Baker Mayfield Heisman?

I'm not sure if I have ever seen someone impact a football team the way that Baker Mayfield has impacted the Oklahoma Sooners this year.

It has been said several times throughout the course of the year how infectious his energy and enthusiasm have been to the whole team.

Coming a disappointing season last year in Norman, Baker Mayfield won the starting job in Spring ball in a "close" competition.
Although you would have to do some hard debating to convince me that the competition was even remotely close.

The first evidence that Mayfield was going to be special was the Tennessee game in Knoxville. The 4th quarter performance he put on to will them back to victory really set the tone for the rest of the season.

The loss to Texas in the Cotton bowl was a setback but from that point on Baker has looked like the best QB in the country. He is the most energetic player on the field and everyone feeds off of it. Even the defense has given Baker credit for lifting their spirits as well.

He has made big play after big play and on the biggest stages. Had he not been knocked out of the TCU game I really believe his Heisman case would be even stronger than it already is. He is the first Quarterback to win a big 12 title since Landry Jones in 2012.

I understand that Derrick Henry has been fantastic all year long. But to be honest if the award is based on who has had the most impact on their team? The the award is not even close and Baker Mayfield will be coming home with the Heisman trophy.

20-0 and not slowing down

The Golden State Warriors are playing some of the best basketball we have ever seen. They have not lost since game 3 of the NBA Finals and they don't look like they are going to falter any time soon.

And the leader of that team, Steph Curry, is doing things I have NEVER seen done before on a basketball court.

He is the best player in the league right now and it might not be close.

Leading the league in scoring and doing it mostly with a smile on his face. His combination of endless shooting range and the best ball handling skills in the NBA has been so much fun to watch every single night.

Last night he scored 40 points on only 18 shots. That is UNREAL.

But to say that this team is only Stephen Curry would be selling them short. This is a total team from top to bottom they have all bought into the system.
They move the ball unselfishly no matter the circumstance and they all seem to genuinely like each other and play for one another.

The most impressive thing too may be how tough and gritty their defense has been playing.

Not only do they put up astronomical numbers on the offensive end but they have a top 5 defense in the NBA. Every single player knows where they are supposed to be on the court at all times and it is such a joy to watch them play.

They are the first team in NBA history to start the year with a 20-0. T
hey are in the middle of a 7 game road trip where most people believe they will get tripped up and lose their first game.

I will believe it when I see it.

Kobe Bryant

Los Angeles Laker great Kobe Bryant has announced that this season will be his last.

Since 1996 when the guy first stepped into the league out of high school Kobe Bryant has been one of  the most polarizing players of all-time.

Late game clutch jumpers, the scowl, the split between Shaq, back to back to back championships, and the scandal in Colorado.

There are so many different story lines to think about when you think about his career.

One thing that can not be denied is the 5 NBA championships he won.

FIVE.

That is more than enough to cement your place in history forever and see the number 8 Laker jersey hanging from the rafters inside the Staples Center.

It will be debated until the end of time where he should be placed among the game's greats but he is for certain in the conversation.

For almost 20 years now he has averaged 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. That is greatness and longevity at its finest.

I was never a big Kobe fan personally but it is hard not respect what he has done in the league over the course of his career. Winning 3 championships in a row with Shaq was one of the most dominant runs in basketball history and people will always wonder what could have been if they did not split up.

The most memorable moment, above all the championships, might be the "81" game. When Mr. Bryant put up 81 points in Toronto, the second most in NBA history.

He will be missed greatly and his pure will to win is something that hasn't been seen since Michael Jordan was in a Bulls uniform.

David Price sets the record

In professional baseball, more money is thrown than in any other sport and today we seen a contract that we have never seen before.

7 years

217 million dollars

That is 31 million dollars a year.

David Price signed a contract for that amount to play for the Boston Redsox. That contract, when made official, will be the largest contract ever for a pitcher in the MLB and one of the top 10 highest ever for any player.

Wow.

On average, David Price pitches 32 times during a regular season.
So take that 31 million dollars a year and Mr. Price will be making just under 1 million dollars every time he pitches a game.

Now the guy has been a really good pitcher for quite some time.

He will no doubt be the ace on this for years to come but there is one thing attached to his name that people will continue to harp on. Especially now that he has all this money coming his way.

He has never won a playoff game. Ever.

That does not take away from his regular season success but that is something to watch as we move forward

The MLB continues to increase the amount of money it pays its players and there is no doubt that this contract will be topped by some other player for some other team in the near future.

Thunder look to get back on track against Miami.

After losing a close on to the Hawks on Monday in Atlanta the Thunder have a few days to regrpup before their game against the Miami Heat

The Heat are considered to be contenders in the Eastern Conference after adding point guard Goran Dragic in the offseason, Hassan Whiteside emerging as a force down low, and Dwayne Wade back healthy for the first time in a long time. 

The Thunder are in need of a big road and need to keep improving in a Western Conference that is extremely close from seeds 3-8.
One loss could drop you from 3rd to 8th and a losing streak could be too much to come back from.

The improvement needs for the Thunder are obvious.

Offensive consistentcy is one key for the Thunder to get where they want to go. At time the ball will be moving from side to side and they look unstoppable.
Other times they look very stagnant and struggle to get good looks. It is all about the players completely buying in to Coach Billy Donovan's  system and if they do no one can stop them. 

Defensively it is all about effort. The Thunder give up too many easy lay ups and it just looks as if they don't really care about defense. That has to change and it has to start with the two stars Durant and Westbrook. 

The good thing right now is that the Thunder are sitting third in the West at 11-7 and have won 4 of 5.

But they have not been able to win close games on the road and that needs to start happening as we are over a month into the season. 

Oklahoma City and Miami tip off inside American Airlines arena Thursday night at 6 pm ct on FSOK.

WHO'S IN?

The college football playoffs are starting to clear up as we reach championship weekend for most of the conferences.

Rankings were released again last night for the second to last time.

The top 4 remained the same with Clemson on top followed by Alabama, Oklahoma, and Iowa.

What we know:

• Oklahoma is IN the 2015-2016 College Football Playoffs. Committee chairman Jeff Long stated that OU is comfortably in the 3rd spot and that's without factoring in the conference championship they just won. And OU does not have another game so there is no chance for the Sooners to slip up. 
• The Big Ten Championship game is a play in game for the final spot in the playoffs. With Iowa sitting at number 4 and Michigan State sitting at number 5 it seems pretty obvious that whoever wins that game is in. 
• If Clemson and Alabama both win, Clemson will remain number 1 and be the top seed in the playoffs on New Years Eve. If Bama was going to jump Clemson they would have done so already. 
• Stanford has the best chance to jump into the playoffs should either Clemson or Alabama stumble in their conference championship game. With a win over USC, Stnaford would just have to sit back and hope that one of two top teams get upsets in their games.

If the playoffs were TODAY we would have a matchup between Clemson and Iowa in the Orange Bowl and a rematch of the 2013 Sugar Bowl with Alabama and Oklahoma facing off at the Cotton Bowl inside of Jerry World.

There is still a lot of things that could happen pending the result of this weekends championship games. 

The final rankings will be released Sunday at 11:30 ct on ESPN.

As the dust settles

The Big 12 football season has come to an end in 2015 and this year there is no debate about the best team in the conference.

The Oklahoma Sooners finished off a DOMINANT month of November by going to Stillwater in a de facto conference championship game and absolutely crushed the cowboys in a 58-23 rout.

Sooners are your BIG 12 champions and might be playing better than any team in the country as we near the postseason.

After Notre Dame's collapse against Stanford, Oklahoma is all but assured a spot in the 4 team playoff beginning New Year's Eve, the only question is where will they be seeded.

If you would have told me after the Sooner lost to Texas 24-17 that they would win out and be a top 3 team in the country there is a good chance I would have called you crazy. But Stoops and his boys took a different approach after that game and have reached a level that I am not sure even the head coach himself would of thought was possible.

The offense has completely taken off averaging 47 points a game and dominating both in the air and on the ground.

The duo of Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon has been maybe the best in the country. Baker Mayfield has been a top 3 quarterback with his dazzling highlights and RARE mistakes.

Sterling Shepard has been more productive since Texas than any other wideout in the nation.

Finally, and most importantly, that offensive line has gelled and turned into quite the unit and propelled them to a Big 12 Championship.

The defense has been good all year, but they have been fantastic since the Texas game and don't really have a weaknesses right now.

The Defensive line has been great, getting after the quarterback and allowing almost nothing in the run game. The linebackers are the best in the conference and have been fantastic all season. The most criticized group, the secondary, has been maybe the biggest positive this year. They have been ball hawks, forcing turnovers in almost every single game.

This is a scary team going into the playoffs and will be picked by many experts to win the National Championship.

Saturday night's Bedlam wins mark Oklahoma's 9th Big 12 Championship with the second closest team being Texas with 2.

I think it is safe to say that Oklahoma is back and maybe better than ever as they await their fate in the college football playoffs.