Dear Coach Gundy

I have a child. Two of them. One in college. And I understand OSU Coach Mike Gundy's opinion that Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson (who is no doubt auditioning for a role on "The View") got her facts wrong and unfairly criticized benched OSU QB Bobby Reid. Carlson wrote a column that insinuated Reid was a "baby" and the coach replaced him at quarterback because of his attitude, instead of his play.

But, come on, Coach Gundy. Was that display of uncontrolled anger after your win over Texas Tech on Saturday really necessary? Or a good idea?

I don't care too much for the Cowboy football program. I don't care if T. Boone Pickens and OSU AD Mike Holder have their scheme to bank on the deaths of alums to fund their investment of life insurance proceeds to overbuild their stadium. So, really Gundy's outburst is kind of funny to Sooner fans like me, who kind of expect a high school approach to anything in Stillwater.

It just puts Gundy in the same out-of-control category as that Muskogee High School football coach who didn't want to be bothered when involved in an auto accident with a little boy on bicycle. Only this time the only things that got hurt were some feelings.

Well Gundy says he's a man. He's 40, he says.

Do 40-year-old men have carte blance to pout? If so, I've got some catching up to do.

It would have been better had Gundy simply said the column was fiction. He could have said reporters should have done a better job investigating the claim. Or, better yet, he could have said nothing. I certainly would not have seen the column if Gundy had not made a big deal about it.

Here's a novel idea. He could have talked about the great and exciting game his Cowboys won -- a valliant effort by his players, despite everyone counting them out for the year following their dismal beginning -- but, no, he chose to beat up on a newspaper columnist and storm out of his post-game press conference.

In the aftermath of this mess Gundy could always ask for T. Boone to buy out the owners of the Daily Oklahoman and quiet critcism. No, wait...their name is on the stadium here in Norman, isn't it?

-- Mike