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Random Razorback Related Tid-Bits Put Wrap on Oklahoma State Game

Minor, yet interesting items before focus fully turns to UAB

Kent Smith

Arkansas Razorbacks Anton Juncaj rushing the passer against Oklahoma State.
Arkansas Razorbacks Anton Juncaj rushing the passer against Oklahoma State. / Craven Whitlow-HitThatLine.com
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With it being Wednesday morning, it's time to put a bow on the happenings of last weekend surrounding the Oklahoma State game and turning the corner fully to focus on the UAB Blazers by addressing some of the more mundane, yet interesting tid-bits that popped up that might not get a lot of attention otherwise.

Keep the Baseball Team Out Your Mouth

Following the game there was a lot of trash talk directed at how Arkansas managed to squander a dominating performance against an overmatched Oklahoma State team. However, one insult that came out of left field was probably more than Razorbacks fans could stomach.

It's one thing to take a shot at the football team as it was fully deserved. However, Oregon State fans using the athletic program's lone weakness to go after one of the crown jewel programs on campus cut deep.

It's hard enough on the locals to see that pop-up drop against the Beavers in the national championship game played over and over each spring, but to drag it up in September and throw it in Hog fans' faces after the football team does what it always does in big games is more than they want to hear. On one hand, fans don't want to see the baseball team drug anywhere near discussion about the football team, but, on the other, it's a fair commentary that doesn't allow for retort.

Get That Man a Dictionary

Following Oklahoma State's win over Arkansas, there was a lot Cowboys quarterback Alan Bowman could have said and it be perfectly true without raising a single eyebrow. However, when he stood at the podium and quipped "...They didn't dominate. Yeah, they didn't dominate. No, they did not."

Unfortunately, the game didn't play out the way Bowman apparently saw it after he holstered his finger pistols. The Razorbacks dominated statistically pretty much everywhere but the scoreboard, and the only reason they didn't dominate there is because Arkansas also dominated Oklahoma State in beating the Hogs in a way the Cowboys never could.

Worst Ad Buy Ever

During the Arkansas game against Oklahoma State, an ad for Direct TV titled "For the Birds" kept playing featuring Colorado coach Deion Sanders as a cowboy hat wearing pigeon literally preaching from the rooftop the virtues of the television service.

There's only one problem. Direct TV was the one carrier that couldn't show the double-overtime game.

Using the tired old tactic of waiting until football season starts or the Super Bowl rolls around to make a power play, Direct TV once again opted to make the terrible choice that long ago sent the carrier spiraling into decline while driving away even the most loyal of customers.

There are still users of the platform in Arkansas, although they typically skew in the the 60+ range. Fortunately, a large number of this crowd still have a 1980s style antenna sitting atop a tall metal pole latched to the side of the house and still remember how to hook it up, so catching the Arkansas-Oklahoma State game was still an option available to them for free.

Between watching the Razorbacks blow a big lead and having to listen to Sanders chirp "Y'all are whining while everyone else is watching non-stop college football," Direct TV customers must have been losing their minds. Still, a truer statement has never been uttered in an advertisement even if that's not how it was intended.

Call Them By Their Name

There has been a movement in recent years to call small schools by more politically correct full names. It's something that has gotten under the skin of graduates of those schools over the years.

For instance, alumni of the university in Conway know the team as the UCA Bears, but have had Central Arkansas Bears forced upon them, much like UAPB has had to give way to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. However, the people at UAB, this week's opponent for the Razorbacks, are fighting the movement to refer to them at Alabama-Birmingham.

So, for the record, out of respect for the people who live and die by this resurrected program, it's the UAB Blazers and not the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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