Bob Cook

It seems everybody is doing parodies of Internet video sensation Chris Crocker and his tearful “Leave Britney Alone!” rant after Britney Spears’ disastrous performance at the recent MTV awards. Like the other day, Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy did a parody called “Leave Bobby Reid Alone!” that has been viewed more than 200,000 times on YouTube, and on Sunday alone was downloaded more than 50,000 times on MSNBC.com, an unusually high number on a relatively low-trafficked day.

Oh, wait, you mean Gundy’s routine wasn’t a parody?

Well, all the same, Gundy’s three-minute, 20-second rant ripping a newspaper column about Reid and the Cowboys program — the extent of Gundy’s news conference following Saturday’s 49-45 victory over Texas Tech — has made him this week’s Internet star, following in the illustrious yet trivial footsteps as Crocker, the Numa Numa guy, the Star Wars kid, the dramatic woodchuck, the hand-holding otters and Filipino prisoners’ production of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Unfortunately for Gundy, coaches who go nuts have a longer Internet shelf life than the aforementioned video flavors of the week. Like other coaches’ finest works of top-blowing, Gundy’s explosion will be preserved for posterity, forwarded by fans and haters amongst themselves, and, more than likely, forwarded to potential recruits by assistants, boosters or anyone wanting to show that Gundy is passionate about his players — or completely off his nut.

Welcome to the YouTube age, Mike Gundy! A few days ago only hard-core football fans outside the Big 12 had heard of you. Now, everyone knows you as Crazy Tom Cruise next to the Daily Oklahoman’s stunned, Matt Lauer-ish Jenni Carlson: “You obviously don’t have a child! I do.” Or auditioning to be in the next Viva Viagra ad: “Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40!”

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Gundy’s tirade, if you’re among the few who haven’t seen it yet, was tripped by a column Carlson wrote questioning the toughness of Reid, a 21-year-old junior who began the season as a the starting quarterback but was benched in the second game of the season.

To bring home her point that Reid’s attitude was more responsible for his demotion than his play, Carlson led with an anecdote about Reid’s mother hand-feeding him his chicken dinner.

Gundy is defending his tirade, and Carlson is defending her column, and each person has his or her defenders, but that’s not really the point now, is it? From now until the end of time, Gundy, no matter where his coaching career takes him, is going to be the guy who celebrated one of the biggest victories of his career by hoping that we all have the pleasure of comforting our children after they’ve been laughed at, called fat, and dropped the winning touchdown pass.

Most of us watch the Gundy spectacle, over and over again, like a — you guessed it — car crash video. With so many coaches so well-versed in dull coachspeak, it’s jarring to hear someone respond to something with actual human emotion. Right or wrong, Gundy was feeling everything he said. Future Oklahoma State players might view this as the ultimate sign of a coach who will live and die for them, or the ultimate sign of a coach who is borderline insane.

One wonders how many times this video has been forwarded to Oklahoma State sugar daddy T. Boone Pickens, who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to the athletic department, hence why Gundy is coaching at Boone Pickens Stadium.