soonerBAS wrote: there was a couple news stories several months ago about how there was talk of making Bootleggers Boy into a movie.  I can't remember all the details but for some reason it seems like the talk at that time was that the movie wouldn't have a lot to do with the part of Barry's life that dealt with while he was coaching but would center more on his early childhood and growing up as the "Bootleggers Boy".  Maybe it's changed, but at the time I didn't think OU and Dallas were to be the focus of the movie.

You are right,that's the way Barry wanted the movie to be made,he wouldn't do it any other way.Barry has had several offers over the years to make a movie about his life but he wanted to focus on his upbringing and not so much on the football part.I for one am looking forward to it.

I was there.  I expect Brad Pitt will play me.

BleedingCrimson4Life wrote: Yeah, no one should be ashamed of the drugs, rapes, shootings, etc that were going on during his watch.

Do you really think Barry wasn't embarassed by that crap that happened?Does that make him responsible?You can only do so much as a coach you can't be their parents and watch them 24/7 too.I remember watching Glen Bell as a running back for the Muskogee Roughers and he was a highly recruited player.Never got into any trouble while he was there.It was a shock to the whole Muskogee community that he got involved with such a thing.(He was later acquitted of all charges by the way).Part of the reason Barry was so successful was because he had a reputation as a players coach.Go and talk to ANY former player who played for him and you will find out they all loved him and would play their hearts out for him.It was just bad circumstances and coincidental that those things all happened at one time.Should Barry have run a tighter ship?I think Barry himself would probably be the first to tell you he should have.But his style had been working for him for 15 years and it was what helped him to recruit the best players available and it was what helped him to win 12 Big 8 championships and 3 national championships in the fifteen years he was there.Hindsight is 20/20 though and his style finally came back to bite him in the rear due to a few overzealous criminal types who he had no idea they would do what they did.Gees man you act like Barry committed all those crimes himself when in reality it was a few bad apples who wound up costing him his career.Bud Wilkinson who is probably the most beloved Sooner coach of all time had a few problems and got OU on probation a couple of times too.Have you ever heard of the infamous slush fund that was going on while he was there?Do you think that was not embarrassing too?Don't judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes and went through the pressure that they went through.If Barry was guilty of anything it was trying so hard to win to feed the "monster".And for that he should be commended not condemned.

CPTMORGANSOONER wrote:

Seriously? Who cares? Are you sure you know what you are talking about? Are you sure you are a Sooner fan? Who cares? I am glad pieces of **** like you aren't actual fans of the Oklahoma Sooners. I am glad pieces of **** like you do not attend games. I am glad because I would gladly let you know that I CARE and so does 99% of Oklahoma fans. I have just fed a troll. But I am proud of it. If this is a person that thinks he/she is a Sooner fan,  then we have just found out that she is not and never will be. I CARE!

BleedingCrimson4Life wrote: Yeah, no one should be ashamed of the drugs, rapes, shootings, etc that were going on during his watch.

More ashamed that we were stupid enough to get caught than the crimes themselves.What I mean is OU wasn't the only university that got too big for their britches,they were the ones that got caught.I don't know who would be dumb or ignorant enough to be proud of the players that were involved.But to blame a coach for the actions of the players after hours is kind of like putting them on par with the military,which of course they are not.Look at the paper today and you'll find 74 students at Alabama arrested for drugs.Some maybe FB players.Is Saban responsible for the actions of his students?No.If he was you would have seen his picture along side the pictures of the 74 students.

unosooner wrote:

soonerfan509 wrote: Some of you on here should be downright ashamed of the way you are talking about Barry Switzer.No true Sooner fan would ever talk about the great Barry Switzer like that.I for one am looking forward to seeing the movie about his life.The way some people blame Barry for what happened back in the late 80s just irks the crap out of me.Barry didn't embarrass or bring shame to the University of Oklahoma those young men who committed those crimes did.Barry had his style of coaching and it worked for 15 years.Guys like Joe Washington who wanted to wear his silver shoes when nobody else would let him came to play for Barry.Barry transformed the college football world because he wasn't afraid to go after the best players he could regardless of what their skin color was.If you have ever read his book and learned what that man has went through in his life and came to accomplish what he did is nothing short of astounding.He came from a poverty stricken area of rural Arkansas the son of a bootlegger who wound up getting murdered by a jealous mistress.Was in his home when his mother committed suicide.Most people who have gone through something like that wind up in jail or dead or both.I have the utmost respect for Coach Switzer,for what he went through, for what he overcame,and for what he became.Not to mention the work he has put into with the Special Olympics.Sure he wasn't always a saint like some of you on here act like you are,but Barry Switzer has a heart of gold.You can see it just by the way he treats people,the way his former players think of him and by the way most people here in Oklahoma think of him.The man has a building on campus named after him,he is a legend and he should be treated as such.

      Well said.Barry was probably the best coach/recruiter to ever walk on a football field.Things that people write (including sports journalists) about Coach Switzer is total crap that half the time is stuff made up,or that their pappy has made up and spread around.If you weren't around when he was coaching you really missed out.I can remember him kneeling down with a cigarette in his hand,thinking what play he was going to run next.He took the Wishbone to a higher level that was unmatched by any coach.He had players on the bench that were 2nd and 3rd string players that would start on any other team,he was that good.

I'll never forget seeing him kneeling down with cigarette in hand many times. On more than one occasion he was so focused & dragging on that cigarette so hard that he literally finished it in a single drag. He was & still is the man!

BleedingCrimson4Life wrote: Yeah, no one should be ashamed of the drugs, rapes, shootings, etc that were going on during his watch.

You fail to mention the championships that he WAS responsible for. The things you mention are overstated & beyond his responsibility or control!

Barry Switzer is OU Football. I don't know what this product on the field today is, but it's not Oklahoma Football. I think the term "chokelahoma" has gone on far too long. It's time for our opponents to fear the Sooners again, just as they did when Switzer ran his team onto the field on a mission, a mission to humiliate the opponent and send them home telling their friends, parents, children, etc., they got to play against the Great Oklahoma Sooners. Boomer Sooner.

If you have a problem with Barry Switzer, you have a problem with Oklahoma Football, period. People act like OU was the only program that had problems. Barry went out of his way to help out the players on his team. If you were playing football for OU on a sports scholarship, you had no way of making money. Those that were a part of bringing in the majority of the money to support the university, athletics program, and yes, THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA, were walking around campus with the most raggedy clothes. Switzer was from the ghetto. Switzer knows what it's like to be poor. Switzer knows, period. If you don't like Switzer, then you aren't a Sooner fan. I'm sorry. I'm not one to say you aren't a Sooner fan this, or that because of this, or that, but if you have a problem with Barry Switzer, then you have a problem with OU Football. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. Say what you want about what I have to say, but I promise you that fans of Oklahoma Football from the beginning to now understand exactly what I am saying. If you don't agree with me, then you probably just started watching OU about 10 years ago or were one of those blowhards that wanted him out because you simply didn't agree with is ways. So be it. If you7 didn't agree with is ways, then you probably wouldn't like any other team, or coach, or anything sports wise for that matter so you either need to stfu, or throw on your crimson and support your team through the thick and thin. Boomer Sooner!

goodolesooner wrote: Barry Switzer is OU Football. I don't know what this product on the field today is, but it's not Oklahoma Football. I think the term "chokelahoma" has gone on far too long. It's time for our opponents for fear the Sooners again, just as they did when Switzer ran his team onto the field on a mission, a mission to humiliate the opponent and send them home telling their friends, parents, children, etc., they got to play against the Great Oklahoma Sooners. Boomer Sooner.

I totally agree!..Of course by saying this & not bowing down and praising Bob Stoops, there's going to be some that say were not Sooner fans. At the same time I'm amazed how many on here want to put down the great coach Barry Switzer. There's just way too many that's content with the mediocrity we have today.

RJRingo wrote:

goodolesooner wrote: Barry Switzer is OU Football. I don't know what this product on the field today is, but it's not Oklahoma Football. I think the term "chokelahoma" has gone on far too long. It's time for our opponents for fear the Sooners again, just as they did when Switzer ran his team onto the field on a mission, a mission to humiliate the opponent and send them home telling their friends, parents, children, etc., they got to play against the Great Oklahoma Sooners. Boomer Sooner.

I totally agree!..Of course by saying this & not bowing down and praising Bob Stoops, there's going to be some that say were not Sooner fans. At the same time I'm amazed how many on here want to put down the great coach Barry Switzer. There's just way too many that's content with the mediocrity we have today.

Thank you! The majority of Sooner fans agree with you and myself. The internet is a place for people to vent in front of a computer screen, but those of us that attend every game in Norman, or watch them on our couch at home every week would agree with us. Let the rest speak their mind, but those that disagree with us simply do not understand Oklahoma Football.

I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but throwing Switzer under the bus is simply unacceptable, period.

goodolesooner wrote:

RJRingo wrote:

goodolesooner wrote: Barry Switzer is OU Football. I don't know what this product on the field today is, but it's not Oklahoma Football. I think the term "chokelahoma" has gone on far too long. It's time for our opponents for fear the Sooners again, just as they did when Switzer ran his team onto the field on a mission, a mission to humiliate the opponent and send them home telling their friends, parents, children, etc., they got to play against the Great Oklahoma Sooners. Boomer Sooner.

I totally agree!..Of course by saying this & not bowing down and praising Bob Stoops, there's going to be some that say were not Sooner fans. At the same time I'm amazed how many on here want to put down the great coach Barry Switzer. There's just way too many that's content with the mediocrity we have today.

Thank you! The majority of Sooner fans agree with you and myself. The internet is a place for people to vent in front of a computer screen, but those of us that attend every game in Norman, or watch them on our couch at home every week would agree with us. Let the rest speak their mind, but those that disagree with us simply do not understand Oklahoma Football.

I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but throwing Switzer under the bus is simply unacceptable, period.

I am definitely with you guys,I rarely say anything negative to anybody because I believe people are entitled to their own opinions.But seeing Barry getting bashed on here was a little more than I could take.Barry loves the University of Oklahoma,his former players,his fans,and Oklahoma period.I think most of the people on here bashing him have no idea of what it was like growing up in the 70s and into the 80s and watching all of those great teams.Barry has probably forgotten more about recruiting than most coaches will ever know in their lifetime.Who else would be innovative enough to call one of his prize recruits during halftime of a game he was hanging half a hundred on,he and Billy Sims still laugh to this day about that story.Or walking into a cafeteria in Irving Texas wearing a fur coat and yelling out Where's Boz! Where's Boz at?!I know you want one of these!(holding up one of his fingers with a NC ring on it).Or asking Billy Sims to fly down to Philadelphia Mississippi to impress a young man by the name of Marcus Dupree to come to OU when every coach in America was down there trying to recruit him.There's a damn good reason Barry was and still is the "king".

Barry Switzer is someone that stands out to me as being a common sense guy that understands the rules but also understands that sometimes the rules are wrong.  Like when the player didn't have money to go home to a funeral or whatever.  He was and always will be a hero of mine.  I sure hope they have a part in there for Coach Lynn Yarborrough, who was his HS football coach and father figure while he was in his school days.  He changed Barry's stars by never giving up on him and always being there for him.