The Oklahoma State football coach went off on Oklahoman reporter Jenni Carlson. Perhaps he should have thought twice.
I didn't get the pick in my weekly Big XII preview correct this week. Luckily, my job (and my cash) don't depend on that. However, four jobs were affected in a big way by the fallout from the game this weekend.…
Article comments
26 - Eugene
Mr. Ben Miraski, it's very unfortunate for you to receive any personal attacks because of your stance on this issue. I wish people wouldn't be so quick to pass judgement on the individual themselves simply based on a couple of comments. However, I have to say that I think your stance is flawed and even slightly hypocritical, which I will get to shortly.
I think alot of people within the "news" circles were appalled of Gundy's treatment of one of their fellow colleagues. And maybe even more appalled at the mob mentality that has been growing since the outbreak of these events. But here is the crux of the problem: criticizing Gundy's style and form but not truly addressing the substance of his message has begun to turn alot of heads. I hate to group people together and unfortunately have no other choice but to do so for the sake of my argument. The "media" overall has done a very poor job in this situation. You guys look like cops covering up a dirty cop. How many people in the media addressed Ms. Carlson's lack of professionalism and journalistic integrity? I can literally count the number of writers on one hand that have publicly come out to say Carlson was wrong. The rest of the media is having a field day ripping Mike Gundy in almost all news outlets, calling for an apology and even his firing. Problem is, they aren't convicing anyone. Everyone, including the local village idiot and palace joker, can clearly see what is what.
Why did I say hypocritical? Jenny Carlson's article was a personal attack. If you can't see that, then we have nothing to say to eachother. As a matter of fact, that's all it was, a personal attack. It served no other point. I'm not here to talk about what consititutes an adult, on or off-limits, or all that other stuff. She called someone a sissy, petulant momma's boy for as many people to hear about and see as possible. She had her chance to produce the facts; writing the article wasn't the first and only shot. She had plenty of time to digest, analyze, and shape the pertinent information. That's about being a writer, especially a professional one. If you can't articulate clearly some evidence to support the facts written (mainly sources) then don't do it. What was she waiting for Ben, to write a follow-up piece to clarify her sources in more detail? I didn't get the feeling her article had a part II to it while reading it.
So now lets talk about Gundy. He shouted, pointed fingers, and stared-down as hard as possible. He used some uneloquent phrases and to some seemed to have lost his mind. So here is where the media steps in. It doesn't matter what he was saying, he didn't say it the right way. He didn't say Shibboleth. He didn't have the freedom of speech pass, the training and saavy to even go that route. He was so offensive that we need to dismiss his message until he learns to express his freedom of expression in the right fashion.
That is terribly hypocritical. She can write baseless and pointless statements which overtly attack a person, and not a peep out of the media in criticizing her. Meanwhile, Gundy is an unprofessional egotistical lunatic who needs to be cut down ASAP. How dare he even raise the question of journalism. What does he know on what it takes to be a journalist? Does he have any training, did he ever go through the trials and tribulations that a journalist must go through on a day-by-day, month-by-month basis? Am I articulating the media's hypocrisy enough? I hope so, granted I've never had any formal training on writing or expression through writing. For the record I thoroughly read her article and then watched his "tirade or rant", which by the way is a debatable moniker to describe what he did.
The sooner journalists / newsanchors / sportsreporters / beatwriters / bloggers get what I am saying, the better the profession will be. The criticism that is increasingly growing towards the media resonates with more people than I think media-types are willing to be comfortable with. This beam of intensity has only become stronger the more the media attempts to spin the story against Gundy and away from Carlson. That much I am certain about.
Ms. Carlson probably didn't deserve the veracity of Gundy's public attack, but she really should have thought of that before she opened her figurative mouth, the pen. In main people's eyes, he did exactly -or close to it- what she did to his player. He is justified in that he was not the instigator. That is why I have no problem with what he did. However, if she did consider heavily before writing, then she has no defense. In internet terms, she then basically acted like a troll and accomplished her mission.
I feel like I have more I want to say on this but I'll stop here. Anyways, I hope my "rant" has given some food for thought.
27 - Eugene
I'd also like to make a final point. Paraphrasing a statement from Sun Tsu's Art of War, "if a soldier fails in his duties, it is always the commander's fault." If anyone gets the axe first, it should be Carlson's editor and not her.
28 - mightbegundy???
Did you know that Ms. Carlson wasn't there to see chicken gate? The story that his Mom told on the news was he basically took a piece of chicken out of her container and walked away talking on the phone. Do you not have issue with source "on the sly", "rumblings and rumors" ? I know the DO scour the message boards for their insider information. One writer actually uses his own name as his screen name and we talk directly to him when he is on there. How can you source message board content from a mysterious unknown post. Hell I could be Mike Gundy for all you know.
29 - willie
I played college football in the 70’s and I have children now. I have had the opportunity the past few days to review coach Gundy’s address to the media the way he did it and the style and candor in which he did it. Like my coach he was honest in his opinion about what he saw, and what was a personal attack on one of his players that was totally out of line. The reporter cannot play football and apparently does not have children yet she has the hubris to question this player’s masculinity, his toughness and his commitment to his team and his relationship to his mom. Her comments about his mother feeding him chicken are so absurd that they stand alone in the pantheon of sports writing as possibly the most arrogant and glaring example of a cheap shot against a college player ever by someone claiming to be a sports writer. Apparently “sports writers “used to acting this way.
College coaches do not just recruit players they recruit families. I would not let my child attend a college where the coach was to weak to stand up to bad behavior by anybody that threatened my child on any level and neither would most parents because we truly love of our kids and want them to be ok. Gundy sold this family on OSU, even if he did not recruit this kid because he wanted these kids and their families to believe in him and his program and to play hard for him. Gundy defended this college kid like any parent would. All college coaches refer to their players as “their kids”. This reporter by attacking this kid and his family was also attacking Gundy and his commitment team and to the families he has recruited as well as the ones he will be recruiting. I guarantee you Gundy’s stock has risen, as it should, tremendously in Oklahoma and everywhere else. Now all this may not have gone through Gundy’s mind this way but the boy’s mother brought the article to him and I am sure she was hurt and that triggered his protective response in addition Gundy immediately recognized the article for what it was, a cheap shot, a bush league, below the belt cheap shot. Well Gundy is a cowboy, Gundy talks like a cowboy, he has a cowboy posture, wears his hat like cowboy, he is mentally tough like a cowboy as he is clearly not afraid of public opinion and you cannot fake that kind of cowboy courage although it is rarely seen these days, For those of you who do not know about cowboys they are generally respectful of their commitments and protective, cowboys generally do what they have to do and say what they have to say in a rather straight forwards manner. Well Gundy is an OSU cowboy and he cowboyed up like real cowboys do. He let the reporter have it and good because she earned it and deserved it in a public forum; he did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point to the person.
Gundy appears to be a man of principals as well just as my coach was and all coaches should be as they are teachers and surrogate parents to some kids, disciplinarians etc. Winning is important at any level but especially at this level, however like a good cowboy he did first things first. Gundy protected this kid despite a huge upset win in which he was picked to get blown out by the vaunted Red Raiders who have been known to blow people out. This speaks volumes about the coach as it clearly lets you know where his priorities are there are some things bigger even in this day an age than a huge upset win, namely the pride and honor of the team and its members. Gundy reminds me a lot of my coach. My coach would have been a lot more vocal no question about it, when he got through tongue lashing them there would have been blood on the floor and they would have been banned from the stadium and he would have let ESPN have it too. My coach was Bo Schembechler and wolverines are tough too and Bo had the guts and the power to do it. Ask Les Miles he will tell you.
30 - Eugene
Boo, I can't believe you guys. I put up an "article" on Jenny Carlson here and they take it off. Where's the freedom of expression now? BTW, I have ample sources and the Rumblings will be willing to come forward to go on record. I also got Back Stories email if you want to contact her, since all she knew really wasn't on the sly. I stand by my story, Ben, I stand by my story.
31 - Ben Miraski
Eugene-
I do not have control here to censor anything that is posted in the comments. If I feel something is out of line, I can recommend it be taken down. But I do not personally do it.
There was probably some issue with the language on your post. Please read the comment policy if you have anymore questions.
32 - Eugene
Gotcha, the fake names can be seen as outta line. It was still art...and I stand by my story.
33 - Eugene
Also, the point I was trying to make in it I hope was clear. I portrayed her as a fat, shaky daddy's girl in the same manner as she decided to go after Reid. IF you read that piece I put up and thought it was just wrong, then you understand how we feel about the trash that came out on a young man. BTW, my sources had just as much salience as hers, and you know I made them up so...people in the media are making a mistake of giving her the benefit of the doubt in hoping her story is credible. That's supposed to be taken care of the first time around, and she had plenty of time to show some of her source's integrity.
Maybe you guys saw my "article" as a personal attack on another person, which is noted in red next to the comment policy link. Maybe you guys in the news outlets need a similar policy as well.
34 - coltfan
I applaud the coach. He is a leader who stand up for his people. A coach like that is the kind we need in college sports.
35 - celebrityman
Just like Mrs. Carlson I think that you missed the point of Coach Gundy's rant. It wasn't so much about the facts of the article as it was the fact that she was so harshly critical of a student athelete, not a professional athelete, a student athelete. Maybe she didn't intend for the tone of her article to be so harsh, but it was. I'm sure several other people read this article before it was published and someone should have told her this. Like you said, the article was poorly written and didn't have any continuity leaving the reader to infer and guess what Mrs. Carlson was trying to say. Gundy was right to be critical of her and respond the way he did. Why does he have to respond in a different way? The only reason why so many people in the media are defending this girl and her poorly written article is because it makes the media nervous that someone actually took a shot back at them. It makes the media nervous that someone was actually very critical of them. It makes the media nervous that someone would dare scream out loud at one of their own putting her short coming as a journalist on display for all the world to see. But isn't it only fair that he did this. After all, Gundy only did to Carlson in his press conference what she did to that young man in her article.
36 - Matt
I do not see how you can compare somebody on a blog talking about an athlete to somebody on a respected, media outlet saying the same thing. If a peer had just posted on a blog what Jenni wrote about in her article, most people would strug it off or start some internet fight with the person. The fact that Jenni's article, which was presented as fact but was really more opinion based, was published in a respected newspaper would lead more people to believe that it was in fact truthful.
I think Gundy was correct in what he did. He reacted as any person would if somebody they cared about was slandered.
If you are arguing for Jenni and her article saying that if anybody else had wrote what she did it wouldnt have been as big of a deal, then why not put the same light on Gundy's reaction. If Reid's mother had reacted the same way, would she be getting as much criticism as Gundy?
I just think it is all getting blown up way too much. In my opinion, Jenni was wrong for writing the article the way she did and Gundy was right in what he did and I would be proud to have a coach that sticks up for me the way he did.
37 - RAT
"...but no editor I know would have let the article go to print if the facts hadn't been checked."
Are you serious?