Daily Bullets (Oct. 26): Most Viewed of the Week, Digging into Gundy’s Rant

Fall days with football – the Good Lord only makes so many, Go Pokes. 

Bullets Rundown

• Boone on Gundy’s recent rant
• Looking more closely at the rant
• Ten thoughts from Baylor loss

Scores

• Soccer: OSU 3, OU 1
• Equestrian: Fresno State 14, OSU 5

OSU Bullets

• Most Viewed of the Week (No. 1): Boone on Gundy’s Most Recent Rant

Boone drew eyeballs to the right part of Gundy’s talk – the need for fans to attend to keep up recruiting efforts. Gundy is right: if recruits come to watch people boo the players and walk out in the third quarter – or see a sparsely attended game – it’s not convincing.

Delayed gratification is a hard sell today. When the current players struggle, it’s hard to convince fans that the next wave will better. OSU fans have had strong attendance over the last few years even in moments of struggle and a second down-year appears to be upon us.

Something I’d be interested to hear from Gundy is this: explain to me why Trace Ford is in Stillwater. What game did Chuba Hubbard come to and what impressed him? Fill journalists’ notebooks with stories about real cause-and-effect scenarios where the fans made the difference. You can push people to games or you can pull them.

• Most Viewed of the Week (No. 2): Gundy Got Firey at the Weekly Presser

I loved that Gundy showed some fire. Nothing chaps me more than driving home late after an OSU game and Gundy puts out the “well we’re going to get back up and try it again next week…” Every fan who listens to what you’re saying is disappointed, speak to your audience. If a reporter comes after you too hard, sure, throw out a “the sun will come out tomorrow”. I loved that Gundy showed frustration with the current reality.

Something I didn’t love was Gundy giving prescriptive advice to make sure fans keep coming to games lest the recruiting dropoff was a bit tone-deaf. Inspire an audience with your oratorical skills and convince them to come to the games. If we get to November and you’re worried OU fans will outnumber for Bedlam, make a plea then. But fresh off two eggs laid, it’s not the time.

• Most Viewed of the Week (No. 3): Ten Thoughts from the Baylor Game

Writing about games like Baylor minutes and not hours after the game wraps up is one of the hardest things to do. That’s part of the magic of the Ten Thoughts that’s wonderful – it’s deeper and well thought out and it helps to make sense of the occasion.

The narrative that’s come into full bloom thus since, how streaks of OSU’s dominance are ending and other staffs and teams seem to want it more (thought No. 8). Teams swaggered and exerted their will over others and most generally, that hasn’t been the Pokes. It’s a hard truth but there is support for the trend lines and it’s worth noting.

• Most Viewed of the Week (No. 4): Sooner Schooner Crash was Prettier than OSU’s Play on Saturday

Boone’s closing comments were ones that resonated:

I feel good about OSU rebounding. Maybe I’m an optimist, maybe I’m a moron. But I still think there’s a way to salvage what’s increasingly becoming a lost season. [PFB]

As much reflection and chewing on trends has occurred (thoroughly discussed above and on the site this week), Oklahoma State has more football games to play. It’s still fall 2019 and there are good teams, fun moments that can possibly occur. Go Pokes.

• Most Viewed of the Week (No. 5): Cade Cunningham (Fake) Commits

Dax Hill, Laquon Treadwell, Trae Young. All were high profile recruitments that the Pokes were squarely in but missed out on the final cut. I’d argue that Cade Cunningham is a bigger deal than all of them. Dax Hill might be worth another win this year if he was on the roster. Treadwell may have turned the tide on the 2016 Sugar Bowl. Trae Young would have gotten OSU into the first round. Cade Cunningham is a program changer, a trajectory shaper, a player capable of defining a coach’s career.

I still don’t get what the fascination is with teenagers and being frustrated about speculation being made on their recruiting decisions. But given that more buzz has been about him going to UK lately, I’ll take those being discredited.

Non-OSU Bullets

• Russell Westbrook doesn’t live here anymore
• Enjoyed this read about Braum’s in the LA Times
• Thought there was lots of wisdom to these comments from an author I follow:

Habits that have a high rate of return in life:

– sleeping 8+ hours each day
– lifting weights 3x week
– going for a walk each day
– saving at least 10 percent of your income
– reading every day
– drinking more water and less of everything else
– leaving your phone in another room while you work [James Clear]