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Drillers week in review, week 5

 The Tulsa Drillers are finally getting things rolling at home. After starting the week with a 7-0 loss at Springfield, Tulsa returned home and won two of three against the Arkansas Travelers and one of two against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Highlights from the past week included a come from behind win over Arkansas on Wednesday, the return of 2004 Minor League Player of the Year Jeff Francis onalt Thursday and a 9-0 thrashing of the Naturals on Sunday.

Two more home games with the Naturals await the Drillers this week before they embark on an eight-game road stretch.

LOOKING BACK

Monday Massacre: Tulsa dropped the final game of a four-game series at Springfield, losing 7-0 after winning the previous three games in the series. Springfield’s Scott Gorgen scattered three hits through seven innings as the Cardinals crushed two homers that accounted for five of their runs. Bruce Billings allowed six hits, picking up his third consecutive loss for the Drillers.

Tuesday Triumph: The Drillers held on to beat the Travelers at home in a low scoring affair. Keith Weiser threw 55 strikes in seven innings of work, allowing only one run to pick up his second win of the season in a 2-1 decision. Tulsa’s Daniel Mayora hit his first home run of the season in the first inning.

Wild Wednesday: The bats were aplenty for both teams during a rare morning game that saw over 5,000 local school kids in attendance. Andy Graham improved his record to 2-0 on the season, allowing just one hit in 1.2 innings of relief work. A five run fourth inning rally erased a 4-1 Arkansas lead as the Drillers claimed an 8-4 win after a late-game two-run dinger by Jason Van Kooten.

Thursday Marathon: Francis saw his first action since 2008 as he continues to rehab from shoulder surgery that sidle-lined him for the entire 2009 MLB season. Francis struck out three, while allowing five hits through 4.2 innings. Twelve scoreless innings extended a 2-2 tie into the top of the sixteenth inning before Arkansas designated hitter Paul McAnulty blasted a two-run shot to right field to secure a 4-2 win.

Saturday Struggle: The Drillers fell 8-1 to the Naturals in their first of a four-game home series. Edgar Osuna allowed just one run and four hits through six innings as he picked up his fourth win of the year for Northwest Arkansas. Designated hitter Ernesto Mejia hit two home runs, including a three-run third inning shot that put the Naturals comfortably in the lead while they out-hit the Drillers 13-5.

Sunday Stampede: Billings picked up his second win of the season, as he struck out three while allowing just four hits and no runs as the Drillers defeated the Naturals 9-0. Tulsa’s bats came to life in the middle of the game, as they scored two runs in the fourth, three runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach. Drillers’ right fielder Ryan Harvey collected his fifth homer of the season on a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday and Tuesday mark the final two games of a four-game set at ONEOK Field with Northwest Arkansas. Monday’s game is set for a 7:05 p.m. start, while Francis is tentatively scheduled to start for the Drillers on Tuesday at 12:05 p.m. Tulsa has the day off on Wednesday for travel, then they will close out the week with a four-game set at Arkansas through Sunday. The Drillers will not return home until Friday, May 21 when they again host the Springfield Cardinals for a four-game series.

STANDINGS

 Texas League North: Northwest Arkansas (19-10), Springfield (15-15), Arkansas (12-16), Tulsa (12-17). Texas League South: Frisco (18-12), Midland (15-15), Corpus Christi (14-16), San Antonio (13-17).

ONEOK A WINNER

To quote the voice from the heavens in the classic baseball movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” That is what has been happening at the new ONEOK Field in downtown Tulsa. Through 15alt home games the Drillers have drawn 94,681 fans for an average of 6,312 per game. The single-season attendance record for the Drillers was set during the 1999 season when 351,929 attended a game at Drillers Stadium.

Tulsa currently ranks second in the Texas League behind Frisco, who with one more home opening to date has had 117,257 fans in attendance for an average of 7,328 per game. If the Drillers keep pace with their current average they will surpass last year’s attendance by more than 125,000 fans. Through 70 home dates last season the Drillers attendance was 316,365 (4,520 average) while this season they are on pace to play host to 441,840 fans.

Early grumblings from nay-sayers have been proven wrong, as fans have found that plenty of parking does exist within walking distance to the new stadium. While Drillers Stadium was a staple to baseball fans for over two decades, it is clear to see that ONEOK Field was a much needed improvement. The wide open concourses with clear views of the field is just one reason for even the most casual fan to attend a game.

A full concourse wrapping around the entire field meets with general admission berm seating in center and right fields, while the left field terrace seats are a great place to catch that coveted home run ball. There is also plenty of standing room with drink rails along the right field line and a large platform along the left field line. Throw in the breath taking views from the seats along the third base line, and this stadium has the makings of a home run for downtown Tulsa.                                                                                                                                                                        Photo by John Hall

 

Vipers snakebit by Talons defense 62-56.

Rich Lohman

Talons D superb in 3rd quarter; Odie Armstrong scores 3 TDs as Talons come from 15 points down to win.

TULSA, OK–In arena football as in open-field football, great defensive play is a key to winning  games.  It was certainly true of the Tulsa Talons defense as they came up big in the 3rd quarter of their game against the 3-1 Alabama Vipers on Saturday night. 

The Talons defense hit their stride at just the right moment as they sacked Alabama QB Kevin Eakin 3 times in the 3rd quarter.  One of those sacks came from Tulsa’s Jamar Ransom in the end zone resulting in a safety that would put the Talons ahead for the first time in the game.  The biggest challenge for the Talons defense would be the containment of the Vipers and the leagues leading rusher, Dan Alexander.  Coming into the game, the 6-0 260lb back from Nebraska entered the game with 15 TDs and 153 yards in only four games for Alabama.

  

The less known running back was the Talons Odie Armstrong.  Armstrong tore 37 yards up the middle in the third quarter to score a key touchdown for Tulsa.  In all, Armstrong would contribute 3 touchdowns on the night along with 41 yards averaging 10.3 yards per carry.  The other offensive weapons in the Talons camp managed to have decent games too,  The Talons top receiver Donovan Morgan scored 4 TDs while making 7 catches and recording 76 yards.  Carlese Franklin would lead all Tulsa receivers with 10 catches for 110 yards and one touchdown.

Talons QB Justin Allgood would finish the game with  23 completions on -31[ass attempts with one interception and 7 touchdowns and 244 yards.  His counterpart for Alabama did not finish the game, as Vipers QB Kevin Eakin was injured with 9:18 to play and finished the game 23 for 32 passing for 281 yards and 3 TDs.  His replacement, Tony Coulston, would go 2-for-7 in passing for 37 yards and a touchdown, rushing 10 yards for one of his own.

The victory wiped away the bitter memory of two consecutive losses on the road for the Talons, both of which occurred on untimed downs at the end of regulation time.  The Vipers had a three game win streak snapped.  They had come into the game riding high after handing the Milwaukee Iron, the AFL’s only undefeated team a 75-67 loss last weekend in Huntsville.  The Talons continue to be flawless at home, extending their home win streak to 12-0 since moving into the amazing BOK Center last year. 

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Photos by: Kevin Pyle

Tulsa moves on to play the Cleveland Gladiators next weekend at 7:30pm on the road in the Quicken Loans Arena.  The game will be carried live on AM 740 and FM102.3 KRMG with Rick Cori giving the play-by-play call and can be seen live on line for free by using the Nifty TV button at tulsatalons.com.  The Talons will return home on May 22 to take on the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgs at 7pm in the amazing BOK Center.  Tickets are available at the BOK Center box office, at tulsatalons.com or by calling the Talons office at 294-1000.

 

Bocephus a big hit at the BOK..

Rich Lohman

So when I was tabbed to review the Hank Williams Jr. "Rowdy Friends" tour stop at the amazing BOK Center my thoughts immediately were of my father.  You see, I am a child of the 1970s  (the era before the current era of MTV, kids) and my dad was a BIG  fan of country music.  While it was quiet in the early years of my life, which were not spent here in America’s Most Beautiful City, it took off when the Lohman clan set foot on Oklahoma soil in 1973 in a big way.  This was of course after a failed attempt at going country by use of a CB radio in our Plymouth station wagon (think Griswold family truckster…and I’m not kidding), resplendent with two huge antennae that made the car resemble a rolling football goal, uprights and all.

Once the whole "outlaw" country music thing happened in 1978 my dad rushed out to Peaches records and tapes located at 51st and Sheridan to snap up a copy of the Outlaws album, featuring the talents of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser, among others.  It was a an odd dynamic around my house when I was a kid as my Mom was the rocker and my Dad was the hick/redneck music guy.  Anyway the old man did his best to emulate the whole "country" thing all the way down to the seamless transition from hybrid east-coaster accent to an "aw shucks" country boy dialect when faced with a group of native in conversation.

My dad is gone now, but I have my memories. 

Most of which were swimming through my head when I entered the amazing BOK Center Friday evening to witness an assemblage of not only the aforementioned Hank Williams jr but three other artists including Thr Grascals, Jamey Johnson and Eric Church.  If you were a fan of southern rock, your cup would indeed runneth over reading a playbill such as this.  Showtime came before I knew it and the Grascals took the stage, sporting a mandolin player, guitar players, a fiddle player and no percussion and giving us a take on the classic 1960’s his "Last Train To Clarksville".

That’s right, the opening song for a night that would feature one of the legendary names of "rebel" southern rock and country music opened with a tune originally sung by The Monkees.

Sad thing there was though the number was catchy…what Monkees tune WASN’T catchy?…it didn’t improve upon the original.  In fact, the nearest comparison I could envision while watching and listening was of a similar version being done by The Soggy Bottom Boys, complete with Clooney, Tuturro and Tulsa native Tim Blake Nelson lip-synching the number.  Overall the Grascals were well received and their performance was entertaining, their whole show came off as it would during an early morning show in Branson. 

Next up came Jamey Johnson.  He is officially billed as a country singer but his performance, to me, gave off a vibe that made me think of Nickelback, who performed in the BOK Center last month, or other guitar heavy artists like Staind.  I guess if you have a pedal steel guitar on your stage you immediately qualify as a country music artist.  Anyway, Jamey played a selection of his hit songs, a majority of which he DIDN’T make famous.  Mostly, other artists like George Strait…who made the song "Give It Away" a hit in 2006.  He rocked the house, but with a definite country vibe.  Johnson moved through his set list mechanically and without commentary to the audience.  He then gave way to Eric Church.

Church was touring in support of his new album Carolina, which sports the singles "His Kind Of Money (My Kind Of Love)" and "Love Your Love The Most".  His set was a little more elaborate than the previous two artists in that a more elaborate light show and steam effects highlighted the performance.  Church’s set was high spirited and more rock laden then exclusively country and he seemed to connect well with his audience.  Once his set was over he stepped aside in favor of Bocephus…Rockin Randall Hank…Hank Williams, jr. 

I have always found Hank Jr to be an interesting quantity in country music.  He’s known the best for the uniquely American anthem song "A Country Boy Can Survive", and the oh-so-recognizable "All My Rowdy Friends", which is better known for it’s mutation in the NFL season as the theme for ESPN and ABC’s Monday Night Football.  Though he considers himself an  artist independent of his legendary father, he references Hank Sr.in many of his songs, even sharing a song with him via technology (1989’s "Tear In My Beer’).  All of those songs were covered in his set, a highlight of which was a break in the middle where he was alone, seated at center stage with a acoustic guitar.  Throughout Williams set, aside from the acoustic break he prowled the stage, switching hats more than 10 times.  

Williams took time to offer his political opinions…including an unfavorable, (and unprintable)…reference to President Obama.  If there was any true flaw to Hank’s set it was that ne didn’t sing his more famous songs using their original lyrics.  At first, it was was a fine example of an artist in firm control of his work but by the second or thrid time he altered his own lyrics, it was somewhat annoying,  I suppose if that was the only true detraction from the headliers show, Hank Jr is doing pretty well all things considered.  He finished his set with his legendary explanation of why he is the way he is, "Family Tradition", with his opening acts joining him onstage.  There was no encore. 

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Photos by: Kevin Pyle

So, in lieu of making a cheesy reference to the thousands of rowdy fans that filled the BOK Center Friday evening, I’ll close with the notion that if my dad had attended the show in his earthly form, he would have enjoyed it.  Y’all. 

Multi-Administration Federal Failure

David Arnett, Publisher

New Orleans television and radio talk show host and pundit Jeff Crouere recently excoriated President Barack Hussein Obama over his delay in addressing the gulf oil emergency, suggesting in closing that “he made George Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina seem downright timely.”

But Crouere failed to include a more pressing question.  Why was the 1994 Federal response plan for such offshore disasters not followed?  Where were the fire booms to burn off the oil as the plan outlined?

Mobile Press-Register writer Ben Raines brought this boom-flaming failure to national attention when he wrote May 03, “If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land.”

The "In-Situ Burn" plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms.

Raines wrote, “But in order to conduct a successful test burn eight days after the Deepwater Horizon well began releasing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf, officials had to purchase one from a company in Illinois.

“When federal officials called, Elastec/American Marine, shipped the only boom it had in stock, Jeff Bohleber, chief financial officer for Elastec, said.

“At federal officials’ behest, the company began calling customers in other countries and asking if the U.S. government could borrow their fire booms for a few days, he said.

“A single fire boom being towed by two boats can burn up to 1,800 barrels of oil an hour, Bohleber said. That translates to 75,000 gallons an hour, raising the possibility that the spill could have been contained at the accident scene 100 miles from shore.”

Click here to read Ben Raines story.  Click here to read Jeff Crouere’s piece.

The real issue for Americans is the long-term multi-party Federal failure to accomplish specific work – in this case, following a plan and securing equipment necessary to address reasonably anticipatable disasters.  It is only the most recent example.

In the housing and financial crisis, Congress failed to accurately monitor and regulate.  In the health control bill, Congress acted unconstitutionally in requiring product purchase by individuals not utilizing public facilities or services.  And, above all else; the Democrat Party, the Court System, the Lame-stream Media have allowed a government takeover funded by international criminals, facilitated by criminal gangs and union thugs, led by a narcissistic philandering race bating often-drunk anti-American who still refuses to prove he is qualified to serve as President of the United States of America.

Yes, I have long been a critic of Barack Hussein Obama.  I wrote in May of 2008 that he appeared to be a Socialist.  An October 2008 piece provided even more detail in “Obama’s Most Significant Statement.”  In October 2009 I outlined reasons why life under Obama is dangerous in “Flame on What Why America”  I have also questioned conservative stars in “Questioning Beck and Palin” posted in March of this year.

However, in this case, it is not President Obama’s fault. 

In fact Federal government doesn’t work and it continues to avoid accountability for failure.  Former-President George W. Bush learned the same thing when he sent representatives of the various institutions to Iraq to “help them organize.”  But government is not organized in America beyond its own self-indulgent fiefdoms so, when exported, is obviously incoherent to others.

Oklahomans have drilled for oil everywhere since the industry began.  We had high tech here before New York, LA, or Washington DC knew the term – that’s how we powered the industrial revolution.  We drilled for oil in Sherwood Forest as the Nazis bombed London.  We lived in Arab countries and taught them skills to harvest what God and the good earth provide.

Saturday between 4 and 6 pm on the David Arnett Show on AM 740 and FM 102.3 news talk KRMG, I want to hear if you agree or disagree on this and other local, state and national issues.  Local oil industry experts are  welcome.  You can join the show by calling 460-KRMG (460-5764).  You may also post comments below – registration is free. 

 

Former ATF Agent Pleads Guilty to Drug Conspiracy

Staff Report

In pleading guilty today Brandon Jay McFadden, a former special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) acknowledged he abused his position while working with officers of the Tulsa Police Department in fabricating drug transactions which caused convictions and imprisonment of those so falsely accused.

Jane W. Duke, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas; James E. Finch, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Oklahoma City Division; and Wayne D. Beaman, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Justice – Office of the Inspector General, Dallas Field Office, made the announcement of the guilty plea.  McFadden, age 34, of Lubbock, Texas, was indicted by a grand jury for the Northern District of Oklahoma on April 7, 2010.  The four-count indictment charged McFadden with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana; possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute; possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking offense; and money laundering.

Under the terms of a plea agreement reached with the United States, McFadden entered a plea of guilty to conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.  McFadden also acknowledged that he abused his position of trust with ATF in order to the facilitate his drug trafficking offenses.  In addition, McFadden admitted that he and Tulsa Police Department Officer Jeff Henderson fabricated a drug transaction in 2007 involving Larry and Larita Barnes. 

During today’s proceedings, McFadden acknowledged that in 2007 he was involved in the referral of a case for prosecution to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma involving the Barneses. The case, which was subsequently indicted and for which the Barneses were both convicted, was based solely on the fabricated drug transaction. As a result of an on-going public corruption investigation, the Barneses’ convictions were set aside last summer and both were released from prison. McFadden admitted that the drug transaction for which the Barnes were convicted and about which McFadden, Henderson and another individual all testified in federal court never happened.

The statutory penalties for the offense of conviction are not less than five years and not more than 40 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than $2 million. Additionally, pursuant to the plea agreement, McFadden agreed to forfeit a Chevrolet Silverado truck that he purchased in 2008 with drug proceeds.

“When any law enforcement officer betrays the oath to protect; serve; and uphold the law, he tarnishes the badge of all law enforcement, violates the trust of the people and therefore should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the very laws he has broken,” said Finch.

“The Office of the Inspector General is committed to vigorously investigating and referring for prosecution any Department of Justice law enforcement officers who engage in criminal behavior,” Beaman said. “McFadden’s actions victimized the individuals who were falsely accused and also violated the public trust that had been placed in him as a law enforcement officer.”

At the conclusion of today’s hearing, United States Magistrate Judge Frank H. McCarthy entered an order continuing McFadden’s current bond status. Sentencing was set for July 28, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. before United States District Judge James H. Payne.

This case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice – Office of the Inspector General. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas was appointed by the Department of Justice to handle this matter upon the recusal of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma.  The case is being prosecuted by United States Attorney Jane Duke, Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Harris, and Assistant United States Attorney Patricia Harris.

The Tulsa Police Department web site currently uses the motto "Serving With Honor" which some local pundits suggest might now need to be reconsidered.