Oklahoma State coach Gundy blasts Oklahoman columnist

There's a huge difference between writing that and writing that a certain player is ill-equipped to be a starting college quarterback.

Of course, you already knew that. But straw man arguments sure are fun!

EDIT: Also, if the starting quarterback for the team you cover gets benched, and you don't give me some possible reasons why, you aren't doing your job. Reid obviously wasn't benched for lack of athletic ability -- he is the second coming of Vince Young, after all -- so it has to be some sort of mental thing.

I'll not argue that the column in question wasn't well construed or constructed ... but to intimate that we don't have the right to criticize a player's mental makeup as it pertains to playing quarterback is absolutely ludicrous.

 

And just what's wrong with the SID's press releases! Now you're taking shots at the SID?

 

Coming to this way late, but Jason appears to have summed it up nicely.

 

Hey, after midnight, I reserve the right to throw rational thought out the window. Besides, I just finished watching a two-hour special on the history of hillbillies. It was hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus. I have to let off some steam, for my achy breaky heart.

 

The SID is soft. I saw his mommy feeding him Tumstm after he ate the chicken vindaloo at Cafe Sri Lanka.

 

Has this been clearly addressed? Sorry. Haven't read all 17 or whatever pages.

 

Yes, but the SID has called a press conference tomorrow to prove he's macho. He has a snapping turtle and a No. 2 pencil as props. And, if you don't know that joke, you're a wuss, too.

 

Whitlock is entitled to his opinion and he wrote a solid column stating it.

That said, he's wrong. I realize that 95 percent of readers/fans are backing Gundy. They think it's great he "stood up" for his player. They say that those in the media are defending Carlson because she's "one of us."

I strongly disagree with Whitlock or anyone who calls a 21-year-old a "kid." A 15-year-old can ACT like a man and a 30-year-old can ACT like a kid _ Jason, remember the sign in the Patriots' press box. But once you reach 18 or certainly 21, you are considered, should be considered a man. Other societies start treating boys like men as soon as they reach puberty. When the hell and why the hell do we continue to coddle and enable fully functional men to act like boys?

During his Saturday comments, Gundy refuted the idea in Carlson's column that Reid was "scared." The word "scared" never appeared in Carlson's comments. What would make Gundy say that if he and his coaches didn't already think that?

Reid is not able to defend himself because Oklahoma State has one day each week for media access and only with selected players. And if he is such a talented QB, the next VY, then why the hell was he benched?

Gundy didn't back his player, he cut Reid loose and let him swing in the wind. All Gundy had to do was come up with a typical coach speak explanation for a QB change and Carlson would not have written her column.

 

Careful. That sounded dangerously close to analysis of off-field matters.

 

Are you fucking kidding me?

If the kid is going to commit suicide over this tempest in an ESPN-branded teacup, he had issues long before Chickengate came to light.

 

I don't think anyone is arguing that a 21-year-old isn't a legal adult. I can only speak from personal experience, though, in saying that I was eons from reaching maturity when I was 21. And the age thing really is only relevant in terms of how fragile a 21-year-old ego is. He might be able to go to war, but he's still susceptible to a great deal of peer pressure. Of course, I'm not sure how any of this matters if you presume that the bottom-line issue is whether it's an unfair personal attack.

One thing I haven't read, and I'd love to have this insight, is whether the columnist made any attempt to ask Reid about the rumors, or even to ask him why his mother was feeding him chicken. Also, it sure seems that she had some preconceptions about the character of a big-time college athlete.

 

Are you fucking kidding II?

You are comparing your first byline in a student rag to a kid being ripped in a column in a statewide paper?

A kid who was recruited heavily by OSU (and presumably other Big XII institutions) and had thousands of fans fawning over him every Friday?

A kid who probably has been interviewed thousands of times by those lemmings at Scout.com and the like?

You are comparing this kid, who has been on TV, radio, all over the Internet with interviews since he is a PUBLIC FIGURE and has signed a six-figure contract to provide his education, room, board, and needs for the better part of four years to a college journalist?

Do you people have any perspective?