Mind Games with Guerin Emig

David Ubben of The Athletic joins me on the latest episode of Mind Games on the Sellout Crowd network. David was in Las Vegas with college football’s A-list this week and got reaction to both the proposal of NCAA president Charlie Baker to have schools compensate their athletes (2:05), and his column decrying the madness of college football’s postseason and offseason hitting at the same time (20:00). Then it’s back to the games and a look at the College Football Playoff (30:32) and OU’s and OSU’s bowl assignments (38:37), before finishing with a tribute to Gerald McCoy and Taylor Griffin (41:56) and our favorite Christmas gifts ever (43:35). 

Check out my columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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On the latest episode of Mind Games, I’m joined by Jon Walker, who has been Stillwater News Press sports editor the past year-plus and who has just taken a job covering Creighton basketball for the Omaha World Herald. Before leaving OSU behind, Jon offers his perspective on the Cowboys’ chances against Texas in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game, and their future in an OU- and Texas-less Big 12 Conference. He sums up what it’s like to cover Mike Gundy, and shares some of his favorite stories and OSU figures from his time at the News Press. 

(02:30) Introducing Jon to viewers/listeners
(04:20) Just how does OSU hang with Texas?
(12:25) The Cowboys dig in for the Big 12’s last stand vs. the SEC-bound traitors
(19:12) OSU needs this one not just for the Big 12’s current sake, but the Cowboys’ future
(22:40) Jon’s perspective on Mike Gundy
(27:36) Jon’s most memorable News Press stories, starting with one about Boone the Boone Pickens Stadium cat
(32:00) Who from OSU and what from Stillwater is Jon going to miss? 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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Eli Lederman joins me to delve into what it’s like to cover a program of the Sooners’ stature. If players’ performances reveal themselves throughout a season most obviously, players’ personalities are uncovered too. That’s the best part of the job because that’s when you get to present the players as people, and the more about a team you present to its fan base, the better that fan base is informed. We touch on officiating fixes, Honor Code challenges and bowl destinations down the stretch, but not before peeling back the cover on the ‘23 Sooners. 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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Sellout Crowd’s twin OSU beat writers make their triumphant return to Mind Games with Guerin Emig this week and Bedlam is THE topic. Sam and Ben Hutchens share their thoughts on the end of the series, a unique perspective given it wasn’t long ago they were freshmen in the OSU student section. They checked their fandom at the doors of the O’Colly not long after that, but it doesn’t change the fact they feel as strongly about what’s happening to Bedlam as the most ardent fans. The twins are wise and considerate beyond their years, something made strikingly clear in this episode. There is talk about Saturday’s matchup and the stakes involved, plus an update on life back in Stillwater for the apartment-sharing twins. Stay for those segments, but come for the brothers’ deep thoughts on the dissolving of our state’s most cherished sports tradition. 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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National college football writer Chris Vannini had never covered a football game at Oklahoma State before attending the Bedlam finale. He comes on Mind Games with Guerin Emig to share his observations and feelings from a historic day in Stillwater, where a goalpost wound up in Theta Pond and perhaps Chris’ wristwatch did too. You can’t be numb to a scene like that, as much as we’ve grown accustomed to the spoiling of college football tradition and history. Chris and Guerin take a moment there, and to discuss Ollie Gordon’s Heisman Trophy chances, the College Football Playoff race and the possibility that Kansas’ Lance Leipold moves to Michigan. All of that plus Jim Harbaugh/Connor Stalions fatigue and the time a college AD used one strange stat to choose a football coach. 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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With the first College Football Playoff standings going live next Tuesday, then final Bedlam hitting four days later, longtime national college football insider Brett McMurphy drops by the latest episode of Mind Games with Guerin Emig. Brett ponders the Sooners’ staying power as an unbeaten CFP hopeful, why it might be tough for OU to beat Texas in a Big 12 Championship rematch, and how awful it is to see realignment ruin college football rivalries like Bedlam. 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane 

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Sellout Crowd columnist Guerin Emig can’t get inside the head of Lincoln Riley right now, so he does the next best thing on this episode of Mind Games – he picks the brain of Antonio Morales, USC beat writer for The Athletic since 2018. Morales shares his insight into the Trojans’ stunningly lopsided loss at Notre Dame last week, and how everyone should have seen it coming. That leads to a discussion about USC holes beyond Alex Grinch’s woeful defense (see: offensive line), and that leads to how Riley is handling all of this. Some of the head coach’s reaction, and stubbornness, will sound familiar to those who recall Riley’s five-year tenure at Oklahoma. 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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Once a 40-year basketball coach, including a stint on Mike Boynton’s Oklahoma State staff, Barry Hinson is now OSU associate director for NIL. That begs a question during Hinson’s appearance on this episode of Mind Games with Guerin Emig: What’s the tougher job, coaching college basketball or negotiating the shark-infested waters of name, image and likeness? Hinson answers that question while diving into those waters, educating Mind Games listeners on what he can and can’t do related to NIL under NCAA rules, and why it’s a concern that others in college sports ignore what is allowed. The episode winds down with a lighter touch as Hinson revisits his coaching days at Tulsa Kelley High School, Oral Roberts University and Missouri State, including the favorite game he ever coached and the most colorful conversation he ever had with a referee. 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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To commemorate OU-Texas week and the 50th anniversary of Barry Switzer’s historic rout of the Longhorns, Sooners All-American Tinker Owens joins Guerin Emig for Mind Games on the Sellout Crowd network. Tinker jumps in the time capsule for thoughts on Joe Washington and that halcyon OU football era, including the transition from Chuck Fairbacks to Switzer and his own transition from the Miami Wardogs to the most stacked program in college football. Other topics include a tense time in the OU-Texas Cotton Bowl tunnel, a fork in his road involving Steve Largent, and the time Tinker wanted to see his Heisman Trophy-winning big brother Steve, only to have the Secret Service stop him. 

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane 

Check out Guerin’s columns and insight at selloutcrowd.com and guerinemig.com.

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This week’s guest on Mind Games with Guerin Emig is OSU softball coach Kenny Gajewski. There is a lot on the Cowgirls skipper’s mind… The transfer of All-American pitcher Kelly Maxwell… The OSU pitching coach transition from John Bargfeldt to Carrie Eberle… A young ‘24 OSU team meeting the program’s WCWS expectations… The future of Bedlam softball… All of this plus the night Gajewski threw OU baseball coach Larry Cochell into a hotel swimming pool. 

Producer: Todd Lisenbee
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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