Where have I been...an adventure for sure!

So...after leaving the FoxSports Blogging Community with every intention of blogging regularly here...a couple of things happened that distracted me.

I have a new job...sort of. I have gone from teaching and being the Dean of Students at my school to the...how should I call it..."Jack of All Trades; Master of None" person. They call it the "Lead" and it is. I now do all on site administration at the school as the Principal supervises 3 schools. He is not physically on-site and needed someone he could trust to handle the day to day activities at the school. Hey...he picked me! A year or so ago there was a blogger at the old site who took an administration job...and we almost never heard from him again. I now know why! I have never been busier on a job...and I've had plenty of them. However...I've never received the gratification from a job either like the way it comes to me when the students and staff are successful at something. Aside from this I am close to acquiring a new license, am working in a Leadership Program through the local University, teaching still...and still coaching hockey...which starts on Monday. My plate is a bit full...and tired is a constant...but I've never felt like I was ever accomplishing more! So...it is all good...right...right!

Well...kind of! What the hell happened to my Oklahoma Sooners? One could say coaching, one could say lack of depth, one could say complacent...and many have said one...if not all...of the above. I generally have issues with the coaching and Kevin Wilson is still his own worst enemy. Bob Stoops is still a quality coach...even with the Bowl loss issues...but he needs to look at his offensive coordinator and the scheme and make a decision. Brent Venables is probably the brightest spot on the coaching staff...and he used to be the whipping boy. His defense is pretty freakin' good when you take everything into account. But...if I were running this high quality program I'd be lookin'...very seriously...into my training program and my medical staff.

Injuries are part of the game! This game...and virtually any contact and non-contact competitive contests going...have injuries. But how does this program...one of the "Best of the Best"...suffer this many season ending injuries to so many high impact players. I commented very early on that if OU was going to make a run for the NC they needed to stay healthy. I sometimes HATE IT WHEN I AM RIGHT...sometimes! The loss of Jermaine Gresham...before they started hitting...was the worst blow of all...at least as far as I am concerned. One of the main reasons the Sooners aren't very good in the red zone anymore is that they don't have a high quality...or any real quality...TE like Gresham presented. The offensive options in the red zone with him made defending OU difficult...to say the least. Even with a healthy Sam Bradford...OU in the red zone was not going to be as productive as last year without Gresham.

And then the loss of Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford multiplied the injury situation ten-fold. Landry Jones has been adequate (and maybe better than that but you can't help comparing...can you?) at best. Many people...Stoops included (but what is he going to say?)...have said Jones has been doing really well. I don't agree. He is a freshman and it shows. Do I think he will be alright? Eventually...but I also don't think he will ever be a Sam Bradford...or even a Jason White. And I'm not sure that anything too far from those two guys is acceptable in Oklahoma anymore. I'll grant you that the WR corps has been less than stellar and less than what OU has received out of their WR's in the last few years. I'll grant you the offensive line is probably as bad an offensive line as I have ever seen at OU...and doesn't seem to be getting better...unless the quality of opponent is weak. And...I'm going to be honest again here...DeMarco Murray is NOT healthy...and hasn't been for quite some time. So...Jones doesn't have all the tools that Bradford had at his disposal...and he is a freshman...but he makes the worst decisions with the football than any QB in recent history...or...not so recent history. The 5 ints he threw last week were not all his fault. However, he wasn't really anywhere near his intended receivers all day long. Did the Nebraska defense all of a sudden become world-beaters...after losing at home to Iowa State. NO!!! He made throws that a high school QB should know not to make. Like a Hail Mary with :27 seconds left on the clock and downs to work with. As the players around him get better I suppose he will put up great numbers as well. And hopefully he'll prove me wrong. I just don't get that "sense" that you get when you are watching potential greatness...like we got when we saw Bradford. Oh...and while there are many out there who will chastise Bradford for not winning the NC last year...his numbers would indicate it wasn't his fault. But...maybe a guy named...Kevin Wilson. Hey...Kevie...either utilize the hurry up and go plan...or scrap it. It doesn't make much sense to rush everyone to the line...and then make them stand around while you decide...and then send in...the play you want to run. I'd understand if you were doing it based on the inexperience at QB with Jones...but you did it all the time with Bradford. And could you try to be creative...just a little?

And now...on top of all of this...Auston English, Brodie Eldridge (the only real TE hope when Gresham went down...even as a center) and another o-lineman now have season ending injuries. Do they have them on some kind of maintenance plan or are they just running them through the grinder down there? Is it just OU's turn to have this run of bad luck to key personnel on both sides of the ball in the injury department this year? Ooooh, that is kind of witchy...ain't it! I would be taking a look at our training plan, our medical plan..and the conditioning plan of our program to see if we can't "stop the bleeding" so to speak. But...even with all of this...there may be a bright side.

Maybe the Sooners will get a Bowl Game that they play closer to Christmas when I'll be able to watch it with the time off from school. Ahhh...who am I kiddin'? I'll probably have a hockey game that night. Nice ranting again. Hopefully the next one won't be so long in coming. Ya'll take care!

And that's the bottom line...


...BOOMER SOONER!!!