AU REVOIR, SAM BRADFORD?
by Orson on Oct 21, 2009 6:05 PM EDT
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PrintA slow white guy can still accomplish some things in life and in football. For instance, he can fall the right way onto Sam Bradford's shoulder and force him to eventually have season-ending surgery. GO SLOW WHITE GUY.
If football is to play metaphor here--oh, and we want it to play the part of meaning/wheelbarrow--it is that a Duke can be brought low by the meanest stableboy's mistake. For two years Bradford was incendiary, throwing for 7,841 yards and 86 TDs in that span and operating one of the most productive offenses of his time running at full-bore off his snap release, booming arm, and sometimes telepathic ability to see holes in defenses. He did this as a freshman and sophomore. People are not supposed to be able to breeze in and do this as underclassmen, but Sam Bradford read that coverage, too, and passed right through it.
His exceptional success came at the cost of exceptionally cruel moments of random fate.
In 2007 his Oklahoma team lost a bizarre game against Colorado at Folsom Field 27-24, and then dropped their second game in Lubbock when Bradford suffered a concussion trying to make a tackle on Texas Tech linebacker Marlon Williams during an interception return. (Another stable hand interfering with the Duke's destiny.) They missed the title game and ran into a runaway beer truck.
In 2008 they ran into fellow nobility only against Texas in the regular season and in the title game; both went down as defeats. Five losses in two years separated Bradford from a national title, with three of the wins being of the strange and (in retrospect) inexplicable variety.
Football, as creative a game as it might be, is ultimately a game where beautiful gives way to brutal. Sam Bradford would have had perfection were it not for the random ugliness of a game based on blocking, tackling, and random contact: the knee to the back of Tim Tebow's helmet, the no-name special teamer who forces a fumble, the kicker whose name will only be remembered by the fellow real estate agents' company he keeps fifteen years later. It is, at heart, a democratic sport played to the mean by the mean.
Bradford said today that he needs more time to decide what he's going to do. Sense dictates that he should have the surgery and go: better that Bradford leave now with some of his special noble sheen intact and cash in with the NFL than stick around and expose himself to further abuse at the hands of his lessers. They get their days in the sun, too, and when they do stuff tends to start breaking and snapping in unpredictable, odd directions.
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scouts from KC and Wash. have already expressed interest
by lt.winslow on Oct 21, 2009 6:30 PM EDT reply actions
Sam Bradford vs Mark Sanchez (w/ Kid Clausen-why not?) Dept:
USC’s Sanchez took the NFL’s money and ran…..
OU’s Bradford took squat from OU and probably cost himself millions….(probably similar to Leinart a few years ago)….
What will ND’s Kid Clausen do at the end of this year? I do not think he is as dumb as he looks and will also take the NFL’s dough right after the end of this season.
by Stacy Keibler Luvs Me on Oct 21, 2009 6:32 PM EDT reply actions
You left out losses to Texas and West f’n Virginia. Still, an excellent QB.
by Orangeblood on Oct 21, 2009 6:46 PM EDT reply actions
So the 2008 45-35 loss to Texas was a peasant revolt?
by Nutter on Oct 21, 2009 6:54 PM EDT reply actions
When in doubt, all NCAA Juniors with NFL skillz will look at Sam Bradford as the sterling example of “what not to do”…..Lets see….play for free and get hurt with about $200.25 in my bank, or get paid and get hurt with “$30,000,000.00 in guaranteed money” in the bank……how does one not see that? As a closing tool, its more effective if the money is in cash form, sitting on the table….he should have gotten an agent…….must be nice to go to the ATM and get some money out, then have the balance have more than one comma in it…..
by Mr. Pelican Pants on Oct 21, 2009 7:26 PM EDT reply actions
Hell, after seeing what happened to Bradford, will Mallett even come back next year?
by ShaneTCU on Oct 21, 2009 8:57 PM EDT reply actions
Fuck Bradford and fuck OU.
Casino dustbowl cheats.
by Orson's Love Slave on Oct 21, 2009 9:23 PM EDT reply actions
You don’t need the runaway beer truck, all you need is this:
by An 'eer with a Beer on Oct 21, 2009 10:59 PM EDT reply actions
If you are a first round pick, you are bound by human decency to declare. Fuck school. It’ll be there when you flame out of the NFL, but at least it’ll be gold and platinum plated fire.
by Brian on Oct 22, 2009 12:47 AM EDT reply actions
Stacy – belated congrats on the win. I had the ND score right (go back and look), I just didn’t account for Harrison Smith somehow not seeing a 6’5" 300lb tight end running down the middle on several occassions.
Clausen is smarter than he looks and he will wait another year. I’m not convinced if he came out this year he would be the first QB taken – but I feel like next year he would be, easily. There’s always the injury risk, but I also think he’s got a lot of pressure from his family and his brothers.
Rick and Casey have a laundry list of things “to prove” and I have no doubt they are hoping to achieve all of it through their little brother.
It doesn’t scare me if he doesn’t come back though – Crist will be just as good if not better.
by atlantadomer on Oct 22, 2009 8:08 AM EDT reply actions
Actually… Bradford suffered his consussion against Texas Tech following a fumble recovery by Allen Patrick, not an interception.
This also happened on the second offensive series of the game for OU.
COTG sees all… smites all…
by CincySooner on Oct 22, 2009 9:05 AM EDT reply actions
I think it remains to be seen whether staying was much of a mistake. If he goes 10th or higher, I don’t think you can guarantee he would have gone any higher last year.
Also, the real people that get screwed may be those guys who want to come back next year and find out that the premiums on a “1st round insurance policy” (which Bradford apparently has) have increased by 200%.
by Steve on Oct 22, 2009 9:21 AM EDT reply actions
Thanks, Orson. I know this is outside of your typical SEC stomping grounds, but it’s good to see a little love for the fallen.
It seems to be an easy matter for those without money (us) to criticize someone else passing up a nice chunk of change, but don’t forget Bradford’s family is already pretty well off. He’s set either way. He came back to play for a school he always dreamed of playing for, and Oklahoma kids typically don’t have such attachments for NFL teams. By rights, shouldn’t Colt McCoy get the same kind of criticism? He came back for another year to quarterback the school he always dreamed of playing for, too, and while he may not have been the top pick, he would have moved up the draft board had he declared last year, particularly in Bradford’s absence. It’s only the injury that makes Bradford the whipping boy. The argument basically boils down to “That Bradford, what an idiot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
And #8, a flaming fuck you to you too. Class is best exemplified when you have the upper hand, and you’ve demonstrated a stunning lack of it. Hell awaits, or as Orson’s love slaves call it, Thursday.
by westbrooke on Oct 22, 2009 9:24 AM EDT reply actions
westbrooke, I don’t really read any criticism in that post.
Bradford seem like a good person, and a player head and shoulders above the pack. It sucks his shoulder has been injured, I hope it gets fixed and he gets paid.
‘eer with a beer, That yakety sax video is funny, his line didn’t have the mobility to protect him in that game. Must have been miserable.
by JB on Oct 22, 2009 10:22 AM EDT reply actions
Hey #8… go lick a straight razor.
I bet you were one of the people that cheered when Bradford stayed down too.
I don’t even know who you cheer for, but COTG saw you type that and karma’s is his specialty.
by CincySooner on Oct 22, 2009 11:33 AM EDT reply actions
#8
Fuck me? Oh yeah, well do you read lips?
FUCK YOU!
by Billy Sims 'Fro on Oct 22, 2009 11:49 AM EDT reply actions
JB, the criticism was definitely not in Orson’s post, it’s in the subsequent comments, and even more egregious in prevailing commentary, about Bradford’s choices. You’re right. No fault of Orson’s.
by westbrooke on Oct 22, 2009 1:14 PM EDT reply actions
Cheers then!
( Bear in mind of course, that if WVU had lost the Fiesta bowl, I’d be obligated to hate Sam Bradford forever. We may have a terrible, extractive based economy, and an inbred political system, but by God we can hold a grudge! )
by jb on Oct 22, 2009 2:40 PM EDT reply actions
Don’t let the SLOW WHITE GUY routine from BYU fool you. History says these mormons are ferocious. Just ask the the unarmed emigrants passing through Mountain Meadows, Utah in 1857.
by Jim Grizzle on Oct 22, 2009 11:35 PM EDT reply actions
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