Early Bird Special

Every year the holidays start earlier and earlier. Once upon a time, the Christmas sales extravaganza began with Black Friday. Now, stores decorate immediately following Halloween. The merchandising ship brakes for no one.

Home shopping channels are partly to blame. Christmas in July. Pfft. The big box stores are not driven by competitors as much as their shareholders. "Make more money now!"

By the time Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) rolls around, most of us are ready to punch James Pierpoint in his jingle bells.

In the spirit of rushing everything, here is my Turkey Day spectacular with a side of sports.

I've warded off the temptation to list the top-five turkeys in T-Town. Instead, stuff your plate with these tasty treats.

Main dish: Turkey is underrated. It's unfortunate, but America has relegated baking, smoking and frying turkeys to one festive day a year. Turkey tastes delicious. They are inexpensive. It can be healthy. What's not to like? Why only once a year?

Football is our turkey. High School football culminates in three weeks. Anyone feeling Jenks versus Union for the 843rd time? College football owned New Year's Day for years. Now, it's still the most action-packed day for college football groupies.

Side dish number one: Stuffing takes various forms. Some people still stuff a breaded substance into a bird's cavity. Most concoct a cornbread or rice variation to add to the holiday favorite. Again, why only once a year?

I'm reminded occasionally about the state's pedigree in wrestling. Amateur wrestling to be precise. The rant comes after I pimp the UFC (see Brock Lesnar defeating Randy Couture this past Saturday).

Wrestling, for the most part, gets acknowledge by the media twice a year. The Big 12 Championships and the NCAA Championships. Honestly, with the caliber of athletes coming out of the amateur background and making waves in MMA, I must admit my interest is piqued. (See Jake Rosholt, Johny Hendricks and Couture -- all OSU standouts)

Side dish number two: Sweet potatoes are average. However, something about being covered in gooey marshmallows and infused with brown sugar makes them shine.

College basketball is average. However, we always have that one day a year when March Madness gets underway. Buzzer beaters and upsets make college basketball much more palpable.

Dessert starts and stops with pumpkin pie. Has anyone ever purchased pumpkin pie filling in a month other than November?

I honestly don't have any clever comparison for pumpkin pie. I just wanted to mention everyone's favorite Thanksgiving Day tradition outside of the NFL backdrop of games. You know the tradition, gorging yourself into a stupor only to find room for pie.

Sports For Real

OU's up against it. The Texas Tech Red Raiders bring their second ranked offense into Norman this Saturday night. It's a lush primetime ABC contest.

Every conceivable Sooners question will be answered. Can OU stop... errr... slow down the nation's best quarterback in Graham Harrell? Will the suddenly-hot-commodity Brent Venable find a way to minimize Michael Crabtree's success?

A victory sets up a bodacious Bedlam matchup. A close loss? Still an intriguing battle with the Cowboys. A blow-out, Cowboys-type loss to Mike Leach's bunch could spell disaster. The Sooners would plummet in the rankings and miss out on another BCS Bowl berth.

TU, TU, TU. Tisk, tisk, tisk. The numbers game caught up with the Golden Hurricane on the gridiron. A 70-30 score this season is commonplace. TU was on the wrong end this time.

This year's squad shows you just how fickle college football can be. Three weeks ago we were discussing TU as a possible BCS buster team. A tough loss to an Arkansas team followed by an arse-kicking against Houston and TU's stock resembles Wall Street.

Lesson learned? You cannot light the scoreboard with 56, 56, 62, 63 and 77 points and not expect to pay consequences. The coaching staff's built-in "We're a no-huddle, pass-wacky" excuse for piling up big numbers sounds good if you are a fan of Tulsa. If you play or route for the opposing team? They are empty words filed to memory for the next encounter.

The good news? TU welcomes Tulane to the friendly confines of H.A. Chapman Stadium for an afternoon tilt this Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 2pm.

The Mayor's Cup returned to 11th and Harvard. Both teams need to work on shooting. It's going to be a long year for T-Town collegiate hoops if these guys don't find the bucket with more regularity.

Look forward to your complete Bedlam breakdown next week. Last and least, we will prognosticate OSU and OU hoops in the coming weeks. Feel the excitement building? Yes!