What's going on at The Wolverine these days?
Both Spath and Sullivan have left and it doesn't sound like it was their decision. Spath was on WTKA this week and confirmed he would still like to be at Rivals but that he wanted to be a publisher and have more influence in the direction of the site and was told basically to get lost. No idea what happened to Sullivan but the recruiting info there went ownhill fast once Josh Helmholdt left. Rumors both were canned by Stu Coman the publisher on other parts of the internet.
IMO the Michigan Scout and 247 sites have passed Rivals, which was unfathomable only a few years ago.
This has been stated many times before, but while you might THINK all the news filters over here, it doesn't. I think some people assume that they get all the information at MGoBlog because there are a bunch of diehard recruiting fans here, but most/all of us (including me) don't just repost all the "insider" content as soon as it's made available.
You might get all the information you care about from here, but you don't get all the information. It's kind of like saying you know everything about the NBA because you watch SportsCenter. Sure, you might be well informed compared to the average person, but you're getting the Cliff's Notes versions.
Also, without other people paying for insider content, 247/Scout/Rivals don't exist. And then there's no insider content to trickle over here. And we would be back to the days when nobody knows much about anything until National Signing Day (although Twitter might help if you're into following high schoolers on social media).
The breaking headlines I get, but most of the real insider information on mgoboard is usually being swiped from the pay sites. Someone will post about an injury or story they see referenced on a pay board & fish for information here. Almost every time there is a buckle up post on this board is usually due to a report on one of the pay sites. Brian obviously has his sources, and current students reading this site know players on campus, but Sam Webb and other pay site reporters have extensive sources in player families, Michigan coaches, high school coaches, etc.
I agree to some extent on the recruiting information, but a lot of people read it like some people read People magazine or US Weekly. It is addictive, and mgoblog would not be covering it if it weren't getting hits.
I think you have identified the larger problem and that is to define what is "breaking news" any more..
I work with a childhood friend of Sarah Harbaugh's and throughout the coaching search, much of the "breaking news" or "developing storylines" were utterly false. So what was the point in paying for rumor mongering and half-truth guesses?
I like the comparison to People magazine because that's what it is - I subscribed to Rivals in the 2008 time range in part to the high profile recruitment of one T_Peezy2 and looking back, it was a total waste of money.
The only thing more annoying than having paid for Rivals was trying to CANCEL my account - damn near impossible and certainly intentionally so
Many of the weekly recruitin' updates are built off aggregating reporting from Scout, 247Sports, and Rivals. If those services did not exist, you would see minimal recruiting coverage on this site. On the flip side, this site did give many of those recruiting reporters their start in the business. It's been a symbiotic relationship in some ways.
Personally, I appreciate the work Sam Webb and Steve Lorenz do. There are few reporters who cover Michigan that are more connected than Webb.
Yes and no. The guys who get that info, particularly Lorenz and Sam, are what's valuable, not the sites themselves. If the subscription model collapsed, we'd snatch those guys up and print the same stuff for free.
I ran into TomVH yesterday and we talked about how different the business is today than when we both got started here. Blogs used to be on the outside looking in, and every site was out there trying to outdo each other in the tiny morsels that fell to them.
Now it's an ongoing conversation as we try to piece the puzzle together from all these different sources, with the subscription sites still publishing whatever they brought to the table, but with better insight into what it means, and a better shot at ferretting out the bogus stuff. Rivals hired both guys we ever tried to give Tom's beat, but by not competing in that sphere we don't have to compete for info, so we get all of it.
So today it's less like the old journalism model and more like colleagues in an academic field, where the archaeologists are publishing their findings and the professors write secondary sources, but everyone (or most everyone) is talking behind the scenes to get it right. If you're a serious student of that field, you pay to get at the primary sources. If you're casual, you download the podcast, which inevitably makes you desire more info so you buy the primary sources. I think it worked out better for everyone, except those who decided to keep going it alone.
Yes and no. The guys who get that info, particularly Lorenz and Sam, are what's valuable, not the sites themselves. If the subscription model collapsed, we'd snatch those guys up and print the same stuff for free.
That's exactly my point - its folks like Sam that are the source, not the sites and many of the sites don't have resources like Sam. If Scout, Rivals and 247 went away due to lack of interest and subscribers, Sam and others would still have the radio show, blogs, twitter, facebook, etc to get the news out.
And whether it's news I know NOW or three hours from NOW, it doesn't matter in the big picture to me as a fan and Alum of Michigan.
...except without the 247/Rivals/Scout network, Lorenz/Borton/Webb aren't viable by themselves. Then it becomes a much bigger project. Tom Lemming made that work a long time ago when he did a bunch of that stuff himself, but now they need recruiting profiles, highlights, ratings, etc. to do their jobs.
Take this as my opinion, though one formed by now 8 years of being in the same business: Sam and Steve are vastly underpaid.
Sam makes most of his living off of WTKA. Lorenz ought to have a nicer house than me. The subscription model is about equal to the be the biggest site and sell ads model as far as bringing in dollars. The reason 247 and Scout are able to kick ass right now is because they have the best players under contract for far less than they're worth.
I'll take your word for that. I'm interested in how the finances work for all these sites, but I'll probably never know.
Right. I'm sure at least some of them would be snatched up somewhere. But right now those sites exist - and the "insiders" exist - because of the pay sites. If the sites didn't exist, then MGoBlog would get even more traffic by employing Lorenz, Webb, or whomever. But I don't know if there's enough money streaming in for many sites to employ someone like Sam Webb full-time. MGoBlog brings in a lot of money (I assume), but I'm guessing the other Michigan sites listed on this here sidebar don't have the infrastructure/income to make that kind of career switch viable (I know TTB doesn't). Maybe MLive could make that work, too. I don't know.
Begs the question ...what is an "insider" and is that something one can make a career out of and when does being an "insider" cross over into being a journalist?
Sam is great and pretty accurate but for every Sam there are dozens of wannabes who retweet and steal content from guys like Sam, positioning themselves as an "insider"
but in the end, it's a free market. if you're a recruiting insider who is constantly wrong, people will eventually stop listening.
It does work for most of us but my impression is that it depends somewhat on the infrastructure produced by the pay sites. When we REALLY want to know something that's not easy to know we as fans and free content producers lean on guys like Sam Webb, who work for the pay sites.
I'm not going to pay for stuff, but I'm glad that there are people that do and support it, because that means good information trickles in the direction of us freeloaders.
That said, three sites is indeed probably serious overkill.
They'll never fall behind as long as they have the godfather of recruiting coverage there.
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Borton posted that Sullivan did move to Nashville two years ago and was told that his content/coverage could not suffer due to him being so far away from Ann Arbor. As far as I could tell there was no dropoff, however I'm unaware of the reason Sullivan no longer works for TheWolverine other than the boilerplate "he has decided to pursue other opportunities" offered by Borton.
Doesn't Brown live in one of the Carolinas? I'm not sure location means much when it comes to "recruiting coverage."
You are being very generous to Brown. His contributions to the genre are worth ignoring, in my opinion.
I believe he was in South Carolina at one point. I'm not sure where he is now.
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Maybe Marrisa Mayer will apply. She needs work right now.
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I had a subscription to The Wolverine for many years...it was so awesome when it came once a week during football season, but then every two weeks during hoops, and then once a month until football started back up.
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I tried cancelling a few months ago and they gave me 3 months free. They're desperate.
Cancel your cable - they'll give you a lower price to re-up. Cancel your phone, any magazine, subscription - anything at all and the supplier will almost always come back with a lower price.
Like an idiot I paid full price for XM radio for years ($169) until one time I cancelled it on my boat for the winter and got a coupon within a couple of week for 5 months of service for $20! So now I just call them up every 5 months and say I want the $20 rate or they can cancel my service and I'll wait for the coupon. Because you're dealing with offshore phone operators they HATE that (hurts their bonus) but they hate having a cancellation even more so I get it everytime.
Reduced my cost of XM from $169 to about $50 a year.
about 3 years ago, and I still receive a copy every month. I think it has something to do with their circulation numbers and charging advertisers. My benefit.
is a running magazine now???!!! I'm so old.
The downside to Sirius is that if you really don't feel like paying for radio they will never, ever stop pestering you to re-subscribe.
The upside is that if you feel like paying for radio is this comment, though, so I guess there's a positive in this.
You must've bought a car earlier than me, I've only received approximately 7,593 of those.
Your boat?
That's a great looking boat.
Is that dude naked in the back of your boat?
Link?
Edit: nevermind.
Just go look up his old posts.
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Yeah, I thought it was awesome at first. I got annoyed at how issues would frequently come late, though. On a Tuesday I'd get an issue previewing the previous Saturday's game.