Did Oklahoma State Just Okie-Doke Chuba Hubbard?

In the color TV era, an ageless casual fashion trend involves humans willingly turning themselves into human billboards.

• Sometimes, it results in a commercial wet dream, with people paying good money to sport a shirt with a mega-corporation's logo on it; shouldn't that be the other way around?
• Other times, it's feisty little commercial outfits doing the same thing because they've got nifty cool logos and learned fans want to show their approval and support.
• Even more common are those expressing humor in some sorta harmless manner.
• And then there are the statement shirts.

 

On occasion, there are those who should have a better grasp of exactly what they've got.

Cue Oklahoma State coach and erstwhile golden boy Mike Gundy. In the eyes of Cowboy faithful everywhere, dude is Oklahoma State football.

Whatever else he might be is up for debate. Just know that in Stillwater, impervious comes to mind.

If one's being generous, oblivious could be in the running, too.

 

Chuba Hubbard's still mulling that one over.

Maybe he did it in the defense-optional Big XII, but the 6-1, 207lb Canadian still did enough damage to merit 8th place in last season's Heisman voting.

Dude also knows which way the wind blows, so when he saw a tweet showing his coach in a T-shirt shilling One America Network (OAN), his reaction may have been rash, but it was damn well understandable:

 

Rumors persist that OAN is run by Attila the Hun, and if that's where Gundy's political leanings go, so be it in the name of a free country and all that.

However, it'd be a good idea for him -- or anyone -- to truly comprehend the bile that OAN spews. For example:

 

 

Gundy didn't need to brush up on what happened to Mike Leach at Mississippi State a few months ago to realize he had a roster full of players who no doubt were as offended as Hubbard was.

After leading the Big XII in rushing and foregoing the NFL Draft to give the Cowboys another season of his time, the junior-to-be was not the player Gundy needed to piss off.

Coach just knew he had to do something.

 

No doubt about it. He had to get another hat.

This called for catching up with his star RB and showing yet another reason why the school pays him $5million a year. In the cold light of harsh reality, he's also in a state where donors probably like his leanings, and the school would have absolutely no shot at firing Gundy for his political beliefs, so he wasn't going anywhere.

That means Hubbard did sorta paint his future into a corner. Full marks for taking a righteous stance, but being real, dude didn't have Colin Kaepernick's millions in the bank. What sorta change was he willing to accept?

 

One can always hope it'll be more than nebulous, but it sure didn't sound like it.

At day's end, though, who really knows what change is gonna mean? Will it be the 1964-to-April 2020 kinda lip-service change or, like, change?

If nothing else, though, whether or not the rest of Gundy's political principles warranted further review, this one did.

 

Damn right they'll accept it.

That beat the hell outta needing to re-recruit a number of his players as well as holding on to his incomings.

But what's the bottom line, here?

• Gundy wore a T-shirt that wasn't the best of wardrobe decisions for camera work,
• Hubbard made a noble declaration about the principle involved, and yet,
• Hubbard was the one who wound up apologizing.

 

Exactly.

This has all the makings of a same as it ever was scenario.

Rack up the Talking Heads ...