Wendell Barnhouse is a nationally-known and respected columnist who has spent over 20 years covering collegiate athletics. He has reported from 25 Final Fours and more than three dozen bowl games and has written about the Big 12 and its schools since the conference's beginning. Barnhouse will be updating the Big 12 Insider on happenings and behind-the-scenes information about the conference.Baylor coach Art Briles said Monday during Big 12 Football Media Days that he wasn’t happy that quarterback Bryce Petty wasn’t invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony last December.
Petty’s numbers were close to Heisman winner Jameis Winston and were comparable to Robert Griffin III, who won the Heisman in 2011. This season, Briles believes that his quarterback has the name recognition. Walk into a Dairy Queen in Salem, Ore., said Briles, and the people there will know Bryce Petty.
John Canzano, columnist for the Oregonian who also has a radio show, had one of his minions call the six Dairy Queens in Salem, Ore. Petty went 0-for-6. None of the workers contacted at the DQs knew Petty from a Dilly Bar.
When word of that investigative journalism bounced back to Dallas thanks to the light speed of the InterWebs, the Baylor media people responded with a wonderful use of social media, turning a minor negative into a major positive. Check it out.
And the social media "tennis match" continued Tueday when the photo accompanying this story emerged. It's a DQ in Salem, Ore., proving that Art Briles has some serious juice when it comes to campaigning for his senior quarterback.
