Image source: Alternate Crop

While I’m sure there are cases to be made for Stanford, Boise State, and maybe even Oregon, only 2 teams have a realistic chance to finish second: Alabama and Oklahoma State. Voters should put the Cowboys ahead of the Crimson Tide for 2 reasons: quality of wins and strength of schedule.

Much has been made of the quality of Oklahoma State and Alabama’s losses. Alabama’s sole loss came at the hands of #1 LSU, in overtime. Oklahoma State lost to unranked, 6-6 Iowa State (albeit on the road, in double overtime). Less has been made of the two team’s wins.

Consider the following:

• According to Sagarin, Oklahoma State has six wins over top 30 teams, including two top 10 wins. Alabama has only two top 30 wins and one top 10 win.
• Oklahoma State beat seven FBS teams with winning records; Alabama beat three.
• Oklahoma State had to face all nine of the other teams in the Big 12. Alabama avoided playing the 2 best teams in the SEC East, Georgia and South Carolina.
• Alabama played a late-season game against an FCS opponent. Oklahoma State played all 12 of its games against FBS teams.

While Alabama’s win over Arkansas may be more impressive than any of OSU’s wins (although Sagarin has Oklahoma ahead of Arkansas), the Cowboys have three wins—Oklahoma, Kansas State, and Baylor—that are more impressive than Alabama’s second best win (Penn State).

If you follow the old Bilas maxim, “Who’d you play? And who’d you beat?” Oklahoma State gets the edge. The Cowboys played a stronger schedule and have better wins than the tide.

Cowboys coach Mike Gundy, who is famously both a man and at least 40 years of age, decided to get jiggy with it for a few brief but spectacular moments during the team’s jubilant celebration. Luckily, the Gundy Dance was caught on camera so it can live on the Internet for eternity.

But is it the funniest example ever of a sports figure dancing? You’ve already seen the 10 best dancing GIFs ever here at MSF. Now let’s find out which of the 10 funniest examples of sports figures dancing is the funniest. (Make sure to cast your vote in the poll at the end of the post.)

First, if you haven’t seen the Gundy Dance, enjoy it in all its glory here:

Mike Gundy Gets Low

Pretty amazing right? I think even Flo Rida would be proud of Gundy’s ability to get low, even if the coach wisely decided to forgo apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur.

I mean look at that!

Gundy got low, low, low, low, low, low…

But could the dance moves that have gotten people saying “Teach Me How To Gundy” really be the funniest of all-time?

Consider the following video in which Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan “cranks dat” to the tune of the immortal Soulja Boy.

Bo Ryan “Cranks Dat”

Or, rewatch one of the most infamous examples of a rhythmless athletes busting a movie, which you’ve surely seen many times before: Mark Madsen breaking it down during a Lakers title celebration.

Mark Madsen Busts a Move

In fact, SportsCenter once devoted a whole segment to sports figures dancing who had absolutely no business doing so. In this quick, minute-long compilation, you will see each of the following cutting unfortunate rugs:

• Mark Madsen…again (because why not?)
• Art Modell (Cleveland’s beloved…dancing on the Browns’ grave)
• Tom Brady (more from him in a bit)
• Robert Kraft
• Al McGuire – whose dancing is so must-see funny that it legitimately cracks Dan Patrick up

Mark Madsen, Art Modell, Tom Brady, Robert Kraft, and Al McGuire

The big problem with this video, of course, is Dan Patrick saying over and over again “White men should not dance!” And why the hell shouldn’t we Patrick? What former MSNBC anchor got fired and left you in charge? Sheesh.

As we all know, white people have just as much soul and rhythm as black folks. Well, at least some black folks. See what I mean:

Barack Obama on Ellen

Ah who am I kidding. Patrick’s right. The brothers usually have more rhythm, even the ones who don’t really have much at all.

To prove this unfortunate point, contrast Obama’s standing-still hip shake to that of one of the most successful white athletes in the world. There really is no contest.

Tom Brady Esta Bailando en Brazil

No matter how many Super Bowl rings Brady wins or how many passing records he sets, he will never live that moment down. (Not that he cares, of course.)

But to get back to Patrick’s “White men shouldn’t dance” philosophy, there are exceptions!

Let me ask you this Dan: would you say that one Richard “Digger” Phelps shouldn’t dance? Because I think, based on the video evidence below, that Digger absolutely should dance. Always. In fact, he should literally never stop dancing. Watch to agree:

Digger Phelps on Ecstasy

For more Digger fun, click here and then just start watching every video. You won’t get bored.

The great thing about Digger is that he can actually dance. He’s got some rhythm, some moves. At the very least, he gets into it without even a trace of self-consciousness. Sure, it’s still funny, but you respect him once the dancing is done. (Unfortunately, he then has to discuss basketball, which is when you respect him the least…but I digress.)

The dance floor prowess of Digger Phelps makes him the complete opposite of his ESPN colleague Lou Holtz. I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial of Holtz dancing a jig of excitement after receiving a groupon in this bizarre commercial for ESPN’s college football show:

Lou Holtz’s Bizarre Seated Jig

I almost didn’t include this one because…well…because it’s just weird. But some people might find it funny, so it needed to be included.

As an antidote for that awful commercial, let’s go to one of the greatest sports videos…ever. As cheesy as it may be, the Super Bowl Shuffle video featuring the ’85 Bears is simply sublime. It’s not their fault that literally everything produced during that decade was cheesy as hell.

But there is no escaping the goofiness of #53 Dan Rains right here as this video starts. It’s downright Bradyesque, as are many other moments in this video if you watch the whole thing.

Dan Rains’ Constipated Two-Step

The question now is which of these videos of sports figures dancing is the all-time funniest? To come to that conclusion, Little Red Dancing Zach and I will solicit your input:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

[Note: you can't vote for Obama since he was simply used to maximize the humiliation for Tom Brady and isn't really a sports figure; and the multiple appearances by Brady and Mark Madsen in this post count as just one.]

So…what hilarious examples of sports figures dancing did I leave out? Surely I left out plenty. Post links in the comment section below!

Update: I definitely forgot one great one. Wade Phillips doing the YMCA! Thanks to @StephStradley for reminding me of this one.

I know, I know — Mike Gundy is now 41 and his press conference rant is over a year old. Still, it does not make it any less funny. In fact, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane before we jump into the preview. But rather than listen to Mike Gundy rant about some “garbage” newspaper story, let’s watch him provide a weather report in the heart of a nasty storm.

And now, onto the serious stuff.

Here are the particulars for today’s Bedlam Series game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State:

Matchup: #3 Oklahoma Sooners (10-1) at #12 Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-2)

Where: Stillwater, Oklahoma

Time: 8:00 ET

TV: ABC

Announcer Pairing: Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters

Point Spread: Oklahoma -7 ½

Over-Under: 72

What’s at stake: This game will help determine who goes to the Big 12 Championship Game from the Big 12 South division.

Texas took care of Texas A&M on Thursday night, as expected. This means that if the favorites hold serve, with Oklahoma beating OSU and Texas Tech beating Baylor, then there will be a three-way tie in the Big 12 South. By tiebreaker rule, whichever team is tanked higher in the BCS Standings would then go on to play Missouri in the Big 12 Championship Game. This scenario is the only possible way that Oklahoma could play in the Big 12 Championship.

If Oklahoma loses today and Texas Tech beats Baylor, then Texas Tech will play in the Big 12 Championship based on its victory over Texas. If Texas Tech loses to Baylor and Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State, Texas goes to the Big 12 Championship game because the Longhorns beat Oklahoma earlier this year.

So there’s just a little bit at stake tonight in Stillwater.

Let’s take a quick look at what some of the “experts” are predicting:

Dennis Dodd, Senior Writer at CBS Sportsline: Oklahoma State 31 | Oklahoma 23

“I had this vision Saturday night of Mike Gundy sitting on a trunk somewhere drawing up ball plays as he watched OU on TV out of the corner of his eye. People are just assuming that Oklahoma is going to cruise past the Cowboys. The reason it won’t is Kendall Hunter. Gundy will use its All-America-worthy back to control the clock. OSU’s defense is underrated. The fans will be out for blood.”

For the record, the other four prognosticators at CBS Sportsline all picked Oklahoma to win.

John Tamanaha, Official Prognosticator at NBCSports.com: Oklahoma 48 | Oklahoma State 31

“With Mike Gundy calling the shots, Zac Robinson hooking up with Dez Bryant, and Kendall Hunter running the rock, Oklahoma State is more than capable of getting into a shootout with Oklahoma, especially at home in Stillwater. But the Cowboys won’t be able to come up with enough stops to stay within striking distance in the fourth quarter.”

Stewart Mandel, College Football Oracle at SI.com: Oklahoma 48 | Oklahoma State 24

“Theoretically, the Sooners are walking into a “hostile” atmosphere — except there will be 15,000 empty seats due to OSU’s inane policy requiring fans to buy season tickets in order to attend this one.”

And, for the record, 83% of the fans who had voted by 10:15 ET this morning had picked Oklahoma.
Sounds reasonable to me.

Here is why I think Oklahoma will win:

1 – Karma is a bitch

Oklahoma State instituted an insane policy this year that no single-game tickets would be sold for the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game, instead forcing people to buy season tickets. Now, it is estimated that there will be 10,000-15,000 empty seats – for one of the biggest games of the season! Mike Gundy wants to talk about something being garbage? That’s garbage. No way the cosmic forces of college football allow Oklahoma State to win under such circumstances.

2 – Bob Stoops is better than Mike Gundy

It’s that simple. Look no further that the two team’s respective performances against Texas Tech. Graham Harrell made Oklahoma State look foolish, and Mike Gundy may as well have let T. Boone Pickens call the offensive plays. We all know what Stoops and the Sooners did to Texas Tech. Mike Gundy may be a man, but Bob Stoops is the man in the Big 12.

3 – The BCS is a bitch

If Oklahoma wins and Texas Tech wins, as explained earlier, all hell breaks loose. As any college football fan knows, the evil and diabolical BCS demon is not happy unless it has created as much carnage and controversy as possible. Texas Tech and Oklahoma will both win today, forcing the three-way tie in the Big 12 South that will be determined by politics and BS. And nothing says BCS better than politics and BS.

My prediction: Oklahoma 49 | Oklahoma State 31

And now, if you are a betting man, I’d run out an bet every last dollar on Oklahoma State pulling off the upset. I’m as accurate with my predictions as Lee Corso is sane. Just remember that I picked Texas Tech over Oklahoma as you click away from his prediction as fast as humanly possible.