count me in as a person interested in speech patterns ..."sooner OR later" means something completely different; why is it getting dragged in here? It means that inevitably it will happen, kind of like the BIG ONE will strike LA. Only time will tell whether sooner or later.
"Sooner rather than later" means to get it done and not procrastinate (or you may not have a chance) -- as in, the question of when to go after CT.
"Sooner than later" is just wrong. Lets' do it sooner than later?
You need to put something in there with the sense of "this opposed to that." "Than" standing alone doesn't cut it.
I agree with shakes that listening to BB7 could have an influence on us. It's a blessing to America that they didn't bring back Cowboy or Natria this season.