• The Road Warrior Report - Clemson Review - December 29, 2014

      ORLANDO, FL – On October 15, 1994, a week after Stonie Clark stopped James Allen on fourth down and goal in Dallas, a 3-2 Oklahoma team traveled to Boulder, Colorado to meet the fourth-ranked Buffaloes. They were soon 3-3. It was 45-0 when I left, and ended 45-7.

      I left early, which is almost unheard of for me, because I was disgusted at the effort, or lack thereof and, more importantly, the lack of any sort of concern among the players over what was happening. They were grabassing and cutting up on the sidelines while we were getting destroyed on the field.

      They quit – plain and simple. I knew that night that Gary Gibbs would not last out the season, and I was right. Out of the last 300 Sooner football games, that is the game that tonight’s WalMart Sweatpants Bowl loss most resembled to me.

      I am not saying the team quit tonight – they just didn’t show up at all, and it certainly looked like the coaches mailed it in, as well. I am not saying Bob Stoops is on his way out. He isn’t, and he shouldn’t be. Not yet. But he’s now used up whatever reserves of patience and good will that were banked up through about 2010 or so.

      There’s a $300 million tab to pay for a stadium remodel, and the pocketbooks of those who finance such things, already pinched by the drop in oil prices, may well not be as open after a train wreck of an 8-5 season. Actually, what would you call a train that wrecks into a dumpster that’s already on fire? Whatever you’d call that, it’s what the 2014 Sooner football season was.

      I could engage in trenchant analysis about what’s wrong and why things went bad, but there are a lot of other people who can and will do, and are currently doing, that. I know that we’re paying a guy $5 million a year to win championships, and I know that some amount of that, however small, is my money, and some is probably yours. He’s paid to figure that out, and if he can’t, we will need to find another guy to pay $5 million a year who can.

      2015 is a new year, a new season, and a chance for redemption on many levels. But that chance is there only if we can take it. Changes must be made, and it’s up to the guy making $5 million a year to figure out what they are and make them, no matter who is whose brother, and no matter who is married to whose daughter.

      Tonight completed my 23rd consecutive full season of attending every Sooner game. Together with eight games from the 1991 season, that makes 300 games in a row, even. I would have hoped that milestone would have ended on a little happier note, but that’s kind of emblematic of committing to going to every game – you go regardless of attitude, regardless of outcome. You go because you’re committed to supporting the team. You go because you enjoy it. Well, you usually enjoy it. But you’re in it for the long haul, and that’s bigger than one game, one season, or one coach.

      After tonight, I’m glad it’s not for nine months, but regardless of tonight, I will be there for #301 on September 5 against Akron. And you should, too. BOOMER.
      Comments 2 Comments
      1. Piware's Avatar
        Piware -
        Kudos to you. I'll be there too!
      1. King Crimson's Avatar
        King Crimson -
        SOONER.

        i was on a China Airlines flight to Yangon, Myanmar when we got whatevered by Clemson. Bobby Stoops is still my guy wow, that is not OU football. all i can say.

        word up, RW.
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