OSU’s Mike Gundy vs. The Oklahoman
September 25th, 2007Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy didn’t like this column by The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson. So after Saturday’s game, he let her and everyone else know about it:
If you have any problems watching the video, you can also see it here.
Your thoughts?
Good for him. The column crosses the line with a college athlete.
Carlson’s column sounds like something off the gossip page, not the sports section. I realize that college football is basically a professional sport in Oklahoma, but I think criticism of college athletes should be limited to their play on the field. Kudos to the coach for sticking up for his player.
It’s amazing what passes for “journalism” these days.
Forbid it that Reid should have a relationship with his Mom. How dare Carlson attempt to manipulate the readers by statements such as “you can almost see Reid shrugging his shoulders as he [talks about being benched]”?!? What would she have preferred he say?
Further, most of her quotes are unattributed and many of those that are where not told directly to her. I just can’t see where she has ANY credibility in this article and potentially as a journalist going forward.
There’s no substantiated story here at all. This is Commentary/OpEd at best - and not very good even at that. Good for Gundy to call it out.
I’ll go at this a little differently.
The coach used the phrase, “I am a man”. If that is indeed the case, you should NEVER speak to a woman in that manner…especially in public. Not very manly in my book.
That said, coaches need to defend their players. And we still have that nasty little inconvenience known as the first amendment. So as long as there are journalists being paid to write stuff (albeit very poorly written stuff) , and as long as “scooping” the competition is one of the goals, you’re going to have pieces written that seek to create news rather than just reporting it. The result: Coaches and journalists at odds with one another.
Tony she should be treated equally as any member of the workforce. I’m guessing he would have went off on a man just the same. And he did not speak profanely or anything.
As for collegiate athletes not being paid, that’s ridiculous. They receive full scholarships, food, board, clothing, shoes and even special tutors to help them with their work. Not to mention what they receive from boosters under the table.
Most are paid quite handsomely indeed.
My favorite part of the clip was this,
As opposed to what?
It has been very interesting to me to see the nation’s opinions of this. I graduated from Ok. State in 2004 and am very familiar with the situation, despite the fact that I’m stuck on the East Coast now.
Anyone in the area knows that this isn’t Gundy blowing up at one isolated article. The coverage for YEARS has been sloppy, biased, and inaccurate. That particular paper (as with most) is quick to jump on a negative story, but very rarely prints anything positive about anyone. I think he was 100% right on with his statements, and while he was obviously pretty upset, he was still in his right mind, not just going crazy like some other “tirades” that we’ve seen from other coaches. He made excellent points, especially about the fact that this kid has done nothing wrong, but instead is one of the most courteous players when it comes to fans and media.
I agree with Zoner from the standpoint that if the coach is speaking about someone’s work (the columnist), then gender doesn’t matter. I agree with Tony in that it would have been preferable that a man (the coach) did not yell at a woman (the columnist) in the public manner in which he did.
That said, I’m tired of bullies (such as negative writers/critics/columnists) who can scream, yell, and make nuisances of themselves (figurtively and literally) and yet those who are bullied cannot respond in kind. That’s why anti-bullying campaigns will not work in schools. But, I digress.
The coach was absolutely right on every point.
Good for him.
What if this journalist was your wife?
If any man ever spoke to my wife the way Gundy spoke to that reporter, he would be taking nourishment through a straw for a very long time.
Point taken.
Too bad it is no longer applicable to our culture that
“a gentle answer turns away wrath.”
Supposing the journalist was “Jack” Carlson, male.
How then should the coach respond?
*****
My wife has a position where her bosses require her to work places or times that are unacceptable to us. Yet she tells me I cannot intervene; it would make trouble for her. She is responsible for the performance of her job, not me. It is the same for Jenni Carlson. Sources should have been quoted; without that, it is gossip and hearsay. The story as printed should not be done to any person who does not draw an actual paycheck for their services.
College athletes get many things provided for them by their school, true. I have yet to hear of a student-athlete who draws a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly paycheck made out to them personally from the institution which they attend.
Unless of course, they have a part time job.
But it is understood what I meant previously.
FYI - if you click through to YouTube you can watch a TV interview with Jenni Carlson about her column and Coach Gundy’s eruption.
Just picking up on Peter R.’s post. Here is the link he is referring to…
Jenni Carlson responds to Mike Gundy
I am no fan of Oklahoma State. Can’t stand their football team. But I was proud of Gundy. He did the right thing.
Tony, if your wife was in this reporter’s position, and she is like my wife, and you stepped in to defend her, you might be next :>). Women want equality in the workforce, and I’m all for it. But with that equality comes a price, and this reporter paid that price on Saturday.
Gundy basically gave this junior high gossip columnist national exposure. Checking out her response she basically placed the burden of proof back on the coach. This “I will write what I want to write and you must prove me wrong” approach is very amateurish but all too common even in the big media markets. I am suprised that she didn’t used the beloved journalistic phrase “according to ‘unnamed’ sources”. This was truly a poorly written article but the exposure should give her a career boost.
It seems to me that Gundy overreacted. All that screaming and drama for what? I never heard of Jenni Carlson before but thanks to Gundy’s exploits, now I have. This issue has become sensationalized more than it ought to have. Perhaps Gundy could have handled this better by just speaking to Jenni directly instead of ranting to the media at his news conference. That’s just my 2 cents.
My wife would have never wrote such a thing.
Nourishment through a straw? Easy tiger!
Reporting live from Chicago waiting for the Cubs to blow it,
Zoner
A good portion of the article seemed to be based upon theory and conjecture rather than cold, hard facts. However, given that the article was attempting to judge what was in the heart of a player, that is about the only approach that can be taken.
The question is, should the article have been written?
Matt Gundy doesn’t seem to think such things should be written about amateur athletes. While college athletes don’t receive a salary, as it has already been pointed out, they are compensated for their play. In addition, fans who pay for tickets that are almost expensive as NFL tickets probably would feel entitled to seeing their team play as hard as they can.
Call me a fence-straddler here, I think the article probably could have been written differently. By the same token, Gundy probably over-reacted a little.
It was entertaining, though.
My main problem with Carlson’s column is that it wasn’t properly sourced. A professional journalist should realize they’re on shaky ground any time they employ the phrase “word is” in reference to a set of facts.
Certainly, Gundy could have handled things more calmly, but what is a college football coach if not a professional over-reactor?
Tony,
“If ifs and buts were candy and nuts…”
You write hypothetically:
“If any man ever spoke to my wife the way Gundy spoke to that reporter, he would be taking nourishment through a straw for a very long time.”
But we don’t live in a world of “ifs” and your wife would never be in the integrity-less position of that “reporter” -scratch that- gossip/fiction columnist.
She deserved the tirade…and then some.