When Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy arrived at his press conference on Saturday, after his Cowboys prevailed in a wild 49-45 shootout over Texas Tech, the media expected him to praise the effort of his student-athletes. What they got, instead, was a highly-charged meltdown directed towards the newspapermen gathered at the conference.

Gundy, seething about a Daily Oklahoman columnist's scathing and cowardly attack on one of his players regarding last week's blowout loss to Troy State, delivers an impassioned speech defending the character and integrity of his kids. Yes, his "kids." During his meltdown, Coach Gundy reminds us all that when we scrutinize the level of play and the quality of character of college football players, we are skewering nineteen and twenty-year-olds. We are damaging kids, most of whom did little to deserve such malice from the local community aside from drop a pass or two on Saturday afternoon.

As a nation, we obsess about sports and often ignore the "college" in college football. It's become such a financial juggernaut that we can hardly distinguish amateur from professional. We assume every player suiting up on the gridiron on Saturday is built and custom-made to eventually suit up on Sundays. We get carried away. And in the heat of the moment, we sacrifice our decency when we maliciously attack a recent high school graduate for throwing an incomplete pass. College athletes, while high profile in some cases, are not paid (allegedly). They, by and large, are not professionals expected to deal with the personal attacks that come with intense media scrutiny. This is what Coach Mike Gundy reminds us of when he courageously and correctly slays the local paper in Stillwater, Oklahoma for its highly inaccurate and cowardly "reporting" -- a term that Coach Gundy might suggest is being used loosely in this instance.

It should surprise no one that Mike Gundy, after saying nothing of his Oklahoma State team's win that day, left the room to applause. I would not be surprised to see an increase in interest in Oklahoma State University football from parents of soon-to-be high school graduates, either.

In the United States, we take the true meaning of "drunken fanatacism" for granted. Down Under, however, they wrote the book on it.

We're talking Australian rugby here, people, not to be confused with the on-going Rugby Union World Cup taking place in France. This past Sunday, the Brisbane Broncos took one on the chin against defending champions Melbourne Storm, 40-0. When you're an ardent fan and fired up on beer, you tend not to take these things too well. Witness humble Australian television reporter Ben Davis, doing his journalistic duty with a couple of disgruntled and clearly sloshed Broncos fans lurking in the background, ready to strike. Davis, who sustained a couple minor dings from the encounter, would hope that other reporters learn a lesson: always wear padding.

The University of Michigan is universally recognized as one of the premier powers in college football. Hell, they're the nations winningest progam of all time! The Wolverines entered this new campaign ranked as the number 5 team in the country, tabbed as preseason favorites to win the Big Ten, and, along with that, considered to have a very decent shot at the National Championship Game. That all changed on Saturday when a tiny school in Boone, North Carolina traveled to Ann Arbor and pulled off possibly the biggest upset in college football history.

It was thought impossible, before that dramatic blocked field goal to end the game, that Goliath could invite David's retarded younger brother to his house and lose. But don't tell Appalachian State they're retarded (even if Miss Teen USA South Carolina announced on The Today Show that she would attending that university this fall). No, do not tell them that. Call them giant-killers. Recognize them as champions of the little guy -- a reason for all the other "cupcake" schools who have to journey deep into the behemoth's den, expecting a thorough beating, to believe in something. In addition to that, consider Michigan the poster-child for arrogance and cockiness. If head coach Lloyd Carr wasn't on the hot seat before, he surely is, now. And it may be the big-play, never-give-up, two-time defending 1-AA champs that lead to his demise.

Pain? Shock? Humiliation? It's all over the faces of the Michigan fans that crowded into The Big House. Hail to the victors, indeed.