The Gundy Trials

You've seen the football coach for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. You know like many college football coaches around the country, this man is an absolute character. For one, he is a 52 year old man with the gnarliest mullet in all of sports. He is a hog-hunting, mullet-wearing, football-loving man, who epitomizes what it means to be an Oklahoma Native.

Mike Gundy loves many things in this world, but at the top of his list, like a true Oklahoman, above all else comes: football, family, fishing/hunting, and God... probably in that order. You can prove that just by looking at his Spring Break trip to the mountains this past March.

If those Tweets don't convince you about who Mike Gundy is and the things he is interested in, here is one more tweet to sway you:

Now, that doesn't show you a lot about how much Coach Mike Gundy loves football, but if you go to his twitter, https://twitter.com/CoachGundy you can see for yourself how much this man cares about the sport. Other than those couple of Tweets on this blog post, you won't find much else other than football on his Twitter account.

Coach Gundy has been getting absolutely ripped on by the college football world because of his statements last Tuesday, on a teleconference call. Here are a couple of quotes from that call:

-"In my opinion, if we have to bring our players back, test them. They're all in good shape. They're all 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22-year-olds. They're healthy. A lot of them can fight it off with their natural body, the antibodies and the build that they have,"

-"From what I read, the healthy people can fight this, the antibodies make it better."

-"There's a lot of people who can figure this out. May 1's our goal. Don't know if it will happen. Players will come in after that."

Oklahoma State would come out with a statement not too long after Gundy's: "Everyone wants to return to some degree of normalcy as soon as possible. As for Oklahoma State University, we will adhere to the advice of public health experts who are making informed decisions in the best interest of the citizens of our nation based on scientific data." Essentially, OSU slapped Gundy on the wrist and looked passed what he said about having players back by May 1st.

Am I an absolute idiot for somewhat agreeing with Gundy? Maybe speaking out to the public about wanting to congregate his team again while everyone else may be stuck inside was an asshole move.... but he isn't wrong? If you have ever been next to any Division I football player, you know that they are just about the most fit human beings on the planet at 18-22 years old. (If you haven't stood next to one of these men, go up to your refrigerator, tape a head to the top of it, look it up and down, and you'll have the general idea of what they look like). They are built like a Marvel SuperHero, if they aren't absolutely ginormous and bulky, then they are (in the words of Shannon Sharpe) shredded, like a Trump tax return. Division I football players are definitely a different breed. If they have been appropriately practicing social distancing for the last month, like they should have been, then they probably don't have COVID. Even if they haven't been isolated, they still have a solid 2 weeks to practice good social isolation to ensure they are healthy and not sick (AND THAT IS IF THEY STARTED TODAY, A WEEK AFTER GUNDY'S STATEMENTS). I believe in good social distancing, especially for the average human. We should all be isolated if told to do so. We have enough shit in our houses to keep us busy. But looking into the future and saying that you have a goal of getting players back to campus sooner than everyone else expects isn't an asshole move... Is it being optimistic? Absolutely, but let these kids and coaches get back to the game they love if they can.

I guess it is my opinion, and in the end, only God can judge if Mike Gundy was wrong to exercise his first amendment right of stating a goal that he had for his team. Since Gundy already got shut down by the media, the University, and the general college football fan base, we know May 1 isn't even a possibility. But we can still look forward to hopefully getting more pictures of Gundy in quarantine, or maybe hog hunting. All of this to say, Gundy just wants sports back like the rest of us, and hopefully the world is wrong, and we can start having athletes begin to practice by May 1.