Tom Dienhart

Bummer Sooner?

Hardly. It's Boomer Sooner after reading this verdict.

The NCAA brought down the hammer on Oklahoma today for not properly monitoring the employment of its football players.

And I don't see a dent. OK, maybe a small one.

NCAA headquarters broke down its penalties in detailed minutiae. It was a long, winding dissertation that looked imposing and sounded frightening in parts.

But, after reading and rereading the manifesto, I concluded this about the pair of handcuffs the NCAA slapped on the Sooners: They are lined with velvet.

Here are a few highlights of the sanctions, which go on top of several others the school already self-imposed in anticipation of this day:

Extend by two years an already-existing probation (it'll end in May 2010).

Cut two scholarships in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Vacate all wins from 2005.

Suffer the indignity of the always dreaded "public reprimand and censure." Again, I ask: What's the big whoop?

Many seem up in arms over the fact OU must vacate its eight wins from 2005. This penalty was summed up best by a poster on SoonerScoop.com: That's like me stealing a pizza and eating it -- and then the cops telling me I didn't eat the pizza.

In the end: Vacating a few wins stinks, but it won't destroy the program's ability to continue to compete. And, really, isn't that what NCAA penalties are supposed to do?

But I don't see these NCAA shackles slowing down the Sooners. Heck, I still envision OU as a national power this fall and in coming years, too.

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Now, if the NCAA really wanted to hurt a school, it would take away more scholarships. (Ask Alabama what that's like.) Losing two scholarships for a couple years is no big deal for OU. Almost every team has four or five schollies that float about each year, usually going to walk-ons or sitting unfulfilled after players quit the team or flunk out.

And if the NCAA wanted to be especially nasty, it would make a school forfeit future TV revenue/appearances or impose a bowl ban. But the NCAA doesn't have the guts to do that to a national heavyweight school. (Not that Oklahoma's infractions merited that type of punishment.)

No, these penalties remind me of an old joke: The NCAA was so mad at (fill in the blank elite school), it slapped Cleveland State with two more years of probation.

In the end, Oklahoma will suffer a little public embarrassment, be the brunt of a few wisecracks from Texas fans in Dallas ... and march on as a college football power.

In fact, I can see Bob Stoops using this as a way to motivate his team to win the Big 12 this fall.