FanHouse BillySims

If you didn't watch the Heisman Trophy ceremony, where Sam Bradford won the hardware, you missed one of the more unusual events in sports.

Billy Sims, the 1978 Heisman Trophy winner out of Norman, was heard, like a cow being herded, "BOOMER SOONER-ing" as Bradford went to accept the award. In sports, the Heisman Trophy might be the most recognizable and accomplished award there is. Unlike the MVP in any of the professional sports, the Heisman is like winning a Green Jacket. You are part of a club.

Sims apologized for his outburst, kinda. Via MDS at CFT ...

"I've been getting some bad press," Sims told the Tulsa World on Monday. "I apologize to the Bradford family and the Heisman Trust if I crossed a boundary. But, there's no way I'd try to upstage your son's day. I love the university so much. I try to be a spokesman for them. And I will continue to be myself and let people know about the great state of Oklahoma. And I will never, ever stop saying 'Boomer Sooner,' regardless of who don't like it."

Well, "regardless of who don't like it" would include "most people with an ounce of manners."

It is the Heisman ceremony for goodness sakes, not an Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game. You don't hear people screaming "Take it off, Honey!" as the bride is saying "I Do." That would be the wrong place for such a request.

"Boomer Sooner" at the top of your lungs in a formal trophy ceremony is also bad timing. Save it for the bar visit later that night.

If there was one true loser on a night of winners, that man is Billy Sims.

The 1978 Heisman winner and College Hall of Famer made an absolute mockery of the ceremony when Sam Bradford was presented this year's trophy, hooting and hollering "Boomer" repeatedly until a fellow Oklahoman finally responded "Sooner" (based off of the school's fight song).

Not surprisingly, this isn't the first time Sims has lampooned the presentation with his rah-rah antics. When the trophy was presented to quarterback Jason White in 2003, Sims did the same exact thing.

Video of the clowning and a rundown of message board vitriol after the jump...

Lions Head Coach Rod Marinelli made a bold and chivalrous decision immediately following Sunday's disastrous game against the Chicago Bears. He personally assumed responsibility for the team's completely inept and total lack of focus which when coupled with it's sub-par execution lead to Sunday's debacle. Symbolically "falling on the sword" for the team is a transparent coaching ploy that has become a perennial rite of passage in the process of becoming a Lion's head coach. Lion's fans have weathered comments about "raising the bar" and other well-intentioned platitudes that signify that a new sheriff has arrived in town and that expectations have been elevated. Personally, I understand that this a means to which a coach can: A) Deflect negative attention away from their team B) Serve a two-sided notice to the team that it's sub-standard performance has been a cause for public humiliation and that collectively the coaches and team will have to work together to right the ship. That being said, it is hard not to be a little jaded as I watch yet another Lion's coach who is compelled to serve up his mea culpa at a post-game press conference.

In regards to the Lion's performance against the Bears Sunday, the complete physical domination that they suffered from at the hands of the Bears was severe and naively, at least on my part, unexpected. The Lions were coming off of a game in which they had just played a very physical brand of football against the Seattle Seahawks, and many Lion's fans had undeservedly determined that the very same physicality that the team had exhibited in that game would remain an attribute of their play throughout the season. Unfortunately, under circumstances that called for the Lion's needing an even HIGHER level of tenacity in which to face an opponent like the Bears, they allowed themselves instead to be physically dominated. Hopefully, as a Lion's fan, Sunday's game was an aberration and the team will be able to return to a semblance of the physicality that it exhibited against Seattle in future games.

I hate to prematurely attach any extra significance or expectations upon any particular Lion's game, but, if they don't find a way to win Sunday's game at Ford Field against the Packers, this season may take a very ugly and unfortunately familiar course. As a Lion's fan, if there is any upside to the utter dissolution of hopes for any measure of success to occur during a given season, the fact is that the Lion's have had a lot of past success selecting running backs from Oklahoma colleges in previous drafts ( Oklahoma's Steve Owens and Billy Sims, Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders) and Adrian Peterson looks more enticing to me during each passing minute.