Just another Transcript Connected weblog

Before we get going, forgive the mistakes.

Blogging can be a rough draft. Yesterday I said Mike Gundy had the league’s best “taylor.” Unless his tailor’s name is Taylor, that was kind of embarrassing. So, you know, give me a break.

Whoops.

Here we go.

Tommy Tuberville went first today and the Texas Tech coach remains great copy. The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel told Tuberville his “butt was in a sling” at his first Big 12 Media Days, last year, when he expressed his disappointment with Nebraska and Colorado leaving, rather than the Kumbuyah (that can’t be spelled right) attitude the conference was trying to push. So, of course, today, Tuberville began his answer by saying he still feels that way, that the conference would be stronger if the Huskers and Buffs had not left. Then he went on to say how much he misses the championship game. Then, finally, he embraced the deciding it on the field aspect of the 10-team round robin, said the conference could end up better than ever, and he’s really happy to be a part of it. Then, told, by the moderator his answer was so good, his time was up, Tuberville said “That’s a political answer, right. I worked on that one.”

You have to love the guy.

Next up was Kansas’ Turner Gill. He wasn’t nearly as much fun, but if you’re trained in the art of listening to the answer, some of the boring stuff might have been telling. “I thought there was tremendous improvement” Gill said of the Jayhawks last four games, all losses. He also said, over that time, the communication of his players, amongst each other, and his coaches with the players, improved dramatically. And, he said, that momentum carried over into the offseason. That is no small thing. If he’s not blowing smoke, there’s growth taking place at Kansas.

Then, Iowa State’s Paul Rhodes, took to the mic. The truth is, I was writing this blog over most of it, but the Cyclones have a new big video scoreboard and (I think) sound system and will soon break ground on a new practice facility. So they’re doing their best to keep up with the Stoops’ and the Browns.

Bill Snyder’s at the dais now.

I always enjoy listening to the Kansas State coach. His answers are always thoughtful and his thoughts are always complete. The funny or disappointing thing about it is he simply doesn’t like to do it. Media access to Kansas State has long been subpar. Snyder is famous for working 7-day 100-hour weeks and a few minutes away from that to chat with media folk simply isn’t on his list of “10,000 things I’d like to do.”

Some tidbits.

Only 69 Wildcats are on scholarship right now. Wow.

“That just makes it that much more difficult to create the depth that you want,” Snyder just said.

I’ll bet.

He did, though, say his team was better coming out of spring than it was going in. Maybe that’s something.

DALLAS — This, I was not fully prepared for.

This was something new and different.

I haven’t been to every single Big 12 football media days but I’ve been to most of them since coming to The Transcript in 1997 and it’s never been like this, not really. Somehow, it seems twice as big as any previous get together. It seems like there are more people covering it than ever before. It seems like there’s more people like me than ever before.

Well, there are and there aren’t.

Once upon a time, there were more writers here than anything.

That’s over.

But there’s more radio, more television, certainly more internet than ever before.

The most eye opening thing I saw was down on the second floor (most of media days is taking place on the third floor) of the Westin Galleria. It’s on the second floor that national radio is set up. There is Syrius XM, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN and ESPNU (I didn’t know ESPNU had radio; they may not, but they had a room, anyway). It wasn’t that long ago this was a regional exercise, but for USAToday and maybe the New York Times, but somewhere along the line it was decided by many national outfits that big-time college sports, for all of its local coverage, was still very undercovered nationally.

Now you’ve got ESPNU and the CBS Sports Network which is almost entirely college sports. The best part of Fox Sports national programming is college football. Also, you have more sports radio than ever before and there might have been 20 local stations set up on the third floor at the Westin.

Also, this year, the access seems to be greater.

Texas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas A&M and Missouri seemed to bring more players than previous years and the coaches, with the advent of breakout sessions where anybody can talk to them after those same coaches have already made the print, radio and TV rounds, have never been so available. Tuesday, I’m looking forward to seeing a very disgruntled Bob Stoops have a look like, Geez, I’ve been doing this all day. Perhaps he’ll like it. It’s pretty informal.

Just to make things a little more festive, the conference brought in cheerleaders, seemingly just to stand around at strategic spots, like tour guides, only maybe nobody told them that’s what they were here for. I saw a couple take a question from somebody about where something was happening and neither knew the answer.

Anyway, I was kind of ready for media days to be a bit of a slog.

Always, it seems, real news is hard to come by (though ESPNS’ Texas Network controversy sure gave everybody something to write about). Always, it’s a challenge to find something unique to write about (thought I think I pulled it off with a Tuesday-appearing column about just how far Mike Gundy and OSU have come). Always he same media folks kibbitz about the same stuff. Still, this time around, it seemed a lot bigger and, therefore, a little different.

In half an hour, there’s even an open bar reception, hosted by the conference.

That might get interesting

As to the coaching breakouts after they’d finished several media rounds already, you just get to see them in a way you never get to see them in just about any other setting. With that, in closing, some quick observations.

Mack Brown – He’s always folksy and he always is very good with questions, never gets riled or short with anybody, but the guy looks tired. He just looks tired to me. So, you know, we’ll see.

Gary Pinkel – The Missouri coach, to me, always looks like he’d play a great detective in a serious cop show. He just looks like a guy who knows what needs to be done. Very dapper. Very casual. But always like he just got finished solving some huge problem. Maybe a detective’s the wrong way to go, but he looks like the kind of guy they build corner offices for.

Art Briles – If you didn’t already know he’d come from the high school ranks, you’d guess it. His success has not been small time, but he looks small time. Frankly, he looks like a country preacher to me. He just does. He’s not as different Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, but he’s different.

Mike Sherman – The A&M coach looks as strong and certain as Pinkel, just not as smooth. I mean, if the most interesting man in the world quits making Dos Equis commericals, they might want to look at Pinkel. Sherman, instead, looks a little gruff. Like, frankly, he’d rather be coaching football than talking about coaching football.

Mike Gundy – But for Pinkel, Gundy has the best taylor. Also, the guy is amazingly forthcoming in the breakout sessions. He talked Monday about how weak his first contract was, about how, during two-a-days last year, the second practice was almost like “recess.” Just not in a bad way, because it was so darn hot, so the coaches didn’t push it. I’ve had people tell me that Gundy doesn’t mind lying, as opposed to Stoops, who won’t really lie, so much as spin or simply not answer. But if Gundy will lie when it suits him, he will also let you behind curtain like almost no college coach. You know, he’ll just tell you what he thinks, how he felt, etc. Monday, talking about his contract, he said it was “terrible” until it was revamped after his second or third season, and than any coach who doesn’t have a four- or five-year deal going forward will get killed in recruting because it’s not clear he’s going to be around for the next four years without it. He also said, point blank, last season was a game changer for OSU. The school is looked at differently. He feels it. He knows it. Nobody else says stuff like that. It may be understood, but nobody addresses it. Gundy does. Good for him.

Actually, I arrived here Wednesday evening.

That’s a first for me, actually staying on the road.

I drove through the night from Charlottesville back to Baltimore and turned my car in at 3:30 a.m., then flew to Chicago at 11:30 a.m., and from Chicago to Dayton around 3:30 p.m. I am booked to return Sunday flying out of Columbus, though I made that reservation with the complete understanding I could be changing it. I don’t know if OU-Notre Dame is a 50-50 game, but I think it’s something close to that. As I wrote for this morning’s paper, the Sooners are no longer 21st-ranked and No. 6-seeded. Offically and technically, they still are, but in all ways that matter, that began to change the moment they beat James Madison and it really changed the moment they beat Miami.

Here is that column: http://normantranscript.com/sports/x10255662/A-different-team-has-been-playing-in-this-tournament

So, here we are.

Soon, there will be all kinds of new quotes to draw from when it comes to the OU women, and yet, I very much wonder, if there will be anything new to write about. It is the inherent disadvantage of the beat writer. For the most part, I’ve pretty much covered everything about this team. It’s not like it will be hard to keep writing about it, but it will be hard to keep writing something new about it. Yes, I think it’s true, many fans are such big fans that it doesn’t matter to them you’re covering well-worn ground, they’ll read every word regardless. But, not being a fan like that, sometimes I know the difference and it’s not as fun. I say all of that, however, still believing I’ll come up with something …

Just took 45 minutes off from this blog to listen to Notre Dame. Skylar Diggins is a trip.

… On that topic, I once talked to Bob Ryan for a couple of hours at the 2002 Final Four. Ryan is a legend in the business, and became so as the Boston Globe’s Celtic beat writer but has now been a columnist for the Globe for a long, long time. Anyway, he said you only have to please one person with what you’re writing. Yourself. I think the big point was, if you can’t get behind your own story, what good is it? So, I like to get behind what I’m writing, but it does become harder when you’re covering so much of the same ground day after day after day.

Finally, as I was hanging out at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport between flights Wednesday, I was thinking about blogging about this topic, but not sure. So, I’m going to blog about it: People watching.

Maybe somewhere in this is why I do what I do, because most of what I do involves the observation of people. I hope that’s reflected in what I write. I may be writing about basketball, but I’m always looking for clues from the actors, or players, in the drama I’m playing witness to. And because I’m a people watcher, I love airports.

For one, you tend to see people at their best, or at the representation of what they believe there best should look like. That may sound convoluted, but I know there are people who know exactly what I’m talking about. And if you find people fascinating, then people watching at an airport is really fascinating.

I see so many people I want to interview on the spot.

An apparent basketball team eating at the airport Chili’s.

Who are you guys, I don’t recognize you, you’re not wearing team stuff so where are you going where are you coming from?

Men and women who look like a million bucks, yet their face tells me they’re miserable.

What’s going on? Too much time at the office? You make a ton of money, but it’s a grind, right?

Men and women dressed casually, yet it’s still very clear they did not just throw something on. They worked hard to look this casual. Everything’s tucked in just right. The colors don’t clash. The make-up is perfect.

Hey, relax already. It’s all right. It’s not a business trip, right? Loosen up. Come on. It’s OK.

I also see those clearly dressed professionally, but not necessarily walking with uber purpose. They get a phone call. They’re actually interested in the call. They look like they have to be somewhere, but they don’t hate the trip. They smile. The find things funny. They talk to people, even strangers. They’re good.

So what’s going on? No, really, you look happy, tell me about it? No really, so many people look miserable, what’s your secret? I know, there’s nothing special about you, but I still want to know? What’s your story?

For others doing the watching, I always hope I’m in that group. I believe that I am. I think I’m one of the lucky ones.

But I don’t now. I was going on no sleep. Still, maybe, that’s what it looked like.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Because no matter how much you love bookstores you can only hang out at Barnes and Noble for so long, I was the first media member to walk into John Paul Jones Arena today. I’m not sure all who’ve walked in since, as I’ve been hanging courtside since walking in because the media room is really, really hot.

The ESPN folks, though, I’m sure are here, because I just shook hands with Beth Mowins, play-by-play person, after butting into a conversation she was having with some production guy. She wanted to have a graphic prepared on the total number of NCAA tournament games Danielle Robinson had played vs. the number the entire Miami roster had played. I’d have to check but she said Robinson’s number was 14. I don’t have to check for Miami. Sunday’s game was the Hurricanes first game in the tournament during the Katie Meier era, which is in it’s sixth year. I butted in to make the point that lack of tourney experience may be far more important than having tourney experience. Saying that, I’m thinking of last year’s OU-Kentucky game. The Sooners wouldn’t let the Wildcats do what they wanted to do and that was that. It was like Kentucky was a one-trick pony. When plan A didn’t work, they couldn’t get their heads around any other plan and OU won going away.

For the record, I think tonight’s a 50-50 game.

OU is not the team that lost 11 games before it got here any more.

The Sooners are better than that.

Miami, is really, really good, and have a much better body of work than the Sooners.

Still, it’s a pick ‘em.

I’d hate to have to bet the house on this one.

Later

It’s early, but Gardner-Webb is hanging with Miami. Maybe the Bulldogs will be done by the time this post is written (just saw a Miami player try a reverse layup; the ball sailed over the backboard; that’s a first in any game I’ve ever covered or even witnessed), we’ll see.

Couple of observations.

John Paul Jones Arena is the nuts for one selfish reason one unselfish reason. One, I may have parked closer to the entrance I walked into than I ever have before in my life. Closer even than the Asp Ave. parking garage for games at Owen Field (assuming you can’t just cross over through the Santee Lounge entrance). Two, because the luxury boxes are just above the lowest level of this 18,000-plus capacity arena, and that happens to be very low, maybe 2,500 to 3,000 fans are all that’s required for a fantastic atmosphere. There might be 1,500 in here right now for Miami-Gardner-Webb, but it sounds and feels pretty full. It’s an amazing thing.

Looking for the next up and coming analyst?

Four seats to my left is Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, who’s doing color for the ESPN2 telecast, along with Beth Mowins, who’s doing the play-by-play. Sooner fans may recall Gold-Onwude. She was playing for Stanford LAST YEAR. I can’t hear her, but she seems to know what she’s doing.

Silly sportswriting thing here.

All week I’ve been calling the OU-James Madison game a 1:45 central time tip. I did this because it’s supposed to begin 30 minutes after the game that’s being played now and the game that’s being played now tipped off at 11:15 central. Well, OU decided to call it a 2:30 p.m. tip. Still, I figured I was closer to being right, but I didn’t want Transcript readers thinking I was aiming to cost them 15 minutes of the game, so I changed it in this morning’s paper. I’m quite sure it will go off nearer 1:45 than 1:30, but there you go.

Enjoy the game.

The Bulldogs trail the Hurricanes by two buckets.

Still hanging in there.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va — Here’s something Sherri Coale said during her local media day, way back before the season began. I found it in a story I wrote from that day, which has since become part of the media bundle distributed by Jared Thompson, the sports information guy for the OU women.

“I think we’ll figure it out. I think we’ll find a way. What we have right now is that little something, something in our back pocket that says ‘You know what? We can do it when people think we’re supposed to do it and we can do it when people don’t think we’re supposed to.”

Of course, she was talking about reaching the Final Four, something OU has done each of the last two seasons, but would appear a very long shot to reach this season, as it enters NCAA tournament play with a 21-11 record and losses in four of its last six games.

It’s interesting because Coale (and I may have written this, too) was a big believer the Sooners reaching a second straight final four last season would pay more dividends down the line than in the moment. It may be true even if OU doesn’t get out of the first two rounds of the tournament, but it’s less clear. More clear is the fact that all the intangibles Coale was implying don’t appear to have done much for the Sooners this season. They have threatened to get over the hump several times, only to slip back several times. They have posted zero upsets. Their very best games have been narrow losses to Texas A&M and Baylor, but for one 91-62 romp over Texas that did not grow legs. All of that being said, the season’s not over. Two NCAA tournament wins and a strong effort at the Sweet 16, win or lose, and a case can still be made for the last three seasons running together. But if OU finishes short of that … who knows.

Whatever, OU will return four players with Final Four experience next season (assuming it doesn’t get there this season) in Whitney Hand , Jasmine Hartman, Joanna McFarland and Lyndsey Cloman (five, sort of, if you count Kodi Morrison). But Hand has struggled this season since returning from ACL surgery, Hartman’s playing time has plummeted (26 total minutes in her four games previous to playing 19 against Texas A&M at the Big 12 tourney), McFarland lost her starting spot to Nicole Griffin and Cloman’s minutes have gone way down since a mid-season surge that included two starts.

That doesn’t mean OU can’t go to next year’s Final Four led by Hand, Aaryn Ellenberg, Griffin and some freshman we’ve yet to meet. But it may mean that OU will have to reinvent itself to get there, leaving last season’s Final Four more a memory than a rallying cry.

Just a thought.

Also …

I’m not smart enough to understand why it costs at least $300 less to fly into Baltimore than Washington D.C. or Richmond, both of which would have been so much more convenient and perhaps allowed me to sleep a little Tuesday night (assuming OU wins Sunday) before making it back to Baltimore to fly home. It’s only 130 miles from BWI (the airport) to Charlottesville, but there’s this city in between where the President lives and traffic is murder every moment but the middle of the night … which may be when I choose to drive back to BWI.

If I could go to bed at 9 p.m. and get up at 2 a.m. it might be different, but that just hasn’t been my schedule for more than 20 years. I never sleep before really early flights and really early, when driving through D.C. is considered, is really any time before 2 p.m.

But I’ll make it.

Later

As many know, I’m a poker player.

It’s important to me that I not just leave it at that. I’m not a gambler, but a poker player. Though some would say it’s purely semantic, there is a real difference between poker and the rest of the games offered by most casinos. In poker, the house gets its cut, but the players compete for the rest of the pie in a game that absolutely involves short-term luck, yet also absolutely involves long-term skill.

With that out of the way, I refer to myself as a marginally winning player. Bad swings have driven me away from the game for months at a time, but I’ve still won more than I’ve lost. Promise.

So, enough preamble. Sunday night I was playing 4-8 limit poker at Riverwind. Typically, I’m a 1-2 no-limit player, but there was no waiting at the limit table so there you go. The first crazy thing that happened was I received AA in the pocket in back-to-back hands. The second crazy thing – and limit players will appreciate this – was that I managed to win both hands (my aces even IMPROVED both hands). For limit, they were huge pots. Then, about 5 minutes later, a third crazy thing occurred. Emergency alarms went off inside the casino.

Employees, including those in the poker room, began telling everybody to get out of the casino, telling them this was no drill. The dealer at our table, and presumably others, said “let’s just finish this hand, then go.” Of course, it’s not that simple. In front of me were 223 white one-dollar poker chips and one green 25-dollar poker chip. So the employees brought racks to the tables. I filled two racks and put the rest of the chips in my pockets. To this moment, those chips, and those racks, remain in the back seat of my car (locked).

As I left the casino, the smell of smoke was clear.

Also, as I left the casino, I had this thought. As soon as I put these chips in my car, damn, I’ve got to get to work. It was 12:38 a.m. and I was pretty sure I was the only media member on the scene. I walked into the Riverwind hotel and asked if they had any stationary behind the counter. A woman suggested a piece of paper. I asked for two. Then, I looked for a pen. I saw one on the other side of the counter. Just a cheap plastic ink pen, probably from the same batch left next to the phone in the rooms. I picked it up.

Then I just started writing stuff down. Looking at my watch, I charted when the fire engines arrived. I asked people if they’d heard anything. Somebody said “they noticed smoke in the walls of the kitchen.” Smoke IN the walls? A kitchen? Where? Also, after a while, I noticed casino personnel looking at me. Like, what’s he doing?

So that was my night. The story I eventually wrote for immediate upload on The Transcript website (I think it hit the Web around 2:45 a.m.) was the culmination of a very odd night. But for the running out of the casino with chips (I was hardly the only one), there really wasn’t too much drama. I guess there was the drama of “breaking news,” but nobody appeared to get hurt, I never saw any flames, the best (worst?) thing I saw was smoke pouring out of the doorway, a “staff entrance,” that appeared to be a door directly into the kitchen of Autographs, a restaurant inside the casino.

I guess it was kind of exciting. Sports is my thing, but I know how to report news for crying out loud, even when almost all of my sourcing is stuff I saw with my own eyes. And that was exactly the case, which leads me to the last point of this blog. Basically, isn’t it amazing how little people understand about dealing with the press.

One man asked me what I was doing. He was clearly a man of some import at the casino. I told him I was with The Norman Transcript and what the heck was going on? He told me they’d be sending out a press release in the morning “from Ada” but that nobody was hurt. I told him I was going to write something whether anybody talked to me or not and put it on the Web very quickly and somebody might want to tell me what was going on. Eventually, they had Kym Koch (pronounced Kim Cook, which is why I originally misspelled her name in my story; oh, well) call me. She described herself as a spokesperson “for the commerce division of the (Chickasaw) Nation.”

Kim was helpful.

Also, she’d just been pulled out of bed to handle media on the story. I guess that’s her job, but it sure seems to me like somebody on site should be cleared to talk to the media, because how odd does it seem that somebody off site was telling a reporter on site what was happening on that site?

Finally, there was this, my favorite part.

As I left, around 1:40 a.m., I noticed a KFOR truck pull into the casino. Well, I was curious how the TV folks would be handled by casino staff so I got behind it and began to follow it, despite the fact a casino security staffer was waving me onto Highway 9. I told him I was media on my way home to report the story, but I was going to stick around a little longer now that KFOR was there. He told me KFOR wasn’t staying, that nobody was allowed to enter the casino grounds. I laughed out loud as I drove away.

As I pulled out of the casino, the KFOR truck pulled onto the Highway 9 shoulder and parked.

Doesn’t anybody know the media’s going to get it’s story whether anybody likes it or not?

So I got on the phone and called Koch back. I told her she’d been good to me so I was going to be good to her. I told her casino staff had just denied KFOR entrance onto the grounds and that if the casino’s aim was to do everything it could to encourage angry coverage of a legitimate news event, it was doing a good job. She understood and said she’d take care of it. I went home and wrote my story.

Now, I may just go cash in my chips.

Some of them.

I feel lucky.

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — There’s really no other way to describe it.

Maybe travel writers, over the course of print journalism history, have participated in the commerce of junkets more than the rest. Entertainment writers certainly have their opportunities. Sports writers? Well, maybe if they cover a little golf …

It’s called The Lake of the Ozarks Golf Council, and it’s a consortium of several courses located near, around, and darn near on The Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. And for years and years and years the council has rolled out the red carpet to media members who might have a hand in getting the word out about the golf  around … here!

Yes, here.

For I am writing while lounging in a bed located within the “estates” that are part of the Tan-Tar-a Resort.

I know.

It’s a dirty job …

The council is paying for everything. Maybe once upon a time this kind of thing was pretty typical. I’m actually told by some of the folks here — OK, really, my source is Greg (don’t recall his last name), the editor of Golf Chicago Magazine, and maybe the funniest person I’ve ever met in the business — that many junkets remain, just maybe not for everybody. Junkets to Australia, Thailand, the U.K., etc. Still, around here (and by “here” I now mean the central U.S.), it’s just not that common. Not in this economy. Not in the dwindling world that is print journalism. It’s just not that common.

Nonetheless, I received the opportunity to drive to Central Missouri, receive four days and three nights lodging, three days of food and beverages, and three days of golf. I’d received the invitation many times before, but this was the first time I ever took it.

So, I’m here.

The folks putting this on — and there are many of them — really are first class. There are moments it seems the junket’s as much for their own enjoyment as it is for us golf/sports media types and any coverage we may bring to the golf offerings near and around the lake. They seem to love the company, they know so many of these media folks that come year after year. Perhaps they’re working, but they seem to be having a ball.

As for the golf, well, it’s not pretty good, too.

When I decided to do this, and allow somebody to pay my way, I decided I would pull no punches. Just as I cover an OU-Texas game, I must review these courses impartially.

Tuesday, we played a nine-hole course called Hidden Lakes, which is within the Tan-Tar-A Resort. We got eight holes in, then it rained. Hard. There are 18 other holes within the resort. That course is The Oaks. We were to play Hidden Lakes and then play 18 at Osage National, an Arnold Palmer designed course nearby, but the rain kept us off Osage National.

As for Hidden Lakes, here’s what I would say: It’s designed to be very playable for everybody. It’s not particularly hard, nor particularly easy, though it is short. Because of the nature of what seems like all the courses around here — elevation changes, holes cut out of forests, etc. — danger always lurks somewhere. But Hidden Lakes is short and not too hard. It’s also very entertaining, fun and, yes, picturesque. It’s neat in a way courses can only be neat when cut out of forests and heavily wooded and all those things the geography around here affords.

Today, Wednesday, we played 18 at Old Kinderhook.

It’s about 6,900 yards from the back.

Tom Weiskopf designed it

It might be the best looking course I’ve ever seen or played and I’ve played the Oak Tree courses, just about everything in and around San Antonio, everything in Oklahoma City but OKC Golf and CC and Quail Creek Golf and CC. It’s just so green, so lush, there are so many elevation changes, so many huge drops. It really is amazing.

There’s one thing I’m not wild about and that’s the abundance of native areas that might as well be water hazards. Hit it in there and you’re not getting your ball back. Hit a terrible shot and your score will jump. They told us to play the areas as lateral hazards, which really is a necessity. Of course, I found a few of them. And on a day I had 12 pars and two bogeys, I also had a double bogey, two triple bogeys and a 10 on a par 5. A round made for match play, I shot 87.

Still, those experiences didn’t sour me on the course.

It’d love to have another crack at it. Just maybe, I could take 10 strokes off of it.

The key to playing the course well is not relaxing your mental game.

You can’t forget to swing, to finish, to maintain your focus.

One more kudo for the course.

Yes, it’s a beauty, but maybe best of all, it offers several moments for you to hit a fantastic golf shot, framed by a majestic scene. Your memorable shots will be really memorable as a result. Thanks goodness I hit enough of those to like my chances Thursday.

Until then …

SAN ANTONIO — Well, if you’re reading this you watched the game. Before long, all of our coverage will be up on the Web and before too, too long you can read all about it in the morning paper.

In today’s paper, previewing the Sooners and the Cardinal, I had three stories, one on the front page, one on the sports front and a big notebook  inside the sports section. However, tonight, our game coverage inlcuded the efforts of John Shinn, who flew into the Alamo City this morning, giving us the chance to really blow out game coverage. John wrote a game story and a sidebar about how Stanford controlled the paint. I wrote a column and a notepad, leading off with one 4-minute stretch in, yes, the second half, that might have cost OU the game.

I don’t know if OU was supposed to win the game, but I know it would have been a much different game had the Sooners simply made shots they’d been making all season, like those little 12-foot jumpers Danielle Robinson usually makes in her sleep. She made them at the end, but that was the problem. Lots of teams rally and the Sooners really rallied, but rare is the team that ever comes back when the foe that must be overcome is Stanford AND the clock.

So OU lost.

Still, it is in many ways the program’s greatest achievement. The 2002 team that lost to Connecticut in the championship game had so much more going for it than the team that lost tonight. Which, really, is a tribute to the team that lost tonight. That team had more weapons, more depth, more ways to skin a cat. And, as for last season’s Final Four team, there was a bit of a “finally?” feeling to it. And then, to lead by 12 at the half and lose to Louisville is about as close to unforgivable as anything can be unforgivable in the rarified air that is the Final Four. Reaching the Final Four means never having to say you’re sorry … unless you blow a 12-point halftime lead to an inferior Louisville team.

So mark it down.

This team really mattered.

On a personal note, which is allowed, because this is a blog, I’m so pleased Amanda Thompson came on strong late and finished with a fairly good game. The number of players I haven’t liked to come through the program since I’ve been covering it may be zero. But Amanda may be my favorite. She’s not afraid to tell the truth, isn’t afraid of people like me and my ilk (that would be media) and is truly funny. Also, and there’s so few players you can ever say this about, I think she might make a better pro than she did a collegian. She just has those skills. Like maybe the game will finally catch up to her. Or, maybe, it’s just a matter of growth, and she found a new level over the last month and if she takes that into the pro game, she’s bound to be successful.

That’s it.

Tomorrow, after a seven-hour drive, I’ll wrap the season in Tuesday morning’s paper. Either that, or I’ll have a post Final Four story, and then come back later with a season wrap. Then it’s on to spring prep sports. I wonder if the soccer teams are missing me.

Later.

Oh, I wrote this while waiting for pancakes at Denny’s.

My waitresses name is, get this, Flo.

How perfect is that?

SAN ANTONIO — I have no prediction.

Maybe, if my life depended on it, I’d take Stanford in the game that tips in less than an hour here inside the Alamodome. But there is the thought, echoed by some of the media here covering the Final Four, that Stanford, if not a house of cards, remains less dangerous than its single-12-point-loss-to-Connecticut season might appear it to be.

Jayne Appel, an All-American center her junior season, and a real good center in this, her senior season, continues to nurse a sprained ankle serious enough she not practice with her team, but only play when it matters. And, just who else is any good in the Pac-10? At the end of the season, UCLA had crept into the top 25, but it’s just not a very good conference. The Big 12 may have seven teams better than the second best team in the Pac-10.

Then there’s OU, which can’t be looked at through the prism of its whole season so much as looked at through the prism of what’s happened since the last day of the regular season, a 95-62 victory over Oklahoma State.

So, hard to bet the house against the Cardinal, its 35-1 season, all of its tradition and coach Tara VanDerveer, who has had Sherri Coale’s number in recent years. Yet it’s still very easy to imagine OU winning, very likely setting up a rematch of the 2002 championship game in the very same building that game was played.

Enjoy.