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Oklahoma - Oregon Officially Jumps the Shark

September 21, 2006  |  By Benjamin Miraski

The Fonz Jumps the SharkThe term "Jump the Shark", for those of you not already familiar with it, normally refers to when a television show or idea has reached the end of its useful life. It refers to an episode of "Happy Days" when the Fonz decided to jump a shark on water skis. After that episode, most fans of the show decided that Happy Days was all downhill from there. And so, the phrase was created and has stuck ever since.

Now, jumping the shark is not normally applied to sports, although I think a few fans might argue that college football officially jumped the shark when the three letters B-C-S were introduced. I think the controversy in the game between Oklahoma and Oregon has actually gone far enough to officially have jumped the shark.

Why? Because Bob Knight decided he needed to weigh in with his two cents.

You may be thinking that the story had outlived its usefulness when it first broke. We had fans making their own video compilations of the incident, highlighting the errors in the replay booth and on the field. We have had news media on both sides, and even in neutral territories taking their stands. We even had the president of the University of Oklahoma, David Boren, calling for the game to be wiped clean and the officials to be suspended for the entire season.

However, as college football stories go, nothing can get much worse than when a basketball coach at another university feels it is necessary to laugh in the face of Oklahoma because he claims that their school did the same thing to him. Don't let it be said that Knight doesn't know how to hold a grudge I guess, since he is still steamed over a loss by his team to the Sooners back in 2003. Two clock errors in a January game between Texas Tech and Oklahoma allowed the Sooners to ultimately win the game against the Red Raiders. After that game, Knight called for Oklahoma to forfeit the game as replays of the incident clearly showed the errors.

Now, he seems to think that maybe Oklahoma is getting a taste of their own medicine.

"Maybe now those people at Oklahoma understand what I was talking about," Knight told The Oklahoman.

"Had Oklahoma forfeited that game against us like I suggested, they would have gotten far more positive publicity out of that than if they had gone to the Final Four that year. Now I guess the 'duck' is swimming in the other pond."

Bob Stoops is not happy with the officials.It is hard to blame Oklahoma for being upset in this incident. Having watched the game, even at full speed, you can clearly see the issues with the calls both on the field and in the booth. The PAC-10 has taken action against the officials, suspending them for one game. Oklahoma has even threatened to pull out of a game in 2008, with Washington, in Seattle, because of the PAC-10 policy on having its conference officials be used when a non-conference game is held in a PAC-10 stadium. As if they think that these same officials would be assigned the game, and possibly the same incident would happen again. I say, go right ahead. Hurt your strength of schedule by scrambling to find an opponent for two years from now. See how you like your championship hopes then. Idle threats probably aren't going to change an entire conference's mind on their policy.

The story started to get a little iffy for me when the death threats starting rolling in against the replay official. I know fans are upset, but this is only a football game. No one is going to be hurt in the long run because of a blown call. No injuries or permanent harm came to someone on the field because of the call. Even if there had been, there is still no reason to take this out on a man by threatening his life repeatedly. It has gotten so bad that the replay official has had to ask for a leave of absence for the rest of the season.

Even after that, the story hadn't hit its low point.

Today was the official date. Bob Knight has no business still carrying a grudge about what happened to him back in 2003. To weigh in on this story when it occurred in a sport that was totally separate from his own and when the situation was much different than his, I find that just wrong.

Coach Knight, your team has over 30 chances during the season to make an impression on a committee that decides who plays in a tournament with 65 teams. In the 2002-3 season when this occurred, your team finished 18-12 against Division I opponents. And no, you didn't make the tournament (for full disclosure, the MRI did have Texas Tech in, the committee just didn't see it that way). But, honestly, at 19-11, with an extra win over the eventually conference tournament champions, do you think your resume would have been that much better to have gotten you in? And who is to say that you couldn't have done more in the other 11 games that you lost to prove your case to the committee.

College football doesn't run like basketball, Mr. Knight. Teams almost have to go undefeated to get to the championship game in the BCS era. And even if they do, teams can sometimes get left out. There are no playoffs. There is no large tournament including almost 20% of the teams. There is only one game with two participants. I see no problem with Oklahoma being upset in the this matter, or complaining (though maybe asking for the game to be wiped out was going a little far). I do have a problem with you, Mr. Knight, laughing in their face because of it. We have constantly seen complaints about you not being mature as a coach. I think you have just proven it once again.

Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com

   

Posted September 21, 2006 12:30 PM

Comments

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You're an idiot for blasting Bobby Knight's right to respond to a reporter's question. And, by the way, he is correct. What goes around, comes around. You are a square. So square.

Posted by: Anonymous Hater at October 24, 2006 9:20 AM

Had I blasted Knight for responding to a reporter's question, I might be an idiot. But if you look at John Rohde's original article in the Oklahoman, Knight initiated the contact.

Given the circumstances surrounding last Saturday's OU-Oregon football game in Eugene, the legendary coach couldn't resist revisiting the topic with a telephone call late Wednesday afternoon.

Knight may get results on the court, but I think the point I was trying to make here is that Knight sets a double standard for his behavior and everyone else's. Complaining about this unrelated event does not show class at all. All his comments were doing were rubbing this in the face of the Sooners community.



He was even glib about it. The quote not reprinted in the Associated Press version shows that much.

"And you make sure they get this message. I want them to be that much more enamored with me over at that place."

Sound like he is rubbing it in? It does to me. Class and style in the way only Bob Knight can show it.

Posted by: bmiraski Author Profile Page at October 24, 2006 12:05 PM

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