If you ever watch ESPN you see the various commercials that capture the passion of sports fans. So it probably should come as no surprise that a college football coach would not be very happy about a worker coming to his home in his rivals t-shirt.
But here we have a carpenter who has sued Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy for firing him for wearing an OU shirt.
According to the lawsuit, Gundy arrived at the house at 9:30 a.m. and spotted Loveland’s shirt. “How dare you come into my house and offend my wife,” Gundy allegedly said.
Gundy then allegedly used profanity as he told the contractor to get off his property.
Gundy called Loveland a “stupid idiot” for wearing the shirt on “OSU soil,” and refused Loveland’s apologies, the lawsuit says. The contractor offered to turn his shirt inside-out, but was refused, according to the suit.
Loveland said he was never asked about his school loyalties before agreeing to do the work. He sued Gundy Thursday in state court for more than $10,000 in damages. He says he lost more than $30,000 in income from an expected 13 weeks of work.
Gundy released a statement through his attorney stating: “While I cannot discuss the specifics of pending litigation, I deny the allegations being made and welcome the opportunity to fully resolve the matter.”
Loveland told the Tulsa World he dressed in the dark and was unaware his shirt had an OU logo on it.
While you cannot defend the tone of the comments by Gundy, the dressing in the dark defense does not carry much weight. At some point you can see what you are wearing and should have had the common sense to change.
