10 thoughts on part four of the Sports Illustrated series

OK, this is just kind of fun now.

My 10 thoughts on part four of the SI series on Oklahoma State…

1. First of all, you can just shut the whole thing down after this paragraph…

None of the more than 30 former players or the 14 former Orange Pride members who spoke to SI about the group had direct knowledge of a coach or athletic department staff member instructing a hostess to have sex with a recruit.

THAT is a scandal. Whatever you presented me with (and I really am still not sure what it is), is not.

In fact, I’m tempted to make my 10 thoughts on this just that one thought[1. Hah, like I could rest at just one thought.] because, in terms of a scandal or investigation, that’s the only one that matters.

2. This blew my mind as well:

More than a dozen Cowboys who played from 2001 to ’11 told SI that a small number of Orange Pride members had sexual relations with them or with other prospects during recruiting visits. According to the former hostesses who spoke to SI, the vast majority did not have sex with recruits.

Uh, college?

3. Also, if that’s the case, well, I think we can agree that it’s pretty representitive of the student body as a whole. A few girls have a lot of sex and a lot of girls have little or no sex. So if we’ve determined (as we did in No. 1) that no coach made you do this, why are you telling me?

At the end of the article was this telling paragraph:

Asked if she could see the school abolishing Orange Pride, Page says, “A lot of blind eyes are turned at OSU.” She adds, “It would take one statement from Mike Gundy to begin that shift. He is a powerful and charismatic figure, and he has the power to shut down [Orange Pride], to send a clear message that we are not about putting young women in that position [and that] we respect women and want to function at the highest level of ethics.”

So you’re more worried about what goes on generally in college football. I’m reading that right, yes?

4. And you had 10 months and delayed the piece this morning and this still happened…

It obviously has nothing to do with the facts (and I do stuff like this on a regular occasion) but I have to think if you’re taking this as seriously as you tell me you are that you would have triple-checked this thing twice.

5. This paragraph is so embarrassing..

Orange Pride’s growing prominence coincided with the Cowboys’ resurgence. By 2002, when the football program began putting pictures of Orange Pride members in its media guide, the group had increased to 48. That year Rivals.com ranked Oklahoma State’s recruiting class (including the sought-after Thomas Wright) No. 25 in the nation. The following season, when Orange Pride expanded to 54, the Cowboys’ class ranked 15th. (School officials say that this season Orange Pride consists of about 40 members.) To be sure, Orange Pride wasn’t solely responsible for that success. Miles was a deft pitchman and assembled a competent staff.

It probably had nothing to do with the fact that Oklahoma State won twice as many games in 2002 as it did in 2001, right? Also, SI never says what it increased from. Was it 47? 46? 2?

I have no idea.

6. From my wife: “I’m annoyed that this article assumes that the reason the girls would have sex with recruits is solely because they want Oklahoma State football to get better.” I agree. Because girls never chase jerseys or try to cast their future lot with potential professionals…they only care about Oklahoma State football!

7. As Jimmie Tramel pointed out, why exactly did Mr. Rock n’ rolling have to be unidentified? So that the two girls he did it with wouldn’t be revealed? Is he currently doing it with them on a webcam and is worried we can Google that and see who they are?

8. And on that note, this was amazing:

Off the board. RT @GottliebShow: Im in vegas,what is the line at? RT @CarsonC5: Who wants to wager Girtman is the "top recruit"? #okstate

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) September 13, 2013

9. Not only have I not seen a smoking gun thus far, I’m not even sure they’ve pointed me at the shooting range. We’re playing Duck Hunt on a Nintendo with a piece of plastic shaped like a weapon right now.

10. Can you imagine the Les Miles interviews with these girls? Do you like to eat grass? How do you wear your ballcap? Clap for me, no, just go ahead and clap…two hands.

11. You say these things go on at most places and then you imply to me OSU was getting recruits over other places because of its hostesses and fail to mention the $300 million Boone has given. Then I look up OSU’s recruiting classes and see that that they actually weren’t getting recruits over most places.

The lack of logic is just breathtaking.

12. I don’t know that I agree with this. I’m not pro “sleeping with people you just met” but can’t they kind of do what they want? By all means, give instruction and make it clear you don’t condone it but is Oklahoma State football in the business of policing such things?

Orange Pride should remove members who sleep with recruits. Don't overlook it or blow it off. You only enable them that way

— Matt Amilian (@mattamilian) September 13, 2013

13. This is not good, if it happened (and I could see something like this happening) but again, how does this end? DeForest denied it and he doesn’t even work at OSU anymore. It just feels like they’re grasping at stuff…

According to Wright, the assistant coach said that when he had asked the recruit if he had sex the night before, the recruit responded that he had not. “He was pissed I didn’t get [the recruit] laid,” Wright says of DeForest. “He told me I would never host a recruit again.

14. On the surface, what allegedly occurred at those schools and with the small number of Orange Pride members and recruits in Stillwater might appear harmless. But is it?

THIS IS WORTH A WEEK-LONG 5-PART SERIES?!

15. Look, some Orange Pride girls had sex with some recruits, I’m sure. They likely had sex with football players as well but if you’re going to pump this series as an expose on a single program, then you’re going to have to give me systematic failure. If you’re using OSU to point to the landscape of college football as a whole then why, as a number of people have suggested to me, didn’t you pick five programs and do five different stories?

The first three days were weak, this is just laughable.