OKLAHOMA CITY — Former Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops isn’t much on criticizing young athletes for expressing emotion on the playing field.
That most definitely includes Patty Gasso’s softball squad — and Stoops said as much, with a few choice words.
Stoops addressed the topic going around water coolers and talk radio — criticism that OU softball players celebrate excessively when they get a walk at the plate or a strikeout in the circle — during his weekly segment on “The Rush” with Teddy Lehman and Tyler McComas on KREF radio in Norman.
The Sooners are in OKC preparing to face Florida State in the Women’s College World Series championship series at Hall of Fame Stadium, and they’ll bring their 59-1 record and 51-game winning streak.
They’ve spoken about it several times this week, including at Tuesday’s media day.
When asked, Stoops added his own thoughts.
“It’s ridiculous,” Stoops said. “The bottom line: they play with joy (and) passion amongst theirselves. They’re not doing anything to the other team. So pipe down. If you do that against OU, you’re gonna celebrate the same way. But the rest — that’s ridiculous. I don’t even want to hear it.
“And you know what? Here’s the thing, too: you gotta realize Patty’s team — and when you have some of these teams that just win and win and win — it can get, if you don’t have that joy and fun and passion, it can get boring. I’ve been on some teams where we win and win and win — we win and (people think) we didn’t win good enough. And the guys in the locker room, Teddy, you know this, the guys in the locker room, everybody’s quiet.
“Bull---. You always celebrate a win. You celebrate good plays. You enjoy the game and you have passion and fun for the game. And to me, that best thing Patty’s got going is they love to play and they have joy playing. And if some of that is expressed, so be it.”
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