Some battles never have a winner

Ah, yes, another sports conflict without a good guy.

Or good gal, for that matter.

A ruckus was raised recently when Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy berated sports writer Jenni Carlson for her column criticizing a player.

They tell me Gundy's tirade was all over YouTube, whatever that is. Sorry, but I still get my visuals from TV and Playboy.

Anyway, a football coach against a sports writer isn't exactly like Billy Graham against the pope.

I don't know Jenni Carlson or Mike Gundy. For all I know, their feud might be good against evil, good against good or evil against evil.

But some rivalries shouldn't have a winner.

Like, both the Yankees and the Red Sox should lose any series, playoffs or otherwise, in which they play each other.

Nobody should win any PGA tournament, as much money as every one of those players is awarded just for being semi-proficient.

As long as the NBA and NHL are going to allow so many teams into their playoffs, their titles should remain vacated.

It has become difficult to unconditionally admire anybody in sports these days. So when I'm at a game I pull for me, my newspaper and later deadlines.

That's probably another reason for the public to dislike sports writers, along with the valid impression that we're fat, sassy, selfish, arrogant, obnoxious and increasingly irrelevant.

So why would anybody expect anybody to sympathize with Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)?

Come to think of it, the only profession that harbors less trustworthy characters than sports writing is college coaching.

So why would anybody believe that Mike Gundy was justified in screaming at even a sports writer?

This is like a villainous professional wrestler cramming a forearm into the throat of another villainous professional wrestler.

OK, perhaps I'm exaggerating just a little, which is another reason to carpet bomb everybody in my business.

To be honest, I seem to remember at some point during my career associating with a sports writer I trusted. I just don't recall who he or she was, probably because it was in a long-ago era.

What I'm getting at here is that Jenni Carlson, who very well might be as ethical as they come, probably isn't going to win this debate.

Her only chance is that Mike Gundy, who very well might be as honest as they come, is a football coach.

On the trust meter, football coaches are right down there with used-car salesmen, politicians and, yes, sports writers.

Think back to when a writers' poll elected one college football national champion and a coaches' poll elected another.

Let's see, should the public support the coaches' winner, considering voters let their dogs, 4-year-olds and mistresses cast their ballots?

Or should the public support the writers' winner, considering most of those voters couldn't tell a punt from a bunt?

I mean, sometimes it seems that only recruiting scandals are as prevalent as plagiarism, fabricating news sources and pretending to be somewhere you aren't.

For obvious personal reasons, I'm backing Jenni Carlson in this ongoing dust-up with Mike Gundy.

Freedom of the press is more important than freedom of football, so we can only hope that at least one writer is doing the right thing.

In other words, hopefully the writer is less bad than the coach is.

mimrem@dailyherald.com