[edited to remove link] Mike Valenti predicted our OSU victory and now says we can beat GA or Bama too.
[Edit: No Valenti links. This has been clearly covered so many times and places on MGoBlog and yet it somehow continues. I'll be deleting at least the link and possibly taking down this entire thread. ---rob f ]
I share the board's general sentiments about Valenti, and no longer listen, but a friend of mine sent me this link when I expressed skepticism about the news I put in this headline. In brief, V was definitive last week that M would win and put money on it, and yesterday said that if we can repeat that effort, that neither GA nor Bama want to face us, and that in this year with no super dominant team he can easily see us winning it.
[LINK DELETED]
I know many replies will be "F him" which is fair, but I found it interesting.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:11 AM ^
MAKE PLAYS!!!
November 30th, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
TIMEOUTS ARE NOT CELL PHONE MINUTES!!!
November 30th, 2021 at 11:56 AM ^
I will never forget when he described John L Smith's look on the sideline as "like he farted in a pool and got away with it". To this day I use that with my kids when they screw up, lol.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
Your final line rings true.
Why the fuck would any Michigan fan ever listen to that idiot??? I NEVER turn on 97.1 unless it's to listen to live sports because I'm afraid I might come across him
November 30th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
I find his idiocy to be very entertaining.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
Yeah I get bored in the car or at work and am a crack fiend for any sports content sometimes, particularly during college football season. The thing is not taking anything he says too seriously, he's an entertainer, and trolling/needling Michigan fans gets listener engagement.
The problem is when Michigan fans actually start repeating his talking points with any seriousness. I've literally seen certain posters here quote him verbatim (without citation of course) as why we should have fired Harbaugh. The degree to which he may control narratives around Michigan football is disturbing to think about.
November 30th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
"a friend of mine sent me the link"............. ;-)
November 30th, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
I don't need him to tell me this.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:14 AM ^
Valenti is a king of sandbagging, but his analysis is typically spot on despite being a massive Spartan. It's the talking parade float next to him in the studio that is the embarrassment.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
I agree. If he stays out of troll mode which has been rare the past couple years, he's a good listen. Rico is clueless. He's convinced state is right up there with Bama now.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
Rico's job is to make Valenti sound insightful and reasonable by comparison. He brings Sparty saltiness to a whole new level.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:33 AM ^
Valenti is a tool, but knows sports and can be entertaining. Rico Beard is honestly the worst. The dude is just terrible on radio, and brings nothing to the table. He threw a hissy fit yesterday after being called a homer.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:38 AM ^
Rico's schtick is to be a mimic of Valenti. He sounds exactly like Valenti with the same voice cadence and pitch. I once turned on the show and didn't know if it was Valenti or Rico talking.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
I've felt for years that Valenti is waaay better than the board gives him credit for. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean he's great. Finding a good sports talk radio host is like looking for a fudge bar in a septic tank.
However, his assessment of people's character, or general assessment of off field activities is where he misses the mark IMO. For example, he still thinks Mark Dantonio is Italian Jesus. And then yesterday he said Harbaugh's born on third base comment "made no sense." Um, okay? It makes perfect sense. But for some reason there isn't a single Sparty out there who gets it.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
Yeah, Valenti's assessment of the third base comment was poor. He brought up Harbaugh getting jobs due to his name, but ignores the fact that he took over four rebuilding projects (San Diego, Stanford, SF, and Michigan), and made them contenders. Ryan Day took over a top 3 program with a solidified institution. Jim Harbaugh took over a team that lost to Maryland and Rutgers, and had to recruit Jake Rudock to be QB.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:24 PM ^
The only way it makes sense is the fact the Harbaugh basically grew up at UofM with his dad coaching there. Day started small at New Hampshire with no inside help.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:31 PM ^
I think Sparty simply misses the point. Ryan Day does come off like a spoiled kid when he said he'll hang a hundred on us. Urban Meyer really built that program into what it is now. Yes, Day was an assistant during part of it, but he wasn't the man at the very top where everything comes back onto him.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
Lol what a bad analysis. The context is head coaching - how does Harbaugh's first head coaching job compare with what Day inherited?
Not sure if you're a habitual masochist or a troll. We have plenty of both here.
Cheers.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
That's because Sparties haven't found the way out of the dugout.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:14 AM ^
Wow I forgot this guy existed. Last time I heard his name fondue was exploding in his face or something. Meh.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:18 AM ^
That was NOT white chocolate fondue...
November 30th, 2021 at 1:01 PM ^
Faux knows...
Cheers.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:15 AM ^
If someone wants to post the J Law gif, I'd be cool with that.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:15 AM ^
Lol, this is a classic strategy for rivals coping. You see it with LeBron all the time. They have to vacillate between two takes: 1) They suck and haven't done anything 2) They're so good if they don't win it all it's a disappointment. It's a personal coping mechanism, to avoid having to admit their worst nightmare: a rival massively outperforming expectations, rising to the moment, a coach putting on a coach of the year-type year, etc.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:18 AM ^
+1 (Psychologically) Insightful
November 30th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
? agree. Valenti is a slick talking manipulator. I admit I listen to him for the sheer entertainment value. But he's def an ass hat. Yesterday he went on to say that Michigan was also very lucky and hasn't been called for a holding penalty all year.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
Agree. In this case, he may also claim that transitive property apply and MSU would have beaten those teams if not for (pick any excuse you want).
I would rather listen to Huge than this guy.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
A Valenti take? Seriously? I would rather listen to my mother in law's opinion on why Christmas isn't good anymore. So yeah, F Valenti. Being right doesn't diminish his astonishing amount of douchery....
November 30th, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^
Would need to look back at his historical predictions (I'm not doing that) but he can "pick" Michigan to win and then when they lose come back and say "they would have won if their coach/program/something in general about the University" was as good as they like to think it is. Basically, they underachieved AGAIN. Look around, all of a sudden everyone is saying OSU wasn't actually that good, prone to rough games, and the win wasn't that big of an accomplishment. Ignoring the historical offense they had and the defensive output post-Oregon.
Basically, "I picked you because I thought this time you'd actually rise to the occasion, and you didn't... because you stink." Him being wrong on a Michigan prediction doesn't hurt his listenership, it gives him another chance to ingratiate himself to the fan base that wants Michigan to crumble.
His schtick is to denigrate Michigan sports as much as possible. Post Nova basketball championship game it was all backhanded, "you tried hard but you're just not that good. Nova is great and you were just fortunate to be there." Pick Michigan to win or lose, the guy is just a blowhard with a singular goal.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:19 AM ^
Valenti is a tool. The end.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:19 AM ^
When will people realize he says things like this so he can set MIchigan up for the fall. Unless he personally showed me his winning pay slip for his bet on Michigan I wouldn't believe a word he says. There's always a negative hook for this guy when it comes to Michigan. Yesterday was painful for him. The only thing that was his saving grace was that he tried to give credit to MSU for Michigan winning by saying they took a page out of Dantonio's playbook by playing the little brother card to provide incentive for winning the game.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:31 PM ^
They made it sound like Dantonio invented this attitude in rivalry games. Clearly it wasn’t like this from 1969 until Tressel became coach.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:20 AM ^
And of course if Michigan doesn't beat GA or Bama he will say this was Michigan's year and if they couldn't do it this year they never will. Same old shtick.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:22 AM ^
^^^This. It's easy to predict a win for your rival and hope you are wrong so you can trash them.
If you're right, then hey look at me, I called it.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:44 AM ^
This is exactly what happened on the show, he ALWAYS controls the narrative. I listened to the beginning of the show and as soon as I heard all the Valenti back-slapping that was happening, about how "hot" he was with the Michigan pick, I switched it off. That's his schtick, praise your bitter rival until they lose and then trash them. It's why he quit Twitter, people called him out for his bullshit and trashed him, but they can't on his radio show because he can screen calls or hang up on people that are speaking the truth.
It's win-win for that douche-bag. The best thing to do is boycott his show hopefully, he gets canned. It is REALLY awful radio, who wants to listen to a Sparty circle-jerk anyway?
November 30th, 2021 at 12:47 PM ^
You could see this coming a mile away. I turned on the radio in my car after the win on my way to drop off my son at swim practice. Jeff Rieger was all waxing poetic about how he was about to have Valenti on to talk about how he predicted this win all by himself. His tone was so self congratulatory. Realistically it should have been obvious where this narrative is headed. It’s basically a mimic of what Pat Caputo has been doing for years.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:20 AM ^
Thanks for sharing OP.
Hey guys am I scheduled to create a thread at 11:30 or 11:35? I accidently deleted the posting schedule email and I cant remember when I'm slotted for.
I know this afternoon I've got the 3:25 slot and tonight I'm suppose to put something up at 9:40 but I'll be damned if I can remember when I'm scheduled for this morning.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^
HOMEANDBUNDLECCREATEATHREADATHON.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^
I was thinking about making a post about the number of posts. But it felt like a reply-to-all cycle.
I think we're all still delirious from Saturday
November 30th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
So I've decided to just start posting random cities long-range weather forecasts inside the random thought threads. The latest being, a thread where the OP posts Iowa's record as well as conference standings for reasons unknown.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:20 AM ^
Valenti doesn't bother me that much b/c I don't let it. He is a slappy and pretends to be angry at everything. He throws shade at Michigan at every change, b/c he knows our pissed off fans calling his show is his livelihood. Rico is even worse and perpetuates his whole schtick.
He is grabbing low hanging fruit by saying what we could and should do, but if we fall short or slip up he can rip us relentlessly.
He's probably a decent guy to watch sports with, but happens to be a Sparty. I'm sure we all have a friend like that. But fuck him either way.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
I haven't listened to him since 2012. But I remember how any time a "Michigan fan" would call in, it seems they could barely string sentences together. It's no mystery why that happened. When you refuse to let any caller with half a brain get through to properly call him out thanks to your screener so you can continue to play Mr. Wise Ass and shred the fool on the phone line...it's no wonder why I stopped listening.
The "Make Plays!" was funny and later in the year when he said, "Lloyd put the breaks on early and Michigan could have scored 60 on MSU if they wanted to," but that's ancient history. Eventually, listening to him eat crow wasn't enough for me to care anymore. Not even after the Darius Morris 'Get the f*ck off my court," game.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
Provided we don't "choke on applesauce" and "MAKE PLAYS!" we'll be OK. lol. IDK why people listen to him other than to hear the trash talk and ranting. And you can only take so much of that.
Anyway I just hope we beat Iowa. Anything over that is gravy.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
F him
November 30th, 2021 at 12:12 PM ^
Nice to hear from you, good doctor.
November 30th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
Don’t care
November 30th, 2021 at 11:27 AM ^
I share the board's general sentiments about Valenti
Actually, this website's official stance on Valenti is no Valenti, because he's a professional troll and a douchebag. This thread will most likely be deleted because no Michigan fan should give a fuck what that asshole thinks.
November 30th, 2021 at 12:13 PM ^
Mike Valenti has opinions Seth what are you going to do about it?!
- Brian
November 30th, 2021 at 11:28 AM ^
??. I have not listened to him in years. They bash Michigan in subtle ways constantly. I like how some callers will say ‘I am a lifelong UM fan or Alum, but Michigan sucks. The school sucks. Fire everybody.’
Ooooooook.