The J.W. Walsh news: This is why I needed to be convinced
Published: 10/21/2012 9:35 PM
Last Modified: 10/21/2012 9:35 PM
Mike Gundy delivered some shocking news during his Sunday night teleconference, saying that quarterback J.W. Walsh sustained an injury and is out for the remainder of the season.
And this is why, initially, I thought Gundy was joking.
The conference call lasted 11 1/2 minutes. More than four and a half minutes of questions and answers passed before Gundy mentioned the big and unfortunate news of the night. In newspaper terminology, this is referred to as burying the lead.
The Walsh subject came up when I said something to the extent that the quarterback had gotten smacked a bit by Iowa State and I wondered if this was one of those days where he was perhaps more sore than he was yesterday.
Said Gundy, “Well, Walsh is out for the year, so he will be pretty sore.”
About the place where the comma is located in that previous sentence, I said “don’t be yanking my chain” to Gundy as he continued talking.
Then came a long, long pause before OSU sideline reporter Robert Allen chimed in, asking if the Walsh news was true.
“Yes,” Gundy said, who then talked about how impressive Walsh was while finishing the game despite being injured.
Because Walsh finished the game (and told me afterwards he was 100 percent healthy), I wanted to make sure Gundy was giving us the straight scoop and wasn’t just fiddling with the always-injury-curious media. I went as far as to tell Gundy that this was sort of getting surreal (the Cowboys already are down one quarterback) and there might be folks out there will listen to the teleconference and think he is serious about Walsh.
Gundy reiterated that he was serious.
“I wouldn’t joke about something like that,” he said.
And I believe Gundy wouldn’t joke about a season-ending injury. I said I was sorry, probably twice, for assuming he was kidding. Props to Gundy for not trying to hide an injury that likely wasn't going to stay hidden.
But now you know the full context of why I -- and I wasn’t the only person who thought Gundy was joking -- wanted to make 100 percent sure that I was hearing what I was hearing.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
