Cowboys, Romo avoid injury scare Hield returns to Norman for alumni event

NFL NOTEBOOK OU BASKETBALL JOURNAL TUBBS HONORED

After the game, all everyone could do was laugh. Owner joked that he was going to check into a Seattle hospital for heart issues, delaying his trip back to Dallas.

Of course, this was after Jones spent the first quarter of the Dallas Cowboys’ 27-17 preseason loss to the Seattle Seahawks on bended knee praying like never before.

The sight of quarterback crunched on the ground and grabbing his back on the third play of the game following the perfect storm of a hit from Seahawks defensive end was almost too much for Jones to take.

The career of the 36-year-old quarterback with known back issues and the team’s 2016 season flashed before Jones’ eyes.

But then Romo got up and walked off the field. The pain had dissipated and the Cowboys season was back on track. And while he didn’t return because coach wanted to play it safe, Romo admitted he and the Cowboys dodged a bullet.

“At the moment when you go down, you crunch so your back gets squished, I guess you could say,” Romo explained after the game. “You almost feel a sensation as if someone gave you a stinger in your shoulder. It just feels hot for a second. That dissipates after a minute and you’re OK, all of those things you felt before with back injuries, those are all fine. Then your strength comes back and you’re like OK. It just takes a little bit. Then it was a coaching decision to not go back out.”

There are those who will point to the hit as evidence toward Romo’s tenuous status for the Cowboys, considering he missed 12 games last year after twice-fracturing his left collarbone and hasn’t played a full 16 games since 2012. He had back surgeries following the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Romo said the hit, which came as he was attempted to slide and Arvil grabbed him from behind, and his subsequent recovery is an example of how far he’s come and the strength in his back.

“That was a perfect timed situation,” Romo said. “I was going into a slide. It’s a perfect storm as far as the slide and going down. The fact we dodge a bullet is a good thing. I also think probably from the back being stronger allowed me to probably get through that. In a weird way, I feel good about the fact that was probably as tough of a hit I’ve taken on the back as I’ve had in the last five years. From that regard, I feel very lucky that it can hold up and I can keep going.”

After being the ground surrounded by medical personnel, Romo walked off the field. The Cowboys tended to him on the sideline. He took some snaps and even threw some passes. He lobbied to go back in the game.

The Cowboys didn’t do an X-ray on Romo’s back.

FALCONS CUT GLIDDEN

The Atlanta Falcons cut five players Friday, including Mustang native WR who played at Oklahoma State University.

Glidden had signed an undrafted free agent rookie contract with the team in May. DE FB Will Ratelle, CB and G were also cut along with Glidden.

NORMAN — Just before heading to the stage to pick up their Final Four prizes,

and looked over their shoulders and pointed to the rafters at Lloyd Noble Center.

The trio — all now departed from the University of Oklahoma — were admiring the newly minted “Final Four 2016” banner hanging near the top of the tunnel where the trio regularly entered and exited the floor of the arena.

Unsurprisingly, Cousins and Hield were the last two called to the stage.

The event was held as part of the annual alumni weekend.

The alumni basketball game will take place at noon Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center. Admission to the event is free.

Hield and will coach the teams.

Hield brought the biggest applause as he walked to the stage wearing a dark suit and flashing the signature smile that endeared him not only to Oklahoma fans but to college basketball fans throughout the country.

As the players arrived on the stage, they were handed display boxes containing Final Four rings and similar watches.

The rings are white gold with crimson inlays and a large silver basketball with the interlocking OU logo on its face.

In addition to Hield, Cousins and Walker, several others returned for the occasion. Longtime assistant

who left after the season to take over as the head coach at Texas-San Antonio, returned as did former walk-on who now plays for Henson at UTSA.

GRIFFIN DONATES TO NEW FACILITY

Former Sooners standout Blake Griffin showed up at the Sooners Tip-In Club Dinner with his brother Taylor, another former Sooners standout, and his parents, Tommy and Gail.

Between the ceremony honoring last year’s Final Four team and the ceremony honoring Billy Tubbs, Griffin announced he was donating to the planned High Performance Center Addition.

While the amount of the donation was not announced, the OU athletic department said it was the largest gift ever to the University of Oklahoma by a former Sooners basketball player.

The approximately 16,000-square-foot addition will be built south of the men’s and women’s existing practicing facilities and will include enhanced strength-training facilities for both programs as well as other OU athletes.

It will include a nutrition center, indoor and outdoor turfs as well as an area for performance testing and assessment.

Griffin was involved in designing the facility.

“I can’t tell you, all the way on the West Coast, how proud I am of people talking about Oklahoma basketball and how exciting and how fun it is to watch,” said Griffin, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.

The project will cost an estimated $7 million.

The other focus of the annual dinner was honoring longtime Sooners coach Billy Tubbs.

Several of Tubbs’ former players —

and — as well as longtime team trainer told Tubbs stories with Tubbs up on the stage.

Tubbs advised incoming players to take jersey number 23 or 33.

“You’d have a good chance to get up there,” Tubbs said, pointing to the banners honoring two players who wore 33 (Alvan Adams and King) and two players who wore 23 (Wayman

and Blake Griffin).

The three living players of that group were in attendance, as was Regina Tisdale, Wayman’s widow.

“We were the Thunder before the Thunder,” said King, now a broadcaster for the Chicago Bulls.

“We were the pro team before the Thunder was here. We didn’t get paid for it though, but this man put a lot of butts in the seats.”

King lobbied for the court at Lloyd Noble Center to be named after Tubbs, drawing an ovation from the crowd.