Across the Board

Life offers more questions than answers. This week in sports is no different. Here are a few rambling thoughts and ponders while hanging Christmas lights from my roof. See if you can keep up.

When players and analysts use the phrase "a regular guy" to describe a coach, is that offensive to guys like Mike Leach and Charlie Weis?

The old adage states "defense wins championships." Whoever came up with the saying must have watched the C-USA Championship game and not the Big 12 title tilt.

Is it unethical for the University of Tulsa to pay ESPN2 to control camera shots? H.A. Chapman Stadium looked marvelous in HD (as I predicted) as long as the camera focused on the sideline shots. Glimpses of an empty south end zone left little to be desired.

How many stories will be force-fed down our throats in the coming weeks about OU versus Florida and/or Sam Bradford versus Tim Tebow? Allow me the privilege of setting the over/under at 734.

How come Fox does not show Family Guy in HD? TBS and Cartoon Network both do. Fox 23 lags behind in the HD push.

Hoop Dreams

What does it say about Tulsa's D-League affiliate, the 66ers, that the game recap for its home opener lists Expo Square Pavilion as the arena? Visit www.tulsa66ers.com for more information.

Is it too late to send the Oklahoma City Blunder back to Seattle? This cannot be what the state envisioned when we jumped head first into pro sports.

How about this for a fair trade: The Blunder and two shelved wind generators in exchange for 400 shares of Starbucks? Deal?

If I continue gazing at old photos of the LPGA stars on my hard drive, is that cyber-stalking or fondly remembering the girls? Please don't answer this one.

Can someone check on the OSSAA Web site and find the rule stating Jenks and Union must tangle in every 6A championship game?

Five. Five dollar. Five dollar foot long. Is this an annoying commercial or a catchy tune? Why can't I get this seven-word refrain out of my head?

If there is a more worthless article in the daily paper than the Fantasy Football column, I don't know what it is. So many problems. For starters, competent owners have their lineups finalized prior to reading the paper on Sunday morning. Second, it's vanilla. Only without the tasty vanilla flavor.

Keep it Chilly

Why do the Oklahoma City Blazers average higher attendance figures than the Tulsa Oilers? Could it be the Blazers 14-3-2 record is slightly better than the Oilers 6-11-2 record? On the bright side, the Oilers have a winning record in the BOK Center (5-4-1). Visit www.tulsaoilers.com for more information.

Which game will result in more total points? The Holiday Bowl featuring Oklahoma State versus Oregon or the GMAC bowl featuring Tulsa and Ball State? Will Tulsa's bowl be renamed to the Government Owned Bowl prior to kickoff?

Shouldn't Brent Venables leave OU before the big game against Florida? Right now Sooner Nation is smitten with him. After Tebow shreds the D, he will shoulder the blame for the loss.

Did I just force-feed an OU versus Florida subplot down your throat? Let's bump the over/under to 967 to play it safe.

If I giggled when I heard Sean Avery use "sloppy seconds" to describe Elisha Cuthbert, does that make me a bad person?

How does the NHL drum up interest these days unless a big fight or a "sloppy seconds" comment is made? Instead of suspending Avery, shouldn't the NHL have sent him on the media rounds?

Fanbase

Is Tulsa a sports town? The convoluted answer is maybe, kinda, sorta but it depends. The short answer is not really. Slightly more than 22,000 tickets were sold to watch TU vie for the C-USA football championship this past Saturday. The stadium holds 30,000. Approximately 14,000 watched Jenks versus Union in Stillwater.

The shocker? OU marched into the BOK Center to take on the Golden Hurricane for a little Sunday afternoon hoops. The storylines were plentiful: Intrastate rivals, home team versus top-10 team, inaugural college basketball game in the city funded BOK Center. The net result? 12,671 or two-thirds full.

Why do I watch these Christmas shows on network TV with their incessant commercials when I have most of the DVDs in my collection?

Is there a lamer trend than pink jerseys? I'm all for women's rights and what not but can't girls just wear, you know, the actual colors of the team?

You want to know the second best thing about gas prices dropping quicker than an NBC sitcom featuring David Spade? I can now "pump" the handle and hit the exact price instead of shooting by the desired rounded-off number by three cents.

Were all OU fans pulling for Alabama in the SEC Championship game or just the ones who I know? I am guilty of another veiled OU versus Florida angle. Damn it all.

If the Oakland Raiders fans are called the Black Hole, why are the Cleveland Browns fans called the Dawg Pound?

OU hoops sensation Blake Griffin should be on every pre, regular and post season list for best player in America. Too bad the media loves the kid from Davidson a little too much.

Will I ever get to the OU and OSU basketball preview? Probably not. It's too late for a preview but at some point we'll give them the old full court press they deserve.

I don't know if OU versus Florida is the right choice by the computers but it's the most electric. America will absolutely make this the most watched BCS Championship game in its short history.

Yep. Did it again. Let's make it an even 1,000 for the over/under and call it a day.