If you're a fan of the University of Oklahoma's football team you have just sat through the shortest football season in the history of the game. It began last Saturday just after 11am CDT and ended around 2:30pm the same day.
It was an ugly affair. The University of Houston exposed every Oklahoma weakness and there were more than a few. The final score was 33-23, but it wasn't that close. In fact if Houston hadn't fumbled away the ball as a running back plowed toward the goal line from two yards out the score, at a minimum, would have been 40-17.
As usual braggarts and buffoons had been roaming the streets in the weeks prior to the game, claiming OU was bound for the national championship playoff once again. There was talk of an undefeated season and a Heisman trophy for quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Vegas initially bought into the hype with gusto. The opening line at sports books on the strip for the game was OU by 30. The pros and those not wearing crimson colored boxer shorts immediately jumped on those odds. By Friday the spread had dropped to 10 which meant there were scads of people taking Houston and the points.
After the game emergency rooms through out the state became overwhelmed by old white men driven into the throes of supra ventricular tachycardia. Others chose The Saipan Option and leaped from tall buildings. All of them shared the common knowledge that their team's reputed talent was a terrible sham and thanks to a brutal opening schedule, OU is looking at what will most likely be a 1-4 start.
For many it is little consolation that Oklahoma hasn't been the only highly rated institution to take it on the chin in the last couple of days.
Reports are saying Fox News has reached a financial settlement with former network personality, Gretchen Carlson. Carlson had sued the former head of Fox, Roger Ailes, accusing him of sexual misconduct and harassment. The accusations were, of course, quickly denied by both Ailes and Fox. Another Fox personality, Greta Van Susteren defended Ailes, claiming she had never seen, or heard of him doing anything inappropriate with female staffers.
After a two week internal investigation, Ailes, a politically powerful and vile right wing propagandist was sacked. Which begs the question, if Fox felt it had to fire the guy who basically created the network, what sort of beastly crimes did the sick fuck actually commit? No matter what they were, Don Trump was quick to recognize a kindred spirit. He immediately hired Jolly Roger to help with his campaign against Hillary Clinton.
The New York Times says sources put the pay out to Carlson at $20 million, with a portion of it coming directly from Ailes' wallet. As part of the settlement Fox News was forced to make a formal apology to Carlson. Within hours after issuing it the network announced Van Susteren was leaving and the despicable, Britt Hume will take over her time slot.
Van Susteren's husband, John P. Coale told the Times his wife had invoked a, "key man clause," in her contract. In other words she wants out because Ailes no longer runs the show. Coale added, somewhat cryptically, that he couldn't elaborate on the situation because there are more to things than meet the eye and there might be future litigation.
That's right, it appears lawyers will be involved and big money will be in play as the presidential campaign rages on for the next 60 days. All of which proves what we've suspected for ages. Conservatives hate each other only slightly less than they hate progressives.
Yes, it was a rotten Labor Day weekend and for Fox News an expensive one. They will land on their feet though. The same cannot be said for the university located in Norman, Oklahoma.
Indeed, that cause was lost before it ever began and it looks like there is no where to go from Saturday, except further down the drain. Given the nightmare that's coming, expect season tickets to become available right away at a steep discount.
sic vita est
9-6-16
It is a mystery to me why a program with the stature of OU, a legendary head coach, and all of the fan/financial support they need, seems to struggle with recruiting top talent. OU always has a good team, sometimes a very good team, but hasn't had a dominating, elite team in several years. I confess, don't know what goes on behind the recruiting scenes, but imagine it can get quite nasty. Some of it may be the Big 12 conference. SEC teams seem to be able to just reload, like OU and Nebraska used to in the old Big 8. OU simply needs a few more 4/5 star recruits to get over the top, but just haven't been able to do that in recent years.
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