osu coach

Jenni Carlson, the target of Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy's now-infamous postgame tirade, is a talented, dedicated sports columnist.

I've stated that opinion privately and publicly for years. I've known Jenni, now a columnist at The Oklahoman, since she was a student at Kansas and later when she was a high school columnist for this newspaper.

The column she wrote about Oklahoma State quarterback Bobby Reid, the column that caused Gundy to melt down following the Cowboys' victory over Texas Tech, is absolutely indefensible. Gundy called it "garbage," and I can't disagree.

Why anyone in the media would choose to defend a column that is basically a message-board attack on a 21-year-old kid speaks to the insecurity of our profession.

We make mistakes ― all the time. There is no reason to turn defensive and blame Gundy for justifiably embarrassing Carlson the same way she belittled an amateur athlete.

Carlson's column reminded me of one I wrote in the mid-1990s about Marcus Allen and O.J. Simpson. My column, a fictional piece about a conversation between Allen and Simpson at the height of the Simpson murder trial, was supposed to be humorous, and it was.

But it had no business being published in a newspaper. It was completely unfair to Marcus Allen. It was a dirty joke told inside a church. When I saw Allen in the locker room a couple of days after the column ran, he erupted, cursed at me, made threats and had to be restrained by teammates.

By the next day, I knew I had made a terrible error in judgment. I immediately began the process of apologizing to Allen. I offered to write an apology column. He accepted my apology and told me it was unnecessary to write a public one. I then apologized to Allen's wife, and she graciously accepted.

Jenni Carlson owes Bobby Reid and Mike Gundy apologies. Her column was atrocious.

In a newspaper circulated throughout the state, she ripped a kid by tying together a string of Internet rumors and out-of-context comments made by Reid to her co-workers. She basically called Reid a wimp and justified it by saying "if you believe the rumors and the rumblings."

Here are a few choice excerpts from the column:

?"Tile up the back stories told on the sly over the past few years, and you see a pattern that hasn't always been pretty."

?"Word is that Reid has considered transferring a couple different times, the first as early as 2005. Reid, then a redshirt freshman, was facing competition from returner Donovan Woods, and apparently, Reid considered leaving OSU just because he had to compete for the spot."

That bit of information was attributed to no one. I take that back, it was attributed to "back stories told on the sly."

Here's another gem from the column. Carlson takes a Reid quote given to one of her colleagues ― "The coaches made a decision. I just have to go with it, get better and get back on the field" ― and interprets it in the most negative way possible:

Carlson wrote: "There's something to be said for not being a malcontent, but you can almost see Reid shrugging his shoulders as he says those words. Does he have the fire in his belly?"

How can she see a shoulder shrugging on a player she apparently hasn't taken the time to speak with herself? The kid stated he wants to get better and get back in the lineup. What was he supposed to say?

I could go on. It's unnecessary. She made a mistake. It's not a big deal. It happens. What's embarrassing is reading all of these columns calling for Gundy to be suspended or even fired for defending his player and calling out Carlson in public