Mailbag Time!

Photo Attribution: Icon SMI

Welcome to the Friday mailbag.

A healthy 4 people emailed me/asked me questions for this mailbag (2 of whom are part-time contributors to this blog) but thankfully they were all good ones, so let’s get to it:

What are the odds that participants of various OSU message boards will adopt the blanket slur “dirty hippies” when talking about the current membership (minus Utah) of the Pac-12 should we join that league?

Brett
Albuquerque, NM

I thought that’s what we already called Colorado, no?

Best on-ball defender in the Sutton/Ford era?
Dave
Oklahoma City, OK

Hoops in September, I love it.

It has to be Frans Steyn, doesn’t it. I mean it comes down to him, Tony Allen, and Melvin Sanders, right? If you wanted somebody to just completely lock down Brad Buckman, where else are you going to turn but the 7’4 South African with the 4’9 girlfriend? He was Andrew Bogut without the athleticism (which seems impossible when you think about it), what more could you ask for from a big man in Stillwater, OK?

Just kidding (obviously). Tony got more pub but Sanders was nasty. I always thought Melvin’s guy was going to go like 3-19 for 9 points. I’ll give him the nod by a hair.

Why are tickets to the Tulsa game so much?

Arin Mitchell
Alabama

Because Jenks and Union aren’t playing this weekend?

The year is 1997 and you are Terry Don Phillips. You are able to look into a crystal ball and see OSU’s basketball future up to 2011. What capacity do you expand GIA to?

Dave
Oklahoma City, OK

You’re carrying us right now Dave.

Well considering the old arena more than doubled (6,381 to 13,611) in one year I think this is a valid question. It’s so easy to look back now (while OSU is struggling) and say things like “they never should have taken the roof off” and “why did they mess with a great thing.” Well, the fact of the matter is that OSU was packing the thing out during the golden years 2001-2006 and only recently has attendance just fallen off the face of the earth.

A lot of that had to do with the recession, some of it had to do with the continual improvement of television and other forms of media-based technology. I looked at ways to improve the product in a post last winter.

All that being said, if I was TDP and I had that crystal ball I would have left it as is. This is under the assumption that I also had a crystal ball to look into that showed me how much money OSU was going to make off of its football in the last decade. The revenue generated from expanding GIA has become a moot point because of the football improvements.

I would have renovated, yes, but I would have capped the thing at 6,381 and left it the loudest freaking place in the country east of Durham, North Carolina.

Please, please take me back. This Geno guy can’t carry Brandon’s jock. I’m so heartbroken I haven’t had a Red Bull in 10 days. You should have heard the words I said to my team at halftime against Norfolk State.

Dana,
Morgantown, West Virginia

Sorry crazy Dana, we’ve moved on. Yes, you had a chance to captain the most “eff you” offense in Oklahoma State school history but you bounced town for the cash. I don’t blame you, but facts are facts. Just think, you could be going down to College Station next weekend to avenge last year’s cover by A&M but instead you’ll be in the fetal position somewhere on your field because everyone in LSU’s defensive backfield is faster than everyone on your team.

Miss you 🙂

Dez or Blackmon?

Nolan
Austin, Texas

I never knew when I threw this up as a poll question and on Twitter yesterday it would start a borderline holy war amongst Oklahoma State fans. Blackmon won the poll in a landslide but I think that’s more a function of “who’s been around more recent” than actual, viable long-term feelings about one or the other.

The stats are overwhelmingly in Blackmon’s favor. Dez’s best receiving year (which is likely to get eclipsed again this year) was 20% worse than Blackmon’s season last year (even though they were within 1 TD of each other). Blackmon also caught 24 more balls last year than Dez ever did in a single year.

You can kind of counter that with Dez’s kick and punt return abilities, something Blackmon hasn’t delved into. Whether that’s because Gundy has a personal insurance policy on his knees or just because he’s not as good as Josh Cooper/Josh Stewart is unbeknownst to me.

Listen, I know Blackmon is statistically and visually better than Dez ever was, but #81 also has #3 slinging it around to him. Dez had Zac, who was a fine college player, but can’t sniff the level Weeden is on right now. If Dez had Weeden all of those numbers I just listed for you might be completely different. I think the conversation can at least be undertaken anyway.

Plus there’s this: Blackmon has never made me say to myself “my gosh, I have no clue what’s going to happen right here!” He’s never made me stare at an opposing team’s punt formation and think “you guys are so screwed.” I’m not sure he’s ever taken Boone Pickens Stadium to another level. He’s been magnificent, for sure, the latest in a long line of wideout royalty, but there was something about Dez that you felt, that lifted the team and the school to a higher place.

I can’t describe it, nobody can, but it’s why I have to put my ones up and go Dez over Blackmon.

Note: if you’re on top of the dogpile I’m under on December 3rd I expect to hear all of you screaming “you’re and idiot, pistolsguy!!!!!!!!!!” at the top of your lungs.

Have a great, safe weekend everyone, we’ll be back with a preview of the Tulsa game in the morning and 10 thoughts after its conclusion tomorrow night on Sunday morning.

If you have a question for next Friday’s mailbag you can email me at pistolsfiringblog@gmail.com or leave a comment in the comments section below.