LITTLE ROCK — OU coach: NFL call up to QB
With quarterback Sam Bradford's status for No. 8 Oklahoma's game at Miami on Saturday night up in the air, Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops found himself answering questions Tuesday about whether the Heisman Trophy winner should be playing with the Sooners this season.
Asked to respond to criticism that he should have pushed Bradford, who is attempting to recover from a sprained joint in his right, throwing shoulder, to enter the NFL Draft instead of returning for his junior year, Stoops said it "is ridiculous and it is insulting and it's foolish to say that."
"Everybody's entitled to their opinion, but for me to force a guy to go out and then what if it isn't the right decision? I don't need to tell you how things can always go in the draft," Stoops said. "In the end, it's not my job to force a guy to come out. It's my job to educate my players on all the possibilities and then it's up to the individual and his family to make that decision."
Stoops talked about his role in advising players who consider entering the NFL Draft early.
"To me, our job is to make sure that our guys know exactly what you're capable of, where you're at and what are the possibilities of you being picked at this position?" he said.
Presto!
Coach Flip Saunders opened his first Washington Wizards training camp by bringing in humor hypnotist John Ivan Palmer to work his behavioral control magic on several members of the organization.
The Wizards are trying to recover after last year's injury ruined 19-63 season that cost Coach Eddie Jordan his job before Thanksgiving.
Guard Nick Young was the life of the party, riding a broom as if it were a horse. Three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas found himself unable to unclench a fist. Guard DeShawn Stevenson - known for his "can't feel my face" gesture when he scores a basket - said he literally was unable to feel his face.
"It just opened everybody up.
Everybody bonded with each other," Stevenson said. "Instead of everybody coming here and sitting in our rooms with nobody talking to each other, we were in a room laughing. It made us close."Roundabout
Ernie Els is taking the long way from Atlanta to San Francisco for the Presidents Cup.
He is playing this week at the Dunhill Championship in Scotland, the European Tour's version of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. It is played over three courses (St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Kings Barn). And it's a long way from California.
Els will play again with his father, Nils.
"That tournament has been so dear to myself and my dad," he said. "Except for last year, we made the cut until the fourth day every time. So it's a great time forme and my dad to be together at the home of golf."
Els, who turns 40 the weekend after the Presidents Cup, says he has a harder time recovering from long flights, but he has a plan.
"I've got a G-5,"he said. "It flies straight in. I'll do a lot of sleeping, a lot of resting.
It's just the time change, that's all."Quote of the day "My dream, when I was building Cowboys
Stadium, was that the stadium could become Razorback Stadium West. And I think that's what it is." Dallas Cowboys owner and former Razorbacks player Jerry Jones
Sports, Pages 20 on 09/30/2009