Without a doubt, Berry Tramel is the best writer at The Oklahoman. It's not even close. I guess you can say he's like the Patrick of The Oklahoman sports department. No other writer on staff can match his intellect, brilliance, quick wit, ability to irritate Regular Jim Traber and penchant for quality nicknames.
Actually, I take that last bit back. Berry's nowhere close to me when it comes to nicknames. I have Hipster Boo Boo, Lord England and even Boomer Tramel in my back pocket. What's he got? Foreman Scotty and Kid Nichol. Also, I haven't spent seven disastrous years trying to get people to call our OKC Thunder the Boomers. What an awful nickname for the team. No wonder Russell Westbrook doesn't like him.
But seriously, bad nicknames aside, Berry Tramel is a great sports columnist. He's at his best when he's playing the role of contrarian, offering an insight or opinion that you haven't considered. His persuasive arguments will make you look at things from a different point of view, and possibly even change your mind.
For example, check out this terrifying column about OU interception thrower Trevor Knight:
This time last year, Trevone Boykin was at best a dubious quarterback candidate. At worst, a bust.
The TCU hybrid, who had played receiver and halfback when not replacing the suspended and/or injured Casey Pachall, made 15 quarterback starts in 2012 and 2013. The Frogs went 5-10 in those games. Boykin completed 58.1 percent of his passes and had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 22/17. Unacceptable numbers in modern football.
Last August, most thought Matt Joeckel would quarterback the Frogs. Joeckel did, too, why else would he have transferred from Texas A&M.
But TCU switched offenses in 2014, going to the Air Raid. A powerhouse emerged. A star was born.
Boykin threw for 3,901 yards, 33 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. He was the Big 12 offensive player of the year and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
So are we sure we want to shovel dirt onto Trevor Knight’s quarterbacking career?
The OU incumbent enters the 2015 with much more in common with Trevone Boykin than the first five letters of their name. Let us count the ways:
And boy, does he count the ways. He could probably have just stuck with "And Josh Heupel is no longer his coach," but with stats and stuff Berry actually makes a compelling case that Trevor Knight's career can be resurrected, and the same quarterback who threw bad passes that somehow were not intercepted by a lackadaisical Alabama defense in the 2014 Sugar Bowl can come back and lead the Sooners to a championship.
For doing that, I have one thing to say to you Berry Tramel. Get a life! How dare you give me hope and optimism! I've done everything possible to convince myself that Knight is awful (like watching OU football games) and here you come along giving me second thoughts. Have you not watched this guy play? Can you please let Jenni Carlson cover the Trevor Knight beat from here on out? I'd rather not read some cliché human interest fluff piece about how Knight had to overcome some obstacle when he was 10 and does mission work overseas and cures the blind than a compelling case that he'll come back a better football player.
Seriously, I don't know if I can handle another year of Trevor Knight. If you follow TLO on Twitter, you may know that I can get a bit emotional during OU Football games. I suffer from "The Original Oklahoma Standard," which is a strange affliction that causes OU football fans to have insanely high expectations, behave irrationally and lose their minds when things go bad during a game.
To make matters worse, I didn't even go to school there. OSU fans like to criticize me for that, and you know what, I don't blame them. Even though OU is our state's NFL team (they do have a long, storied tradition of paying players) and I've been a fan since I was a kid, I do feel a bit silly sometimes cheering for a school I didn't attend. That being said, at least I didn't go to OSU. That would have been awful.
Anyway, football season is just a month away, and I've confirmed that Gravy Train will be back with his football columns. Some of you will like that. Others, well, probably not. I'm also going to try to bring back my OU football expert panel. Maybe Boomer Tramel will participate.
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