Archive for May, 2007 Page 3 of 3



OKC Alumni: Skip Bayless

Forced, due to reasons beyond my control, to watch ESPN’s “Cold Pizza,” “First and Ten,” or “People Screaming At Each Other” — whatever it’s called these days — I just happened to hear Skip Bayless accuse his co-hosts, who had praised the Detroit Pistons, of being biased, since they themselves are from the state of Michigan. This coming, of course, from a Vanderbilt grad who has repeatedly said that Jay Cutler is the next Brett Favre.

Though Bayless was apparently a somewhat reasonable human being growing up in OKC (an archive search of the Oklahoman shows no record of excessive heads exploding in the area during the late ’50s and early ’60s), his professional career got off to a rocky start when he wrote a book insinuating — without any evidence — that Troy Aikman was gay. That was the start of a nomadic career, where Bayless slashed and burned his way through market after market before coming to his final, lucrative resting place, the Worldwide Leader.

Like all shock journalists, ESPN is the ultimate destination, where lucid, rational opinions and discussion are not only not necessary, but actually discouraged. Freed from the confines of annoying things like “facts” that plagued him in places like Dallas, San Jose, Chicago and Miami, Bayless is finally in hog heaven, getting paid amazingly well to bloviate about how extra points should be eliminated from football. Skip, we salute you!

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This Post is Gay…

Want to know the difference between the Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma Gazette? Check out the way each newspaper’s website covered Governor Henry’s appointment of Jim Roth to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

From OkGazette.com:

Governor Brad Henry announced today he has appointed Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth to the state Corporation Commission.

With the appointment, Roth becomes the state’s highest ranking openly gay official.

 

“Every opponent I ever faced in an election made that their issue,” Roth said. “And I’ve made my work the issue. I’ve always been honest about who I am.”

From NewsOK.com:

Gov. Brad Henry today named Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Roth, 38, re-elected to a four-year term in November, succeeds Denise Bode, who announced last month she was stepping down from the commission to head a natural gas education foundation she is organizing.

Bode, a Republican, said her resignation will take effect May 31. She has nearly four years left on her current six-year term.

Roth, a Democrat, will have to run in 2008 for the remainder of the term…

You may notice that after the who, what and when, the Gazette proudly beams that Roth is Oklahoma’s “highest ranking openly gay official.” You may also notice that the Oklahoman doesn’t even mention Roth’s sexuality in its first few blurbs. In fact, they don’t mention Roth’s penchant for Barbra Streisand, Mint Milanos or 39th & Penn anywhere in the article.

I’m not saying that the Gazette covered the story right, but the Oklahoman’s refusal to acknowledge the news-behind-the-news with the Roth story is one example of why so many people have a negative stereotype of Oklahoma. That, and of course Toby Keith.

Anyway, that’s it for now. After writing this post, I’m ready to go cook some steak, drink some beer, watch the Spurs-Suns game and check out Amy Mcree in the pink bikini. Again.

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Free Sgt. Slammer!

So, it looks like there will be basketball in Oklahoma City next year, after all. After finally trudging my way through the Oklahoman’s infuriatingly clunky web site, I happened upon this story, detailing the apparent return of the Oklahoma City Cavalry. Like you, I find this news as exciting as the prospect of the Sonics heading to town. Hardly an hour goes by in which I am not reminded of the glory days of the Cavalry, when the Myriad was filled with literally dozens of people and Chris Needham called the action on the radio.

The owner of the team, Baron Hopgood, gives the information we’ve all been waiting for:

“I think we have locked in a home court, and we’ll announce that at our press conference,” Hopgood said. “We’re not playing at any high school or any college. It will be at one of the arenas in the Oklahoma City arena.”

Hopgood said the new Cavs would play at the Cox Center, Ford Center or State Fair Arena.

Player tryout camps will be held in the Dallas area, where Hopgood is headquartered, and the Oklahoma City area. The CBA draft is in September.

“We are trying to decide on which coach we will hire,” Hopgood said. “We do have some candidates that do want the job, and they’re very well know, former NBA players.”

So they have no place to play, no players, and no coach. Forgive me if I say this doesn’t seem like a promising start. A quick perusal of the history of the CBA seems to indicate that there have been something like 95 franchises in league history. With stability like that, it does seem like the Cavalry II should fit right in.

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My 3-Cents: Gary England should be scared!

KOKH Weathermen

Is it just me, or does the FOX 25 weather crew look more like a bunch of Bob Howard car salesmen rather than a group of Oklahoma City weathermen? Instead of talking about the jet stream, hook echoes and the dry line, I picture them sitting around some $0.80-cent draws at Henry Hudson’s blabbering about the hot chick who bought the beat up Accord, what they plan to do with their “future”, and of course, the “good old days.”

Anyway, that there headline, picture and paragraph is the first ever post here at TheLostOgle.com.  At this website, a group of young, amazing and strikingly attractive Oklahoma City residents are going to offer our “2-cents”, “rants” or “morning news show styled opinions” on a variety of topics concerning Oklahoma City and the rest of the world. It’s a daunting task.  In fact, it’s a task so daunting that only an Ogle brother could do it.

That’s why we’re TheLostOgle.com.  And that’s our two cents.

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