Down goes Kindle

Sergio Kindle continued his relentless assault on the Texas highways and byways last week by crashing into an apartment building at 250 am. According to his attorney, whom Kindle familiarized himself with in 2007 after a DWI arrest, Kindle was texting at the time of the accident.

Kindle a) crashes his car; b) moves the car with the help of this passenger(s) (espn says multiple passengers, Dallas Morning News says one); c) abandoned the vehicle; d) went home and went to bed.

First of all, I think it's rude to send text messages to someone when you're with other people. I believe you should give the people you're with your undivided attention. Add the additional danger factor of doing it while driving, and it's downright dangerous.

Kindle hadn't been seen moving something that big and immediately abandoning it since he ran around Phil Loadholt ALL FREAKING DAY last October.

No love for Moses

I've been a regular viewer of the 4th and Long show on Spike. Mainly because I like hearing beeps and watching people throw up. And I do find the show an interesting concept.

A recurring theme through the show is the WRs being eager to pick on former Sooner great (if you count track) Moses Washington as an aspiring DB. Seems the WRs don't seem to believe he's physical enough. Moses only ways 170 lbs allegedly, so maybe they're correct.

Anyway, not a show goes by that one of the receivers doesn't want a piece of Moses, or believe that he's the one to be cut. Nonetheless, Moses is still around, and Gamble went home. Apparently ?Hawkins is now trying to catch a break in the CFL. Best wishes to him.

Personally, I don't see Moses making it either, as former Tarheel Jesse Holley and Montrell Jones seem to be more physically suited to the NFL. Jones also appears to be dumb as a post, so that gives Holley the lead.

Griffin Brothers Both Drafted

Comes as a shock to no one that Blake Griffin was drafted by the Clippers. However, this NBA draft analyst was a little surprised that Taylor was selected 48th by the Phoenix Suns.

First of all, let me say that I'm excited for Taylor. He's very athletic, and has a great work ethic, and I pray great things for him on and off the court.

In case you were wondering, it's the first time since 1989 that two Sooners were selected in the draft. The 1989 draftees were Stacey King (drafted 6th) and Mookie Blaylock (12th). Stacey went on to win three NBA championships with the Bulls and Blaylock had a 13 year NBA career and finished 4th in NBA history with 2.3 steals per game.

It's the first time ever the Sooners had a #1 pick (previous high was Wayman as a #2 selection by the Pacers).

It's the first time since 1989 the Sooners have had a player selected in the first round.

Notice all these things stopped happening when Sampson arrived, and started happening again when Sampson left.

Kelvin Sampson said you couldn't get talent at OU. I think HE couldn't get talent to OU, nor could he develop it. I somehow doubt Taylor would have progressed from a freshman who averaged 3.2 points and 0.2 rebounds to a 9.6 ppg/5.8 rpg player selected in the 2nd round with Kelvin drilling him in rebounding drills in helmets and shoulder pads.

NBA Draft Thoughts

First of all, my condolences to Blake Griffin on being drafted by the Clippers. I'd encourage him to take Bill Simmons' advice.

Second, faithful reader(s) of this blog know I have no respect for the NBA prospects of the Italian League Rookie of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough. As a public service message to NBA teams, here is the list of the Caucasian North Carolina Tarheels drafted in the first two rounds since 1986: Joe Wolf, 13th selection, 1987; Pete Chilcutt, 27th selection, 1991; Eric Montross, 9th selection, 1994; Serge Zwikker, 29th selection, 1997.

• Joe Wolf was drafted 5 slots ahead of Mark Jackson, who finished his career with 10,334 assists and averaged 3.8 rebounds a game as a 6-1 point guard. Wolf, a 6-11 forward/center, had averaged 3.3 rebounds per game and had 596 asssists in his 11 year career.
• Pete Chilcutt was drafted 18 slots ahead of Bobby Phils, who averaged 11 points per game and 3 rebounds over a 9 year career. Chilcutt averaged 4 pts and 3 boards over a 9 year career.
• Eric Montross was picked immediately ahead of Eddie Jones, who averaged 14.8 points and 4 rebounds over a 14 year career. Montross averaged 4.5 points and 4.6 boards over an 8 year career.
• Serge Zwikker never played in the NBA, but was drafted ahead of Anthony Johnson and Stephen Jackson, who are still in the league 12 years later.

We'll see how it works out for Tyler, who Tim Legler just described as more athletic than he's given credit for. I think that's an easy hurdle to jump over.

All that and a case of chips.

The HeadVisor got a $30,000 increaes in his base salary at the Board of Regents meeting yesterday. This increases his total compensation to $3.675 million for the 2009 season. Let's keep this in perspective. According to this story, oral sex is worth a $30 case of Frito-Lay chips near the corner of 33rd and Robinson in Oklahoma City. Bob can pay nearly $1.6 million in state and local income taxes and still have money left for 66,666 "cases of chips". That could come in handy for the fall recruiting visits.

Alternatively, you can take the Obama stimulus package and pay 214,000 coaches that amount of money, and still have $550 million left for Frito Lay products.

June Jones helping OJ

One of the neat things about Twitter is that you can follow the random, guarded musings of various people, such as Shaq, or Les Miles, or June Jones. Jones is coach at SMU now, and apparently is an avid golfer. The man is playing golf at Royal Oaks, Vaquero, in Hawaii, and followed the US Open and the Nelson and Colonial events. I'm convinced he's helping OJ look for Nicole Brown's killer.

I didn't know much about June Jones before following him on Twitter (probably still don't, but it's more than zero now).

Secondly, June apparently went to Hawaii for a June Jones Foundation event recently. One of today's post says, "I asked people to step forward to give 1000 gifts for them...Rush Limbaugh walked up first and handed me 1000 dollars in cash!"

I thought for a minute we were back in the mid 80s.

Random Musings for the morning

Dan Jenkins covering the US Open was genius. http://twitter.com/danjenkinsgd/status/2278370460

I heard some ESPN radio hack this weekend say that Blake Griffin would be a 20 pt, 10 rebound guy, but you wouldn't want to build a franchise around him.Here is the list of 2008-09 players with 20-10 averages: Dwight Howard; Chris Bosh. Sure wouldn't want either of those guys.

Interesting article on newsok.com about Pasha Jackson studying in Cuba to be a doctor and learning Spanish. When he's done, Parkland Hospital could use some help.

Kobe won by hisself

This week, the radio airwaves are being wasted proclaiming that Kobe won a championship by himself. That’s crap. First of all, Shaq hasn’t won one without Wade or Kobe. Last I checked, it’s a team game. Jordan won his first championship in his seventh year in the Association, and it had more to do with Pippen and Armstrong coming into their own than it did Michael becoming even better.

Back to the present, let’s look at a couple other of the 2008-09 Lakers...

• Lamar Odom, 4th pick in the 1999 Draft. Odom was drafted behind Baron Davis, and ahead of Richard Hamilton, Shawn Marion and Andre Miller. Of the 1999 draftees, Odom is 9th in total points, 3rd in rebounds, and 5th in assists. Looking back a the 1999 draft, he’s probably still 4th or 5th best in the draft, up there with Richard Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Elton Brand and Andre Miller. According to www.basketball-reference.com, here are the people 6-10 or taller that have more career assists than Lamar Odom: Kareem, Wilt, Kevin Garrett, Vlade Divac, Jack Sikma, Olajuwon, Tim Duncan. In the 2009 Playoffs, Lamar averaged 12.2 points and 9.1 rebounds.
• Pau Gasol, 3rd pick in the 2001 Draft. Gasol was drafted just behind Kwame Brown and Tyson Chandler. Looking back on that draft, http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2001.html, Gasol and Tony Parker, drafted 28th, are clearly the best players that came out that year, and it’s not even close after that. Of those draftees, Gasol is second in points scored (next to Jason Richardson), first in rebounds, sixth in assists. During the 2009 Playoffs, Gasol averaged 18 pts and 10.8 boards per game. Kobe may have had some help.
• Both of these players were in fact drafted ahead of Kobe a #13 pick in the draft. Odom played one year at Rhode Island, and Gasol came over as a 20 year old after playing in Europe, so each was just as unproven as Kobe when they became draft eligible.

Now, the draft position doesn't mean everything, obviously. It's more an indicator of talent, and that great word "upside". But if you look at the data above, those players weren't just picked there, they have actually performed up to those expectations.

It's not like he’s playing with Moe Williams, Daniel Gibson, Wally Szczerbiak and a washed up Ben Wallace. He’s got actual players with him.

Switzer earns Kennedy Award

Today I learned that Coach Switzer earned the John F. Kennedy Community Service Award by the Oklahoma Council of the Knights of Columbus.


I hadn't thought of it before, but there are a lot of similarities between Switzer and Kennedy, just like Kennedy and Lincoln had many odd similarities.

• Kennedy and Switzer each have seven letters in their last name.
• Kennedy started his presidential term in 1961. Switzer started his coaching career at Arkansas in 1961.
• Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, was born in Texas. Switzer's success, Gary Gibbs, was born in Texas.
• Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln, which is made by Ford. President Ford was referred to as "an asshole next to Switzer" at an OU-Texas game.
• Kennedy tried to invade Cuba. Half of Cuba moved to Miami, FL, where Switzer recruited Sooner great Elvis Peacock.
• Kennedy lived in Washington while President. Switzer paid Joe Washington $100/hour to watch his kids.
• Kennedy had an affair with an intern. I don't know if Larry Lacewell's wife was an intern.
• While President, Kennedy oversaw the SEC. Switzer only played two games against SEC schools, both crappy Kentucky squads. Wait, those are different SEC's let's try that again...
• While President, Kennedy oversaw the SEC. The SEC later accused Switzer of insider trading .
• Alleged voter fraud in Texas improved JFK's performance in Texas. Kerry Jackson's altered transcript in a Texas high school put Oklahoma on probation when Switzer took over the reigns.
• Kennedy's wife lost a child while living in the White House. While a Cowboy coach, Switzer had players making babies in the White House.
• Kennedy was shot in the head in Dallas. Switzer was a head coach in Dallas. (There were a lot of possibilities here. I took the high road.)