BEDLAM WEEKEND BRINGS TWO HEARTBREAKS TO SOONERLAND
Author’s Note: Play this while reading. sports fans:
Bedlam week and the day after brought two heartbreaks for our beloved Sooner football team and all of we die-hard fans.
First, a national championship-caliber contender Oklahoma State bested our guys in Crimson and Cream on the field last Saturday night in a hard-fought, highly competitive game where the Sooner squad barely came out on the short end of the stick.
Less than 24 hours later, OU Head Coach Lincoln Riley suddenly and unexpectedly abandoned the Sooner team and nation, sneaking away in the dead of night along with several of his assistants for the sun and sand of Los Angeles…
To become the head coach of the wine-and-rose-colored University of Southern California Trojans – a team that has been about a significant over the last 15 or 20 years in the world of big-time college football as a pimple on a gnat’s back.
Upset? Mad? Frothing at the mouth? OU’s fans are. It all made me wonder when the last public hanging in Oklahoma took place.
There’s nothing in the world worse than a scorned lover – except the Texas football team.
What transpired less than 60 hours after OU’s college football playoff dreams came crashing down was a shock. A sin and betrayal of epic proportions in the eyes of hefty amount of Sooner fans.
Lincoln Riley, Bob Stoops golden boy, the heir to Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Big-Time Bobs’ legacies, cut and run like a thief in the dark of night.
WHY? – scorned thousands of Sooner fans wailed. Why would an OU coach, one likely destined induction the College Football Hall of Fame flee from one of the most prestigious coaching jobs, and one that can be argued, is most storied college team in the history of the sport?
It makes no sense to anyone.
Except one man. Lincoln Riley.
Mad, are we? Some of us are looking for a rope and a tree. Others spit on the floor in disgust and resignation. After Saturday’s bitter defeat by our little brother in Stillwater, Riley’s sudden departure is hard to take.
Much harder, in fact, than losing to Mike Gundy and his cow-loving, sheep huggers to the Northeast of Norman.
Mad, are we? Some of us are looking for a rope and a tree.
Yes, Riley’s getting a better deal than what he had. He’s reportedly making a $500,000 profit PDQ because USC is buying his two Oklahoma homes at more than their asking price. He’s supposedly adding at least $4 million on top of what he made at OU each year, plus bonuses. If you believe news reports, USC also is buying a house worth a hefty chunk of change for he, his wife and two daughters, somewhere in Los Angles.
Can anyone say Hollywood?
Every human being in the world would bolt their homeland, their Eden, for that.
For Riley, who already is in the top five or six of the best college coaches in the country, moving to sunny beaches, the Pacific Ocean and possibly living near movie stars and thousands of celebrities was too easy to take and really hard to decline.
What about loyalty to OU? We ain’t dog meat after all. Sorry, that won’t wash here. Not everyone is Barry Switzer or Bob Stoops, both solid midwestern boys brought up in the lands of hard work, loyalty and commitment and honor.
College football, despite all its wonderful color, pageantry, culture and fun, really is too often a world of cutthroats, scoundrels, selfishness, greed and excess.
Folks, we don’t pay the president of the United States, a person with the weight of millions of people, a nation, and the world on his shoulders and in his hands that kind of paycheck every year.
Along with foolish financial folly and excessive behaviors, and an often-unhealthy desire to be recognized as the greatest football program and state in America, OU fans’ foundational beliefs and desires have been subjugated to the base human desire for ultimate victory and prestige no matter the price and cost.
We have become the drunken Romans screaming and shouting in the Coliseum for more blood, spectacle and a faux death of an opponent no matter the cost to ourselves or our society.
Treason, or any form of cowardice or self-centered though, is to be damned.
Well, none of that is fair to Lincoln and his family, or his legacy (although it will scar him for the rest of his professional life in all likelihood as a man who can’t be trusted).
Consider all the reasons Lincoln got on that midnight plane.
More money. An easier, and ultimately better place to win and build a legacy. Better opportunities for his daughters. A sweeter life and a lot more fun things to do and see.
And don’t give me that bull about Oklahoma being a better place to live than California. That’s crap and anyone who travelled across California and who knows anything about life, would agree. In fact, I’m willing to bet 95 to 99 percent of the entire world would agree.
In the Golden State there is better, stronger culture and lifestyle, an abundance of arts, stellar sports, reasonable politics, great weather, a plethora of job opportunities, and massive amounts of fun and frolic etc., etc.
Where do I stop? Stopping isn’t possible. It’s a great place to live.
The only thing terrible about LA is the traffic.
And not everyone in California is a screaming liberal or a Nazi masquerading as a Republican like they are here.
California is a microcosm of America.
Not a bad place to live and work while squirreling away millions, probably getting chauffeured or helicoptered to work every day, chumming around with movie stars, and billionaires, etc., etc., etc.
Riley’s departure is tough to choke down. Everyone call tell you I’m a hot-tempered guy a lot of the time when things piss me off – and OU football, even under Riley, pisses me off frequently. I’m looking at you Alex Grinch!
What all of us have to do know is take a few deep breaths and realize this is all going to work out to OU’s benefit. Emperor Bob is back, for at least the bowl game.
What all of us have to do know is take a few deep breaths and realize this is all going to work out to OU’s benefit.
We can all pray maybe he changes his mind about staying retired. In lieu of the giant killer’s return there are great options out there for OU.
Luke Fickell, my top choice may be off the market already heading to Notre Dame. If he isn’t snap him up PDQ and pay him what Riley just banked.
How about, Matt Campbell, Kyle Whittingham, Brent Venables, Mario Cristobal, Dave Aranda, Sean Beamer, or Josh Huepel?
OU is going to land an established, top-tier coach or an up-and-comer like it did with Riley.
Be patient boys and girls. Don’t be naughty, or Santa won’t bring you a nice Christmas present.
Be kind and understanding. Don’t be that screaming mob in the Coliseum.
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