spare nothing for their team. They want glory and will pay any price…They brook no criticism and treat anyone who questions the OU football program as a traitor. Most of all, the folks of Oklahoma revel in the success of the Sooners.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“What I saw at Oklahoma was a…disturbing, often frightening glimpse of what it takes to be number one in the nation.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“The other result of Oklahoma’s football fever is a college football program grossly out of control, a team and a head coach running away with a university. It is football madness, with a vengeance.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“It’s nice to have a football team. But this is, after all, supposed to be a university. Our priorities are skewed. Football fever here has gotten to the point of obscenity.” – OU assistant political science professor Jean McDonald, 1978

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“[In 1976] the NCAA conducted still another investigation, this time looking into ticket scalping by OU players. No public action was taken but OU was told to stop letting players sell their season tickets at huge premiums to OU rooters. Even so, it is hard to spend any time at OU without hearing stories about continued scalping and huge profits raking in by coaches selling off large blocks of OU-Texas tickets. Priced at $10, those seats sell for as much at $300 on the black market. The revenue is supposedly plowed into illicit payments to players for such items as cars and clothes.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“Oklahoma has not been content with just recruiting violations. Several years ago, OU was caught spying on the opposition. Though technically not a violation of NCAA rules, the spying was unethical as hell. And comically clumsy. Before an OU game against California, four Sooner rooters drove down to Dallas to sneak in on a Cal practice at Texas Stadium. Questioned at the gate, they claimed to be interior decorators working on the Lincoln-Mercury Dealers’ Association box in the stadium. I met two of the spies when I was in Oklahoma, and less likely interior decorators it’s hard to imagine. They’re both heavy, rough-looking jocks. Officials let them in, but one stupidly signed his name in the security log. When rumors started spreading, newspapermen had no trouble unraveling the case.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“Unfavorable publicity is not something Oklahoma rooters tolerate. After Oklahoma City Times reporter Frank Boggs broke the ticket story, he was subjected to the kind of harassment most Americans thought went out with the witchhunts. Dozens of death threats were phoned in to him and his family. Fellow reporter Jack Taylor got home one day to find police guarding his house. His editors told him that the Times had received thirty threats against Taylor and Boggs that day.

Barry Switzer diplomatically says he doesn’t condone the hysteria, but he sums up the local feeling about Sooners football and its excesses when he says, ‘If you’re a reporter, be neutral or be for us, but don’t be against us. I don’t know why anyone would want to be against us.’ ” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“Switzer is married, with three children, but that seems hardly to have cramped his style. His reputation as a ladies’ man has fueled all kinds of rumors around Oklahoma, particularly during the last year. Last spring a member of the team’s staff told friends he discovered Switzer was having an affair with his wife. The man said Switzer had paid him $25,000 hush money. Switzer vehemently denies the story saying, ‘It’s all a fabrication.’ Switzer’s accuser now refuses to discuss the matter, saying, ‘I just don’t want to hurt anyone.’ Nevertheless, the story has persisted and flourished in the hothouse atmosphere of Oklahoma. You can’t set foot in the state these days without hearing someone talk about ‘Peyton Place at OU.’ Switzer isn’t the only target. Another story holds that a member of the august board of regents is involved with an assistant coach’s wife. ” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“[OU president William] Banowsky, a realist, accepts his fate. ‘Given the intense devotion of the fans and the expectations of the board of regents,’ he says frankly, ‘it’s much easier to be president while we’re 8 and 0. If it were the other way around, both Barry [Switzer] and I would be looking for other jobs.’ ” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“No one in Oklahoma is going to stop Barry Switzer. President Banowsky is cowed, the faculty is powerless, and the board of regents loves to have the number-one football team in the nation. The notion of a balance between academics and athletics has been completely abandoned, and these professional football bureaucrats do what they please to enhance their reputations.” – Philip Taubman, Esquire, 1978

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“College coach Barry Switzer is king in Oklahoma. Here’s a disturbing glimpse at how he has kept his team number one.” Esquire magazine headline, 1978

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“[OU Coach Barry Switzer] frequently violated NCAA regulation by giving his own money to needy players. He also was aware of boosters violating the rules through their financial aid to players, and was responsible for this abuse by allowing the booster network to exist; but Switzer was never a person to worry much about rules.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“Barry Switzer did not love us; more often than not he only tolerated us. He got his position and respect in Oklahoma because of his winning record on the football field. He needed his players, and as long as our behavior did not force his hand, everything was cool.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“[Jackie] Cooper owned several automobile dealerships in the Oklahoma City-Norman area…Cooper joined me in the men’s room and asked me if I had a car. When I said I didn’t he said, ‘Well, why don’t you get my phone number from Keith [Jackson] and give me a call? You come on down to the lot and pick something out. And don’t worry, we’ll work something out.’ ” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“Brian [Bosworth] wasn’t the only OU player to use steroids. I knew first-hand of five players and was told by others that there were about a dozen.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“I had always thought, growing up, that college was special; yet here I was and everyone was cheating. Whether they were NCAA rules, OU rules, or society’s rules, my coaches and instructors were demonstrating to me that they didn’t apply to good football players.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“My family and I got thousands of dollars from OU boosters in exchange for my spending time with them talking about football. I was their toy to show off to their friends and I cost them no more than other gadgets that are signs of success. I had yet to play in one football game for the University of Oklahoma, but there were at least ten wealthy Sooner businessmen who were prepared to help me at any time. If I sound ungrateful it’s only because I’ve learned how phony they are. You learn that once you’re no longer on the football team, you’re no longer someone they need to know.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“Another OU booster in Norman owned a car dealership, and I chose a white Buick Regal that cost about seventy-five hundred dollars. The deal was for me to put down two thousand, and have a loan taken out by a friend, in this case a former teacher at Lawton High School, for the balance. I was able to get the two thousand from a few boosters and return the same day to pick up the car. The car wasn’t in my name, but I owned it, and I didn’t give a damn…” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“Frank Vale owned a large furniture store. Whatever we needed to furnish the apartment—couches, tables, chairs, waterbed—Frank gave to us. All he wanted in return was to hang out with us and have us sing the pictures he had hanging in the windows of his store. I have no doubt about Frank’s sincere desire to help us out, but it remains a mystery why he and other wealthy businessmen went out of their way to please teenagers with whom they had little in common. It was more than supporting your neighborhood football team, when you consider that they were endangering the team by violating NCAA regulations. Even after OU was put on suspension by the NCAA in December 1988, Frank continued to wire Jamelle [Holieway] and me money from Tulsa. Of course, players like Jamelle and myself were too greedy to worry about NCAA regulations, except to make sure we didn’t get caught breaking them.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“We rarely paid for anything. Beer and booze were supplied to us by Switzer. All we had to do was go to his house and he would load up the trunk of our car…We even stopped paying rent to the landlord. All we did was go to Frank Vale or some other booster and they would make up the two hundred fifty we owed each month. We found none of this strange and, in fact, only expected things to get better. I think Jamelle’s [Holieway] greatest goal in life was to one day be an OU booster.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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Ted Koppel: “Before the break Rick Telander asked president David Swank of the University of Oklahoma what kind of a record Barry Switzer could bring back and, I guess the thrust of it was, still hold on to his job—was that it, Rick”

Rick Telander: “Yes.”

Ted Koppel: “What do you think, Mr. Swank?”

David Swank: “Again, I don’t see that an excellent athletic program is inconsistent with having a high-quality academic program. I don’t know that I can give a won-loss record, but I CAN tell you that we will place emphasis first on academics at the University of Oklahoma…We’re not going to tolerate people, as you say, being thrown in the slammer. I can’t tell you what record should exist.”

Ted Koppel: “You COULD tell me that it doesn’t matter to you. That what matters, what is important to you, is what kind of an education those youngsters get, that if [Switzer] comes in with a losing record, but creates good student-athletes, you’ll be happy with him. You could say that.”

David Swank: “Well, again, I want a top-quality athletic program…”

--exchange on ABC News program Nightline, March 1989

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“I had to marvel at Swank’s refusal to say he’d accept a losing record. I figured Oklahoma fans wouldn’t be thrilled by a lousy record; after all, they’d almost ridden Switzer out of town when his teams went 7-4, 8-4, and 8-4 from 1981 to 1983. But the college president? It was plain that he was afraid that if he publicly lowered the expectations placed on Sooner football teams, the board of regents would string him up like a bad coyote.” – Rick Telander, The Hundred Yard Lie, 1990

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“The Sooners’ winning tradition on the field has been overshadowed by an ugly atmosphere of lawlessness.” –Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“Even former Sooners are beginning to turn against Switzer. On Monday, Jim Owens, co-captain of the 1949 team, said that that squad would be canceling its 40th reunion in April to express disgust and embarrassment over the recent events in Norman.” –Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“In September, [former OU player Brian] Bosworth, who’s now with the Seattle Seahawks, released his autobiography, ‘The Boz’ (written with SI’s Rick Reilly). It describes wanton drug use, off-the-field violence, gunplay in the dorm and other manifestations of berserk behavior by football players during his years as a Sooner. In Norman, Bosworth was derided as a vengeful muckraker—from Texas, no less. The book, said defenders of the Sooners, was full of exaggerations, if not outright lies. Three months later the NCAA released its findings, which contained, in less lively prose, some of the same things Bosworth had recounted.” –Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“We want to fight because I feel this will happen again and again and again. [My daughter] thought she was safe because of who they were and where they were at…She know they were OU players, and she thought she would be safe with them.” – Interview aired by KTVY-TV in 1989 with the mother of an young woman allegedly raped by OU athletes at Bud Wilkinson Hall. The woman’s identity was concealed.

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“After receiving a tip during the weekend of Feb 11 – 12, Switzer told [OU player Charles] Thompson on Monday that he was under investigation. However, the FBI, which reportedly photographed its alleged undercover transaction with Thompson, was hoping to break a much bigger case. It wasn’t ready to arrest Thompson, but Switzer’s warning forced the bureau’s hand and brought an important operation to a premature end…” –Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“Four days before Oklahoma faced Clemson in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2 in Orlando, Fla., Sooner assistant Scott Hill, who had earlier been reprimanded by the NCAA for recruiting improprieties and who may not recruit off-campus in 1990, engaged in what [then OU athletic director Donnie] Duncan calls ‘horseplay’ at the posh Lake Nona Golf Club. Hill ran up a $475 bar tab with other Oklahoma coaches and was involved in roughhousing that resulted in a shattered cherrywood chair and a damaged table. Hill later slammed bowl official Tony Martin into a car, bruising his cheek and chest…Not to be outdone by their coaches, a number of players trashed their rooms at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando. Switzer’s response was to upbraid the local press for reporting on the hotel incident.” –Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“Some observers have been wondering how bad things have to get before the NCAA steps in and shuts down the Sooners’ football program, but in fact, the NCAA is concerned only with breaches of its recruiting and academic rules, not with honest-to-goodness crime. ‘With criminal proceedings we let people with subpoena powers, people who can put people in jail, do their work,’ says NCAA enforcement director David Berst. Thus the Oklahoma football program has been fortunate that its alleged transgressions since with place on NCAA probation have been criminal; one more free pizza to a recruit, and the program could have been sent to the NCAA gallows.” …” –Rick Telander and Robert Sullivan, Sports Illustrated, 1989

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“It all makes me sick…I remember how all of it started here. It was 1945 and the war had ended, and here in Oklahoma we were still feeling very depressed from those tough days that Steinbeck wrote about in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’ At a board of regents meeting, it was suggested to me that I try to get a good football team. It would give Oklahomans a reason to have pride in the state. And it did, but I don’t think it was very good for the university.” –former OU president George Cross, 1989

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“I’ve never seen a zoo run like [Oklahoma].” – OU associate professor of geology Michael Engel, 1987

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“When I returned from court a few days later I asked Switzer about the community work. Again, he told me not to worry about it and that Shirley Vaughn would take care of it. Shirley officially was a recruitment assistant, but she was Barry Switzer’s right-hand woman. She handled things like airline tickets, game tickets, spending money. (In December 1988, she was cited by the NCAA and fired by OU for recruitment violations.) Switzer told me that Shirley would be able to have the community service hours written off for me. When I reported to Shirley and asked her where I should go to begin the work, she told me that it was all being taken care of. That was one of the many times during my first semester that I went to her about it, and each time her answer was the same: It was being taken care of.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“The people in Oklahoma knew of his business dealings. They knew of his marital problems and his other women, including the wife of an assistant coach. They knew that and more, but were never much concerned about any of it.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“[Switzer] drank hard, loved to run around with women, and his players followed his example. He could outparty any of us. He enjoyed good wine and Scotch. When we drank with him, he put us under the table. At first, I looked up to him for it; later, his behavior puzzled me. It seems weird that a man more than twice my age was carrying on as he was, going out with women younger than my girlfriends.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“Like Keith Jackson, [Brian Bosworth] advised me about the advantages of being a Sooner, especially when dealing with alumni and boosters. He told me to remember that although there was a great deal I could get from them, they were not my friends.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“Keith [Jackson] taught me all I needed to know about ‘freaking’ – dealing with boosters and alumni when you attain a certain level of popularity and stature and when they want to court you…Freaking with boosters and alumni meant they showered you with gifts and money, and sometimes drugs…Keith’s attitude was that when you are offered gifts from the boosters always show some appreciation and never abuse their generosity…He didn’t always have his hand out because he believed that he would be able to return to the boosters after his career was over and, should he need it, they would help him. I watched Keith do favors for boosters and receive nothing in return.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“There were other instructors who were boosters and showed favoritism to the athletes in their classes. Although I didn’t expect to have any difficulty in my Business Communication course, the instructor volunteered that because I was busy with football practice I would only have to complete eight of sixteen assignments.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“[Jamelle Holieway] enjoyed partying and was a heavy drinker. When I started hanging around with him that spring he was into cocaine.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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“For the next two weeks everyone on the football team who knew about what had happened in Jamelle’s [Holieway] room waited for the police to raid Bud Hall. Nothing happened. The girl’s father was a big booster who was friends with Switzer. When he learned about what had happened to his daughter he was furious and threatened to press charges against the whole football team. Switzer asked him to wait before pressing charges and that he would straighten out the mess. Time went by and nothing happened. There were rumors about the booster being bought off, nobody knows for certain what happened, but the matter died.” – former OU quarterback Charles Thompson

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Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops dismissed starting defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek from the team Friday while police investigated an incident that ended with one of Dvoracek's high school teammates in the hospital. Earlier in the day, the Sooners had suspended Dvoracek indefinitely, but Stoops announced in a statement late Friday night that Dvoracek, an All-Big 12 selection and third team All-American last season, had been dismissed…Norman police said Friday they had contacted the family of Matt Wilde, one of Dvoracek's teammates at Lake Dallas (Texas) High School. Wilde suffered a head injury either late Saturday or early Sunday. His condition was upgraded from fair to good, Paula Price, a spokeswoman for Norman Regional Hospital said Friday.” –Associated Press, September 17, 2004

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“The NCAA on Tuesday notified Oklahoma that it had granted a medical hardship waiver to allow defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek to play a fifth season with the Sooners. Dvoracek, a third-team All-American last season, was kicked off the team in September after he was involved in a fight at a Norman bar in which one of his high-school friends was injured. Oklahoma last week applied for a medical hardship on Dvoracek's behalf, but it was denied by the Big 12 Conference. Upon appeal, the NCAA's reinstatement staff granted the waiver Monday. .” –Associated Press, December 14, 2004

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Coach Bob Stoops said right guard J.D. Quinn, a 19-year-old arrested for driving under the influence early Nov. 1, will play against Texas A&M. Stoops said any punishment will be dealt with internally. "We'll deal with it as we have so many others," Stoops said.” – Dallas Morning News, Nov. 9, 2005

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“Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol…Oklahoma spokesman Kenny Mossman said any discipline would be handled internally and coach Bob Stoops would not have any comment.” – Associated Press, May 31, 2006

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“[OU’s] compliance department has come under scrutiny in the wake of the revelation that [Sooner players] Bomar and Quinn were paid for hours they did not work at a Norman car dealership. Tack on the NCAA probation recently imposed on the men's basketball program -- and the finding of a "failure in monitoring" recruiting phone calls by the compliance department -- and some have suggested OU's compliance efforts have been lacking and are in need of an overhaul.” – George Schrader, The Oklahoman, Aug 27, 2006

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" ‘I'm not really supposed to discuss it,’ [OU freshman recruit Craig] Roark said Thursday. ‘Coach Stoops doesn't want me to discuss why I'm leaving. I don't want to say anything bad about the University of Oklahoma.’ ” – USAToday, April 27, 2006

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“Notable OU player dismissals during the Bob Stoops era
April 2, 2002: Sophomore quarterback Hunter Wall is dismissed hours after Wall was arrested for burglary and possession of marijuana.

May 4, 2002: Walk-on defensive end Claude Clayborne, a sophomore from Spiro, is dismissed following an arrest. Clayborne is charged with attempted robbery with an imitation firearm, with threatening violent action and with unlawfully carrying a weapon.

Sept. 17, 2004: Defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek is dismissed amid mounting allegations of violent behavior. OU head football coach Bob Stoops announced the decision in a statement released by the school.

Dvoracek is re-instated the following season.


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Posted by Dr Fro 9:37 PM



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Posted by Johnnymac 4:33 PM
This is awesome.



"Oprah's rich and she's not a republican! How come y'all don't get mad at her for being rich?"

Word!


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Posted by Johnnymac 12:47 PM
Huh?




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Posted by Dr Fro 11:00 AM

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Posted by Dr Fro 10:13 AM

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Posted by Dr Fro 9:19 AM



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Posted by Johnnymac 12:31 PM



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Posted by Dr Fro 10:20 AM
Too funny.


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