Where To Draw The Line

When does the influence of the media begin to be detrimental to the mindsets of our athletes? The incident which occurred with Mike Gundy, the coach of Oklahoma State football, brought to the forefront how sometimes a statement must be made (http://youtube.com/watch?v=5VytIZZzee0). I, personally, stand behind coach Gundy in his handling of the incident involving a writer’s criticism of one of his players on a personal level. After watching ESPN’s SportsCenter this week following the rant, one of the commentators said that an outburst like this seems to happen once or twice every season. That made me think to myself how maybe the media looks to cause these stirrups every once in a while in an attempt to create a news story when the times get slow. I think we as a society like to witness these types of rants, even if they are brought on by something we feel is wrong. There also has to be consideration given to how coach Gundy dealt with this situation. It may seem as though he did the right thing by calling this reporter out on a national stage. However, there are also arguments as to how he could have done it differently. One suggestion is that he could have met with the writer in private and discussed this matter in a more civilized way. Others say he could have responded to it with a ‘no comment’ or something of that nature. I personally feel what he did was the right thing, because it provided a shock value to be seen all across the country. I applaud Mike Gundy for what he did and stand behind his actions, if that means anything to him.