Turning the Page

It's a skill. A skill no one is born with. While throwing and catching and blocking and tackling grab the headlines, the trained, practiced and disciplined skill of "turning the page" is equally vital.

I've been fortunate to travel with the Sooner football, men's basketball and baseball teams for the last 16 years now, and I've called somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 games. I've got the best job in the world and I'm blessed to have called way more wins than losses. And, I am profoundly impressed with the ability of young athletes to turn the page and move on to what's next.

It's not an option. It's a requirement, whether they're celebrating a big win or lamenting a tough defeat. The players and teams that can quickly and skillfully put the past in the past give themselves the best chance for success again in the future.

After the OU baseball team lost Game 2 of the National Championship Series to North Carolina, a game where nothing seemed to go their way, the Tar Heels had seized momentum with one final decisive Game 3 on the horizon the next day.

Sooners Head Coach Skip Johnson was making his way to the locker room to address his team when he saw "The King," Barry Switzer, who leaned in and told OU Baseball's lovable leader, "It's OK, Coach. You know what follows a loss? A win!"

Skip smirked and then stepped in front of his battle-weary and disheartened squad and said, "Get your heads up, men. You know what follows a loss? A win!"

The team burst into cheers and just like that Oklahoma took the momentum back without ever swinging a bat. The next day they finished off the most improbable and inspiring run to a championship in OU history. They turned the page with eight words. "You know what follows a loss? A win!"

I was courtside in January 2016 for the greatest college basketball game I've ever seen — the Oklahoma-Kansas triple-overtime thriller at Allen Fieldhouse. Buddy Hield scored 46 points and was so amazing that when he came back out of the locker room to do an interview with ESPN after the game, the Kansas fans gave him a standing ovation.

The next day I asked Buddy if that was the best game of his life? He said to me, "I don't know. Maybe. If I scored one more basket in regulation or the first couple overtimes we would've won. But, it doesn't matter. We've got to get ready for Kansas State on Saturday." He had 31 points, eight rebounds and five assists against the Wildcats and the Sooners were right back on track.

No Sooner athlete I've covered worked harder than Buddy. He was relentless. They couldn't keep him out of the gym at all hours of the day and night. And it rubbed off on a team that went all the way to the Final Four. And while Buddy was an incredible shooter, the skill nobody talked about was his ability to turn the page. Wins and losses mattered, but not to his work ethic. It was always about what's next. That team had some stinging losses along the way. But, they mastered the skill of putting the past in the past and being laser-focused on the here and now.

Saturday's result in Ann Arbor was disheartening. It was a gut punch for everybody in Crimson and Cream. Improvements need to be made. Throwing and catching and blocking and tackling need to get better with a daunting schedule ahead. And learning from the past is an absolute necessity. But staying there doesn't win the next one. Win or lose, turn the page. Tomorrow depends on it.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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