The Morning Fade – 2.25.11

What They’re Saying
1. Andy Staples has Weeden on his all two-star (and below) team – “Old man Weeden almost predates the star system. Rivals.com and Scout.com were in their infancy during Weeden’s senior year at Santa Fe High in Edmond, Okla., and it appears no one bothered to rank Weeden because everyone assumed his future would be in professional baseball.” (SI)

2. Sam Bryant with an interesting mathematical look at the chance OSU has of still making it to the dance – By all means, go read the entire post, it’s funny and insightful and (I think) spot on. If you’re short on time though the summary is that OSU has a less than 1% chance of having their name announced on selection Sunday. (CRFF)

3. Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan move on – Fowler hammered Mickelson 6 and 5 and Mahan moved past Robert Karlsson 2 UP to face Martin Kaymer in the..uh..sweet sixteen (?). Unfortunately Bo Van Pelt fell to Matt Kuchar or we would have been guaranteed an OSU Cowboy in the elite eight (?) as Kuchar now faces Fowler. (PGA Tour)

4. Ray Penn suspended indefinitely – As freemason10 noted yesterday, “this might be the most meaningless bad news in OSU history.” (News OK)

5. OSU with the first of three straight afternoon home games today – Cal Poly, huh? Was MIT busy playing a home-and-home with Florida State or something? (okstate.com)

6. Good reporting by Jimmie Tramel here on Travis Ford – “Ford said his team has been its own worst enemy at times and vowed to make changes at season’s end. Asked to elaborate on possible changes, Ford said, ‘We’ll talk when it’s over, but there is a lot I have learned. You learned more in adversity than you do in success, that’s for sure.'” (Tulsa World)

7. Good stuff here from Landry Jones and Justin Blackmon at an FCA banquet – “Plainview alum and Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon and Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones were featured, and both testified to their faith in God and how FCA and their relationship with the Lord has grown over the past few years.” (Ardmoreite)

8. Ubben looks at explosive teams in the Big 12 – Really interesting study here by the Ubbs. First, he looked at whose offense put up the most “explosive plays” — defined as any play that went for more than 20 yards. Then he looked at who gave up the fewest “explosive plays” on defense and a +- total. The overall winner? OSU in a landslide. (okstate.com)

Quote to Note
Travis Ford on all the fouls in the last Texas Tech game…

“We might as well have had hatchets on our hands.” (via Jimmie Tramel)

Video(s) You Should Watch
Rickie Fowler takes down Lefty with a nasty 4-iron for the win. Also, anyone else think he looks like he could be Mickelson’s son when they shake hands?

Maybe KD was right…Bosh is a fake tough guy…literally.

You Don’t Want to Miss
Royce Young with some good thoughts on the Jeff Green/Kendrick Perkins trade. Also Berry Tramel weighs in on it although I disagree with his notion that the Thunder can’t win a title this year, I think they can now. Lastly, good read here on how, no matter what happens, Andew Luck is going to get paid.