media

First off, I know this belongs in the other thread. But on behalf of every student at CC, I apologize if in fact this letter was written by a CC student. We are all devastated at school, and about at least 400 students went to see the Dean today to express their displeasure with the letter. Cass Tech is a great institution and had the better football team and we respect that. We just don't like the negative view we are getting from the media and from Michigan. We know that this doesn't represent CC and we know that it's alot better there than what people paint us out to be. We just hope this thing dies down and we can actually focus on our classes and final exams instead of getting interviewed by Channel 4 in school and taking a ton of criticism when we go out in public with any CC gear on. As students, we should not have to put up with this crap. 

If the Mods feel this is offtopic, please feel free to delete but I just wanted everyone to know what we as the students had to say

Lately I've noticed several threads that all go something like, "This media person thinks X but I think Y!"  Seeing this and also knowing how mgobloggers like having lots of small threads even less than they like the opinions of media people, I thought I would try turning them all into one big thread.

The main benefit is for people who want to get some insight into the game that's outside of, or even contrary to, what the mainstream media is reporting.

A couple of the ideas below are drawn from this blog, some come from blogs like SBNation, but most of them come from someone who doesn't know that much about football (me), even though he's been watching it since he was a wee tyke waiting for Bo to throw his headset into the ground again so that his dad would laugh.

So, without further ado:

Advantages - Things the media missed that will help Michigan

Brandon Herron.  Although he's not a safety that's coming back, Brandon Herron is a junior.  And that means experience -- something the defense needs just as much as it needs deep-backs.  Also, his return frees up Roh to play at DE and rush the QB like a hungry Rhino with rabies.  Which leads us into....

Hitting Cousins on the Road (courtesy of this thread by brewandbluesaturdays).  It turns out Kirk's numbers drop pretty reliably in road games.  Check out last season's difference in his average per-game stats.  HOME: 16/24.5 (60%) for 220 yds, .33 INT, 1.5 TD, and 4 wins out of 7.  AWAY: 17/31.2 (54%) for 233.4 yds, 1 INT, 1.8 TD, and 2 wins out of 6.  Some of this stems from a tendency for Cousins to make mistakes when under pressure.  The combination of MSU's first true road game, the increased stadium noise, and the return of Herron bode well for Blue.

Denard Robinson.  Okay, the media has said plenty on this front.  But one thing they haven't brought up is his history (a short one, yes) against the Big Ten.  Last year, Denard ran just fine over Big Ten defenses.  Overall, he rushed for 351 yards, averaging 5.1 per carry.  Much of that came against stalwart defenses like Iowa, Penn State, and Wisconsin; and, all while he couldn't pass.  They knew he was going to run and still could do little to stop him.  His average bumped up to 5.8 ypc against those three.  Here's the other thing that often goes under the radar: Denard's pass-efficiency is now #3 in the country.  So, guess what?  He can throw now too.

Penalties and Turnovers.  Yes, the media has pointed out how MSU is the most penalized team in the Big Ten (91st nationally) and ranked 8th in turnovers (67th nationally).  They might even mention how well Michigan is doing: 5th in penalties (32nd nationally) and 3rd in turnovers (15th nationally).  What they don't mention is that this is key to Michigan's defense doing anything.  Although our defense has about the same strength as recycled tissue paper, its greatest only hope is for the opponent to make mistakes.  By playing bend-dont-break and stopping the big plays, Michigan will force MSU to run as many plays as possible, hoping to increase the number of drive-ending penalties and turnovers they commit.

That Golden Dome.  Despite being so early in the season, Michigan and State have one mutual opponent: Notre Dame.  Of the two games, Michigan won theirs more convincingly.  They did it on the road, and they didn't need a trick play in overtime.

Disadvantages - Things the media missed that will help State

Alright, folks, calm down. Cal-... No. I said relax. Stop... will you stop screaming? Okay... good. Now come out of the corner. Good. Now lets have a bit of a history lesson, okay. Just a little.

In the early 20th century, the wealthiest man in America, without question, was one John D. Rockefeller. The name associated with so many good works and warm, fuzzy thoughts of a better time was a rich son of a gun, as I'm sure you all knew. What you did NOT know, however, was that, prior to 1914, he was also one of the most hated men in America. He was regarded as selfish, materialistic, out of touch, curmudgeonly, grumpy, old, ugly, and an easy target for the media.

Being an older gentleman, he only had a partial knowledge of the exact goings on of his companies, and being christian, he chose to make all of his philanthropies private. He also did not make himself available to the press because they insisted on lampooning him. This personality and style of living carried on to his children, most notably John Jr., who was just as lampooned.

In 1914, things got their worst, when Miners at a Ludlow, Colorado mine owned by Rockefeller organized a strike due to the extremely poor conditions and pay at the mine. I won't go into great detail, but eventually the National Guard arrived, and though reports dispute the specifics of what happend, it is known that 19 people (including two children) from the strikers and their families' were massacred.

After this, Rockefeller Jr.'s already horrible reputation dropped like a rock to the point that people were calling for him to be brought up on criminal charges, and all of his companies, which employed many, many thousands, were at risk.. It was only this horrific turn of events that caused Rockefeller Jr. to take care of his image. He visited the mine site after this, met with the miners, improved their conditions and pay, made public the information regarding all the money he gave to charity, and worked with specially selected press and media to cultivate the right image. In a short time, he transformed his image to a genial, kindly, giving, worldly gentleman with a soft spot for the public interest.

This is generally known as the birth of Public Relations. Here's where this ties in to our story today.

He only did so much image work because his livelyhood and those of all his thousands of employees were at severe risk. He did not care, one whit, what the public thought of him. Simply put, he was too important for that. He didn't read articles that insulted him, his person, or his choices and get upset that people might be thinking poorly of him. He didn't worry that he was a discussion of negativity at dinner tables around the world. Important people do not care what you think. They don't, and they shouldn't. You, your friends, your local newscasters and their bosses don't matter to important people.

Rich Rodriguez is our coach in 2010. It's a fact. He will do everything within his power to ensure it stays that way in the future. He doesn't care if Drew Sharpe insults him. He doesn't fear that somebody in the Admissions department has it out for him and is keeping his recruits out. The only man at his workplace more important than him does not have it out for him, and therefore, his livelyhood is not threatened. Dave Brandon and MSC aren't going to let somebody mess with the rules just to mess with RR. They want him to succeed. If they didn't, they'd not be defending him. Then he would care. Here's what he cares about, wins and losses.

So the next time you worry that our coach is staying up nights worrying about what the papers will print tomorrow, or that somebody in cubicle 12 in admissions wants to put a knife in his back, stop. He is too important to care what they think. He cares about wins, and losses. Be a fan. Support him, and help him win. Then, it won't matter if he cares what the detractors think. Because their won't be any.

Edit: Since some people have been unclear on the point of all this, let me respecify. Quite simply, the point is to show that it takes a boondoggle of EPIC proportions before important people care what the less important people think. It takes something that is truly, truly threatening to them. Nothing to that level has yet happened. A couple of bad years and a recruiting/admissions snafu, with the support of Brandon, aren't leaving Rodriguez feeling threatened.

According to the noted scholar, papal legate and gossip columnist for the Vatican, Father Guido Sarducci, poor St. Joseph, the Italian patron saint, has been treated unfairly by the media, especially in comparison with the Irish patron saint.

“For St. Patrick's Day, we have-a lots of festivities,

lots of-a green, celebrations and-a major parades.

But for St. Joseph, a very good-a saint, there is-a nothing.

the only thing he is-a known for is-a children's aspirin.”

**********

Now, I don't mean to suggest any parallel between the treatment of poor St Joseph and UM or RR. Yet, I must regretfully inform you that the media also launched an “investigation” of poor St. Joseph.

(1) the press published a four-part expose, claiming he took all "independent study" courses and had no academic qualifications for making aspirin.

(2) The press called for an immediate investigation of the aspirin’s safety. They claimed that he shredded the recipe he developed at his last job. Others said he used “snake oil” in the ingredients.

(3) The media claimed that, to make the aspirin, St-Jo recruited a criminal who once got his hand caught in a gumball machine. He was part of an organized gumball ring. Supposedly, he was never convicted. But everybody knows a hardened criminal when they see one.

I just read an article about Tebow that had the phrase "think Chris Cooley" in it.

Everyone knows that white players are only ever compared to other white players. Does anyone know of some particularly egregious examples (i want to write a longer post about this)?

They must be out there, especially around draft time.

I like this one a lot: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/02/27/gerhart-jokes-about-only...

This article made me think, "Who on MGoBlog has press credentials?"

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=1...

My belief was that Brian had to have credentials to be at the press conferences. But is this the case?

Anyway this quote from the article linked above is what I thought was the interesting item. And mark of the recognition of the new media channel the internet has become.

"Longtime civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel, who represented the journalists who sued, says the city will now decide who a journalist is by looking at the type of work they do, and not the organization they write for. "This addresses one of the major issues with regard to a online journalists," he says. "Bloggers should be treated equally to television, print and radio journalists." "

When I think of old media, like the Freep trying to enter the new media channel, it reminds me of how Radio Shock Jocks became all the rage. Essentially reasonable people had stopped listening to radio, and the only way to grab an audience was to become completely irrational on an issue, and then open the phone lines to all the irrational response.

For me today, radio is noise to be avoided. And print media is what I use to start my charcoal grill.

No wonder the flat panel Display Manufacturers are making it so easy to connect your computer, or WiFi to what you used to call your TV.