Bleacher Report - Articles by Roberto Bobert

The Sickness Of Drafts and Recruiting

Roberto Bobert — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:14:36 -0400

Am I a fan or a crazy person? Why does college recruiting matter to me? Who in their right mind wastes a Saturday in front of a TV watching a non-sporting sports event with such fervor? Why do I enjoy the NFL Draft and the NBA Draft so much? Every pick is an event.

The NFL draft is two days long. My favorite team is the Seahawks. I almost get physically ill when it's their pick. Then they trade down. It's like watching your favorite TV series, coming to the exciting part, and finding out it is a two-parter and you have to wait until next week to see the conclusion.

I'm still excited when Mr. Irreverent is picked with the final pick in the draft, and I always hope he's a superstar. After the draft I check the computer every day to see who has been signed as rookie free agents.

The NBA Draft is a little harder to follow. Kids come out of college way too soon. You may never have heard of a player. Who knew Nowitki before the draft? The influx of foreign-born players and no TV coverage of European leagues makes it difficult to be familiar with many of the players coming over. Sure, I know Ricky Rubio's name. I saw him in the Olympics. When D Blair falls all the way to Phoenix in the draft, I'll be screaming for them to pick him, even though they most likely will take Omri Casspi, who I have never seen play. I will be grateful they didn't just give away the pick.

I used to collect sports cards, and the Draft picks were always my favorite cards. This is mostly because they had the potential to be worth the most if the pick panned out. The thrill of opening a new pack of cards and finding that number one pick's rookie card, and thinking, "If I hold on to this it could be worth millions." OK that's a slight exaggeration. Maybe that's what seeded my sickness?

The University of Oklahoma is my team. I didn't go to school there, and I wasn't born in Oklahoma. I went to high school in Tulsa and the infection set in. I'm brain-washed. The Sooners can do no wrong. My office-mate and I jabber excitedly when one of our beloved Sooners gets picked up by an NFL team as if we're related to them and stand to inherit millions from his success. We go to CBS Sportsline, where we can see where all the OU alumni are playing. Yes, we cheer on the Vikings now. AD is there. We want him to win a Superbowl, he's one of us.

The NBA draft is coming up soon, and Blake Griffin is supposed to be the No. 1 pick; and, even though the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks are my two favorite teams, I will be cheering for Griffin. We are still huge Najera fans, even though it is difficult to keep up with which team he is on now.

And what about recruiting? Does it really matter? To me it does. I get RSS feeds sent to my computers and cell phone when a new recruit signs. I'm excited to see how many stars the recruiting scouts have given our newest player. When I see that five-star recruit sign, it's party time. Of course when it's a three-star recruit, it's because OU's coaching staff knows more than those stupid recruiting geeks and the player should be rated higher, like Bradford.

As you can see, I've got a sickness. I realize just because a guy is drafted high does not mean he will have success. A five-star recruit may never see the field. He may be a stud quarterback, fall out of the back of a pickup, and never amount to anything but an AFL two-player.

Is it because of the hope? Each new player may be the piece to take us to the Promised Land. Kind of akin to Christmas, you never know whats in that package until you open it and play with it a while.

Am I the only on this messed up? I guess I'll know it's time to seek help when I take the day off to watch the MLB Draft.

Tim Tebow Just the Sixth-Best QB to Face Oklahoma in 2008 Season

Roberto Bobert — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:59:38 -0500

A lot of attention during the BCS Championship game was given to Dominique Franks saying Tim Tebow would be the fourth-best QB in the big 12. I wondered how Tim Tebow ranked as far as a QB's performance against OU this season. Doing a little research, it seems Franks overestimated Tebow.

For QB rating against the OU team this season, Tebow graded out as the sixth-best QB to play against OU this season.

Player Team QB Rating

Zac Robinson, Oklahoma St. 177.83
C. McCoy, Texas 155.91
Josh Freeman, Kansas St. 143.24
Ronnie Fouch, Washington 140.62
Todd Reesing, Kansas 134.94
T. Tebow, Florida 133.62
D. Grutza, Cincinnati 133.14
Graham Harrell, Texas Tech 129.50
Chase Daniel, Missouri 126.32
Jake Locker, Washington 120.57
Andy Dalton, TCU 81.56
Jerrod Johnson, Texas A&M 77.12
Robert Griffin, Baylor 66.54
Joe Ganz, Nebraska 53.8
Tony Pike, Cincy 25.13
All QB, Chattanooga just really Bad

That may not be how some people judge a QB. Let's look at points scored against OU. This time Tebow ranks a mediocre eighth.

Player Team Points against OU

C. McCoy, Texas 45
Zac Robinson, Oklahoma St. 41
Josh Freeman, Kansas St. 35
Todd Reesing, Kansas 31
Joe Ganz, Nebraska 28
Jerrod Johnson, Texas A&M 28
D. Grutza, Tony Pike, Cincinnati 26
T. Tebow, Florida 24
Graham Harrell, Texas Tech 21
Chase Daniel, Missouri 21
Robert Griffin, Baylor 17
Jake Locker, Ronnie Fouch, Washington 14
Andy Dalton, TCU 10
All QB Chattanooga 2

The points scored may not be entirely fair either, without examining the defensive or special teams scores.

Each QB could be rated based on yards passing, completion percentage, total yardage, or best hairdo. The only category Tebow was No. 1 in against OU is total rushing yardage for a QB.

The conclusion of all this: Lay off Dominique Franks—he was correct.

Congratulations to Florida on winning the National Championship. Maybe OU will meet UF in next year's BCS Championship game?

My Five Concerns for the Oklahoma Sooners in The BCS National Championship

Roberto Bobert — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:01:09 -0500

Like everyone else in Sooner Nation I am worried about tomorrow's game. From the other Big 12 games I have watched this Bowl season, my opinion is every defensive coach outside the Big 12 thinks the way to stop Big 12 offenses is the Blitz. I expect Florida to throw the house at the Sooner line every down until we burn them a couple of times.

My top five concerns:

Phil Loadholt. Last year Phil could not stop the speed rush thrown at him. Will he be able to keep his feet under him and stop the end rush this year?
Middle Linebacker. Is Auston Box ready? Is he even the best player at that position? He always seemed a step out of position to me. Arriving to the ball after the runner was down or over running the play. Should Balogun be the starter and allowed to put a few hits on Tebow...if he can catch him? Or does Lewis get the nod at MLB? Let Harris play outside LB and Carter at safety?
Mosis Madu. Will he be able to step in and take up the slack for Murray? Can he catch the quick screen and disappear like Murray?
Kickoffs. Uh, could we just kick it out of bounds?
Field goals. Can Jimmy Stevens hit a clutch field goal? He's missed 4 XP. Sure his leg might have gotten tired from all the attempts, but an XP? 8 of 11 on FG's? A long of 42 yards. And Moreland is 0 of 1 from 40 - 49 yards.

Somebody alleviate my concerns. Tell me I'm just a pessimist. In the famous words of Billy Sims "BOOMER!"