Oklahoma State coach Gundy blasts Oklahoman columnist

You're wrong. A lot of people think Gundy looks like a hero. Not me. But a ton of others do.

The media would be wise not to spin this into "Gundy's a villain." His speech has a touch of Howard Beale to it. And Carlson's column really stunk.

 

I'm glad this is back on topic.

I'm with the consensus here -- really bad column, really bad overreaction by Gundy. I think he had an ulterior motive -- showing the players he has their backs covered. But there's one thing that really bothers me journalistically: Shouldn't Carlson have tried to interview Gundy (even off the record) beforehand? How about talking to the QB himself?

Hear me out. It sounds as if the two know each other enough to, as Gundy said, joke around with each other from time to time. She's one of the top columnists writing about his team, which means he'd probably return her phone call. Beyond that, it's not as if Gundy was hiding the problem. If you watch the video of the Monday news conference long enough, someone asks about the QB's struggles, and Gundy actually gives a pretty good response.

I'm thinking he might have gone into greater detail with her had she talked to him beforehand. She wouldn't have had to use the ridiculous chicken lede, and, considering how much Gundy appears to "care about his players," she might have been able to get a lot better stuff than what she used. In fact, the column could have been pretty good -- a coach, or even the kid, talking about his tough times. The crap she wrote was a cheap-shotting end run.

I'm not saying she had nothing. She didn't have enough. I'll bet she had an inkling that Gundy would get pissed when he read it (and he did read it). That's the kind of thing you have to nail. She didn't. Her column today was also lousy -- clearing the record is best done one-on-one (and without cameras). She looked as if she was grandstanding.

I also think The Oklahoman looks incredibly dumb by continuing to drag this out. I'm sure they've gotten a big boost in hits on their prehistoric website, which I guess is all that matters. Hey, I registered.

 

Just saw the clip on Sportscenter (and there is no way I have time to read through 15 pages.)

"I'm a man! I'm 40!"

Huh!??

I'll be 41 in two weeks and I can't imagine, no matter how ticked off I got, of saying something that sounds that stupid. (I limit my stupidity to other idiotic phrases.)

He should have taken it up with Carlson in private if he wanted to rant.

 

Completely agree. Carlson made it worse on Monday. Schedule a meeting, explain your side, let him explain his, and write something after that.

Is anybody minding the store down there?

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for that last line.

Somebody was telling me yesterday that the Football Writers association was delivering some sort of reprimand to Gundy for his tirade.

If they're going to reprimand anyone, perhaps they should look at the columnist. Gundy made himself look like an a-hole. Columns like that make us all look like one.

 

I'm always happy when I agree with Ira.

And Alma's 100 percent right on "back stories told on the sly."

 

It was a poorly written, sloppy -- lazy --- column by the writer and one that the Oklahoman should be trying to bury, not continue to keep out there. If this is what this columnist's work is like regularly than she should be ashamed of herself because it was terrible and it was so poorly researched -- at least that is how it read -- it lends some credibility to the rant. It was just bad, period, and both her and her editor come off looking totally clueless and petty in the little video clip response on their web-site. She also had nothing to gain by trying to grand stand and ask the question after the fact at a news conference and really just confirmed the fact that she's not really good, or at least not very forward thinking, at her job.

That being said, this coach is not too bright either and really comes off as a pompous ass, which is not a surprise given his chosen profession.

Yes, doing this kind of grandstanding against the media will get a few "atta-boys" from the other musclehead rah-rah members of the football coaching community and might even help in recruiting some in a sick kind of way --- (parents see a guy who cares enough to get their kids back) -- but I can't imagine it will help him with future employment and if he is at all on the hot seat he just made sure the media will be putting on the full court press to point out his every mistake for the rest of his career in Oklahoma State.

Had he been smart, he could have handled this in a much different way, got the same message across, made sure he exposed the columnist as a fraud and not looked like such a tool.

After a game, especially a big win, was not the time nor the place.

It is clear he wanted to publicly refute the facts of the column, which is his right, but he should have done it in a more dignified way in a more appropriate setting.

 

Good Stuff. I totally agree with you. The column was horrible. There were too many rumors, second hand stuff and things she seemed to be guessing on. Where are the facts? This is tabloid stuff, not journalism. I am surprised that the editor who read the story let it go into the paper without making her get more concrete info. While a lot has been made of Gundy's idiotic reaction, I think some more criticism needs to go to Carlson as well. How can stuff like that make it into the paper? It should embarrass us as journalists to have something like that make the paper and get the attention it has gotten.

 

I agree with Alma 100 percent. Coach acted like a jerk, but he was put in that corner by a poor and unnecessary column.

 

There definitely are no winners here...

Bad column, bad overreaction to bad column...

 

The more it's in the limelight, the better it is for THe Oklahoman. They want to build this up as much as possible and you can bet that they will milk this as much as possible. Was told earlier by a friend that people in Oklahoma call the paper The Jokelahoman. THought that was pretty good.

 

OK...let's see somebody write that now. It needs to be.