confusion grips us all

Site note.  I've gotten a lot of reports that certain ads served by the third-party provider I use have been popping up antivirus notices about malware. I've been told this issue has been killed dead, so if it happens to anyone else please let me know immediately.

I noticed a few people in the comments helping others out with the program by recommending adblock, which is fine by me; I use adblock. Just one tiny ripple-of-guilt note: last I checked, about 20% of expected ad revenue gets eaten up by it. If you'd like to avoid that feeling of regret and horror currently racing through your body, you can either turn off adblock for this site or chuck ten or so dollars at the beveled guilt donation button.

WTKA-in'. My appearance on WTKA in one section thanks to Paul. John U Bacon is the host, as he often is, and the third guy in the booth is Wayne Drehs of ESPN.com, who's in town for the year on a Knight-Wallace fellowship. You should skip to six minutes in because the first caller goes forever.

Bonus: I'll be on WJR today at 5:15 with Mitch Albom.

I'm also scheduled for a Thursday appearance on WRIF, a Saturday morning appearance on WJR, and I will be rocking it at WCBN on a regular basis this fall.

For the record. You could attempt to deal with the specific points and accusations leveled by this here blog, or you could try to paint the author here as an anonymous internet nutjob and avoid any substantive discussion. The Free Press chooses Door Number B, link omitted for obvious reasons:

Twitter is also being used to pass links to the petition as well as share links to mgoblog.com, which has emerged as a go-to place for displaced U-M fans who have given up on the Free Press.

In a blog post on Monday, the site said traffic was temporarily crashing the server.

The Michigan fan blog has branded its coverage of the Free Press report as "Jihad the second," alluding to a holy war on the behalf of Islam.

Most of the posts are written by someone who identifies himself as Brian.

No contact information is given.

I don't know, guys… is the link that says "contact" on top of the blog too obscure? I know it's not huge and red and blinking. For the record, I identify myself as "Brian" because that is my name. My last name is Cook. I even have a bunch of biographical details up. My email address—which plenty of people seem able to find—is [email protected]. If you click the link, it will email me.

There's even a picture at right which was good enough to get into the second round, but no further, of some ridiculous good-lookin' blogger competition that turned into a total fiasco.

I hope this suffices to identify me. I have slightly less hair now, for the record. And I don't always give things a thumbs-up. Sometimes… eh… thumbs in the middle.

Dude… what? Carson Butler, what say you?

Detroit Lions rookie Carson Butler, who played at Michigan, said he didn't think players had to do a lot more work for Rodriguez last year when compared with previous seasons under Lloyd Carr.

"It was just a different structure," Butler said.

Butler said it didn't seem as if the players were forced to spend excessive time training and practicing.

"I don't know all of the exact rules, but I don't remember anything that seemed like it was too much," Butler said. "If the weight room was open, you went. If there was a run, you went. It's just what you do to be a better football player."

I… you… how? What? I can't comprehend this. If Carson Butler, who was basically told to enter the NFL draft because he was not welcome back, has Rodriguez's back here, I need to find anyone who will take bets on Michigan picking up a major violation and put the farm on "nay."

Guess who's pissed off? If you said the family of Je'ron Stokes, you win.

"My wife [Juanita] and I talk to Je'Ron every day. We follow him through the internet, by phone, and we've been up there on a couple of occasions," he said. "We spent an entire Thursday through Monday up there, and I'd see guys voluntarily go into that weight room on Sunday and Saturday and put in extra work.

"I know [the allegations] are not true, because I know how [strength coach] Mike Barwis cares for these kids. He's taken my son to bible study and to church. These are the kinds of things that impress us about the program and Rich Rod and his staff. They are good people, and I hate the fact that every negative thing put out there brings the wrong perception to the Michigan program.

When it rains it actually drops enormous anvils on your head. Rodriguez got served yesterday, and he didn't have a danceoff with Mike Cox:

University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez is being sued for defaulting on a real-estate loan to build high-end condominiums in the shadows of Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium.

Rodriguez's financial advisor says he's the "victim of a real-estate Ponzi scheme," FWIW.

Recycle. I'm sure Tim will cover this in Tuesday Recruitin' but it's worth a mention here, too: Devin Gardner's bounced up to the #53 player in the Rivals 100, which makes him the #1 QB in the country of any variety. This is where I remind you that MGoBlog got swank HD video of Gardner from Saturday's Inkster-Pioneer game. Yes, we are going to link this until everyone who reads this blog watches the video.

Back and forth. I never actually got around to addressing the ethics of the whole Rodriguez thing, instead choosing to focus on the potential penalties and overall picture, and now I don't have to because the WLA has a couple of articles on the thing that cover it. CFaller's is required reading:

Workouts are voluntary, but so is playing time” is not, in my e-pinion, a wink and a nod to the NCAA rules, but an actual credo embraced by most of these kids. The way I see it the coaches don’t say this as a way to force kids into “volunteering” for workout, but rather to remind them of the environment they are part of.

dex also has an extended post.

Etc.: Smart Football tackles the zone read and the scrape exchange.