Before I check out for Labor Day weekend and start prepping my pork butt for my new pellet smoker, I figured I might as well acknowledge that my beloved University of Oklahoma Sooners kick off their 2024 football season tomorrow against Temple.
From about the age of 10 to 30, nothing in the world was more important to me than OU football. It’s still pretty high up there—I do plan my autumn weekends around their schedule—but the consume-every-newspaper-article, name-every-player-on-the-depth-chart, and write-Mike-Lupica-a-mean-email level fanaticism I once had is gone.
Getting old sucks, huh?
That being said, I still watch every game and try my best to keep tabs on the team. Since I can no longer have an Athletic beat writer come on my podcast to preview the team, answer my pressing questions, and defend Brendan Radley-Hines, I unfortunately have to depend on the OU Homer Media to keep me informed and updated.
Although there are some exceptions, this homer media can be broken down into four quadrants:
1. The Pre-Internet Old Guard: This includes folks who covered OU football before the Internet leveled the playing field. You know, people like Al Eschbach, Berry Tramel, Regular Jim Traber, Dean “The Stream” Blevins, etc.
2. Ex-OU Jocks Fighting to Remain Relevant: If you’ve ever fallen asleep to a Teddy Lehman and Gabe Ikard podcast—or been thrown through a window by Dusty Dvorcek—you know who I’m talking about. The youngest member of this group is Joe Castiglione Jr., the ultimate OU nepo-baby, while the oldest (excluding Dean Blevins) is Cale Gundy.
3. 30-Something Fanboy Dudes: These guys are the worst. Outside of RJ Young, they all look the same, talk the same, and share the same boring takes and updates. They all work for independent publications like OU Illustrated Sooner Insider Scoop and blend together so much that it’s hard to tell the difference between Brent McCuistion, Parker Stoya, or Josh Radiosovich.
4. Jenni Carlson: Yep, she’s still around.
Anyway, since there are a lot of OU football previews out there that all say the same thing, I thought it would be fun to issue my 2024 OU Football Pre-Season Media Power Rankings.
Just like an AP college football poll voter, I’m going to arbitrarily rank my Top 10 OU Football media personalities based on the couple of minutes I watched them this summer.
10. Parker Thune
A young up-and-comer in the OU media scene, Parker has quickly established himself as one of the biggest groupies in the OU football media. There’s not a recruit he won’t call or an ass he won’t kiss to be loved. In fact, if you were going to set odds on which OU media reporter would be caught sniffing jocks in the locker room after practice, he’d be near the top, waiting in line right behind James Hale!
That being said, Parker doesn’t mind stirring the pot if it will get him attention and page views. For example, he loves to spar with fellow members of the OU Homer media. He is also the guy who reminded everyone that Art Briles was on the OU football field.
I wonder what punishment Parker received from the OU admin for sharing that pic, and which player got to inflict it?
9. Eddie Radosevich
Eddie is super popular with the 30-something male OU fans who like Barstool Sports, and I can see why.
He has a goofy, light-hearted personality, loves golf, and is the type of guy who probably shares a bunch of inappropriate gifs in group texts with his high school friends. You know, he’s an immature man’s man.
During the football season, I try to catch Eddie’s post-game podcasts with George Stoya to get an idea of what the crazed message board fans think of the team, and they usually don’t disappoint. My only suggestion is that they get larger microphones that take up even more room, and try to crowd a few more merch items into their shots.
8. Joe Castiglione Jr.
The ultimate OU football nepo-baby, Joe C. Jr. was a walk-on who rarely stepped onto Owen Field, but since he’s the athletic director’s son, he gets post-football opportunities that most scholarship players will never see.
Currently, Joe C. hosts a podcast with his nepo-bro Isaac “Don’t Call Me Drake” Stoops called The Family Business.
If it’s successful, don’t be surprised if The Sports Animal makes a run at the duo. For example, they could join Sam Humphreys for a drive-time show called the “Total Nepotism Hour.”
7. Dusty Dvoracek
It’s been a tough summer for Dusty Dvoracek.
Earlier this year, he was booted from his role as OU Football Expert at News 9—the place that was supposed to be his long-term home—and replaced by Toby “The Voice of the Sooners” Rowland.
Dusty rebounded by going back to AM sports talk radio and joining some stupid Barry Switzer/Bob Stoops media project that’s bound to fail.
Going from News 9 to AM radio is kind of like being cut from the Chicago Bears and then picked up by the Edmonton Elks. Oh well, at least he still gets to bicker with Danny Kanell on XM.
6. Al Eschbach
Al may be pushing 80 and occasionally gets OU football player names confused with those of the women he meets in Thai and Colombian brothels, but the man still knows his OU football.
Well, at least he does if the OU football occurred before 2004.
Either way, Al is an Oklahoma sports legend, and listening to him say “SEEEE YAAAAAAAAAAA” to drunk callers during the Sports Animal postgame show is an Oklahoma autumn tradition. If he ever brings back Stump the Chump, we may have to bump him up a few spots.
5. Cale Gundy
Although saying the N-word may get you booted from the OU football staff, it will get the local media to welcome you with open arms.
Over the past year or so, Cale has been making frequent visits to the Sports Animal for segments with Mark Rodgers where he shares “inside info” about the football program. Although he’s new to the media game, he’s already picked up on how to create buzz and controversy.
As the “This post has been deleted” blurb in the screenshot reveals, Cale may have done a bit too good a job sharing the inside information. He should probably talk to Dean Blevins and other media veterans to learn what information he is and isn’t allowed to share.
4a. Teddy Lehman 4b. Gabe Ikard
Teddy and Gabe provide color analysis during football broadcasts and also host the Oklahoma Breakdown podcast. It can be a bit too long and boring in parts, but they both bring something to the show.
For example, although he kind of looks and speaks like one of Immortan Joe’s sons, Teddy knows his football and—despite being on the official OU media payroll as the team’s radio color analyst—he isn’t afraid to strategically be critical of the team.
Gabe, on the other hand, may not have Teddy’s brains and insights, but he’s the one who provides what’s really important—money and chest hair! Remember, there’s a reason they called him “Wooley Ikard” at McGuinness.
As his Thunder courtside seats remind us, Gabe is a legendary 10-karat gold digger, and as a result, has been able to land nice sponsorships from his wife’s two familial companies—Love’s and First Fidelity Bank.
I’m not sure how much these sponsorships are worth, but I bet they bring in more than 98% of all other OU football podcasts combined.
3. RJ Young
An early adopter of baiting the YouTube algorithm with sensational headlines and slick preview images, RJ is an OU homer football media success story, parlaying his Sooner fandom into a national gig with Fox Sports.
Although he’s now Mr. National, he still loves sharing loud and brash Sooner content that algorithms love:
It’s cool to see RJ go national. Let’s hope he never forgets the local guys on his rise to the top.
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2. Carey Murdock
Carey’s work on The Morning Animals—literally one of the most annoying radio shows on this planet—should get him booted from this power poll, but the empire he’s built at SoonerScoop cements his status at number two. Out of all the subscription-based OU Homer Media outlets, SoonerScoop by far has the best content, writers, and most insane message board users. That, on its own, is impressive, but the fact that he has a guy like Eddie Radosevich to carry around his luggage makes his rise to the top even better.
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1. Jenni Carlson
With Sellout Crowd in the Oklahoma Bad Idea Hall of Fame—and her future career in newspaper journalism marred by her role in the $20,000,000 defamation ruling against The Oklahoman—Jenni is giving independent media the college try with her own Substack – Inside the Box Score, a name she stole from The Onion's old "Inside the Bench."
Jenni already has 7,000 free subscribers. If you take away Berry Tramel, her friends and family, and Mike Gundy, that feels like about 6,975 too many, but it’s impressive enough for her to continue to score OU football media credentials and ask dumb questions at press conferences.
Because I have a soft spot for people hustling in the murky waters of subscription-based publishing, I’m going to give Jenni the #1 spot.
Now, I guess the question is, can she hold onto it for an entire college football season? That remains to be seen. If I ever do this again, check back for an updated list of rankings.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
