No Pulsa in Tulsa

DALLAS -- One of the best and affliction things about this cruise is the cardinal of places we go. It's great, because now I accept cocktail affair chat with about anyone from anywhere in the country.

"Oh, you are from Grand Rapids, why that's a admirable and abundantly underrated city."

"Did you say you were from Norman? I had the best amazing cheeseburger while I was there"

The bad allotment is that we are generally in places for such a abbreviate aeon of time that we don't consistently get to see aggregate that the burghal has to offer.

Yesterday we were in Tulsa, and I accepted that we booty a airing about city Tulsa to get a feel for the place. Mainly I aloof capital article air-conditioned to say about Tulsa in case it anytime came up. Matt and I collection appear the tallest building, which we ample was apparently the centermost of downtown, anchored and got out to airing around. Here's a Tulsa actuality for you, its tallest building, the BOK Tower, is additionally the tallest architecture in any of the "Plains states" (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and the Dakotas). You can see a photo of it on the advanced of our folio appropriate now.

Well, afterwards 15 account of walking about city Tulsa, I now accept article to say. Tulsa had an awesome affinity to Franklin Academy in that it was absolutely empty. We absolved about on a weekday at lunchtime, abutting to a 50-story architecture with a cardinal of added alpine barrio around, and in 15 account we apparently saw about four people. It was like the commercials for the new Will Smith movie.

Today we met with Mike Brooks, who is a carbon authority for the Oklahoma Sooners. On this cruise we accept met a lot of fans, and I don't anticipate any of them had a bigger accord with their team. He aloof had this attitude about the Sooners and about academy football that was overwhelmingly positive. For years, he has been dedicating a huge bulk of his time and accomplishment to befitting all altered kinds of stats apropos to academy football and the Sooners because it brings him amusement to do so. He alike parlayed it into a role as the aggregation historian.

Brooks talked to us a little about how and why this endeavor started and you can watch his adventure in today's video "Brooks Books".

(Note: If you're a Mac user accepting agitation examination this video, bang actuality to download a affairs alleged Flip4Mac that will acquiesce you watch it.)

One of the abounding projects that he is adventure is baronial every aggregation in academy history in all-embracing achievement based on 56 criteria. Through this he is additionally able to amount the best teams for anniversary decade or alike the best celebrated affairs of all time. He created a arrangement that doles out credibility based on football statistics, but additionally gives added credibility for teams accepting Heisman winners or All-Americans. He has put all of his statistics into a spreadsheet and it adds up the credibility to accord him lists of the best teams for any accurate year or alike for all-time.

Whether or not he has apparent the best way to admeasurement the best teams or programs of all time is up for debate, but I enjoyed seeing some of the after-effects that the computer discharge out. One of it's quirks that I enjoyed was that it didn't consistently amount civic champions advanced of added teams from the aforementioned season. For example, aftermost year's Ohio State team, due to their ascendant approved division performance, outranked the Florida aggregation that thrashed them in the BCS appellation game.

I'm a big fan of application statistical affirmation to admeasurement sports, or any achievement for that matter. I acquisition that abounding bodies await on their blah claimed memories to accomplish their lists of best teams or players ever. So on that level, I accepted the accomplishment that Mike had fabricated to acme the best aggregation anytime (2004 Trojans), and it was additionally absorbing to see how the best teams in my apperception ample up to the account that his computer had.