Sorry folks, but UConn women can’t break UCLA men’s record BY MARK POTASH | Commentary Dec 20, 2010 11:38AM

It was a fitting celebration for a women’s basketball team when UConn won its 88th consecutive game on Sunday — Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma making it more than it really was.

‘‘I just know there wouldn’t be this many people in the room if we were chasing a women’s record,’’ Auriemma said after the UConn women beat the Washington Generals by 31 points at Madison Square Garden. ‘‘The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men’s record, and everybody is all up in arms about it.’’

Here’s a news flash for Auriemma: You’re not chasing UCLA’s record of 88 consecutive victories under John Wooden. You didn’t tie it and you’re not going to break it. That’s a men’s basketball record. You coach a women’s team. A women’s team can’t break a men’s record any more than a men’s team can break a women’s record.

Nobody’s having a heart attack over your perceived ‘‘threat’’ to UCLA’s record. The only reason people are writing about it, if they are at all, is in response to others who are trying to convince themselves that you’re breaking it.

You’ve got the best women’s basketball program in the country, and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt has lost 16 times since you last got beat. Why can’t you be happy with that?

But he’s not. He’s too caught up in the myth that UConn is about to break UCLA’s record.

‘‘Because we’re breaking a men’s record, we’ve got a lot of people paying attention,’’ Auriemma said. ‘‘If we were breaking a women’s record, everybody would go, ‘Aren’t those girls nice, let’s give them two paragraphs in USA Today ... give them one line on the bottom of ESPN and then let’s send them back where they belong, in the kitchen.’’

There’s the dead giveaway of a bad argument — the gross exaggeration that we aren’t just disinterested in women’s basketball, but we think the women playing it should be ‘‘in the kitchen.’’ Interesting that he didn’t say ‘‘barefoot and pregnant.’’

Auriemma should be happy that established media are buying the idea that UConn is breaking UCLA’s record and giving him a soapbox to whine about the lack of respect women’s basketball receives in the sporting world.

Women’s basketball gets what it deserves. Probably more than it deserves if you include a professional league that is attached to the NBA like an oxygen machine.

It’s not as popular as men’s basketball because it’s neither as good nor as entertaining. All you have to do is watch five minutes of a women’s game to know that. It’s basic physiology, Geno. Basketball is a game that emphasizes jumping ability and quickness. Women — no offense, of course — can’t match the jumping ability or the quickness of elite men’s players.

It’s nothing against the women. When the men’s game was all layups and set shots in the 1930s and ’40s it wasn’t very popular either.

It’s all about entertainment. Even the Harlem Globetrotters are introducing a four-point shot this year — a 35-footer — in their appearances at Allstate Arena on Dec. 29 and 30.

Auriemma’s Lady Huskies will go for their 89th consecutive victory on Tuesday night in yet another showdown against a nationally ranked opponent — No. 14 Florida State, which just got beat by 1-7 Yale on Saturday night.

But if Geno wants to continue the charade of breaking the men’s record, he’s going to have to start playing some men’s teams. I think he knows how ugly that would get. There are probably 10 high school teams in the city that could beat the Connecticut women.

The UConn women vs. the Simeon boys, now that’s a game people of all genders would pay to see. If Geno Auriemma thinks there were a lot of reporters to watch his team win No. 88, there would be twice as many or more to see him play the Simeon boys. It’s all about entertainment.

UConn Women's Winning Streak Shows Lack of Competition in Women's Basketball

In case you haven’t heard, the Connecticut women’s basketball team just finished wrapping up its 89th consecutive victory by blowing out an overmatched Florida State team tonight. The win moves the Huskies ahead of John Wooden’s early 70s UCLA teams which won 88 straight games before being toppled by Notre Dame in January of 1974.

This particular streak has brought out some heated debates recently because, in its essence, it’s the most classic and simple battle of all humanity - Men vs. Women.

According to some, if you’re not completely in awe of this accomplishment then you’re simply just a misogynistic "put 'em back in the kitchen" minded women hater.

While it is no doubt quite an achievement for this team, this program and the school of Connecticut, I guess you can count me on the side of the many so-called “haters.”

While I’m not exactly ready to sink to the level of asking Maya Moore to go cook me a steak, I do have to admit that I haven't been anywhere near as overwhelmed by this UConn streak like I have been by other great sports moments over the last decade or so.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’ve probably watched a combined 20 minutes of women's basketball action in my lifetime (not counting my many repeated viewings of Juwanna Mann), maybe it’s the fact that the Huskies are coached by the walking ball of ego known as Geno Auriemma or maybe, and more likely, it has to do with the recent realization that women’s basketball has become simply a one team show.

The UConn Huskies are now the Mircrosoft of the sport world—they have monopolized the game of women's basketball in their favor and the fact that they can dominate the competition with such ease and regularity is clearly indicative of that.

Now, do they deserve any blame at all for this?

Absolutely and certainly not. But the facts are the facts.

Auriemma has the formula down. Get your hands on the nation’s best player, surround her with some great talent, push the right buttons at the opportune times, and watch as they cruise to a championship, handily beating everyone in their path.

The UConn Huskies shouldn’t be congratulated for winning 89 straight games over mostly inferior opponents, they should be congratulated for getting to the point where they are now head and shoulders above everyone else in the sport.

Good job, well done. But until you find yourself a worthy adversary that is able to challenge you, don’t expect America to give you the credit you probably deserve for such a feat.

We’re Americans, we like competition. Look at the country’s most popular sports league, the NFL.

Parity, parity, parity.

Nobody wants to see one truly great team dominate year in and year out. We’ll lose interest.

It was fun watching the Patriots beat up everyone on their way to going 18-0, but the most enjoyable and rewarding part (at least for those outside of New England) was watching them finally get cut down by the Giants at the end. It meant someone finally stepped up to their level and met the challenge.

After a while, it gets to the point where you win so much, everyone turns against you a bit.

Nobody likes a showoff.

Look at some of the most hated teams in America—Yankees, Lakers, Cowboys—they’re some of the most successful franchises in sports history.

Success breeds contempt.

So UConn, while your accomplishment is great, don’t be shocked that you’re not going to be hailed as the greatest team in sports history anytime soon.

While it does sound strange to say, the most important thing you can do now is lose.

Maybe after a loss we can look back and really fully appreciate this tremendous streak. But first you have to show us that you’re human. We have to see that there’s somebody worth a damn out there in women's basketball who has what it takes to compete with you.

Sports is competition. Sports isn’t total domination.

Ft. Worth, Texas, sends Oklahoma open letter: Beat Nebraska...

Hey, Coach Stoops, win one for the Big 12

By Jennifer Floyd Engel, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

An open letter to Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and all of his Sooner players...

Welcome back to Texas, boys. And congrats on kind of, sort of winning The Big 12 South again. Got to love using a screwed-up joke of a system as a way to break deadlocks, or everybody except Texas and Texas A&M do, anyway.

No whine intended.

I actually need a favor from y'all. Beat Nebraska. Actually do not just beat them; beat them handily, because the thought of the Cornhuskers winning the championship of the conference they tried to destroy makes me throw up a little in my mouth. And the thought of Cornhuskers coach Bo Pelini winning anything ramps a little up to a lot.

So earn this BcS-ranking-provided berth. And beat Nebraska.

The eyes of Texas are with you.

Hook 'em. Sic 'em. Gig 'em. Get your guns up for 'em.

However, whatever, just beat them. Send Nebraska to the Big Ten, or whatever name E. Gordon Gee decides to slap upon that league, with a big fat reminder that their Big 12 legacy was never all that impressive and they will barely be missed at all.

Remind Nebraska why it was never the bellwether team of this conference and why it will not be in the Big Ten. Show the Huskers what Wisconsin and Ohio State and possibly Michigan (if Jim Harbaugh replaces that slimy little RichRod) will do to them.

Leave no doubt, no room for whine that officials were really to blame, like the usually classy Tom Osborne and Pelini, in typical histrionic fashion, claimed after The Big 12 Championship a year ago. And then again in College Station a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently, Nebraska only loses when officials do them wrong, which is giggle-worthy because I seem to remember a certain illegal kicked ball helping them beat Mizzou, and nobody at Nebraska handed that "W" back.

But we are talking about Nebraska, where they do things "the right way," or so I am told by the 14 folks in Omaha with Internet who love to send e-mails that rarely clear the S-T naughty-word filter about how classy they are.

Admittedly, I will miss wacky Cornhusker Nation and those 14 TV sets when they are gone. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was as touchy as they were about their football, except maybe BYU. And the Children of the Corn love to e-mail, about how Dan Beebe always favored Texas, how the South got all the love and how the league singlehandedly killed their long rivalry with OU.

They are kind of right, as you already know, Bob.

Beebe did favor Texas. And the South did get most of the love. Still does. The fine folks at the Cotton Bowl chose A&M ahead of a Mizzou team with more Ws and a W at College Station this season. Total screw job, of course, and I wish nothing but fail on them. Them being The Cotton, not the Aggies.

Full disclosure, Bob: As you probably already noticed, my love and money went to Mizzou.

What you may want to whisper to Bo and Dr. Tom is "Welcome to big-time college athletics." Money determines almost everything. And winning determines who has more money and, thereby, who gets more. All Nebraska had to do was win the way it had before it was exposed by the South, and Beebe would have loved it, too.

Of course, I would never say any of this to Bo Pelini's face. Both he and his brother scare me. I prefer to watch Bo's crazy rantings on YouTube with the safety of distance that provides. And I like you, Bob, so be careful when gigging him.

He unleashes expletives like an episode of The Wire.

Just keep Sooner types away from his brother and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini afterward, if y'all win. We do not want to see any Sooners hurt.

So once again, congrats on being here. It is not easy kind of, sort of winning the South. No whine intended, really. Because we are all with you. We are all Sooners this week.

Sooners or traitors?

It was an easy choice even for those of us like myself who have PTSD from hearing Boomer Sooner so often during my days at Mizzou, or those of us who bleed Burnt Orange, or blame y'all for Barry Switzer's Cowboys time or just plain do not like anything that comes from Oklahoma. We need you on this.

The last thing anybody outside Lincoln wants this weekend is to see Pelini dressed like a high school gym coach, chewing his gum, carrying his laminated play sheet, strutting around JerryWorld believing he showed us as he walks off to the numerically incorrect Big Ten.

And do not get too touchy, Cornhuskers; nobody calls Colorado traitors because nobody even noticed it was leaving.

Not to downplay, Bob, but how hard can this be, really?

Texas beat them. In Lincoln. With Greg Davis as OC. And probably Mack Brown's worst team ever.

Iowa State had them beat but blew it.

The Aggies beat them. In College Station. OK, so they did that to y'all, too, but you get the point.

Now the onus is on you, Bob, to do what is right and good and holy. And to save Beebe from the most awkward trophy hand-off since Switzer and Jerry Jones fought for the Lombardi.

So for one day, Boomer Sooner.

Jen Engel

Missouri, Class of back when we stunk

Jennifer Floyd Engel

5 things you need to know about the Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry

By BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 7:35 pm

1. Switzer-Osborne

Many say the Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry died when the Big 12 Conference formed in 1996. But really, the series began losing luster with OU coach Barry Switzer's departure after the 1988 season. He was Tom Osborne's nemesis, and the one coach Husker fans loved to hate. Who could forget Switzer crashing Bob Devaney's live television prediction show with a bag of tacos in 1980? Osborne lost five times to Switzer before finally defeating OU in 1978 ... only to get rematched with the Sooners in the Orange Bowl that season. Osborne finished his career 13-13 against Oklahoma, but was 5-12 against Switzer.

2. Sooner Magic

The phrase was born in 1976, when Oklahoma scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to defeat Nebraska 20-17 in Lincoln. The key play: On third-and-19, quarterback Dean Blevins threw the ball to Steve Rhodes, who lateraled to Elvis Peacock for a gain of 32 yards to the Nebraska 2-yard line. That set up the winning touchdown with 38 seconds left in the game. In 1980, George Rhymes scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds left in a 21-17 Oklahoma victory in Lincoln. And who could forget Keith Jackson's one-handed grab in 1986? The 41-yard reception down the sideline with 9 seconds left set up the winning field goal in a 20-17 Sooner victory in Lincoln.

3. Great Husker moments

Nebraska has had its share of memorable plays in the OU-NU series, too. The younger generation can tell you all about Mike Stuntz's pass to quarterback Eric Crouch to secure a 20-10 victory -- and Crouch's Heisman Trophy -- in the 2001 game in Lincoln. Scott Strasburger's interception with 26 seconds remaining sealed a 28-24 victory in 1982 and sent students pouring onto the field. (That's the same game that Nebraska broke out the "Bounce Rooskie"). The next year, Neil Harris batted down a fourth-down pass in the end zone with 32 seconds left to preserve a 28-21 victory, and NU's third straight Big Eight championship.

4. Game of the Century

No, we didn't forget Johnny Rodgers' historic punt return (or the clip that Sooner fans will say occurred on the play but wasn't called). The first touchdown of the 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma game is one of most memorable scores in Nebraska football history. Jeff Kinney's TD plunge from the 2-yard line with 1:38 remaining finished a 12-play, 74-yard drive and lifted No. 1 Nebraska to a 35-31 victory over No. 2 Oklahoma in Norman. (Game of the Century II, in 1987, was considerably less dramatic -- a 17-7 victory for No. 2 Oklahoma over No. 1 Nebraska in Lincoln.)

5. Rivalry renewed?

After Saturday, when will the Big Reds meet again? With Nebraska moving to the Big Ten next season, the only time these old friends could meet would be in a bowl game, although Osborne, now the NU athletic director, said he and OU athletic director Joe Castiglione have discussed a possible home-and-home series in 2020 and 2021. But first, Nebraska wants to get acclimated to the Big Ten, which will eventually go to a nine-game schedule, limiting Nebraska's nonconference slate to three games.

Big 12 crowd humming ‘Boomer Sooner' after Nebraska's behavior

By Berry Tramel Oklahoman 177

Published: November 28, 2010
Modified: November 29, 2010 at 9:46 am

The Sooner Schooner gets crowded this week. Covered wagon? Bandwagon is more like it.

Oklahoma football, the terror of Middle America since, oh, about 1948, is the sentimental favorite in the Big 12 Championship Game. The people's choice.

OU plays Nebraska on Saturday night in Jerry Jones' Arlington spaceship, and fans from Waterloo, Iowa, to Alpine, Texas, will take crimson over scarlet. Will pull for the Big Red South over the Big Red North.

And Big 12 administrators, who outwardly will display all the proper decorum, will be humming Boomer Sooner under their breath.

Such is the fractured relationship of Nebraska and its soon-to-be ex-league, you couldn't blame Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe for telling the Cornhuskers, don't leave, just leave mad.

Corn Country is outraged that Beebe — nor anyone from the Big 12 office — showed up in Lincoln for the Nebraska-Colorado game Friday.

Beebe was honest about why he didn't go to Nebraska. He feared for his safety.

I talked to Beebe in the Boone Pickens press box Saturday night, and he said he had received enough threats from Nebraska fans — over the 2009 title game controversy, over his suspension of NU's Eric Martin for a helmet-to-helmet hit against Oklahoma State, over the officiating in the Nebraska-Texas A&M game two weeks ago — that he was advised to steer clear of Lincoln.

Now the Huskers consider it an affront that no one bothered to conduct a trophy presentation for the Big 12's North division title.

Never mind that Nebraska only tied for the North title, with Missouri. Never mind that most of us out here in reality land didn't even know they hand out divisional football trophies. OU's now been to eight Big 12 title games, and I don't remember ever seeing or hearing about a single division title ceremony.

Turns out there is a trophy, and sometimes even a presentation, but nobody in a precinct like Norman or Austin, or you would think Lincoln, gets excited about such pomp.

I don't think Nebraska's football standards have fallen so low that the Huskers prize a We-Beat-Mizzou piece of hardware. I just think a once-solid fan base has lost its collective mind.

Nebraskans have resorted to bloodlust over their exodus to the Big Ten. They've demonized the Longhorns. Called the rest of the league rubes for staying aligned with UT.

Hey, Huskers. The Big Ten is a great conference that offers lots of money and lots of intriguing competition. Nobody blames you for going.

We blame you for losing your class.

Last November, one calendar year, I wrote a column with a banner headline: “Why can't every place be like Lincoln?”

I applauded Nebraska's commitment to hospitality and courtesy and a stadium experience the way it ought to be.

What happened to those people? Now Nebraska seems inhabited by a bunch of kooks who frighten off Beebe, an ex-NCAA investigator, and fire off uncouth e-mails like they're from Louisiana or somewhere.

And Husker coach Bo Pelini has gone raving mad, receiving a rebuke from his own chancellor, Harvey Perlman, after accosting an official after the A&M game.

The truth is, no one in Big 12 country was excited about Nebraska winning the football championship in its last year in the league. Now it's become a crusade; keep the Huskers 0-for-the-21st century in trophies that really matter.

The Sooners haven't fostered a lot of goodwill over the years, running roughshod (with the Huskers) over the Big Eight for decades, then dominating the Texas schools the last decade.

But OU popularity soars this week. In Iowa and Kansas and Missouri, even in all those Dairy Queen towns south of the Red River, they're chanting in unison.

Go Big Red.

Of the South.

Oklahoma vs. Nebraska: A New Name for 'The Game of the Century'

This is a search for the naming rights to this Saturday’s Oklahoma/Nebraska clash.

Oklahoma currently leads this series 44-38-3. In the last meeting, Nebraska came out on top 10-3 in what turned out to be a defensive struggle. OU has won three of the last four and will be trying to hold up the Big 12 trophy for the seventh time, while Nebraska will look to leave the Big 12 on a winning note with their third conference title.

With all the history and the “Game of the Century” already taken, let’s see what other names we could give this hopefully epic match up.

The Great Offensive Explosion of 2010

I know, it’s a bit long winded, but it could be one of the most truthful names out there. In the last three games alone, OU has scored 45, 53, and 47 points. Along the way, the Sooners have marched up and down the field for 562, 462 and 588 yards respectively.

Scoring hasn’t been an issue for OU this year, as is evident by the fact they are averaging 35 points a game. Demarco Murray holds the OU record for TDs and Landry Jones (a redshirt sophomore) is currently fourth on the OU passing list. Oh yeah, there is a guy named Ryan Broyles who is pretty good too.

Nebraska has numerous play makers all over the field. Taylor "T-Magic" Martinez is currently nursing an injured ankle and toe, but his backups have been more than capable of standing in his stead. Rex Burkhead and Roy Helu combine for over 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground this season. Still, if Martinez is out there, the game dynamics change drastically.

The Heads Crackin’, Ankles Snappin' Extravaganza

Injuries were the Sooner’s Achilles heel last year. This year seems to be the diet version, with only a handful of OU players having to sit out for extended periods of time.

Demarco Murray was banged up in the fourth quarter of the Bedlam match up, but hopes to see the field this Saturday. Austin Box was in and out of the OSU game every few plays, but it seemed he found his way onto the field just when the Sooners needed him.

The Cornhuskers injury list is a tad longer with Martinez down with feet/ankle problems. Their leading receiver, Niles Paul, is out for the remainder of the season in all likelihood. On top of that, the water boy is now starting at free safety.

Okay, I made the last part up, but watch out because when the “Heads Crackin’, Ankles Snappin Extravaganza” happens, you never know who will be needed.

The Swan Song

OU/Nebraska have been epic battles. College football purists and random fans off the street have all heard of and probably seen both of these teams clash at some point in their lives.

It’s only fitting that they play in the final Big 12 championship game. Here’s one Sooner fan wishing for the game of this new century. In the end, there can only be one winner in Arlington next week.

Best of luck Nebraska… from Dec. 5 on.