The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel Calls Heartland Owner Pete Mundo ‘Radio Hack’ Over Spencer Rattler Comments
Something came to my attention late in the week when several of our listeners started informing me that The Oklahoman‘s Berry Tramel has reportedly referred to me as a “radio hack”.
I thought, “No, not Berry.” I’ve known Berry for over 10 years. Not well, but in professional settings. He’s come on my radio show since my first gig in Woodward, Oklahoma, to my national fill-in shows on CBS Sports Radio, along with my Heartland College Sports show that airs in several markets in the Midwest, along with on the podcast.
As the story goes, Berry referred to a “radio hack” in his latest column, which was in reference to a quick piece I wrote about Spencer Rattler’s reaction to Caleb Williams’ 66-yard touchdown run against Texas. I called it “brutal”. Now one can reasonably argue with that assessment. Maybe it’s harsh, maybe it’s not. That’s fine.
I’m happy to have that conversation.
But while I’m not mad at Berry, he’s a good guy, I’m just disappointed I didn’t get my name in The Oklahoman over it. We found this out because the guys who run the Sooner Scoop podcast texted Berry during their show, asking who this unnamed “radio hack” was, and he responded, “Pete Mundo of Heartland”.
So that’s some good, solid, investigative journalism by the Sooner Scoop guys. I have no problem with anything they said in their show, basically admitting they don’t really know me and aren’t too familiar with the site. I happen to believe they host a very good show and are highly entertaining.
But as this week has unfolded, I’ve only felt more confident in my position that the way Spencer Rattler handled himself during and after the Texas game was not an example of someone being a team-first guy. I’m not saying he was put in an easy position, but between Rattler walking off the field after the game while his teammates were still celebrating, to the way Lincoln Riley has been closed off from the press this week, to Spencer’s father’s lukewarm comments about his future at OU, all confirm that they’re dealing with someone who is me-first.
By the way, Spencer Rattler won’t be the first or last five-star prospect to use a team to simply try and get to the NFL as quickly as possible. That’s reality. But it’s also reality that with the way this week has played out, my commentary on Spencer Rattler has not started to look any less accurate. In fact, quite the opposite is true.
I also expanded on this further on my podcast, which you can rate, review and subscribe to on iTunes here. Reminder: Get a free Heartland koozie when you leave a rating and review and send me a screenshot of your rating and review to [email protected].
