Stephen Pickens

Texas Tech '09 Outdoors enthusiast! Just enjoying life, keeping it simple. IG: SPICKENS05 The journey is the glory

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@NicoleAuerbach Have they played him?

[Nate Longshore @mrlongshore]

I understand why people are uncomfortable with the Brendan Sorsby situation. Betting on sports as a college athlete is serious. Betting connected to your own team creates an obvious integrity concern. Nobody has to minimize that.

But there is another side to this that college football people should at least be honest enough to acknowledge.

When a player becomes part of your program, he becomes part of your football family. That does not mean you excuse everything. It does not mean accountability disappears. It means you do not abandon him the second the situation becomes difficult, public, or uncomfortable.

There is a difference between defending the person and defending the mistake.

Texas Tech is in an impossible spot. Deep down, they may have hoped the final ruling would remove the decision from their hands. Exhaust every option, support the player, let the process play out, and if he is ruled ineligible, accept it. That is the cleanest outcome for a program trying to balance loyalty, discipline, public pressure, and competitive integrity.

But now the court has ruled that he is legally allowed to play. That changes the structure of the decision.

If Texas Tech turns its back on him now, what message does that send to every player and family they recruit? That we will fight for you until the pressure gets too loud? That we will call you family when you are producing, but distance ourselves when standing beside you becomes inconvenient?

If I were recruiting against Texas Tech and they abandoned him after he was legally cleared to play, I would use that every time. Not because the mistake does not matter, but because trust matters. Families want to know what happens when their son is injured, struggling, accused, embarrassed, or sitting in the middle of a situation nobody wants attached to the program.

Accountability and loyalty are not opposites.

You can believe justice should be served. You can believe the integrity of the game matters. You can believe gambling violations deserve real consequence. You can also believe that a program should stand by its people through the full process, not just through the easy parts.

That is the hard part of family.

You do not only fight for your people when the optics are clean. You fight for them through the good and the bad, while still demanding accountability, treatment, discipline, and truth.

Texas Tech may not like the position it is in. Most programs would not. But once he is legally allowed to play and remains part of the Red Raider family, abandoning him strictly because of social pressure would send its own message.

And that message may be harder to overcome than the controversy itself.

[Dez Bryant @DezBryant]

One thing I know for a fact that's real is fake media..and I hear Trump say it a lot…It's a lot of people I know who are in big media roles who are puppets…I know it for a fact. Narrative control is real..I saw fake stories get built..I was victim to it. I say what I want because I'm truly numb to the world and my truth is way more important than other opinions. If you pay close attention to a lot of shit I say.. some of you might get out that box you are in..

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@CollieronTV Hope they aren’t speeding, trooper was hiding west of there.

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@CJVogel_OTF No shit?

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@TexasTechSB That’ll do

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

Hard working people don’t make minimum wage…

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

MAGA hates working people.

It’s a disgrace that nearly 20 GOP states still have a $7.25 minimum wage.

In California, it’s $25 an hour for an entire sector of workers! As it should be.

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@SeeingScarlet_ Boom

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@GruvyGurl NW side of lbk ? 😂🤦🏻‍♂️ if so, my dog has been looking for that.

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@henryb_84 @MrAndyNgo He could temporarily go insane …. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@tchambersttu Not good at all.

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@SeeingScarlet_ Perfect slide.

[Phil Labonte 🇺🇸 @philthatremains]

Same answer as every year since 1992.

Metallica.

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@lporiginalg Thundercunt

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@c3trips NCAA hits OKstate with another postseason ban. Probably

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@itsbrittanyrose Far right

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@DALLASBRADEN209 Throw them from the roof of a building or shooting them of course. Easy peasy

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@Big12Conference @CFBPlayoff 🌴

[Sean Davis @seanmdav]

This might be my favorite post-game heckling video of all time: an anonymous Texas Tech fan terrorizes Oklahoma’s post-game interviews after Tech beat OU 23-21 in 2005. Apparently JD Runnel’s son used to heckle his dad with the same chant to annoy him, which is hilarious.

[Stephen Pickens @SPickens05]

@JustinMargolius @KCBD11 @pchristy11 @shelbieelaine13 I hope he shows up and steals the trophy. One more forced turnover for the record books.