What About Bob?
"They're trying to treat him the same way they treated Barry at the end but Bob hasn't done near the same to deserve it."
My uncle is old school, he's retirement age does't use the internet, still subscribes to Spots Illustrated and he buys the morning paper every morning on his walk around town. My uncle is a lot of things, he's a die-hard Sooner first first among them.
I sit here writing this, procrastinating nursing my early afternoon Red Bull because I just got off the phone with my uncle. I meant what I said last night when I said I wouldn't talk about those articles on twitter. so I'm going to talk about it here. Aren't you guys lucky! .My uncles and I talked this week mostly about these article and the merits of them. I explained my position, the topic is newsworthy but the headline struck me as foul, he echoed a similar stance saying the headline was purposely sensationalist and the joining op-ed was something out of the end of the Switzer years.
"They're trying to treat him the same way they treated Barry at the end but Bob hasn't done near the same to deserve it."
That line was dropped and he went on with his thoughts, but that line stuck out to me.If you're not a student of Oklahoma history or born after a certain date you don't have a concept of how bad Switzer handled his business at the end of his era. The end of the Switzer era was probably as toxic as the Briles era just without the advent of social media fishbowl. I think that's what stuck out to us both,
Bob is no saint, lets be real with each other: Stoops function in this life is to win at the sport of American Collegian football. Bob has taken high risk athletes and he has given high risk athletes second chances. Bob's sins however are no where in the realm of Briles, no where in the realm of Switzer.
"They're trying to treat him the same way they treated Barry at the end but Bob hasn't done near the same to deserve it."
I said above I don't find much fault in the article on Westbrook itself, the incidents occurred and are on record and are thus newsworthy. The headlines of the that piece is however incendiary when coupled with the op-ed. Bob Stoops has a track record of giving high risk athletes second chances and that is worthy of criticism. I just can't think of a player who has committed two high profile incidents and been allowed to stay at Oklahoma, but I can give you a list of kids that had major incidents who got their heads on straight..The premise of the op-ed is of course morally right.It's just a fools errand to suggest it. If Stoops is a one strike and you're out guy the competition is there to pick up the player . The reality is if he doesn't take chances his competition will. The reality of this profession if you don't win games, you will be fired.
There is also an issue of the players themselves, what effect does a one strike policy have ? What would Westbrook be doing with his life if he didn't refocus after his incidents? When is being punished either legally or through the university enough? Shouldn't players have a chance of redemption or should they be punished continuously? Westbrooks incidents were years before Bob Stoops even recruited him but seem to being used to enforce a notion that Stoops program is lacking discipline. Westbrook by all accounts changed his live around, long before Oklahoma or Bob came into the picture, while his incidents are newsworthy what is the value now, four years later?
"They're trying to treat him the same way they treated Barry at the end but Bob hasn't done near the same to deserve it."
Bob doesn't deserve to be treated like he's letting the inmates run the asylum, because objectively the outcomes of these incident say he isn't. Fans, boosters, media, need to be aware that there are coaching across the country letting similar incidents occur with less punishment that Bob, . I'll point to Mississippi State, I'll point to Notre Dame, but this isn't about "what about X" This is about Bob, he's objectively been stern on offenders, he does the outreach. You don't want to run off Bob and end up replacing him with someone who may take these things less serious,
I'd be remissed not to end this on a simple undeniable truth. Laying your hands on a woman isn't necessary unless your life is in danger. That's something my uncle taught me. We repeated that on the phone, It's always better to walk away. There is not a single thing that comes out well when a man strikes a woman. When you injure a woman in some cases you're risking who you really are and in some you're showing. what you really are. Violence against women needs to be punished, but punishments do end and all you'll have left is how handle yourself afterwards.
So I'll end this talking about the victims and alleged victims. I don't know the full truth on most of this, I do know however that barring an extreme threat any violence that occurred .was uncalled for. I can't and won't apologize on the behalf of others, but I will say I won't commit such acts myself and I sincerely hope that the incidents decrease both at Oklahoma and around the nation.. I hope Oklahoma sets a rigid guideline and standard dealing with incidents and I hope Bob Stoops is the one to lead that charge.
