Sooners Receive At Large Bid in Baseball

I was REALLY suprised to see the Sooners get picked for the NCAA tourney, so I decided to do a little research on the topic. I found the handy sight WarrenNolan.com, which made my research so much easier.

• There are 30 teams to receive automatic bids, and 34 at large bids.
• The Sooners RPI ranking was 42; there were six other teams with a lower RPI ranking than OU to receive an at large bid - UCLA (43); Alabama (46); Tulane (48); New Orleans (53); St. John's (54); and UC Davis (58). That made me feel better that we weren't the only stragglers let in.
• Based solely on RPI, here are the teams with the biggest beef: a) Clemson- played the toughest schedule in the land, and had a RPI of 25. They were the highest rated in terms of RPI to be omitted. Other teams with RPI above UC Davis that were left outside were Baylor, Wazzu, K State, College of Charleston, Missouri State, Wake Forest, and defending champion Oregon State.
• The ACC got 6 teams in, and those all had RPIs of 16 or above. The Big 12 had 6 teams as well.
• Teams with fewer losses against weaker competition (less than 20 losses for New Orleans and St. John's against a SOS in the 100s) meant more than a breakeven record against top notch competition, which means weeping and gnashing of teeth for Clemson, Baylor, Washington State and Kansas State.

That concludes today's baseball analysis. And if the Sooners drop out in Tempe over the weekend while I'm on vacation, it'll probably be this year's college baseball analysis.

Clemens Character Euthanized

Roger Clemens character was euthanized Sunday after several fractures made it impossible for his character to continue. Long time attorney and golfing buddy Rusty Hardin said, "There was no way to save it. It just couldn't stand anymore."

Clemens' character had run a valiant race, but was unable to survive repeated stress over the past week, after allegations of multiple extra-marital affairs surfaced last week, including, a 15-year old Mindy McCready, John Daly's ex-wife, and a Manhattan bartender.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Athletes issued a statement. "The NY Daily News whipped Clemens' character unmercifully over the past two weeks. We believe the newspaper should be suspended."

Clemens Watch

Earlier this week, I read a comment on Deadspin that Roger Clemens attorney, Rusty Hardin, was also the attorney for Arthur Andersen, LLP in their suits related to Enron. That worked out well. Through some extensive research on the web, I found the following other high profile engagements:

• Calvin Murphy, Calvin was accused of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child - by his children. Rusty's quite proud of gaining an acquittal for Mr. Murphy. Calvin either raised five children who are liars that wish to extort money from their father by destroying his reputation, or he's a child molester who molested his own children.
• General Counsel, Bad Idea Jeans Co.
• Special Assistant to the Fuhrer, Germany, 1937
• Editor, New York Times, 2003
• Design Engineer, Hindenberg, 1935
• Financial Advisor, Martha Stewart
• Football Coach Search Committee, Norman, Ok, 1996

So, in a nutshell, if you're calling Rusty Hardin to defend you, you're probably already screwed.

Another Startling Revelation about Roger Clemens

Clemens fans around the world were shocked twice today. First, news hit the mainstream media that Clemens may have had a relationship with Country and Western artist Mindy McCready for a 10 year period, starting when Ms. McReady was 15.

We here at LandThieves found another startling tidbit of information as we scoured the internets today. Scouring SI Vault, we established that Edwin Simmons was caught in the early morning hours of Sept 27 at a home in West Austin. According to baseball-referencecom, Clemens pitched in a nine-inning loss to the Blue Jays on Sep 26.

In a LandThieves exclusive*, Simmons now recalls the REST OF THE STORY..."Roger and I met in the fall of 1982 on a recruiting trip. He was on the baseball team and was BMOC. I'll never forget meeting him. He was wearing a .38 Special "Wild Eyed Southern Boys" 3/4 length sleeve concert t-shirt and a pair of baby blue Ocean Pacific shorts. He was so handsome. It was an instant connection. He was supposed to give me a tour of the athletic dormitory, but he took me to places that night I'd never been before."

"On that fateful night in Sep 1986, Roger called me from the locker room in Toronto. He was so distraught. He'd lost for the first time in a month. The Sox gave him no run support that night. We arranged to rendezvous in West Austin. I was so excited, and my head still hurt from all that learnin' I'd done over the summer, and I just smoked a little weed to relax. Next thing you know, I'm lost on the west side of Austin and can't remember where Roger and I were supposed to hook up. I guess I picked the wrong one.

"Everyone made such a big deal about me being stoned and naked trying to break into someone's home. I just couldn't betray Roger's trust and tell the whole story then. He was on such a roll professionally. This secret has been burning inside of me ever since. Now that Roger's personal and professional reputation is pretty much screwed at this point, I figure telling my side of the story won't hurt anymore. I feel so free."

When asked about the story by this reporter, Clemens denied the story. "That's preposterous. I didn't like that album. Musically, I thought the band peaked on 'Rockin into the Night'."

*exclusively made up.

Parenting Gone Wrong

I read on deadspin.com this week where one of the 'Girls of the Big 12' this year is Boone State student Sunni Kate Galloway, daughter of Sooner baseball coach Sonny Galloway. As a parent, I am outraged. How could a dad allow this sort of thing to happen? Was she not raised right? Clearly Coach Galloway did not teach this young lady about morals, self esteem, accountability and self discipline. Did no one explain to Sunni that decisions she makes while she is young will impact her for the rest of her life? It also bugs me that she posed for Playboy.