Sometimes pictures speak just as loud – or even louder – than words. This week’s Sports Illustrated Special Edition cover does just that. Personally, I still can’t believe everything that has changed about what the outside world knew of State College in a matter of mere days.

An excerpt from the cover article, written by L. Jon Wertheim and David Epstein, covers one of the roots of the problem that I have with this whole entire crazy mess:

Some residents in State College told Wertheim and Epstein that rumors of Sandusky’s alleged behavior had been marinating for years, long before the allegations from Central Mountain High. Says Rebecca Durst, who owns a barbershop near campus and says that her long-term clients include prominent Penn State administrators: “When [Sandusky] left, there was speculation about his behavior and young boys. This is a small town. It’s been in the rumor mill for a while.”

Just how long has that rumor mill been churning?? Way way way too long for my liking. Why did no one act on any of these rumors besides just gossipping about it? If just one case could have been prevented…

The SI cover story is available here. You can read more on my initial thoughts along when the news broke along with the actual grand jury report here.

Marion Jones "Takes a Break" in Serbia - via USAToday

Marion Jones is in Europe – and not to play ball with some of her friends from the WNBA, where she played a season and a half. Rather, she is there on official business from the United States State Department. Jones is making a series of diplomatic visits to Serbia and Croatia promoting her “Take a Break” message.

“It paints a very positive picture of who we are as a country and the fact that she’s here on the invitation of the United States government shows that our country believes in people always having opportunities to come back from adversity,” Ryan Rowlands, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade who helped arrange Jones’ visit, told the AP. “So that’s been a great part of this message.”

According to the Associated Press, she is delivering the message of how she’s rebuilt her life for the people who have lived through wars and earthquakes and now must rebuild their country. Along with promoting the Take a Break message, she participated in basketball clinics in Nis and Belgrade, with rather large crowds both on the court and for her presentation.

“I surely hope that this is just the first of many opportunities that I get to share my message, talk about my journey and help people just live a better life,” Jones told Jeff Latzke of the AP.

Her time in the WNBA with the Tulsa Shock was shortlived. After signing a multi-year deal on Feb. 16, was released from the team on July 21 in favor of center Abi Olajuwon. She still continues to express interest in either playing in or working for the WNBA again in the future. Since being waived by Tulsa this summer, Jones has been living with her family in Austin. Jones spoke to Austin Fit magazine about her time off the court and away from basketball, her membership to the YMCA and what she deems her greatest accomplishment.

“My proudest accomplishment is finally realizing that my priority in life is not to be the fastest, strongest person in this world, but that my priority is God, family, and making people’s lives better. That absolutely is my biggest accomplishment, the realization, because some people never get it.”

Personally, I am glad to see Marion do what she has been talking about since the moment I met her at Tulsa’s 2010 media day. She’s carved a hard path in life by her own admission and through her own poor choices, and still lives with that stigma that follows her around everywhere. But she’s also proving that she’s more than a disgraced athlete, she’s a stand up woman who is doing her best to right her own wrongs while preventing others from following the path she took early on in life.

As one of her contemporaries, I grew up admiring Marion’s strength and speed on the track, wishing I could be her. I later saw her admit her guilt and wrongdoing and go to jail, and I was oh so glad I wasn’t her. After interacting with Marion through her stint in Tulsa, my admiration is back. I’ve seen her take heat from columnists, commentators, fans of women’s basketball, or just doubters of her sincerity. But she proudly holds her head high despite the oftentimes hateful comments, staying the course to continue her mission to make people’s lives better in any way possible.

You can read more of my thoughts about her book, “On the Right Track”, her continuing desire to play basketball before the 2011 season, and last fall’s 30 for 30 documentary at Swish Appeal.

(There was a user error with the chart legend, so I’ll explain – the bottom RED line represents OU, MAROON for Texas A&M, ORANGE for OSU, YELLOW for Mizzou and the purple dots are votes for Texas)

What I found interesting in looking at the votes was this – OU’s regional votes were divided with five 1st place votes and three 2nd place votes, while the nation put them overwhelmingly in the top spot (36 votes to Alabama’s 17 votes).

The other two Big 12 squads to break into the Top 10, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, seem to get lower vote totals from the area. A&M landed at 8th nationally while getting two regional 15th place votes from Austin Meek of the Topeka Capital and Dave Matter of the Columbia Tribune. Meek similarly ranked Oklahoma State at 17th, eight spots down from their 9th place position in the overall poll. OSU had the widest variance with John Werner of the Waco Tribune-Herald giving the Cowboys a seventh place ranking, 10 spots higher than Meek’s vote.

Missouri appears to be right where the region expects them to be, with their votes ranging from 17-22, relatively close to their spot at No. 21. Two Texas voters, Robert Cessna of the Bryan-College Station Eagle and Werner are not sleeping on the Texas Longhorns and put the 2010 underachievers in the 25th position.

I also thought it would be interesting to see where former Big 12/new Pac-12 & B1G reporters ranked their old conference-mates. Kyle Ringo of the Daily Camera, a Colorado publication, put OU in the 3rd spot, Texas A&M 13th, OSU at 14th and Missouri at 20th. Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald also weighed in with his votes. He stacks them up with OU in 4th, A&M 10th and OSU 14th. McKewon did not vote for Missouri on his first ballot of the year. Looks like the former friends have turned foe to OU – or at least for poll-voting sake.

What does all this mean? Nothing at all, really. Only that the college football season is right around the corner, 12 days away. These teams, along with everyone else across the region and nation, will finally have the chance to prove their worth on the gridiron instead of in the ballot box.

You can peruse the complete voter-by-voter ballot breakdown, as well as the overall poll. My thoughts and data were taken from the following Big 12 regional voters: Kirk Bohls, Austin American Statesman; Robert Cessna, Bryan-College Station Eagle; Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette; David Just, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; Dave Matter, Columbia Tribune; Austin Meek, Topeka Capital; John
Shinn, Norman Transcript; John Werner, Waco Tribune-Herald.

Oklahoma City University student-athletes know a thing or two about coaches. They look to their own coaches for support, guidance and instruction both on and off the court or field. Some aspire to enter the profession after their collegiate days are done. And many take inspiration from coaches at the pinnacle of their profession.

As the NBA basketball season ended, so did the tenure of the coach voted greatest ever in a recent poll of OCU athletes, Phil Jackson.

Jackson played his way to the NBA all-rookie team in 1968 as a member of the New York Knicks. He earned two NBA titles in 1970 and 1973 with the Knicks before crossing the river to join the New Jersey Nets in 1978. After hanging up his shoes in 1980, he had accumulated a respectable 5,428 points, 3,454 rebounds and 898 assists in 12 years.

And this is when Jackson began his career path to become one of the most decorated – and greatest – coaches to ever coach the game of basketball.

As a coach, Jackson’s success can be seen with 11 NBA championships, savoring six titles with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. As the Jordan era ended in Chicago in 1998, so did the Jackson era as Phil was prompted to entertain a brief one-year retirement. When he returned at the helm of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jackson rattled off five more championships, most recently in 2010.

“I admire Phil Jackson because of his ability to get people to work well together by allowing the game to be the teacher and himself as the guide,” OCU baseball player John Ragsdale said. “He believes in Karma. He is referred to as the Zen master. He realizes the faster the game turns into everyone working well together instead of him playing a role higher or elevated compared with the rest of the team, and having satisfaction in that work, the more cohesive the team will be. The results usually follow. Phil Jackson puts himself below the team. The focus then lies on the court.”

While more rings than a man can wear at once and nearly 1,200 career wins in the NBA are unparalleled accomplishments, Jackson’s coaching style as the “Zen Master” and impact on his players is what distinguishes him to many. A style that can be seen in the coach taking the second spot in OCU’s greatest ever poll, John Wooden.

Wooden posted a career 664-162 record as a head coach and similar to Jackson, is known for his style and attitude on and off the court.

Wooden’s 10 national championships, four perfect seasons and 88-game winning streak, the longest in men’s college basketball, has rightfully earned him hall-of-fame status. But his teachings of the “Pyramid of Success” are what many former players including Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor (AKA Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) assimilate with “Wizard of Westwood.”

“Phil Jackson and John Wooden are amongst the best because they have had tremendous success, not only with winning games but changing lives,” OCU men’s basketball player Cesar Cuevas said. “They have positively impacted millions of people to strive to be their best and their success is measured by how many lives they have affected. That is why I believe they are amongst, if not, the best.”

OCU men’s basketball player and golfer Mark Anderson cast his vote for Wooden.

“My favorite John Wooden quote of all time is, ‘What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player,’ and this just symbolized the type of coach he was,” Anderson said. “Yes, he was concerned about winning and winning national championships, but he was really worried about his athletes. He not only pushed them to be great basketball players but he pushed them to be great people as well. The on-court achievements were great, but what he instilled in his players for the rest of their lives was most important.”

Along with instilling values and maxims such as ‘failure to prepare is preparing to fail’ and ‘flexibility is the key to stability,’ Wooden influenced many coaches in the game today, including Jackson. In a 2010 interview, Jackson reflected on the elder Wooden in his final days on earth.

“He established a goal that was unreachable in college sports,” Jackson said. “He held it at such a standard that we all appreciated his teaching and mentoring of his college students. His coaching has been inspirational for all of us coaches.”

The inspiration that Jackson gleaned from Wooden and other coaches is being transferred to OCU student-athletes. As the younger generation looks towards the greatest coaches of all-time, they reflect not only on wins and losses, but the human impact a coach like Phil Jackson possesses. One that can transcend sport and translate to life lesson.

The tally (by person):
Phil Jackson 14%
John Wooden 9%
Family (dad, mom, sibling) 7%
Bob Stoops, Dan Gable, John Smith, Vince Lombardi, Alex Ferguson 3%

By sport coached:
Basketball: 30%
Football: 15%
Wrestling: 9%
Soccer: 9%

DAYTONA, Fla. – The Oklahoma City University competitive cheer and dance teams earned the first-ever NAIA national titles at the NCA/NDA National Championships.

The Stars competed in seven events, and finished the competition with two national championships and top 10 finishes in every event. OCU took home titles in the NAIA large dance and large coed cheer divisions. This is the inaugural season of the NAIA emerging sport of competitive cheer and dance.

The NAIA large dance division was taken by the Stars after a score of 9.304 in the final round. St. Ambrose (Iowa) finished in second with an 8.908 and Lindenwood (Mo.) rounded out the top three with a score of 8.852.

“Their performance was incredible,” OCU coach Brandy Corcoran said. “They made everyone stop and watch. Their skill level is amazing and it definitely sets the bar high for other schools.”

The Stars second national championship of the weekend of competition was pulled off by the large coed cheer division. OCU scored a 9.685 to narrowly edge out Shorter (Ga.), who came in with a 9.644. The small coed cheer division took second after seeing adversity during their final performance.

“Small coed hit a close to flawless routine in the preliminary competition and barely came in second to Lindenwood,” Corcoran said. “In finals they were on track to move into the first place spot, but we had an injury two-thirds into the routine which greatly affected our pyramid and over all scoring. I am so pleased with the team and the way the season has gone.”

OCU also competed in four open divisions which had competition from NCAA and NAIA schools. The Stars took seventh in the dance hip hop II division, a new category this year. OCU’s mascot Starsky the Ram finished in fourth and less than two-tenths of a point out of first. Starsky was bested by three NCAA schools; Sam Houston State, Troy and Missouri.

The Stars pair of Daniel Laakman and Alex Miller posted a 9.344 to take fourth in the partner stunt division. OCU’s Cheyenne Felts scored a 9.228 with her partner as the only two-girl team in the open stunt division. Felts took seventh out of the 15 teams that earned a place in the finals. Over 40 teams auditioned to compete in the open stunt division.

“The duo of Daniel and Alex is great together,” Corcoran said. “They are my team captains for large coed and represent OCU with true integrity. I am very proud of their showing in the partner stunt division. Cheyenne and Lisa broke the mold in the open division. Cheyenne was the first female to ever compete and make it into finals. When you factor in she is a female competing against all men, it makes getting seventh place even more rewarding.”

The college nationals will be shown on FSN with two shows. The first show will air the weekend of April 23-24 with a second show airing the week of April 25. Check local listings for more information.

A reception is being planned to honor these national championship squads and OCU’s entire contingent of competitive cheer and dance on Sunday at 8 p.m.

For videos and complete results of all performances, click here.

This week it was pointed out that the NBA Dance Brackets are here and are completely un-woman friendly. Sarah Tolcser’s piece on how the NBA and her particular team of choice, the New Orleans Hornets, don’t do a swell job at catering to the estimated 40 percent of NBA fans of the female persuasion started a melee of sorts. Bedazzled and pink team gear, “name those boobs” contests (really, Memphis Grizzlies?), and the aforementioned Dance Bracket make the cut as terrible, terrible ways to draw in and keep women sports fans.

This fall in Oklahoma City, the Lingerie Football League made a push to enter the market. That failed. The mayor didn’t want the league to have a home in Oklahoma City. I was glad to know that someone other than myself was not interested in continuing the cheapening of women even further by having a team in football pads and underthings take the field to play a game I love. Many have told me that the LFL has some serious athletes on their rosters. Fine. But do these athletes really need to play sports half clothed?

The fact that OKC rejected the league gave me a little hope that maybe – just maybe – some people were evolving from the “A League of Their Own” days where women in baseball had to wear skirts to play the game.

Today, I was very unfortunately reminded that the ogling of the female body as a widely acceptable part of current culture is still in full effect. Bikini Basketball, with a motto of “Excellence or Bust”, could be coming to a city near you very soon, folks. In fact, there are tryouts being held in Toronto for a TV pilot about this craziness and the ad reads:

The TV pilot is about sexy female players trying out for Bikini Basketball Entertainment some have never played basketball, and others have some basketball skills from playing in high school. The players get into tense battles as they try to get the one and only spot given with the company that day. The players are judged on their bikini modeling skills, fitness, and basketball skills. 

How nice of the BBE to add that players will be judged on basketball skills in their casting call for a basketball league. Especially a casting call that says “some will have never played basketball”. This is a mockery of the sport. That makes me ill.

I have on numerous opportunities in my life played the role of Switzerland – finding the middle ground, looking through rose colored glasses at not-so-rosy situations. Sometimes in an effort to avoid confrontation, and others as some sort of asenine coping mechanism to allow me to stay blind to stark realities that I wished to be untrue. In the scrapped article, I closed with:

“Boys will be boys” as the saying goes, and the world will keep spinning on its crooked axis. Dance bracket winners and losers will be decided on by guys who are unaware of their reprehensible behavior and little girls will be prompted to continue the vicious cycle, one pompom at a time.But one can dream of that perfect sports utopia of equality, right? Close your eyes, make that wish, and think big – someday it will happen and my rose-colored glasses can faintly see it…

Wow – I must have really wanted to take the glass half full approach on that March day.

Well today those rosy glasses are off, those wishes of equality for men and women in sport are disappointingly unrealistic. The objectification of women, coupled with the promotion of such ridiculous leagues such as the LFL and BBE, prompt me to toss my portend Swissness out the window. In my crystal clear vision, Bikini Basketball isn’t just unacceptable and reprehensible. It doesn’t just insult the game of basketball and its female athletes. It insults me, as a sports fan and as a woman. And I think it needs to go away. Now.

As a happy-go-lucky college student, I had a feeling of invincibility. Life, while sacred and special, was something that I didn’t think about and death, while very real, wasn’t in my thoughts much either. So when January 27, 2001 came around, I was shocked to my core. People I saw on the court, beside the court, and even on the news were gone. People that I waved and smiled to wouldn’t be there to wave and smile back. The deadly crash that cut short – way short – the lives of ten in the Oklahoma State family still brings me to tears when I stop to ponder or sometimes when I pass by the memorial inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Those guys wouldn’t know me by name but it didn’t even matter. They were a part of the Cowboy family – my family.

I was a super senior, so I had graduated just weeks before the crash. OSU sports was very present in my college days whether it be waiting outside for hours upon hours to get into GIA for a basketball game, heading over to the rust bowl for football or cutting a class or two on a great spring day to take in a baseball game at Allie P.

Since I was a December graduate I had, of course, bought season tickets for Cowboy basketball for the 2000-01 season. I still remember going to the last game before the Colorado road trip with my boyfriend. His aunt and uncle came up from Edmond with their small children and after the 76-64 win against Texas A&M on the 24th, we stuck around the gym floor for the two boys to try to get some autographs, namely of Nate Fleming. I’m pretty sure that ticket stub with Nate’s scrawl on it was sent back to the Fleming family soon after as a memento for his folks.

I still remember the bad second half in the Colorado game that burst the winning streak for OSU. I was so disappointed in the team that night, that the game was so lopsided. My boyfriend’s birthday was that day so I was on the phone a little after the game, talking about what had happened during the contest when the news of the crash broke. I know where I was standing, and where I later sat down to absorb the shock of the news that I thought had to be wrong.

I still remember heading up to Stillwater a few days later for the emotional memorial service to say goodbye. Occasionally when I’m at the arena I look up around the seats we were sitting in when the 10,000 of us grieved for the 10 lost.

I still remember the next home game on February 5th against Missouri, when the Cowboys won in a squeaker. Back to playing basketball, but always still remembering that there were people missing, holes that were unfilled.

I still remember the first time I got on a plane after the crash. Ironically, it was a flight from Enid to Denver on a small plane where the flight path eerily – at least to me – resembled the flight path that the three OSU planes took up to Boulder. There were pockets of turbulence that had me grabbing the seat in front of me, saying prayers and wringing my hands in worry that this area was the newest Bermuda Triangle. I have quite an active imagination, and dreams of the crash used to come to me and wake me up from a deep sleep. Images of what might have been happing before, during, after the crash filled my head.

Those ten names are etched in my memory for the rest of my days – not because they’re my flesh, but because they’re my blood – my orange blood. I don’t know if I can say what I learned from the plane crash, only that my love for Oklahoma State is deep and you just never know when you are going to take your last breath. But one thing I do know is –

I still Remember the Ten. And always will.

What do you remember?

The Stars, ranked second in NAIA Division I women’s basketball, advanced to 14-0, 9-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference play after taking down the 20th-ranked Crimson Storm.

OCU was led by a game-high 26 points and four assists by Donica Cosby. Cosby, a senior from Coldwater, Miss., was 9-of-16 on the night, including draining 3 of her 6 3-point attempts. She also added four rebounds, two steals and a block for the Stars.

“I thought Donica had a good game because I thought the last two days in practice, I thought her work ethic was unbelievable,” OCU coach Rob Edmisson said. “I knew she worked hard to get ready to play this game.”

Starr Fairbanks, a senior from Cincinnati, extended her string of double-digit scoring games to five after putting up 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds for OCU. The Stars got 10 points, seven rebounds and six steals by Lauren Gober, a sophomore from Newcastle, Okla.

The Stars went on 14-0 run in the first half that gave the Stars a 26-9 advantage. During the spurt, the trio of Fairbanks, Cosby and Gober accounted for all the OCU offense. OCU held the 45-30 halftime lead after outscoring the Crimson Storm 18-2 off of turnovers and 24-10 in the paint.

“We can do better,” Cosby said of the team’s performance. “Coach talked about us having a higher intensity in practice than we do in the game. We’ve got so much talent, and it’s kind of hard to simulate in games and we have more competitiveness at practice, I think.”

The second half saw scoring at a premium as both teams could only manage 14 points combined in the final 9:02 of the contest. The Stars committed 10 second-half turnovers to keep the scoring margin from breaching 20 points. The high-water mark of a 19-point margin occurred with 3:42 to play and a score of 72-53.

OCU’s usually deep bench only contributed 10 points in the game and the three leading scorers played an average of 30 minutes apiece.

“To start out our energy just wasn’t there, our intensity wasn’t there,” Fairbanks said. “The past two nights we’ve played on a high level and tonight we kind of got bored out there and that’s something we can’t do. We’ve still got to play hard all the way through.”

OCU won the battle of the boards 42-28, forced 25 turnovers and had 14 steals in the game. The Stars, second in the NAIA in assists per game, were credited with 17 assists on 28 made baskets. Southern Nazarene’s only lead was after putting in their first shot of the night.

“I know it’s got to be frustrating when you win a game by 15, 16, 17 points, and you’re not happy,” Edmisson said. “But it’s a big picture thing, and what we’re trying to teach our kids is just to sustain effort and energy every possession no matter what the scoreboard says. We’ve got to come up with a creative way to do some things that are going to challenge our kids in the game.”

OCU takes to the road as they travel to Chickasha, Okla., to face USAO on Saturday at 6 p.m.