Top 5 - Thoughts on Mike Gundy's Outburst

I've been meaning to comment on Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy's outburst last Saturday. Here are five observations.

1. The story by Jenni Carlson was poorly written. She starts one of her paragraphs with "Word is..." Whose word Jenni? Word on the street? Word to your mother? The bitchy moaning from the other sportswriters in the press box? Last night my wife made chicken cordon-bleu. Does that mean she fed me chicken? What deep psychological meaning about me can you gleen from that Jenni? Sloppy and amateurish are the words that best describe this "effort" by Jenni Carlson.

2. I think the fact that this story was a front page story in The Oklahoman speaks volumes about that newspaper. What amounts to a hit story on a 21-year old amateur athlete makes the front page? Really? Not the front page of the sports section mind you - the front page of the paper. What crime did the 21-year old commit to warrant such front page treatment? Oh - he was replaced as starting QB? And newspaper people wonder why increasingly people are getting their news and opinion (since this was an opinion piece) from the Internet. It is actually disgusting when you stop and think about it.

3. I don't think Mike Gundy's outburst was premeditated. I think this was a pet peeve issue to Gundy and that when he saw the front page hit job then he went off. I also think that if he lost then maybe the outburst doesn't happen. Gundy does seem like a stand-up guy (and I have no first hand knowledge). I think if his team lost then Gundy would have been up there taking the blame for the loss even though the column would have been eating at him. The victory freed him to speak (or I guess shout) his opinion on the matter.

4. Looking at the remaining schedule for Oklahoma State - I think the team finishes 5-7. Finishing .500 at 6-6 will be a real accomplishment. Mike Gundy's record won't be anything to crow about but his outburst has cemented his reputation as a stand-up guy who cares about his players and that's probably worth a couple of wins this season as far as his job security is concerned. Everyone I've spoken to about this is firmly in the coach's corner and "pumped" about Gundy's defense of one of his players.

5. This is a defining moment for all involved. Mike Gundy will be the coach in the orange shirt who went off to defend a player. Jenni Carlson will forever be a hack who writes poorly written hit pieces in the minds of anyone who remembers her a week from now. Unfortunately Bobby Reid will not be remembered for leading his team to a victory over Alabama in a bowl game - he'll now be the soft player whose momma fed him chicken. Nobody covered themselves in glory in this case.