The U.S. Navy stands by on the U.S. Pacific Coast as Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy goes off during a Saturday news conference.
If you are one of the many out there who hate the media — who cringe and become enraged when a reporter asks the president a tough question or feel sorry for rich football coaches when the media asks them why their teams stink to high heaven — then you will no doubt like Mike Gundy’s little hissy fit at a media “opportunity” after his Oklahoma State Cowboys beat Texas Tech.
His performance at what was allegedly a post-game news conference can be seen all over TV and You Tube today so their is no need for me to link it.
In short, Gundy went apesh*t over a column written by Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson who questioned the intestinal fortitude of a benched Cowboys quarterback. Gundy didn’t think the character of a college player should be questioned but Carlson, thankfully, is sticking to her guns, er laptop.
Perhaps a coach might have a case were Carlson writing about some high school or junior high school football player. But she wasn’t. She was writing about someone who plays for a Division 1 NCAA school. And we all know that the big thing with sports, especially at that level, isn’t sports. No it is about, I hate to break it to you, money. Like the old saying goes: “No one fills a stadium to hear a chemistry lecture.”
Professional football, unlike baseball, has no farm system for players to develop and get paid. Well, actually it does, it’s called college football. So like it or not the quarterback — whether he be at Michigan, Oklahoma State or even Sam Houston Institute of Technology (known by their famous acronym)is a legitimate subject for writers to scrutinize, analyze, analgyze or pyrolyze.
Nonetheless, the assh***ization of America has caused folks who spend too much time with their heads up their asses to get upset when their sacred cows are turned into fajitas. Certain politicians or sports figures (Barry Bonds for example) or even coaches such as Gundy and the former Dallas Cowboy’s rotund one Bill Parcells think no room exists for criticism of their players or themselves. And why should they? Politicians and big business execs and street thugs and their lawyers all deflect their shortcomings by blaming the media. The media, to their discredit, have sat idly by like little bitches and have taken it. So sports figures owe no answers to anyone. Little Johnny on the Pop Warner League team? Don’t even go their or his daddy will have a contract out to cap your ass so fast you’ll be in Limbo into the next century.
It is true some people write about some things they know nothing about and deserve the criticism they get for it. Take me for example. I don’t know nothing (except that double negatives irritate the hell out of English teachers.) People you hear on the call-in shows quite often don’t know what the hell they are talking about, nor for that matter, do the hosts of those shows. So I guess perhaps it all evens out. Or maybe it doesn’t. Hey, I never claimed to know what the hell I am talking about.
So there you have it. Put up, shut up or go ride the golden lizard. That’s what I am talking about.
golden lizard — No, I really, really have no idea what I am talking about.
Sam Houston Institute of Technology — Sam Houston State University has never been known, as far as I know, Sam Houston Institute of Technology even though Dan Rather, an alumnus, claims it once was. Stephen F. Austin State University, my alma mater, was never named simply “Steve” although I hope some day it will become Steve U.