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Jeets and Kendall

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For those of you new to the blog, most Fridays we run what we’ve dubbed our Orange Power Poll (get it?!?!?) where we look outside our OSU lenses to see what else is going on in sports and what we, as OSU fans, can learn from it. Hope you enjoy.

Jeets – Minka in the luxury suite, the nation peeking over his shoulder, sitting on 2,999 and of course Jeets takes a 19-game winner deep in a park he hadn’t homered in since the middle of 2010. Of course he does. The Jeet signal was definitely out later that night. In thinking about this–the (non) selling of the ball, the magic of #2, the first Yankee to 3,000–I began to wonder “who fills this role for OSU? Who’s our Jeets?”

You could say Barry Sanders but that’s not really that fair because Barry was the best, Jeter is not. Everything Jeter stands for is almost a by-product of the way he plays. That is, I don’t think he means to come across as captain-ish as he does, but because he goes hard every play you can barely go through a homestand without John Sterling yelping “El Capitan!!” at the top of his lungs. The OSU player whose career most resembled this ensemble of leadership and greatness, for me anyway, is Kendall Hunter. I know it’s a little difficult to compare since college careers are so comparatively short, but just like I wouldn’t trade Jeets for any SS in the league, I would never at any point have traded Hunter for a different, more talented, running back.

The ESPYs – In what has become little more than ESPN publicly declaring how much it loves itself, the ESPYs is usually one of those events that sounds like it’s going to be more exciting than it actually is. It sucks you in and convinces you to plan your night around it until you’re an hour and a half deep and Ryan Reynolds is running around on stage and you’re like, “what am I doing with my life?”

This year OSU had a horse in the race, not Bullet–though buying a thoroughbred, naming it Bullet, and winning the Derby with it is on my bucket list–no, Broderick Brown and Shaun Lewis were up for Play of the Year. They squared off with Rooney’s wondrous bicycle in round two of the play of the year bracket and were voted off by the good sports fans of America. Mind you, these are the same Americans that give Jersey Shore the ratings it needs to stay on the air and “don’t understand” shows like Arrested Development and Friday Night Lights, so maybe it’s time to start re-thinking who chooses the winners for these things? Just a thought.

Royal St. George’s – Speaking of having horses in the race, the Cowboys put a seven spot in The Open this week. Peter Uihlein is rounding out his world-wide tour of golf’s majors and Chris Tidland is playing his first, while the Fowler/Mahan/Van Pelt/Noren/Howell fivesome is still chasing major #1. Noren was the best of the bunch on Thursday, sporting a tidy little 69 (though he’s currently +4 today). Fowler played pretty well too and sits at E with Chuck one shot back at +1 and Uihlein right behind him at +2. While we’re here, I’m not sure who suggested I start calling Charles Howell “Chuck”, but I love it. How cool does “Hi, my name is Chuck Howell, I play professional golf for a living” sound?

#FreeBruce – For those who haven’t been following the situation, let me summarize: ESPN reporter Bruce Feldman helped former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach write a book. Feldman was granted by permission from ESPN to do this (as I’m sure most journalists must be before doing such things) and that book was released this week. In it Leach pretty much eviscerates ESPN as well as Craig James, the instigator of Leach’s firing. After the book was released ESPN went back and suspended Feldman for the work it originally green-lighted him to do.

Now I’m new to journalism, but people like Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples, Paul Pabst, Pete Thamel, and Brett McMurphy are not. They’ve started a #FreeBruce campaign on Twitter and as of last night it was trending nationally. You should absolutely get on Twitter and read some of the #FreeBruce comments and quotes. He’s got a country in his corner right now.

As for my take – I find it embarrassing, and startlingly greedy, that a company as monolithic as the worldwide leader would continue hiding behind its very unpopular role in this entire allegation while simultaneously propping up what amounts to nothing more than a poor man’s Jesse Palmer to broadcast a few of its football games. It’s a spineless move and I think you need look no further than the outpouring of sentiment from basically every well-known, respected sports journalist in the business today to back that up. Do the right thing, ESPN. #FreeBruce.

DOK – Lastly, to everyone who supported me this week via Twitter, on Facebook, and by sending emails to the Oklahoman, I want to say thank you. I do this, I write and read and work at my craft to become better at it and to provide you with entertaining Oklahoma State content. So to know that the feelings are reciprocated, that you love what I’m doing as much as I love doing it, is humbling and gratifying and a host of other words that end in -ing that we don’t have time for. The next few weeks are going to be rather interesting (to say the least) but no matter what happens I want you guys to know you’ve been paramount in helping push me towards this situation. I’ll keep bringing it as long as you keep showing up. Thanks again.

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