The crusade in the sports world against all thought independent of leftism rages on. The latest target is Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy.
Gundy went fishing last week wearing a One America News Network T-shirt, and a photo of him was posted to a Facebook page with about 2,300 followers. That image was found by CBS Sports writer Kyle Boone, who tweeted it, after which it was picked up by Oklahoma State’s star running back Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard then decided to blast Gundy on Twitter and threaten to boycott team activities.
To his credit, he admitted afterward it should’ve been handled behind closed doors, but the damage was done. Gundy and Hubbard posted a video together, showing that they were moving past it and promising changes, and Gundy later posted a separate hostage-video apology. “Once I learned how that network felt about Black Lives Matter, I was disgusted and knew it was completely unacceptable to me,” Gundy said. “I want to apologize to all members of our team, former players, and their families for the pain and discomfort that has been caused over the last two days.”
This wasn’t really a new thing for Gundy. He praised OANN as recently as April, saying: “They just report the news. There’s no commentary. There’s no opinions. There’s no left. There’s no right.” It’s not even a surprise that Gundy is in hot water, as he’s been known to make a scene in the past.
This whole dust-up isn’t really about OANN, a fringe-y outlet prone to conspiracy theories. Although Hubbard may be sincere in his grievances, sports media already knew Gundy’s OANN habit. It’s not even really about Gundy.
It’s really about sports media, with almost no sports to cover, doubling down on politically driven coverage since protests broke out last month.
Drew Brees was among the first to suffer the consequence of their idleness when he was forced to apologize twice for expressing his support for standing during the national anthem. Even the push for an NFL team to sign Colin Kaepernick has been revived, despite the fact that he was a mediocre quarterback who’s been out of the league for three years now.
There wouldn’t be a story here if Gundy had worn a shirt for, say, the Young Turks. There probably wouldn’t even have been a story if Gundy had worn his OANN shirt two months ago.
But as the 2020 election nears, with athletes and a sports media that skew left, you’ll see more athletes and coaches like Gundy who are forced to apologize for violating left-wing orthodoxy. This didn’t start with Gundy, and as the months go on, it won’t end with him either.
