I honestly think it was always going to be Illinois for Lunt, blocked schools or not. I got an email from somebody in Rochester who knows him at some point in this process and this person said the whole deal was simple: he was homesick, that’s it.

In fact, I’m not sure he ever really even wanted to go to Oklahoma State to begin with.

One thing fans, especially fanatics, don’t realize is that most kids who play sports in college don’t usually actually (gasp) love that college.¹

I know that’s difficult for some people to fathom (A&M fans are still reeling from that Johnny Football tweet about College Station the other night) but frankly, most athletes could give two craps about historica Gallagher-Iba Arena, orange power, and so on. I really believe that.

I also think it provides a different lens through which to view Lunt’s decision, and any other decision like this that OSU athletes make in the future.

The whole “I’m 18 and the starting QB for a top 20 team” thing took a toll on him. That’s an overwhelming thing (his words in the video) for a kid and, combined with the fact that halfway into his senior year of high school he’d probably thought about the words “Oklahoma” and “State” three times ever, I mean, that’s a thing…

And how about this:

When did you realize OSU wasn’t the right fit for you?

It kind of happened during the season when I didn’t go back in again and wanted to play it out through spring ball because I just loved it there, I didn’t want to leave. And after spring ball, talking with Coach Gundy, it was just the right thing to do for me.

So basically you would have stayed if you were going to be the starter…

Gottlieb mentioned this to me one day, not sure if it was on his radio show or where it was, but he said “you can’t give the reins to a dude his freshman year then take them away after that without there being problems.” I totally agree.

It sounds to me like he didn’t think Stillwater was as cool when you’re holding a clipboard instead of holding the rock for the Big 12 favorite.

Also, Lunt and Gundy? Not boys from what Lunt says at 1:45.

Then at 2:25 Lunt says Gundy un-blocked him from Vandy, Bama, Notre Dame etc.

WAIT, WHAT?!

How was this not a thing? And if you’re Gundy don’t you hold a press conference, bring in the ESPN cameras, fly Tom Rinaldi in on Boone’s jet and say “I AM RELEASING WES LUNT, I SCREWED UP!” Isn’t that the PR play here rather than an under-the-radar call to Lunt’s HS coach?!

I don’t understand Gundy sometimes.

This whole thing, in the end, seems to be much ado about nothing. Gundy turned it into a way bigger deal than a third string QB transferring to a Big 10 school should have been made into.

And Lunt, he’s bailing on the school that it seems like he never really wanted to go to but couldn’t help himself because Monken enticed him with a starting role (should be noted that Monken could probably convince me to be an OU fan if he tried hard enough, he’s a scary dude).

It seems like a matter of convenience more than anything else. He knew he was going to sit a year either way and even though all of us would have chosen to sit at OSU over sitting at a school that plays in a conference that frowns upon the forward pass, that was what he wanted. Illinois is where he grew up, his state, his stomping grounds.

And you know what, that’s fine. Go home, kid, go win a Rose Bowl against SC in a couple years. Enjoy college.

I just wish this whole thing didn’t make Gundy look so foolish.

No hard feelings with Coach (Mike Gundy). (ESPN)

Wes Lunt to Illinois. I think this is where it was going to be with or without restrictions. (CBS Sports)

Ubben thinks Lunt will enjoy Illinois more than Oklahoma State. I concur. (ESPN)

Gah, the first week slate is so great. I’m getting stoked. (Yahoo)

Good, let’s try to push this back even further, maybe into football season? (Tulsa World)

Phil Steele ranks the Big 12 No. 2. (ESPN)

The comments section here is…just…awesome. (Champaign Room)

Other

Wrestling team trials in Stillwater. (okstate)

If you’re bored out of your mind at work today, here’s somebody on NCAA ’14 going through every single uniform option for every team. (CBS Sports)

This Marcus Smart dunk is just silliness. (PFB)

Big 12 sportspersons of the year announced, no OSU love. The male winner has a great story though. (Big 12 Sports)

Good look on who will go No. 1 in the NBA Draft. (Sports Illustrated)

Say WHAT?! (Yahoo)

If you like Mad Men reviews, goodness, this one’s great. (AV Club)

If this was really the best quote, I mean…

Best quote of night at Altus Cowboy Caravan…" #okstate defense has more blitzes than I have underwear!" @myurcich great job Coach Yurcich

— Larry Reece (@cowboyvoice) June 18, 2013

Think some of you aren’t on Twitter so..big news.

BREAKING: doctor said he's never seen this, I said it was par for the course. #babypistols #december pic.twitter.com/qYrOiBaj5v

— Kyle Porter (@pistolsguy) June 17, 2013

This is not normal behavior.

h/t Nolan Cox

Good thing for Mike Yurcich Mike Gundy doesn’t think stats are for losers. Great story here, must read. (CBS Sports)

No idea why, but this headline made me laugh. Yay, we finally got ourselves one! (ESPN)

Tim Brando has OSU in his top 10 for 2013. (CBS Sports)

OSU is cleaning up on in-state recruiting. (Scout)

Mason Rudolph used to be a tight end. Interesting. (NewsOK)

OSU wide receivers, not running backs, among best units in Big 12. (ESPN)

Somebody gonna show this to Gilbert? (CBS Sports)

Gina piggybacks the CBS story (don’t want that to sound bad) with some good quotes from Gundy about loyalty to OSU…[pulls up Tennessee/Gundy story, laughs]. (NewsOK)

This rule cracks me up. It’s so idiotic. (NewsOK)

Other

Stunning. (NewsOK)

ICYMI: Marcus Smart stayed in Stillwater because he had a hurt wrist. (PFB)

JFF = new Tebow. (CBS Sports)

Three Pokes in the top 21 at the US Open. (PGA Tour)

This is awesome: on Amilian’s pops and a Babe Ruth team from Tulsa. (Tulsa World)

My favorite photo from the US Open. (CBS Sports)

And my favorite GIF. (SB Nation)

Wait, what? (Tech Crunch)

Say what?

No problem here but Johnny Miller & partners clearly pro-American. But they're overlooking Hunder Mahan as if he was from Latvia. #okstate

— Dean Blevins (@DeanBlevins) June 16, 2013

Hah.

Cowboys photobombing Cowboys #okstate https://t.co/ZjHPdsOXfN

— Ryan Cameron (@ryancameron24) June 16, 2013

Holy…

Monster Tarpon I caught yesterday in Isla Holbox! @Pawlawski pic.twitter.com/1zmsBrEmfa

— Brandon Weeden (@bweeden3) June 14, 2013

Sunny Galloway bailed for Auburn over the weekend so I thought this was especially fun from one of his former players:

Miss Utah, wow.

Yes, all in.

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Marcus Smart returned to Oklahoma State at the end of the basketball season, forgoing his career as a professional, because he loves the Cowboys and just couldn’t imagine life without one more year in Stillwater, right?

Eh, maybe not.

Here’s Reid Forgrave from the USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Championship training camp in Colorado:

Great talk w @smart_MS3 on why return to Ok St. End season left bad taste…but also hurt wrist in NCAAs, couldn't lift ball til May.

— Reid Forgrave (@ReidForgrave) June 16, 2013

If Marcus Smart's wrist healthy, probably going to NBA, he told me. But pumped 1 more year college: "I get to be a kid for 1 more year."

— Reid Forgrave (@ReidForgrave) June 16, 2013

Wait…what?

It’s true, apparently.

You can think Eskimo Joe’s, the Colvin, and a bummy wrist for that preseason top 10 ranking next year.

Good stuff here on whether or not Josh Stewart can repeat his 2012. (Rivals)

Interesting story here on another newcomer who (allegedly) ran a 4.4 the other day. I also love how RA praises himself for digging up the story, great stuff. (Scout)

Speaking of 4.4s, Rashaad Samples and Justin Gilbert raced on Thursday. (PFB)

OSU has the 4th best group of WRs in the country. Honest question: why isn’t Baylor on this list? (ESPN Insider)

Other

The biggest issue here is A&M, yes? (ESPN)

Johny Hendricks going to fight GSP? via orange power (Low Kick)

Wow, Shaka Smart with quite a quite on his cousin Marcus here. (ESPN)

This is nerdy, but good on the new iOS. (Marco)

What a headline. (CBS Sports)

Nick Saban is literally drooling right now.

Texas A&M athletic director takes shot at Bama: "What does the moon and Texas A&M have in common? We control the Tide," said Eric Hyman.

— Judd Davis (@BamaJD) June 14, 2013

Nice.

Victory + @Titleist = a serious autograph session for @PeterUihlein when he gets back to Stilly #okstate pic.twitter.com/DfXO4uRGoY

— Ryan Cameron (@ryancameron24) June 13, 2013

But getting better!

#okstate football academic ranking is absolutely embarrassing. What a joke

— Mitch Gastelum (@mgastelum9) June 13, 2013

Simmons all in.

Wow, SportsCenter edited my joke out about Wade going to Germany before Game 4 – I should have just ripped people to shreds like SAS did.

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 14, 2013

I’ve watched this at least 30 times, it’s amazing:

Welp me and @10justscored just solved our issue…and of course yu know who won the race

— Justin Gilbert (@ThatBoyFast) June 13, 2013

But this made me laugh more…

@pistolsguy @ThatBoyFast @10justscored twist: I won. Eeeaassyyyy

— Clint Chelf (@Cchelf10) June 14, 2013

@pistolsguy @ThatBoyFast @10justscored yeah Gilbert did you?

— Clint Chelf (@Cchelf10) June 14, 2013

It’s the offseason so, you know what, yeah, let’s just break down this sick 1:45 video of Marcus Smart smashing on amateur basketball players.¹

0:10 — WTF?! Who is this alien and what did he do with our starting PG?

0:30 — Yeah, if this is happening, the Big 12 POY race is ovah…again. The national one might be too.

0:38 — He just makes it look so…easy. I know these dudes probably aren’t that much better than, say, me but gosh.

0:44 — I feel like this is his signature move.

0:52 — New tattoos?

0:54 — !!!!!!!!!!!!

1:14 — The funeral for this kid is on Saturday, Boone and Holder being held and questioned as we speak.

It won’t happen because it won’t happen but can you imagine what a disaster it would be for OSU to be the team that didn’t qualify for the postseason? (ESPN)

Wait so we were underrated on defense? (Football Study Hall)

OSU helps clean up Oklahoma, pretty cool. (Scout)

Will OSU be the last Big 12 team to win the Fiesta Bowl? (NewsOK)

Yeahhhh David Cornwell isn’t coming to Stillwater. (Scout)

Samples’ time would have been the second fastest at the NFL Combine. (ESPN)

Pretty fascinating look at drive percentages. FSH is cranking out good stuff, must have been that OKC Dave pickup. (Football Study Hall)

Love Forde trolling tOSU fans here. Also notes that Oklahoma State doesn’t have home games on consecutive Saturdays. (Yahoo)

Other

No more domes! (Sports Illustrated)

Good post on the two-year anniversary of Grantland. (Big Lead)

This oral history of the 2008 US Open is just amazing. (PGA Tour)

!!! (Deadspin)

I interviewed Cowboy, Scott Verplank a few weeks ago about Father’s Day. (CBS Sports)

I LOVED this on LeBron and the Spurs. (Sports Illustrated)

Tiger Woods’ swing coach is a weird cat. (GolfDigest)

On the future of ESPN, a little wonky but phenomenal read. (Awful Announcing)

Nice…

@darrenrovell While it wasn't ALL athletics, #OkState surpassed a BILLION. pic.twitter.com/cDotsqwSwG

— Adam Barnes (@adamostate) June 12, 2013

Incredible.

Got the chance to see the indoor practice facility this morning and it's really nice #okstate pic.twitter.com/c1THatucjZ

— Mary Lewis (@marylewis12) June 12, 2013

Here’s some of the cleanup effort.

Picking up tornado debris in wheat fields south of El Reno. #BeACowboy pic.twitter.com/zkgDYCYDjA

— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) June 12, 2013

Not sure I can do this…

This also looks great.

Ran a 4.32 forty today fastest time by a freshmen ever at OSU…

— Rashaad Samples (@10justscored) June 11, 2013

Of course that’s a college 40 and for all we know Gundy had the industrial-sized fans blowing behind him, but whatever.

Then Justin Gilbert retaliated — as the fastest man on campus should retaliate.

Might i add…we didnt run fortys when we came in as freshmen lol

— Justin Gilbert (@ThatBoyFast) June 11, 2013

Then David Ubben suggested this:

True story: If #okstate setup a Gilbert/Samples race and charged a dollar for tickets the first week of classes, it could sell 2500 of them.

— David Ubben (@davidubben) June 11, 2013

And here we are.

For the record, it would get a lot more than 2,500.

Also, I’ll set the line at Gilbert: 2-1 | Samples: 10-1 and let you guys do the wagering. Also, I’ll give you Clint Chelf at 3000-1 just for funsies.

The NCAA average for men’s basketball is 952, so the Big 12 as a whole is actually outperforming the rest of the country. Unfortunately, OSU is not helping the cause. As was the case in football, OSU currently has the lowest APR rating of any Big 12 school at 928.

The postseason requirement for basketball is the same as it is for football: currently, a team must have a multi-year average of 900 to compete in the postseason. Beginning with the 2014-15 season, however, teams must have a multi-year average of 930 to participate in March Madness. OSU has been below that threshold three years in a row – and we are the only Big 12 school to “achieve” a score below 930 during the last three years.

Our average rank over the last five seasons is 9^th in the Big 12, but we’ve been dead last in each of the prior three years.

[ed. note (Kyle here): I would like to point out that OSU (somehow *wink wink) received a perfect score of 1000 for the individual 2011-2012 school year (OKC Dave has listed a four year average for each year...which is what the NCAA goes by¹). The four-year total remains bad but now OSU doesn't need as high of a 2012-2013 score as it might seem to jump above 930 next year.

Also, in this Oklahoman article, Kevin Fite (compliance dude) was quoted as saying:

With the increased APR standards, we have implemented new strategies to monitor and promote the academic progress and retention of all individuals that receive athletics aid and are part of our APR cohort each year. The result has been increases in our APR scores of several sports, including men’s basketball and football.

Basically "we hired more people to do most of the academic work for our students."]

This of the IPF is absolutely spectacular. Wow! (Flickr)

Here are your three APR reads if you have no idea what’s going on: (NewsOK | Tulsa World | OKC Dave)

Really interesting look at where Vegas has OSU ranked based on early spreads. (Football Perspective)

Berry Tramel says OSU has the fifth-toughest noncon schedule. (NewsOK)

OSU has the fifth-best defense in the country…………………………………………… (Kegs N Eggs)

Juwan Offray has deleted his making it rain on Twitter tweet. (Nola)

Phil Steele has OSU as one of his 10 surprise teams for the 2013 season: two of my nine sets of power ratings have them going undefeated, and clearly an unbeaten Big 12 team would have a great shot at playing for the national title. (ESPN Insider)

Other

Man indicted in death of Boonie’s grandson. (NewsOK)

Andy Glockner with an interesting look here at what’s wrong with the APR model. (Sports Illustrated)

Texas wanted Louisville in the Big 12 (!) (NewsOK)

Good post here from Slater on how Marcus Smart will help the incoming freshmen. (NewsOK)

OSU raised $130K for relief efforts to Moore (and others). (okstate)

I had way too much fun writing this fake Sergio to Tiger apology letter. (CBS Sports)

I’m worried I can see 9-3 coming from 10 miles away…

#okstate football is No. 8 in Phil Steele preseason magazine. Cowboys were No. 6 in The Sporting News. #BeACowboy

— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) June 11, 2013

That’s a hell of a lot faster than Purdue’s offense.

Downloading #okstate Purdue football game at an awesome 41.2kps #AfghanInternetSucksAss #StoneAge

— Desert Sailor (@hefley001) June 11, 2013

Yes…

Too much preseason love for #okstate. Lost 5 games last year + new coordinators. What evidence do we have that we're a top 15-20 team now?

— Matt Amilian (@mattamilian) June 11, 2013

I’ll pay for 100 people to attend.

True story: If #okstate setup a Gilbert/Samples race and charged a dollar for tickets the first week of classes, it could sell 2500 of them.

— David Ubben (@davidubben) June 11, 2013

#okstate RT @McMurphyESPN Bottom 10 BCS football APR: UL/Tenn 924, OkSt 926, ISU 928, UNC 934, Cal 935, Texas 936, ArizSt & Md 937, Ark 938

— Samantha Vicent (@samanthavicent) June 11, 2013

Wait, wut?

So weird to see AGR house gone! Can't wait to see the new upgrade! #okstate

— Marilyn Adams (@MarilynAdams1) June 11, 2013

Great pics..

Good luck to all the former #okstate players opening NFL minicamps this week. #BeACowboy pic.twitter.com/M6GOT4ZGLX

— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) June 11, 2013

This kid is walking on at QB next year:

Awesome…

The quick answer to the “how is OSU performing?” question: not very well. We are performing well below the Big 12 average of 947 (the NCAA football average is 949). OSU’s most recent APR figure is 926, the lowest for any Big 12 team in 2012.

According to the NCAA site, a team must have a multi-year APR of 900 or a 2-year average of 930 in order to qualify for post-season play in the upcoming football season. OSU clears the multi-year hurdle of 900 by a wide margin. So no worries, right?

Wrong. Beginning next season (2014), the minimum requirements for post-season play will be a multi-year average of 930 or a 2-year average of 940. OSU and Iowa State are the only Big 12 schools below the 930 multi-year threshold. OSU has been below that threshold two years in a row, and our APR rank within the conference has deteriorated each of the last four seasons (actually, that’s not quite true – you can’t get lower than 10 out of 10).

The APR system remains controversial, but a simple fact remains: OSU is underperforming its peers in the Big 12.

Life without Joe Randle means trying to fill holes. (Tulsa World)

Ugh, I hate us being ranked this high. (Football Study Hall)

Kelly Hines debunks the making it rain photo on Twitter from Offray. (Tulsa World)

Other

I say “yes.” (Sports Illustrated)

Photos of iOS 7 — it’s weird looking but in five months I’m sure we’ll be in love with it. (The Verge)

And what the heck happened with the design of iOS7? (Medium)

OKC Dave looks at the ACC. (Football Study Hall)

This is a little old but Brian Phillips on Nadal is always a jewel. (Grantland)

I tabbed Rickie Fowler as one of the 20 guys who can win the US Open. (CBS Sports)

If they even play the US Open. (CBS Sports)

I would imagine this wasn’t a true 4.32 (see here) but still fastest freshman time ever is fastest freshman time ever..(also, 10 hasn’t scored yet, has he?)

Ran a 4.32 forty today fastest time by a freshmen ever at OSU…

— Rashaad Samples (@10justscored) June 11, 2013

ESPN talks about Mason Rudolph…and Baylor:

This is great. DeAndre!

Cool video depicting downtown OKC (via @kevindeshazo):

Ok I’m just going to give you what I know and leave the arguing and hypothesizing up to you.

Last week (seven days ago) Oklahoma State recruit Juwan Offray (a 0-star CB from Louisiana) tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/jayblessed21/status/341554176079319041

At first glance the photo actually looks a lot worse than it is. It looks like a bag full of bills sitting on his lap but I have since been made aware that the following bag actually exists in exchange for U.S. currency:

Right, I don’t get it either.

Offray tweeted around the same time that he was on his way “to the dealership” presumably to purchase a vehicle with the money. I don’t know what that means but I guess it provides a little context to the question “why the H is this guy tweeting photos of $100 bills?”

Anyway, five days after tweeting that photo Offray committed to Oklahoma State after being offered a scholarship on the spot at last weekend’s OSU football camp. Here’s what he said to the Rivals (via the Oklahoman):

“When I went up there I already had it on my mind that I was going to get offered. So I just went up there with it on my mind with an attitude that ‘Before I leave here, I’m going to have an offer.’ It’s the school I’ve wanted to go to, and I was like ‘I’m not taking this 10-hour trip for nothing. I’m going to get something out of it.”

He also tweeted this:

OSU🐮💥treated me like ah family member! Fell in love ! 1st eye contact

— Jayy7⃣ (@JayBlessed21) June 9, 2013

So there are definitely plausible explanations other than “Boone is sending him FedEx packages” but if we are dishing this stuff out, as my boy Amilian texted this morning, “don’t we feel like that money could have been used somewhere better than a 0-star CB from Louisiana?”

My response: yeah, to buy a clue for Justin Gilbert on passing downs.

Monster crowd for OSU football camp. (@osijj)

Mike Yurcich could be in for a HC job down the road. (ESPN)

Yay, Alamo Bowl! (Big 12 Sports)

Daytawion Lowe says the Wes Lunt transfer kind of shocked everyone. (NewsOK)

Yes, I would say Justin Gilbert has a lot to prove this year. (ESPN)

Interesting read on how Mason Rudolph ended up in Stillwater. (NewsOK)

It’s a one in a million chance that he landed at Oklahoma State. Hal Mumme reference here too. (Tulsa World)

Other

David Cornwell is eligible. (NewsOK)

Tony Allen is one of the 10 Big 12 players who’s enjoyed the most NBA success since 1989?! (ESPN)

Interesting Twitter list here. How does our football account have more followers than OU’s? (UT Sports)

I know @carsonc5 pointed it out, but I’d like to reiterate how crazy it is that there’s a big man named Shaquille from Edmond and OSU is letting him go to Wichita State. (NewsOK)

I know he’s not trying to troll but…I kinda feel like this will get turned into trolling. (NewsOK)

Advertising on the court next season? Advertising on the court next season. (ESPN)

A&M’s new cleats. I like. (CBS Sports)

Wait, isn’t the bigger story here that OSU doesn’t give TA the gym for free? (NewsOK)

Thought this was great.

#okstate has an #NCAA champ … Natalja Piliusina gets the 1500m title! So deserving. Couldn't be happier for @run4okstate and @N_Piliusina

— Clay Billman (@claybillman) June 8, 2013

And a heck of a photo here of the finish, via @mattamilian. (Flo Track)

Have a feeling Rickie is busy this week…

Taking Trevor, to golf camp this week at OSU. Hoping for a Rickie sighting! So excited to be in Stilly. Go Pokes! @RickieFowlerPGA #okstate

— Lynn Morrison (@LynnMorrison2) June 9, 2013

Very cool.

Justin Blackmon & teammates raised $15K for the Red Cross/Moore, Okla. #okstate #jaguars pic.twitter.com/r5MkUgOGFY

— Big D (@OSUMaverick) June 9, 2013

O RLY?

In an all-star game between Texas/Oklahoma seniors, including Stevie Clark, #OKstate commit Jeff Carroll was the star: 26 points, 5 threes.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 9, 2013

Nice…

Timberlake’s voice kind of annoys me but this looks good. (via @kevindavis31)

I can’t stop watching this.

We’re way past you guys knowing my thoughts on recruiting — all of it is well-documented on this site. I do a terrible job of covering recruiting on PFB even though there’s a way to do it correctly, just because I’m so turned off by the entire process.

I guess I don’t see a beneficial end game to being locked in to recruiting information. You could say the same about sports in general, I guess, but for me the fun part about sports is getting to talk about outcomes (and more so, moments) with your friends. What is the moment with recruiting?

Did you see the way he signed that letter of intent that binds him to a school which owes him nothing?! Reminded me of the way John Adams signed the Declaration of Independence! What gorgeous pen strokes for a guy his size!

But whatever, just because I’m not always into it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong, per se.¹ As long as you go about it the right way and aren’t bro-tweeting at 17-year-olds about why your university is the best university in the country, then to each his own.

I have, however, made a list of my favorite types of recruiting fans out there (I am not exempt from all of these either). This was brought on earlier this week when everybody went bonkers over Mason Rudolph committing to OSU over LSU and a few other schools. I laughed, searched Twitter, and started writing.

This list has probably already been made — many times, even — but I didn’t Google it because I wanted some sense of originality in mine.

Here we go…

1. The “you have to see the arm on this kid” guy — Sadly, I probably fall in this camp [googles thousands of words written about Wes Lunt, hangs head in shame]. The best arms in the history of sports are probably something like 1. Vlad Guerrero 2. Warren Moon 3. Roberto Clemente 4. Ichiro 5. Ryan Mallett and 11,921. Dude you’re talking about. I also love the “he throws like the thing was shot out of a cannon” line. If he literally threw that way we’d have a bunch of dead wide receivers on our hands. Which would obviously be bad.

2. The “wait until you see what our strength guy does with his body” guy — One of my favorite lines is “man, in three semesters with [school trainer] he’s going to gain at least 20 pounds of muscle. Gonna be a monster.” Ok…wait, why are we studying his body to begin with? What if recruits talked about our bodies…”man, three more years of blogging at home and eating chips and salsa every day, Kyle, and you’re going to gain at least 20 pounds of fat. Your kid is going to think you’re a monster!”

3. The “he’s gonna go great when paired with [other person who plays his position]“ — What is he, a bottle of wine?

4. The “he reminds me of [legend from your school]” guy — He’s 17.

5. The “I know we were recruiting 29 running backs, but this was our guy all along” guy — This is my favorite, and I’m not sure it’s even close. The brother of this guy is the guy who, when a recruit chooses a different school, says “meh, we didn’t want him anyway…he wasn’t (wait for it) ‘our guy’” This actually happened yesterday with Rudolph and LSU. I laugh every time.

6. The “I know he was a big-time recruit but he didn’t really fit our system” guy — A close cousin of “this was our guy all along” guy. This is the guy who justifies not getting Jadeveon Clowney. I know he’s 6’7 280 lbs., runs a 4.05, and may or may not have murdered a QB in high school but I just don’t see how he fits with our defensive scheme. Right.

7. (when the best of 29 RBs decommits after being committed for 10 months) The “we never wanted him anyway, he has some character issues” guy — We’ll call it the Bralon Addison effect. Wait, didn’t you just write, like, 120 Facebook posts in a 250-day stretch about how much ____________ was going to help your team?!

8. The “we’re a 2-star to 5-star factory anyway” guy — A distant cousin of ”wait until you see what our strength guy does with his body” guy. I know you think Rob Glass is going to turn that 2-star safety from Del City into the next Sean Taylor (RIP) but yeah, not happening.

9. The “your gunna totally luv [college town], bro Twitter mention” guy — This is the guy bro-tweeting everybody on your school’s Rivals watch list. This is also where we start treading into “wait a second, how deep are you into this recruiting thing?” territory.

And when was the biggest decision of a high school kid’s life ever swayed by some dude on Twitter using a selfie of him and his bros at the Tumbleweed as his Twitter photo and begging the kid to come play football at his school? And if that’s the case…I mean…do you really want that kid?!

SO many questions…

10. The recruiting service roulette guy — You know…I know [recruit you're discussing] is 5’4 188 lbs. but Rivals has historically rated undersized linebackers too low. I prefer the rankings at National Recruitnik Nation which ranks [recruit you're discussing] as a top-five guy at his position.

Nolan (@nolancox) decided to weigh in with a few jewels at this point, I’ll let him take us home..

11. The “yeah I don’t really keep up with recruiting, all I know about this year’s class is that we have seven 4-stars, 16 3-stars, three 2-stars and a couple NR’s who have signed an LOI plus four more solid verbals and a soft commit from this 3 star ATH out of Wichita Falls…plus we’re in the running for a couple other guys including this SICK receiver out of Charleston, SC who runs a 4.43 and reps 225 like 18 times..that’s all just based off of Rivals though because like I said, I don’t really have time to keep up with it since I have a lot of other stuff going on” guy

12. The “well I know he’s only a 3-star, but he plays at Sand Springs and my cousin’s friend is the waterboy at Edmond North so he’s seen him play a lot and says he’s going to be better than Joseph Randle” guy

13. The “you haven’t heard of that guy?” guy – Pretty self explanatory, yes?

14. The name dropper – Well I was roommates with the equipment manager in college so Dez Bryant basically lived at my dorm. I just don’t think any of our receivers this year will be as good as him but I guess we’ll see.

15. The non-name dropper — I can’t tell you who told me this, and you can’t tell ANYONE, but I KNOW we’re getting this guy. [sly grin, head nod]

16. The “he’s from my home town so I’m going to hype him up, talk about what a good kid he is because his parents went to the same church as me, and act like I basically raised him” guy.

What did we miss?

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Here are the lines for most of OSU’s 2013 football games (via Golden Nugget):

Mississippi State (+14) vs. Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State (-11) at West Virginia

Kansas State (+9) at Oklahoma State

TCU (+10) at Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State (-14) at Iowa State

Kansas (+29) at Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State (+6.5) at Texas

Baylor (+11) at Oklahoma State

OU (+3) at Oklahoma State

Pretty incredible that OSU only has two games it isn’t favored by nine or more (assuming it is favored by nine or more against UTSA, Lamar, and Tech — and it will be).

That Texas line…I feel like we always get to this point of the summer and Texas always gets these ridiculous lines tilting in its favor. I remember a few years ago with Weeds and Blackmon coming back Texas was favored by like eight in the middle of the summer and it was more confusing than watching Blake Bell try to throw a deep ball.

The Bedlam line is fair (I could have seen anything between -3 and -6, honestly) and it seems like most of the other ones are too. I guess Kansas State and Baylor feel a tad high — I mean, people watched the Baylor-OSU game last year, yes?

85 days, y’all.

Good stuff here from Gina on Mason Rudolph. (NewsOK)

Mason Rudolph…the golfer. (NewsOK)

Can’t believe I’m saying this but the Baylor game might be OSU’s biggest of the season. (ESPN)

Heck of a last paragraph here on Gundy/Stoops. (CBS Sports)

Rudolph says he liked the jerseys too. (Tulsa World)

Other

Mississippi State in trouble. via @_cramer_ (Saturdays Down South)

Usain Bolt got beat yesterday. (Deadspin)

The Mantai Te’o of baseball. Crazy story here. (SB Nation)

Dez is a top 35 player for 2013. (NFL)

Some honorable mention All-Americans for OSU. (GolfWeek)

Here’s a live link to Rafa-Djoker if you want to watch (install an ad blocker if you haven’t because otherwise it’s NSFW) (First Row)

Nice.

Atlanta Braves select #Okstate RHP Jason Hursh with 31st pick.

— Colby Daniels (@Colby_Daniels) June 7, 2013

Even better.

Second straight season #OKstate has had its ace pitcher go in the first round of the MLB Draft. Andrew Heaney (9th overall) last year.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 7, 2013

Unbelievable.

This is comical. Both #okstate qbs are clearly top 3. pic.twitter.com/ZOJsRcPK8R

— Matt Pottinger (@lilpotts18) June 6, 2013

This is good, some of the best OSU artwork from the year.

Yasiel Puig bat flip anyone?

Nooooooooooooo!

UPDATE: Puma has told me it’s actually called “vibrant orange” — so maybe we need a better photo?

At least we have this which I discovered today:

h/t on the clothing to Shane Bacon

Travis Haney wrote the following in this ESPN Insider article today:

I was told by one coach that the across-the-board SEC ban was related to a growing irritation by Big 12 coaches toward the SEC. (See: Bob Stoops’ comments and Charlie Weis agreeing with him.) What’s sparking that? The coach wasn’t quite sure but thought it was sort of an aggregated aggravation.

The indication is that Gundy was, more or less, acting on behalf of the entire conference. But keeping Lunt from the entire Pac-12? That didn’t make sense to the coach I was speaking with.

In case you’ve been living in a cave since the title game (justifiable, I admit), here’s what Stoops said about the SEC in May:

So you’re listening to a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you. You can look at the top two, three, four, five, six teams, and you can look at the bottom six, seven, eight, whatever they are. How well are they all doing?

And when you look at the entire offseason, Gundy blocking Lunt from SEC schools kind of makes sense — we saw Charlie Weis stand up for Stoops (as Haney mentioned) then Stoops stand up for Gundy today re: Lunt.

Millionaires unite!

I can see Gundy as a sort of middling mouthpiece for Stoops and Mack Brown vs. SEC country. He strikes me as the kind of guy who enjoys the praise of his elite colleagues — though I admit blocking Wes Lunt from attending, say, Ole Miss is kind of a strange way to show it.

And like Haney wrote, it still doesn’t explain the Pac-12/Southern Miss thing.

To be continued…

All three are also considered pro-style QBs. Here’s a look at where all three rank at the big three recruiting sites in the pro-style QB category:

ESPN

Allen – 5
Cornwell -1
Rudolph – 8

247

Allen – 1
Cornwell – 3
Rudolph – 17

Rivals

Allen – 4
Cornwell – 1
Rudolph – 22

Pretty interesting, right? ESPN has all three bunched really close together while 247 and Rivals have some separation from Rudolph and the others.

I honestly don’t care which one of these guys OSU got as long as they just got one of them to fill in the Wes Lunt slot for 2014. As it turns out, Rudolph was the guy and that’s just fine with me.

One OSU guy on Phil Steele’s All-American offense/defense teams and it’s……Tracy Moore?! (Phil Steele)

Shockingly Bob Stoops supports rules that favor coaches. (ESPN)

Haha, we didn’t want him anyway. This never fails. (NOLA)

OSU was better than its record indicated last year. (ESPN)

And here’s the full article if you have ESPN Insider. It says OSU had a fringe top-20 D last season. Y’all won’t like to hear that, I’m sure. (ESPN Insider)

I love how good this makes us look. (CBS Sports)

Robert Allen on Mason Rudolph: he certainly made an impression as he has the kind of looks and presence that says when he walks in the room that he’s a quarterback. I giggled. (Scout)

Good job by Brendon Morris here breaking down which recruits could come up big in the future. (Rivals)

David Cornwell has taken five trips to Bama?? (ESPN)

Other

Baseball draft starts today, some local players to watch. (Tulsa World)

Yikes, this doesn’t bode well for that non-con matchup. (Yahoo)

Wife and I share an anniversary with Joe Pos and his wife. He’s a much better writer than I am. (Joe Pos)

Pretty cool golf accessory. (Club Crown)

Yikes! (WSJ)

A little high, yes? Ahead of A&M??

Sporting News has #okstate ranked #6 in their 2013 CFB preseason poll and @Cchelf10 on the cover. pic.twitter.com/rxXCnRCWtB

— Big D (@OSUMaverick) June 6, 2013

Oh…

To all those OU fans out there! #OKState #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/br0mu8rBAO

— Trevor Kemp (@Tkemp2668) June 5, 2013

I thought this was pretty cool…

88 Days until @CowboyFB opens the season. Ton of excitement around the program right now. #BeACowboy pic.twitter.com/gTKtfkDapP

— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) June 4, 2013

Pretty good.

This is insanely good.

My heart rate rarely ever increases much during recruiting season but I must admit I do get a bit excited about trying to figure out what the future looks like at QB in Stillwater.

On Wednesday that future took a bit of a turn as OSU nabbed Mason Rudolph¹ who is a top 50 QB out of South Carolina. He threw for 4,100 and 41 TDs last year so he should fit in nicely to the O.

Here’s what he tweeted out:

Officially committed to Oklahoma State university!!!!🏈🏈🏈🏈 pic.twitter.com/PTHq9HprjC

— Mason Rudolph (@Rudolph2Mason) June 5, 2013

Rudolph chose OSU over Va. Tech, Ole Miss, LSU, and Louisville (screw you, Louisville). He also said that he will enter school in December.

Here’s a look at where various recruiting sites had him ranked among pro-style QBs:

ESPN – 8
247 – 22
Rivals – 17

It’s intriguing that Rudolph is a 6’4, 190 lb. drop-back passer as many posited after Wes Lunt skipped town that Mike Yurcich was going to run it all the time with his QBs.² He can run it a little as you can see in the video above but he’s certainly no J.W. Walsh.

The other intriguing thing is what OSU does about David Cornwell now. Cornwell is a top-five pro-style QB (ESPN has him at No. 1) out of Norman who OSU was also pursuing. My guess is that Cornwell goes elsewhere now — everybody watched how the three-headed QB thing worked out under Gundy this spring. Plus he has offers from Bama, ND, Tennessee, and Auburn. And again…Bama.

Back to Rudolph though. He’s a a nice consolation prize for Gundy after losing out on the Kyle Allen sweepstakes (Allen was the No. 1 pro-style QB on Rivals) to (apparently) the greatest recruiter in the history of college football, Kevin Sumlin earlier this week.

Again, the dude’s 18. He’s not even a senior in high school yet. It’s great that he’s committed to OSU and all but come talk to me in three years when he’s throwing dimes against Iowa State in a game that means something.

Also, this was funny:

That new QB recruit looks like @Cchelf10 coincidence? I think not…

— Evan Epstein (@EvanEpstein60) June 5, 2013

Berry Tramel on Tyler Patmon. (NewsOK)

OSU non-conference game times and TV schedules. (PFB)

The Alamo Bowl just keeps moving up in prestige. (ESPN)

I thought this was kind of funny. (NewsOK)

$80,000 on trim?! (Tulsa World)

Other

I did a podcast with Peter Uihlein’s old caddie yesterday. (iTunes)

Great read from Andy Staples on the lunacy of national letters of intent. (Sports Illustrated)

Lol, this should be fun. (CBS Sports)

Is this big news? (NFL)

The 101 best-written TV shows ever. Mad Men at No. 7, Breaking Bad at No. 13. via @thebiglead (Writers Guild)

He kind of needs some good press…

Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon partnering w/ Red Cross for a Bowl-A-Thon w/ teammates Thursday to benefit relief efforts in Moore, Okla.

— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) June 4, 2013

Hmm..

#OKState RT @RavensInsider: Texans are working out former Ravens tight end Billy Bajema today, according to a league source.

— MikeSherman (@MikeSherman) June 4, 2013

This is so embarrassing — if you’re over the age of six you should not be doing this.

@Rudolph2Mason hope you choose #okstate tomorrow man! Start as a freshman sound good to you!? Then choose #okstate. #BeACowboy #GoPokes!

— Trevor Ouellette (@TrevorOuellette) June 4, 2013

?!

#CNN just had a pic up with #GordonGee and an #okstate flag, giving the impression they were together. #wrongOSU

— Johnathon Frost (@Frostypoke) June 4, 2013

The music on this video is the worst thing I’ve ever heard but the video is amazing.

This is incredible:

I posted Phil Steele’s preseason All-Big 12 teams in the Bullets this morning but figured we should discuss more here.

OK so it’s June and these things are…whatever…but we kind of have a lot to talk about with this one. First of all, maybe I don’t get the Phil Steele thing. People seem to love him — and granted, I’ve never met him — but his stuff seems kind of wacky…and his site looks like it was made in MS paint and sent back in time to a grad student in 1997 to be posted on the Internet.

So let’s get to that All-Big 12 first team QB, shall we?

Bryce Petty, he of the 14 career pass attempts is on the first team. I actually don’t have that much of a problem with it. Baylor’s offense is the real deal and Petty should put up, at the very least, similar numbers to Nick Florence from last year (4,300 yards and 33 TDs).

My bigger issue is with the Pachall-Ash-Bell second through fourth team combo. Here’s a look at Clint Chelf’s projected numbers if he performs at the same pace over a 13-game season as he did in his five starts at the end of last season:

Chelf – 61% completions | 3,400 yards | 34 TDs | 10 INT

And here are Ash and Pachall’s numbers from their two most recent seasons:

Ash – 67% | 2,700 yards | 19 TDs | 8 INT
Pachall – 67% | 2,900 yards | 25 TDs | 7 INT

As for Bell, are we totally sure he can throw the ball over 15 yards downfield yet?

I guess my point is do you trust Chelf in OSU’s offense more than you trust Ash in Texas’ or Bell in OU’s? Maybe…but I wouldn’t bet anything of value on it.

Also I think Tracy Moore is one team too high — has he ever done anything that made you say “yup, first team All-Big 12 guy right there”? And Jeremy Smith is one team too low. *IF* he stays healthy, there’s no way seven guys have better statistical years than Smith — it’s just not going to happen.

I guess I get Justin Gilbert being second team based on talent alone but, man, it’d be tough for me to put him that high after he singlehandedly tried to make me nickname him “Floodgates Gilbert” with his performance last year.

All in all these mid-June teams are ridiculous things we all write to try and make the time pass until football season but still pretty fun to talk about.

Photo Attribution: USATSI

You guys basically already knew this but the Big 12 officially released its TV schedule for non-conference football games today. Here’s a look at OSU’s three games:

August 31 — Mississippi State in Houston on ABC/ESPN2 at 2:30 PM
September 7 — at UTSA on Fox Sports 1 at 11 AM
September 14 — vs. Lamar at 6:30 PM (television TBA)

As @carsonc5 pointed out on Twitter, that Mississippi State game is quite a 180 from the Savannah State bloodbath we had for an opener last year. The 2:30 ABC/ESPN2¹ slot is big boy stuff.

I’m also interested to see what the Fox Sports 1 production looks like — will Andy Roddick be bringing commentary to my living room? Also, why are we traveling to San Antonio to play UTSA again? Gundy buy a stake in the Riverwalk this offseason?

Each Big 12 school gets to retain the rights to one game a year and air it on their own network (Longhorn Network, online, etc.) and OSU has done that with the Lamar game. It will probably be pay-per-view (bah) (this is what OU is doing with its game against Louisiana-Monroe) or only on okstate.com (would be awesome) or something like that.

Here’s a look at the full Big 12 non-con schedule.

This is really interesting — a corner who could start right away for OSU. (ESPN)

Phil Steele’s All-Big 12 preview. You will laugh. (Phil Steele)

Ubben has some commentary on it too. (ESPN)

Kyle Allen commits to Texas A&M. Yawn. (ESPN)

We might be relying on this kid from Norman to back up Walsh in 2014. (NewsOK)

Other

This is pretty fascinating, though I’m not sure “revenue generated” is the best determinant of fandom… (Emory)

They did Oklahoma State right. (NewsOK)

Why is this a thing? (Yahoo)

NewsOK got a makeover (kind of). (NewsOK)

Cool opportunity for Markel here. (okstate)

Some more notes from Berry on Boone, pretty good stuff. (NewsOK)

Omg:

They're baaaack RT @LandThieves: Oh My Holy God RT @eightlaces Seal of Approval® Status: YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! pic.twitter.com/x1laetPqmV

— Carson Cunningham (@CarsonC5) June 4, 2013

Crazy…

#okstate summer football workouts started today. Season will be here before you know it.

— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) June 3, 2013

Insanity.

Most people forget that Corey Williams was drafted by the NFL (Chiefs) AND the NBA (Bulls) in '92. #CowboyTalent #OkState

— Adam Barnes (@adamostate) June 3, 2013

Get a not tipsy person on the camera next time, Cal?

#okstate RT @UKCoachCalipari: With Eddie Sutton at the Iba Awards http://t.co/0wwYbymCJL

— Kevin DeShazo (@KevinDeShazo) June 3, 2013

Because Texas A&M needs another QB…

Kansas State helps Moore — very cool.

This looks cool:

Interesting that Boone is tighter with Travis Ford than he is Gundy. (NewsOK)

I roll with Berry on this playoff nonsense. (NewsOK)

$200 million for the Big 12. Yay! (Big 12 Sports)

I wonder how many recruits even know who Wes Lunt is… (ESPN)

Gina evaluates where Lunt might go but offers no prediction. (NewsOK)

Baseball

Cowboy baseball run is over, phenomenal season though. (okstate)

OSU was the only Big 12 team to not advance to the Super Regional. (Big 12 Sports)

Other

Corey Williams gets head coaching job at Stetson. (CBS Sports)

The Big 12 might not be down in hoops next year. (Yahoo)

This is just a joke. (Big Lead)

One of my buddies started this cool photo sharing company. You should download it. (Tech Crunch)

I thoroughly enjoyed Pete Campbell smoking on Mad Men last night. (Gifulmination)

Don, too. (Gifulmination)

This is nuts.

Louisville's combined record this season in basketball (men/women), football, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer (men/women) – 226-55-5.

— Jody Demling (@jdemling) June 3, 2013

Can I get some context?

San Antonio camp. Some merely participated, I was committed. Houston tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/vZITrWHdRI

— Glenn Spencer (@Glenn_Spencer) June 1, 2013

I laughed.

@matt_fletch I didn't know Les Miles was umpiring the #okstate baseball game today. pic.twitter.com/qSv02hnlzX

— Melissa Jarrett (@DuhJarretts) June 1, 2013

In case you missed this, pretty big news here.

There you go. RT @RAllenGoPokes: ESPN3 just promoted the #okstate and Miss State game and listed a 2:30 (ct) kickoff on ABC.

— Kyle Porter (@pistolsguy) May 31, 2013

Deuce.

This is pretty great. He is all in.

Really been enjoying the mailbag questions lately — you guys keep ‘em coming and I’ll keep trying to post it every Friday.

Kyle, I am heading up to Columbus tomorrow morning for The Memorial. Never been to a golf event of any kind. What I should do to make the most of the experience? -Cole

Rule No. 1 is don’t follow Tiger. Following Tiger is the worst experience you can have on a golf course. The crowds are monstrous, the mood is too intense, and the marshals are more uptight than Kendrick Perkins at a dribbling exhibition.

My routine — post up your chair on a hole on the back nine and go find Bo Van Pelt or Charles Howell and just watch them until you feel like sitting down. Nobody really follows those guys but it’s just as good of an aesthetic experience when you’re there (maybe better if you’re an OSU fan) as watching Tiger or Rory or whoever.

It’s so difficult to tell where the ball is going and where it lands in person that it’s not even worth it to follow one of the big dogs, you’re better off chasing the little guys and enjoying how good they are at professional golf.

What do you think Jeremy Smith will do stat wise this year -@jamiedonwheat

You have to go all the way back to 2007 to find an OSU running Back (Dantrell Savage) who didn’t have more than 1,000 yards in a year. Here are the last six years of OSU’s leading rusher total:

2012 – 1,417
2011 – 1,216
2010 – 1,548
2009 – 1,218
2008 – 1,555
2007 – 1,272

So it’s pretty hard to see Smith not getting something like 1,300 and 15 TD if (and that’s a big if with Smith) he stays healthy.

Who wins in a bar fight. Monken or Holgs? -@kade_g34

I think we’ve talked about this before but it has to be Holgorsen.

I can see Monken talking all kinds of trash after a few Bud heavies and he might be able to roll up that bro dude in his first post-college fight or that accountant nerd out for his bachelor party who had too many Hurricanes

Holgs, on the other hand, is crazy.

Holgorsen is the dude who just sits there and sips straight whiskey all night and doesn’t really say anything — maybe shoots some pool¹ — then you turn around all of a sudden and he’s pulling a blade out of his sock after somebody walks off with the girl he had his eye on and you have to form tackle him to keep him from committing a felony.

Holgy is in the Tyson Zone as is right now — there isn’t a story you could tell me about him I wouldn’t believe. Really, nothing.

You have made some references from time to time, but what sports / practice squads were you apart of at OSU? -@wirevibebrian

I was a walk-on for the baseball team (when Frank was there) for one semester before getting cut. The way that works is they take like 40-45 guys in the fall then cut that down to 35 in the spring. I pitched and I was easily the worst one out there thus the chopping block.

So when people online are like “doooood, you have no idea what these college athletes are like, your a fat blogger in your parentz basement!” — I mean, I understand the stereotype, I think it’s an easy one to make. But I actually do appreciate and understand how ridiculous college athletes are because I lived the fact that I wasn’t good enough to be one of them. What I don’t fully appreciate or understand is how absurd pros are.

After that experience I spent two years on the girls basketball scout team. Basically we would go run OU’s offense or Kansas’ defense against our girls team twice a week which was cool because we got to practice in GIA and got free shoes and gear and stuff.

My best girls practice team story² (and I think I’ve told this before) is this:

We were playing as OU’s defense one day and Coach Budke came up to us and said “look, these girls are phenomenal, I want you guys to go as hard as you can. Nolan (my buddy and part-time contributor to the blog), you’re going to be Courtney Paris — she might be the best rebounder in the history of women’s college basketball so I want you to get after it.”

First possession down one of the guards goes up for a layup and Nolan comes from the weak side — I swear to you this is true — and pins the ball against the square on the backboard.

So Budke blows the whistle, stops practice, gets all the guys together and says “yeah….uh….Courtney Paris can’t do that.”

Coach Budke was the best.

Who in our generation is the closest comparable actor to Robert Redford? -@thegools

There was a great profile of Redford in Esquire last month — for some reason I forgot (or didn’t know) he started the Sundance Film Festival.

He had a great line in there talking about how he loved doing small films — movies he could control and put his imprint on. This is what he said about his relationship with Warner Brothers and wanting to make one of his smaller movies called The Candidate:

They’d say, “If you do this larger film, we’ll let you make [The Candidate].”

He served the masses because it gave him the freedom (financially and otherwise) to honor his craft.

As for somebody who’s like that now…probably has to be Leo, doesn’t it? It feels like he’s the guy who sinks into his work the way Redford used to (does). He makes the big-boy movies (Inception, Titanic, Departed, etc.) but some of his greatest film is from Revolutionary Road (watch it tonight if you haven’t) and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape – neither of which was a big-boy movie.

He’s probably not as indie as Redford was but remember Redford didn’t create Sundance until he was 42 (Leo is 38) so I’ll give that some time.

Better shot at winning conference title, football or basketball -@jamesonreyonlds

It has to be basketball, doesn’t it? I mean I get the Travis Ford effect and all that but football is too unpredictable — there are seven teams it seems like that could win the conference in football.

I don’t think Tech, Iowa State, or Kansas is winning it but you could talk me into any of the other seven.

In hoops it’s just OSU and Wiggins Kansas, right? So while the smart money in hoops might be on KU, the smarter OSU money will be on hoops.

Favorite TV show right now? I’m stuck on Game of Thrones. -@cooper4391

I haven’t gotten into GoT yet but I hear good things. The only two I’m watching currently are Mad Men and Breaking Bad. BB is probably more thrilling and intense but I love Mad Men. I usually judge a TV show based on how much it makes me think after having watched it and I catch myself thinking about Mad Men off and on throughout the week.

I want to read and listen to every critical written and said about it. It’s all-time — the replacement for my Friday Night Lights void.

If you had to pick a sleeper upset in our #pokes season who’d you pick to shatter our dreams and why? -@revchrismclain

Has to be Baylor, right?³

Mississippi State isn’t really a sleeper and if we lose to UTSA or Lamar then, my gosh, I don’t know what’s going to happen. They might have to shut down the comments section at NewsOK.com.

Baylor’s going to be good again (much to my chagrin) and I could see us sitting at something like 8-2 heading to the Baylor-OU finale with the conference on the line and laying another egg while Bryce Petty drops 730 and five en route to a All-Big 12 first team nomination.

Maybe I just have Baylor issues though.

Chandler, Joey or Ross? -@scottdeanty

Monica.

Who is your all-time favorite non-OkState male and female athlete? Why? -@mttruelove

Love this question and I’ll go ahead and assume you mean college athletes.

The two male names that first popped in my head were KD and Steph Curry. I really felt like Durant was like one of those child prodigies at Texas who you knew was going to be famous one day. Watching him play was like watching this thing nobody else had discovered (NBA people etc.) and you wanted to just keep it a secret for the rest of time because you wanted it to keep being your thing. The Oden/Durant question from that draft was a joke to me because of how uniquely grand he was.

His games were must-see TV for me that one year — I didn’t miss any of it. The first half he dropped in Allen Fieldhouse is probably the greatest 20 minutes of basketball I’ve ever witnessed. Bill Self was just giggling on the sideline — like he didn’t even care his team was getting smoked, he was just glad he was there in person for the show.

One of my favorite Curry memories is driving back to Stillwater from Houston after spring break in 2008 and listening to John Thompson call the Davidson-Georgetown game when Curry just could not miss. The radio was cutting in and out depending on where I was so all I heard were these intermittent screams of bliss when Curry would rock another 26-footer. Should be noted that Thompson’s son was coaching for Georgetown and he still couldn’t hold back his glee.

True Steph Curry story (you can ask @mattquade12) that I can’t believe I’m about to tell you because my wife will end my life when she finds out this is on the Internet, but whatever.

Jen (my wife now) and I had been dating for a little while then broke up late in the summer of 2008 for a few months. Quade and I went to watch Davidson play OU in Norman that November and Curry had 44 while getting double-teamed the entire game. OU was playing a triangle and two and Curry was launching 30-footers like “meh, I’m good, gonna beat OU by myself tonight⁴.”

I was so inspired by the performance (again, true story) that I got back together with Jen that night and we were engaged 13 months later.

Oh, and favorite female athlete is…uh…does Missy Franklin count?

What’s the best way to play golf during work hours? -@titleisteights

It has to be this, no?

Fantasy big 12 basketball team for this upcoming season. Starting five and 1st guy off bench and head coach. #PFmailbag -@sethkrug1

PG: Marcus Smart — duh.
SG: Markel Brown — [turns on Kansas film from last year, smiles].
SF: Andrew Wiggins — though you could probably play him anywhere.
PF: Melvin Ejim — led the conference in rebounding and on a squad full of scorers, that matters.
C: Cory Jefferson — What he did to Smart in GIA last year should have a kids filter for online viewing.

Bench: Brady Heslip — I can’t believe I’m doing this but I want somebody off my bench who can light it up from three and Heslip is the returning guy who had the best percentage and most threes made from last year. Three goggles for everybody!

Coach: Self

Enjoy your weekend.

Football

Leve getting those ATHs. (247 Sports)

Jake Trotter says OU’s toughest game this year is going to be in Stillwater. As we discussed on the radio yesterday, I agree. (ESPN)

I agree that each conference should play the same number of league games. (NewsOK)

Big 12 gets additional ref for games [files away for jokes in the fall]. (ESPN)

This guy says basically what we’ve all been saying about Wes Lunt. (Courier-Journal)

Baseball

The Louisville regional is going to be really good. (AP)

Wait, Randy McCurry was throwing 100 three years ago?!?!? (Tulsa World)

Josh Holliday is awesome, part CLIV. (NewsOK)

I’m proud for the program and for all the people that care about it. (Big 12 Sports)

Other

Any of my readers do Crossfit? (BuzzFeed)

Should Eddie Sutton return to Lexington? (Tulsa World)

Calipari has some nice things to say about Eddie. (Yahoo)

No words can do this justice. (CBS Sports)

This is pretty wild: social media >. via @kevindeshazo (Media Bistro)

The many swings of Tiger Woods. (CBS Sports)

This is SO good: how to write a real book. (Medium)

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with DeLoss. (CBS Sports)

Really? Because trying to figure out semicolons makes me want to crawl in a hole and cry…

#OKState style guide tip of the day: The exclamation point is the most misused punctuation we see in #OKState publications.

— Brand OSU (@BrandOSU) May 30, 2013

NIce.

Two Big 12 athletes are at spring meetings today to sit in and learn. #okstate FB player @Ybatoba and K-State golfer David Klaudt.

— David Ubben (@davidubben) May 30, 2013

First Cowgirl locking down on D.

Are you kidding me? 3 1/2 hours of #okstate @OSUMBB minicamp and Oliver still wants more! He is hooked! pic.twitter.com/v326KjEf6K

— Ann Hargis (@OSUFirstCowgirl) May 31, 2013

This is excellent:

Not sure if I can watch this but it looks great.

This year — for the 66th time in 67 years — they made the NCAA championships and were one of the 30 teams to make the initial three-round part. But they couldn’t secure one of the final eight match play spots². The final eight teams will play match play over the weekend but the Pokes will be headed home.

The way the NCAAs work is that five guys from each team compete for the first three rounds and you take the four best scores from each day. So 12 rounds total. And it looks like OSU will miss the finals by just five shots.

One reason is because sophomore Patrick Winther was as effective as both you and I were. Literally. He didn’t even factor into the tournament with a 78-75-82 effort.

Totals below:

Ian Davis: -5
Talor Gooch: +1
Jordan Niebrugge: +3
Kevin Dougherty: +9
Patrick Winther: +25

I guess this is better than murdering the first three rounds like they did in 2010 (14 under) then getting beat in the match play finals by a team that barely squeaked in (Augusta State was 1 under that year and beat OSU in the match play finals).

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Yep, it’s the offseason.

My friends¹ and I are always texting about the most commonly butchered names in OSU sports (and sports in general for that matter). These are names that your average message board poster is going to execute about as well as Tony Allen on a breakaway layup with Lance Stephenson closing in on him.

There are certainly some I missed here which is why I want to hear from you in the comments section.

But here’s my admittedly incomplete list…

Name: Zac Robinson
Variations: Zach, Zack

This one blows my mind. It’s not like he was a third-string guy who barely saw the field. He was probably the second best quarterback in school history!

Name: Morgan Hoffmann
Variations: Hoffman

This one is tough — I blew it for probably two years before I learned my lesson.

Name: Christien Sager
Variations: Christian

His parents probably wanted a unique twist on his name — little did they know Oklahoma State fans would be pasting the letters of that name all over the Internet in phrases like “Christian > Le’Bryan” and Googling things like “why is Christian Sager better at rebounding than all the other Oklahoma State basketball players?”

Name: Terrel Harris
Variations: Terrell

I think his name was spelled more often with two “Ls” than with one.

Name: Herschel Sims
Variations: Simms

It’s like somebody stole the other “M”²

Name: Daxx Garman
Variations: Dax

Give this one time to marinate.

Name: Shaun Lewis
Variations: Shawn, Sean

This is just sheer laziness.

Name: Jhajuan Seales
Variations: too many to list

An Orange Power moderator’s nightmare.

Name: Victor Irokansi
Variations: all of them

Like Jhajuan but potentially harder

Name: Daytawion Lowe
Variations: Daytawn, Datawion

Some just call him “the dude who loves horses.”

Name: Rickie Fowler
Variations: Ricky

OK, some of these I understand but when Dean Blevins is Tweeting about Ricky Fowler for the 293rd time in the last two years, I mean, the dude’s name is everywhere. It’s not like he’s the No. 4 WR on an 8-4 OSU football team.

Name: Mario Boggan
Variations: Boggans

One of the classics.

Name: Keiton Page
Variations: Keaton

Keaton Paige would actually be a good alias for the Pawnee Pistol when he goes back home to avoid getting mobbed by overzealous Pawnee fans.

Good stuff here from Brendon Morris on how Mike Yurcich has made a two-QB system work before. (Rivals)

What should the Big 12 bowl rotation look like? (NewsOK) How about this? (Yahoo)

I mean, this makes sense, doesn’t it? (ESPN)

Interesting: Ubben ranks Tyler Johnson on his top pass rushers list. (ESPN)

Baseball

Holliday on Donnie Walton: He’s earned all his stripes on his own. He’s very well received by his teammates, a very popular kid and amazingly likable. And he’s been one of our more consistent, clutch players all year long. He’s been fantastic. Also, does he have a fat dip in or is that just me? (NewsOK)

Holliday says OSU is already over the Big 12 Tournament. (NewsOK)

OSU’s 39 NCAA regional appearances are fourth all time. Cool stat. (Big 12 Sports)

Other

Josh Fields doing work for Moore. (Tulsa World)

Wrestling isn’t gone from the 2020 Olympics just yet. (okstate)

Great details from TFord here on what he expects for next season. (Tulsa World)

Don’t really get this but whatevz! We win! (CBS Sports)

Awful day at the NCAAs for OSU golf. (okstate)

This girl is going to Oklahoma State. (NBC)

Really enjoyed this: coffee vs. beer, which one makes you more creative. (Medium)

OSU does a lot of great things with video, this is not one of them.

Whew, this is better. Josh Holliday previews the regional.

Awesome.

How funny is the guy on the roof?

Kyle Allen narrows top five school choices and OSU makes the cut. He’s the No. 1 QB prospect in the country. (NewsOK)

Good story here on in-state recruiting. (ESPN Insider)

Baseball

Good story on Donnie Walton here. (Channel 8)

Good point here: The U and OSU have two of the best baseball traditions around. (NewsOK)

Jason Hursh as the No. 47 prospect in the country. via @j_gordon4 (Baseball America)

Other

Bob Stoops, ballin. (CBS Sports)

Good first day for OSU golf in Atlanta. (okstate)

Everybody knows Michael Jordan is about his business, so that make you want to be about yours. (ESPN)

Good stuff on the OSU golf team and Moore. via @ryancameron24 (GolfWeek)

Creative people say “no.” This is really good. (Medium)

New Baylor unis. I think I like them. (CBS Sports)

Maybe it’s fake but this golf trick video is cool as ish. (CBS Sports)

Nice.

Tyler Lyons gets win no. 2 in 2nd career MLB start! #STLCards #okstate

— Chris Halley (@CRH1188) May 29, 2013

I’m in.

#okstate vs. L'ville/ILL 2014-15 bowl game, please. RT @schadjoe: Sounds extremely likely Wes Lunt chooses L'ville or Illinois within a week

— Carson Cunningham (@CarsonC5) May 28, 2013

Awesome (via @benallenkosu)

This show of support for Oklahoma from @starbucks in today's @theoklahoman. Pretty cool. pic.twitter.com/xG9ZRRF6iT

— Jim Stafford (@James_Stafford) May 29, 2013

Not sure if y’all saw this…

#okstate is now 33-1 to win the football national title this year. OU is 50-1.

— Kyle Porter (@pistolsguy) May 28, 2013

Too much drugz…

Not sure what it means, but I had a dream that Ed Hochuli was playing basketball for Kelvin Sampson at OU

— Matt Quade (@mattquade12) May 29, 2013

Oh..

Pretty sick.

Photo Attribution: USATSI

It’s an interesting question, isn’t it?

I got to thinking today about how many skill position players are returning for OSU this year. Basically they lost Joe Randle and the-corpse-of-Isaiah-Anderson-outside-of-the-Tech-game. And that’s it.

But surely there are also a lot of other Big 12 teams returning most of their scorers too (there are).

Let’s take a look at this table which shows how many rushing and receiving TDs were scored by each team in 2012 (sorry, kickers). Then what percentage of those TDs are returning (basically, which players are coming back). And finally, how many points per game each school returns.

(you can click the top of each column to sort).

	2012 TDs	Returning TDs	Returning PPG
Kansas	26	96%	12.5
Texas	58	76%	22
Oklahoma State	69	74%	25.5
Oklahoma	60	72%	21.5
Iowa State	38	66%	12.5
Baylor	72	55%	20
Tech	59	51%	15
K-State	58	50%	14.5
TCU	39	46%	9
WVU	65	14%	4.5

Some observations…

As a whole the Big 12 returns 58% of its skill position TDs next year. Or it loses 42%. So that’s a good baseline for you.

Kansas’ numbers are kind of deceiving. Jayhawk fans might look at this and say “yes, we return 96% of our points!” Other fans say “LOLZ, KU only returns 150 points, wait, KU only scored 156 points last year.”¹

Two caveats I feel the need to mention because I know all of you will if I don’t. First, this doesn’t integrate at all with defensive effectiveness. It also doesn’t take into account new starters who might be more effective than the guy they’re replacing. It’s not supposed to. It’s just supposed to be an interesting look at who has what coming back.

TCU loses its two top scorers. That defense is going to need to be all-time for them to win the league.

OU only loses one of its 29 rushing TDs. Kansas loses 0 of its 19 but Kansas can’t pass².

Poor West Virginia. They lose 42 of their 44 receiving TDs. But the Rams are going to be great, guys!

I noted here all 127 players who scored last year and whether or not they were coming back. I used spring 2013 rosters so I admit some might be transferring outside of my knowledge. Nobody that would affect the list that much though.

Mike Gundy tweeted on Tuesday afternoon that the synthetic turf at the IPF was complete, you can see a photo below.

You can also keep tabs on the progress (not sure what else there is to see, though) by going here — it’s a video camera that updates every 15 minutes.

The completion of the IPF is, in my opinion, one of the bigger steps OSU can take to having the most impressively well-rounded college sports facilities in the country.¹ I’m pretty pumped to see what the outdoor version looks like as well.

I’m equally excited to get our first video clip of Gundy trying to walk out the far end of this monstrosity and walking right into a newly-cleaned glass pane instead of through the door because you know that’s coming.

Also, can we please not hang any Heart of Dallas banners in here?

Photo Attribution: USATSI

A few shots of Jeannine Edwards and Glenn Spencer from the Preakness the weekend before last. I sort of just stumbled upon these or I would have posted earlier.

Nice tie, coach.

Oh, and the two seem very happy together which is great. OSU defensive coordinators have enough stress as it is without piling on a bad relationship.

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Really cool look at the last few years of the Big 12 with OKC Dave. (Football Study Hall)

Scary that it’s not too early to start looking at who will challenge OSU for the Big 12 crown. (NewsOK)

Why isn’t Boise on the list of teams Lunt can’t transfer to? Maybe because we don’t play them until 2018? (ESPN)

Iowa?! (Scout)

The Big 12 QB experience chart is so weird. (ESPN)

Baseball

GREAT article on Jordy Mercer. (NewsOK)

How about no OSU players on the All-Big 12 tournament team. (NewsOK)

Pokes headed to Louisville for baseball regional. (NewsOK)

Only three Big 12 teams in the field. (Big 12 Sports)

Here’s the full bracket. (NCAA)

Other

I’m not a big Rickie guy but this is a good article on him. (Tulsa World)

NCAA golf tournament starts today. (okstate)

Weeden outdriving Fowler. Fowler: he has 80 pounds on me. (NewsOK)

A reminder that just because you think someone isn’t good at their job doesn’t mean they aren’t a good person. (NewsOK)

Great headline here. (CBS Sports)

Berry Tramel on CNN. (CNN)

Goot Moore relief shirt here from my boy, Matt Amilian. (True North)

Yup.

OSU hasn’t win a title since 1959, yet still have the fourth most NCAA appearances, with 39 overall. #okstate

— Corbyn Wheeler (@cwheel2011) May 27, 2013

O RLY?

Former OSU QB Wes Lunt will visit Louisville Tuesday. Don’t be surprised if ND reconnects w Lunt after Golson’s departure.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) May 26, 2013

Heh.

MSU HC Dan Mullen re: #okstate gm, “we’ll have a lot of inexperienced CBs on plane to Houston, but they’ll be very exper. on the way bk!”

— Big D (@OSUMaverick) May 26, 2013

Nice:

#okstate and Louisville are only 2 schools in the country to win a bowl game, and play in the NCAAs in men’s, women’s basketball, baseball.

— Kevin Klintworth (@KKlintworth) May 27, 2013

Missed this yesterday but @osumaverick tweeted it (good video to post around Memorial Day):

Josh Holliday is great, hilarious (It didn’t belong to me but I belonged to it.):

This looks excellent:

Why is barbecue sauce so good even though its not orange? -@jagrayum

I’m actually glad it’s not orange. Between tangelos, cheese, carrots, and Gatorade, I already have enough orange in my dietary rotation. In fact, I sometimes feel weird eating orange food because everything the color reminds me of Cheetos.

So even though I might be housing a super-healthy carrot-tangelo smoothie (this sounds horrendous) it still feels like I’m packing Cheetos into my love handles. Cheetos are the worst.

But back to BBQ sauce. You know how some people are really haughty about their meat consumption? Well I never put any kind of sauce or spice on my meat because my meat comes from grass-fed cow-beasts off the coast of Kenya and it has all the flavor I need already cooked in! I only pay $68 a pound at Whole Foods!

Yeah, those people are idiots.

I put barbecue sauce on everything. Those BBQ pizzas at CiCi’s that everybody used to avoid like the plague? Loved them. Chicken on the grill? Drowning in it. Steak? Pass me a liter of the stuff. I would drink barbecue sauce if it wasn’t culturally unacceptable to do so.

The hue is perfect too — I get a little squeamish when my food starts getting too colorful. A deep red with some pepper and other spices mixed in is close enough to being dull that it doesn’t remind me of anything else (Cheetos!) and the taste is magnificent¹.

So to answer your question (because I haven’t yet), I have no idea why barbecue sauce is so good (though I think it has to do with the amount of sugar companies put in it) — with stuff like that it’s sometimes better to not know.

And thank God it’s not orange.

OSU starting 5 for basketball made up of non basketball players? -@klucas45

Phenomenal question.

Off the top of my head here are my starting five (it’s going to be difficult to not go all-football):

PG – Jarrett Higgins — His favorite athletes are Kobe, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Young. And he’s fast as hell.
SG - Justin Gilbert — I’ve heard stories of him doing things at the Colvin that would make Kirby Gardner raise an eyebrow.
SF – Tracy Moore — His dad played in the NBA.
PF – Blake Jackson – He’d be a monster if he could catch an entry pass.
C – Alan Gelogaev – Just because I can.

There’s a decent chance this five (with Eddie coaching them) could have rolled with Ford’s pre-Smart teams for at least a half.

Over/under on the number of headsets Holgy goes through this year? -@milestheking

I’m assuming you want me to set this line which I will do at 7.5.

And you will all take the over.

Favorite woman on television? -@bigwillonthamic

Ahh you mean the Tami Taylor memorial “best woman on television whom your wife doesn’t hate that you like” award? I’m not watching a ton of shows right now but of the ones I watch, I’m all in on Peggy from Mad Men.

She’s gone from the timid secretary to the sneering, strutting copywriter who has the stones to roll Don Draper in a way that nobody else in the company (including the men) wo;;. She’s no Tami in the looks department but her gumption more than makes up for it.

Honorable mention to Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) on The Americans²

Who is the most clutch player in OSU sports history? -@kade_g34

Such a great question to ponder. I think I’m going to go with Josh Fields here. He has 22% of OSU’s Bedlam wins since 1945. He slayed the Nebraska giant as well. I also considered Weeds, Lucas, Obi, Ventura, and Zac but I have to hand it to Fields.

What percentage of plays will we see 2 QBs on field at same time? -@inherittheland

Well given that a dude with two Xs in his name is third string and OSU’s recent history of QB injuries is not exactly spectacular, I’d say somewhere between 0% and .1%.

Who are the best former (and even current) players to follow on twitter? -@thegools

I don’t follow a lot of athletes on Twitter because most of them are all like “bro, threw some weight around today” and tweet incoherent things that only their teammates can understand. Or they’re pumping some sponsored product that I just don’t care about.

Here are some of my awards though:

Overall favorite: Weeden (@bweeden3) — Really one of the first OSU people who figured out social media
Best unintentional comedy: Tony Allen (@aa000G9) — Literally anything is in play.
Favorite former athlete: Andrew McGee (@Coach_McGee)
Best Instagram: @realrickiefowler — It’s not even close.

Which current OSU golfer is going to have the most accomplished career? -@ddennis265

Great question. It depends on how we’re defining “most accomplished career” — how many regular tournaments equals one major for you? What do you do with European Tour events? What about international play? Olympics?

I think we can throw out Wittenberg (meh), Verplank (age), Loar (done nothing on PGA Tour), and Martin (done nothing on PGA Tour). That leaves us with Fowler, Van Pelt, Mahan, Howell, Uihlein, and Hoffmann.

Mahan is probably the leader in the clubhouse right now — he has five wins but one was in match play and he doesn’t have a top five at a major yet.

Van Pelt and Howell are a little older than the other guys though a major would push either of them to the top of this list since they’ve both won multiple times before (Howell — two PGA Tour wins, Van Pelt — one PGA Tour, one European Tour, and one Asian Tour). It’s also pretty interesting to note that Howell is the 24th highest ranked golfer on the all-time money list with $25 million. Mahan is 27th and Van Pelt is 49th.

I think the safe answer is probably Fowler though. I think he’ll be considered the best when all is said and done. He’s already been on a Ryder Cup team, has a win (Wells Fargo Championship), and a top five at a major (2011 British Open) — and he’s only 24.

Uihlein’s career is going to be really intriguing too. He doesn’t shy away from the Adam Scott comparisons (in terms of starting on the European Tour) and he’s got (literally) an entire section of the golf world behind him. He could usurp Fowler shortly and, to be fair, Fowler is no lock to take the mantle from Mahan.

I think it’s fair to say that a major win is worth 4-5 regular wins. I really believe Fowler is going to win a major at some point (I don’t think Mahan will). So that would immediately vault him to No. 1 on this list (as it would for Mahan, Van Pelt, and Howell as well) with everybody else chasing.

Talk about “talk abouts.” -@kevindavis31

It’s a borderline epidemic at this point. At some point — probably after a few Shiners — I almost changed my mind about this. I was willing to at least give the benefit of the doubt to reporters and journalists about slipping into this habit. “It’s a long season,” I said, and sometimes you just run out of questions.

But in the last few weeks I’ve covered the Byron Nelson and Colonial golf tournaments for CBS and done a bunch of interviews and been in press conferences and…well…it’s just not that difficult.

I am dying for an athlete, when asked “can you talk about what tonight was like for you?” to answer “yes, I can” and move on to the next question. That athlete would immediately become my favorite athlete ever.

Here’s some breaking news for you: athletes (and coaches) will actually give you fairly interesting answers if you ask them interesting questions and don’t just bloviate about how great they are and punctuate with a weak non-question question.

If you can’t tell, this is a hill I’ll die on.

Other journalistic hills I will lose my life on: “sneaked” instead of “snuck” and misplaced apostrophes (when referencing home runs it’s “HRs” not “HR’s”).

If OSU was not a Nike school and you had to choose between Under Armour or Adidas -@radkern

I would choose to die.

Not really, I would just choose another school.

OK, seriously, I would choose Adidas. Under Armour is what 12-year-old boys think is cool. To be fair, I do have a few pieces of Under Armour gear but for the most part it’s just horrendous. I don’t mind the long sleeves or hoodies (of which I have both) but their design team seems to have been injected with whatever the Mad Men characters were injected with last week.

I mean you’ve seen these, right?

This is the work of a design team in a drunken stupor about three weeks before this game. Adidas at least does some relatively legitimate things. The colored “C” on the UCLA uniforms a few years ago denoting their 100th NCAA title was pretty amazing. And their soccer and golf stuff isn’t awful.

I’m not trying to get Kansas’ monochromatic basketball uniforms or anything but with a gun to my head I’ll go stripes over UA.

This has pretty much nothing to do with Oklahoma State athletics but I wanted to post anyway because of how it made me felt.

Hope you enjoy…and cry.

h/t @kevindeshazo

Here’s a look at the IPF. Updated every 15 minutes. Pretty cool. (Astroturf)

Gosh, we have some dumb fans. (ESPN)

Brandon Weeden headed to Moore, very cool story. (AP)

The 1,000-yard receivers in the Big 12 this year includes Josh Stewart. (ESPN)

Ubben also lists him as the most indispensable player. You buying that? (ESPN)

Gundy helped usher in the college football playoff so why not usher in a transfer rule? (Tulsa World)

Baseball

Last night did not end well (I did not stay up for this). (Scout)

Some cool notes on Big 12 teams helping tornado victims. (Big 12 Sports)

Tornado

The story about how Berry Tramel got the story of Big Dog and Little Dog is almost as good as the story itself. (NewsOK)

Great story on what the Weeden family is doing to help Moore (includes video). (Fox 8)

KD is awesome, Part 2,392. (Nike)

Pretty cool effort by the big three Oklahoma schools here. (CBS Sports)

Ty Wright helps out as well. (MLB)

Other

Goodness this is awkward. (Pajiba)

This photobombing is so, so awesome. (USA Today)

Very cool…

Loved this pic.

@gottliebshow You and your son on MLB page for Instagram #lucky twitter.com/roweshow_4/sta…

— Zach Rowe (@roweshow_4) May 23, 2013

Pretty powerful.

Powerful. RT @pjfox8: Meeting with @melanieweeden in Moore, OK, her hometown. She can’t believe what she is seeing. twitter.com/PJFOX8/status/…

— Kyle Porter (@pistolsguy) May 23, 2013

This is cool.

Oh, Lindy’s. But at least they have us ranked high!

Although it’s hard for me to complain given that the Oklahoma State bookstore used to (still does?) sell Oregon State baseball hats.

I actually asked somebody who worked at the bookstore one time if they knew they were selling Oregon State hats. Their response: “yes, we do…Cowboy fans were buying them anyway so we thought we should keep the money in-house.”

Oh.

Well then.

h/t @Mengus22 and @youngyoungyoda

This about Lunt and Gundy is weird…and incorrect (re: Central Michigan). (CBS Sports)

Interesting look at where teams finish based on where they’re picked. (ESPN)

Berry publishes his Gundy-Lunt emails. Then he takes a shot at Gundy for only yelling at female reporters. (NewsOK)

Ubben says Jeremy Smith will be a 1,000-yard rusher. (ESPN)

Baseball

Cowboys are No. 12 in one poll! (Big 12 Sports)

Josh Holliday: For eight straight years, we went to the College World Series. I was too young to even know you had to earn your way there. I just thought we went every year. (Tulsa World)

There’s only one Big 12 team comfortable with it’s NCAA Regional prospects right now. (NewsOK)

Here’s the Big 12 tournament schedule. (Big 12 Sports)

Tornado

Big Dog and Little Dog – the story of the Moore tornadoes so far. (NewsOK)

Hunter Mahan will donate money to Moore too. (Golf Channel)

Tony Allen as well. (NBA)

Big 12 giving $200K to Moore. (Big 12 Sports)

Other

Good read on Petey U’s win. (GolfDigest)

How to stop Baylor. (SB Nation)

Marcus Smart invited to U19 Team USA. (Yahoo)

Dude catches a foul ball with a kid in one arm and it was unbelievable. (Deadspin)

The Chris Moneymaker oral history of poker is pretty awesome. (Grantland)

If you love Arrested Development say “bye, bye” to your next two hours. (NPR)

This is a real shot of a real Big 10 baseball tournament game.

Uh…OK?

@aa000g9 listen. You flopped but your a fellow #Okstate #cowboy. Don’t do that shit again. But more (cont) tl.gd/lsje6v

— S.C. Caldwell(@SChanceC) May 23, 2013

Here’s the Allen flop (Big Lead)

Nice.

Great MLB debut for former #OKstate LHP @tyler_lyons: 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts. In line for the win. Even lined a single.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 23, 2013

This is insanity…click on the imagery boxes to the right.

RT @googlemaps: We’ve published post-tornado imagery of #Moore on our Crisis Map. Toggle the “Imagery” boxes to view goo.gl/9pazZ

— brooke clay (@brookeclay) May 23, 2013

Photo Attribution: USATSI

FT. WORTH, Texas — Taking a cue from Kevin Durant and Matt Kemp, Rickie Fowler has become the latest athlete with ties to Oklahoma to offer substantial financial support for the victims of Moore.

Fowler announced at his press conference that he would personally match the first $100,000 donated by Crowne Plaza Invitational spectators this weekend. It won’t grab the headlines like KD forking over a mil but it’s just as meaningful.

Here’s what Fowler said:

With my ties to Oklahoma being definitely a part of who I am, spending two years for school there, and feeling like I’m pretty involved with all of the people around there, it’s a great part of the country and always going to be a part of who I am.

He also talked about following the storm:

I followed it on the news as it was happening live and all of the coverage right after. You know, it’s always hard to watch, it’s pretty tragic to see. It’s noce to do something to help out in any way.

Fowler spoke with emotion about the subject and said that even though he didn’t know anybody personally affected, he had friends who did. He also said he loves playing in Dallas because there are so many Cowboys fans around. “Oklahoma State ones, that is,” he clarified.

Pretty cool gesture from the coolest dude on Tour (besides Freddie).

Lunt will end up at Illinois. (ESPN)

Gundy looks west for recruiting…probably can’t look to Illinois anymore. (NewsOK)

Wow, this OU streak is insane. (ESPN)

Gundy talks about what position Marcus Smart could play in football. (okstate)

Ubben’s thoughts on the Lunt-Gundy thing are good. (ESPN)

OSU targets in the new Rivals 250. (Rivals)

Justin Blackmon just missed being one of the best Big 12 players ever. (ESPN)

Chelf will be a 3,000-yard passer. (ESPN)

Baseball

Big 12 tournament will be pool play instead of a bracket. (Big 12 Sports)

Cowboys only get two on All-Big 12 team. (Big 12 Sports)

Tornado

Dan Bailey personally affected. (NewsOK)

Yeah, this guy. (Daily Thunder)

Anthony Slater rode around with the West Virginia baseball team yesterday. (NewsOK)

Good roundup of athletes and coaches responding here. (ESPN)

More player reaction. (NewsOK)

Other

Memphis and Colorado are fine…I guess. (Tulsa World)

Nice.

Happy Birthday @boonepickens & thank you for everything you do to make #okstate great. We appreciate you. You’re one of a kind!

— Gavin Lang (@glang1) May 22, 2013

Very cool.

#OKState baseball’s first opponent will be TCU, who spent the day on disaster relief.Kudos! twitter.com/OrangePowerCom…

— OrangePower.Com (@OrangePowerCom) May 21, 2013

Also very cool.

Decals for the big 12 tournament in support of the Moore tornado #prayforoklahoma twitter.com/AlexanderHolt0…

— Alexander Holt (@AlexanderHolt02) May 21, 2013

Awesome.

Cool photo of #okstate frosh infielder Donnie Walton. Photo by Gary Larsen @osuathletics twitter.com/KKlintworth/st…

— Kevin Klintworth (@KKlintworth) May 20, 2013

Wow.

BREAKING:Hundreds of volunteers with cleaning supplies marching down 4th Street in Moore.@news9 twitter.com/rustysurette/s…

— Rusty Surette (@rustysurette) May 22, 2013

Wow.

Here’s a tornado roundup…

Videos of the storm

Found dog

Briarwood Elementary

Check the 1:35 mark for video of that iconic image we’ve all seen.

Here’s the photo:

Going to bed. This is what I’ll remember from today. As a parent, it takes my heart every time – twitter.com/Adam_WK/status…

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguy) May 21, 2013

Headlines

Links

Lost Ogle reminisces about his childhood. (Lost Ogle)

Good roundup of where we stand right now. (NPR)

Unreal photos here, I don’t even know what to do with these. (NewsOK)

After a pretty rough day in real life, the Internet is having a pretty amazing night.

This is the West Virginia baseball team which is in town for the Big 12 baseball tournament in OKC. After dodging the storm all day they actually tried to go to Moore to help where they could but were turned away…

Our team is safe from tornado, missed us by 5-10 miles.Trying to get team to Moore, OK to help.Wouldn’t let us in today, families first.

— Coach Randy Mazey (@CoachMazey) May 21, 2013

(I’m getting chills typing this post btw)

So instead they headed off to Wal-Mart to fill up shopping carts of supplies to deliver tomorrow.

Which is just…my gosh. [hits publish, goes to weep in a corner somewhere]

The team waiting in line! Can’t wait to give all of the clothes to the kids! #wvubaseball #helpmoore twitter.com/BradyWilson23/…

— Brady Wilson™ (@BradyWilson23) May 21, 2013