CLICKBAIT

Urban Dictionary, the number one source for all slang that you think you know but want to be sure before you use it, defines "clickbait" as so:

clickbait

click·bait pronounced [ˈklikbāt]

It means what you think it means: bait for clicks. It's a link which entices you to click on it. The "bait" comes in many shapes and sizes, but it is usually intentionally misleading and/or crassly provocative. Clicking will inevitably cause disappointment. Clickbait is usually created for money. One common type is adverts and spam, such as you might find on a random website or in your Facebook feed. Such clickbait usually leads to a site which tries to sell you something or possibly extort you, by withholding the promised "bait". Typical examples include: a sexy picture which promises to show more; suggestive and intriguing captions, like "you won't believe what this hot girl did"; stories designed to inflame people, such as by playing on political passions, like "woman demands more benefits to pay for comfort eating"; and claimed weight loss methods or body building methods, often with some "weird easy trick". The second main variety is headlines to media sites which make money from page views. Common offenders are Buzzfeed, and Gawker and its affiliated sites. The headlines are designed to cause maximum provocation or interest, but as a result are frequently extremely exaggerated or flat out lies, and the articles themselves are often just as shoddy.

Thanks for wasting my time with this lying clickbait, random Gawker editor. Congratulations, you've gotten your two cents out of me. Now off you go and spend it on your favorite brand of cheap gin - the one you swill at night as you silently shed tears whilst contemplating your miserable, tortured existence and failed journalism career.

For the purposes of this article, we will be using the definition from the second main variety as described above.

Humorist and journalist, Frosty Troy, used to call the Daily Oklahoman the "Daily Disappointment" although our own Murray Pageviews has updated the nickname to the "Daily Joke-lahoman". Here is the reason why:

Prime example of clickbait and how the once mighty Oklahoman has fallen. First of all, Fab 10?? C'mon man, the Fab 5 was first made popular back when Michigan basketball landed arguably the greatest recruiting class ever and the Beatles being dubbed the Fab 4 dominate the whole "Fab" number game, let's be more original. She even says "Top 10" in her intro, let's not get too crazy here, the list is bananas enough.

Now, you know my opinion already about rankings (if not, check out the post titled "Rankings, Shmankings) but let's break this down from a fundamental standpoint ala Coach Kent Murphy.

1. The list is supposedly made up of the OKC area. There are some glaring omissions, namely Weatherford, and let's face it, with technology and interstates- teams who want to play each other will travel. It's not like we are using dirt trails and horse and buggies to get around.

2. 4A is VERY WELL represented here.

3. Teams with .500 records being "fab"? Don't recall many saying that the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Bucs were "fab" with their record of 8-9 as they headed into the playoffs.

4. If you're gonna have numbers next to the teams, you must feel as though you are ranking them and while rankings don't mean a damn thing, her descriptions don't make any sense whatsoever and really show that Hallie Hart's job description as "High School Insider" is in name only.

Ok, let's concentrate on item 4. The rankings themselves first because there is a lot to take apart here.

I'll admit right off, I don't know a thing about Putnam North or Carl Albert, other than they are larger schools and by and large, larger schools have a history of defeating smaller school teams. Which, however, brings us to her #4 Dale.

Dale is legit. I don't know what more they need to do other than maybe go destroy LeBum and the Lakers to prove to people that there is some damn good basketball being played in Dale and the Forsythe kid is a superstar. Dale won the prestigious TOC beating larger schools in most if not all of their games. And it wasn't a lucky duck type situation either, no last second shots or free throws at the end or Hollywood endings. They went out and beat the other team. Despite North, CA, and Douglass being larger schools- Dale has proven that they deserve to be at the top of this list.

Now, let's talk about the 4A teams and their positions in her "Fab list". OSSAA Coaches poll has all of the teams listed under Kingfisher. The creator of this "Fab list" has them at 10, DOWN a spot from her last ranking. Maybe she knows something the coaches don't? And then her "justification" for moving them down a notch is as follows, "The Yellowjackets have significant momentum with 11 straight wins. Most recently they routed Cache 77-33". Hmm, ok well that shows that she can check scores but Sofies, you know we dig a little bit deeper around here to provide insight and information.

While she is correct about the Jackets winning their last 11 games, she made no mention of one of the biggest games where your Jackets defeated a strong Weatherford team. WITHOUT A STARTER! Not to mention, losing the starter just the night before. Not to mention how close knit this team is and how long they have been playing together and depend on each other. Nope, she puts in that they routed a Cache team that quite frankly has seen better teams. Which she adds in her justification for other teams to be considered that Newcastle defeated the Bulldogs 89-32. I guess we should take some pride that Kingfisher made the list, and she didn't go by playground rules and say "Well, Newcastle scored more than Kingfisher, so they are more fab and deserve the 10 spot".

Now to talk about the placement of the 4A teams, which I'm sure all the non-Jacket supporters who are reading this are licking their chops and getting ready to try to tear this apart.

Meh, who cares. Let's sort it out at the end. There's no question that 4A is a tough class this year and that when playoffs start up the games will be must see events.

I can tell you one thing though about this list, she's adding fuel to a fire that a lot of teams don't want to see raging. These Jackets don't care about rankings or anything like that. They want to play basketball and they want to beat you. If you show this list to any player on the Jackets squad, they will look at it, smile and say ok, let's go. I've seen it from them since they were in second grade. Lace 'em up and let's play. They are going to play one game at a time, and they have a good one tonight against a team that is definitely FAB-worthy and will make some noise in the coming weeks as teams are making their way to the Big House.

And once that playoff bracket is released, you can take all the rankings, FAB lists, and whatever else and throw them in the trash because all that matters that weekend is the scoreboard at the end of the game.

Side note: Be sure to check out the SofaKing Sports Blog podcast on Spotify. There you can actually hear your favorite SofaKing incredible contributors speak on various topics as well as hear interviews from the movers and shakers in local sports.