Saturday Night: Stars are Born!

I spent Saturday night watching the birth of three stars. Oklahoma unveiled a pair of redshirt freshmen, quarterback Sam Bradford (#14) and running back DeMarco Murray (#7). Undoubtedly, Bradford had the finest opening game to a career of any QB in the history of college football. He completed 21-23 passes. Repeat: 21 of 23 passes! That's a completion percentage of 91 percent. His 21 passes went for 363 yards (a whopping 15.8 per completion). And he threw for three touchdowns and had Z-E-R-O picks. While T-U Shorthorn fans will point out that these gaudy numbers came against mortal foe North Texas State, not even those losers can deny that completing 91 percent of your passes in your first college game is remarkable. (By the way, T-U Fans, nice job almost losing to powerful Arkansas State, 21-13.)

As for Murray, he was not even supposed to be the starting running back last night. (Senior Allen Patrick missed the game with a bad ankle.) The electric rookie from Las Vegas carried 17 times for 87 yards (5.1 yards per carry) and score not once, but five times!

Finally, while channel surfing during a commercial in the third quarter, I caught an ESPN update that Clay Buchholz, in just his second start in the majors, was no-hitting the Orioles into the 7th inning. I quickly switched over and caught the final three innings of his no-hitter. I must give credit to My Father, who saw Buchholz pitch for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox in July and promptly told me, "That kid will be a star next year." Alas, no one's perfect. Instead of waiting until next year, Buchholz decided last night was the time to be a star.