Jihad: The Movie

Sheesh. RichRod looks like he's had about enough. He and his fam have been put through quite the last 18 months -- you wonder at some point if he'll consider leaving M.

Did these current players volunteer to speak today or were they asked by the coaching staff? I do love how they are backing the program and hopefully they will rally around this and use it this saturday!

... the Seniors.

If, somehow, they win 8-9 games this season, I think everyone will shut the hell up and move on. I hope the team uses all this adversity as motivation.

Based on a continued decline in circulation, the Detroit Free Press has now switched over to a tabloid format.

The first one, as Brian alluded to, will be after Michigan investigates, finds no or minimal infractions. The Freep will wail that it's evidence -- not of its baseless and highly biased reporting -- but of Michigan's unwillingness to confront the problems in its midst.

The second one will ask why Michigan continues to employ as head coach someone who brings so much unwanted attention to the program, and will cite this, the Feagin thing, the Boren thing, and every other ridiculous thing that's gotten blown up by the Freep & Co. over the past two years. I'm eagerly awaiting that article.

This cannot be stressed enough among the Michigan faithful: Rich Rodriguez is the right man for the job. I wasn't sure of it a year ago. I am now. The hatred and ill-will he has engendered come internally from his willingness to confront head-on an entrenched culture of "good enough," and externally from the realization that he is turning our program into the great beast of the North. That makes him dangerous to all the right people and, to my mind, a goddamn hero.

Thanks, Freep. You did something I never thought possible. I'm no longer the Morrissey Michigan fan, who shrugs at last-minute losses and figures that at the root of my fandom is pain and sorrow and unhappiness. You've helped me become the raving partisan, the loyal soldier who's going to support Coach Rod from here to goddamn eternity. You've made me an SEC fan. Great fucking job.

Y'know what? If Coach Rod wants piped-in noise, why the hell not?

He looks like he needs a hug. Somebody send him an e-card!

Thanks for the great coverage of this, Brian.

EDIT: And Tim! Ack! Sorry!

You guys rock.

Thank you for posting it since mgoblue's is not working at the moment.

I'm not saying anyone should do this (disclaimer) but it would be a really good idea for someone to go throw rocks through the windows at the free press. Also, never click on their links again.

When I have two young freshmen that come into my office yesterday upset, saying, "Coach, what did I do? What did we do? We just said we worked hard, and it was harder than it was in high school and we were committed to helping win a championship." I said, "You didn't do nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong."

I've harped and harped on this and I don't care if I sound like a broken record, I'll harp some more. I'm absolutely livid about this. It makes my blood boil. Most of the rest of the article is scurrilous but doesn't step completely over the line of bad journalism. This does. It's scummy, disgusting, low, and filthy.

Those kids were asked seemingly innocuous questions about their regimen and answered respectfully and honestly. Then their words were twisted around and they became the ONLY quoted sources in an expose that was considered so damaging, all the other sources were anonymous to protect them from ramifications. Yet the two people that potentially are directly in the line of fire get their identities blasted out there for everyone to see and unwittingly become the star witnesses in the case against their program.

I haven't seen worse sports journalism since Rob Parker called Hank Aaron a coward in print. This might be worse. It's just about the fucking shittiest thing Rosenberg could have done. Good for Coach Rod for sticking up for his boys. Good for him. Outstanding.

I liked the "I don't think we're working hard enough" comment the most.

With all the comments coming out supporting RR and the program, I wonder if the Free Press will finally write a balanced article, with a fair look at both sides? Sorry everyone, I went delusional for a moment. The odds of the Free Press providing neutral coverage on RR are about the same as the Lions winning the Super Bowl this year.

I'm not saying "People should go throw rocks through rosenberg's windows", I'm just saying if they did, I wouldn't be sad...

Some comments:

1.) Obviously, Rich is incredibly pissed off. I don't know where that kind of anger will take him, his staff and these football players. I'm sort of hoping it's to the more powerful Dark Side of the Force.

2.) I'm waiting for a Big Ten coach to flap his gums about this situation. Who will be the first?

3.) Rosenberg and Snyder are earning national press accolades for now. But when the facts finally come out, they'll be joined by crickets.

But I would like to see the director's cut also. You know, the one where a well informed, level headed person in the crowd asks a member of the press to explain the process in which he "researched" for this article? Then, said member of press ducks out the back door and well informed, level headed person in the crowd is greeted by "OOOH SNAP!" from others in the vicinity.

...and probably in the wrong place, but brian alluded to rosenberg's "stated hatred of u of m" or some such in one of these posts, and i can't seem to find brian's original post...what i'm really looking for is rosenberg's 'stated hatred,' whatever that might be. anyone know what he's talking about? or have a link to whatever he's alluding to?

i HATE "anyone have a link" comments, but i want some context for a state fan i'm soon-to-be-ex-friends with.

Thank you for supporting the team and our University, Coach Rodriguez! This is the type of baptism under fire which will transform him into a legendary Michigan Man! We support you, we're proud of you, and Go Blue!

Rich Rodriguez's response and the response of the players has made me proud to be a Michigan fan.

Go blue!!

Why is Brown's beard so lopsided? Someone get that man some trimmers!

This has been my team since I was seven years old. That was 1967! I'm now 48 years old. Now I'm really angry about this mess. Last year's story stated, academic issues at Michigan. Another one stated family values don't exist at Michigan. Still another article, this article states cheating. I tell you this is strategic. Someone wants to undermine Michigan's Leaders and Best mantra.

I used to wonder why Bo and Carr did not deal much with the media. Now I know. RR should now know what to expect from story hungry journalists. Forget them!

Also I hope Michigan uses this stuff to become a juggernaut again. "Show No Mercy!"

Wow, Rich Rod and all of the players that spoke seemed genuinely hurt by these accusations. I have had my doubts about him in the past, but this only makes me feel more strongly that we made the right decision in hiring him. I hope that this situation will help to assuage some of the doubts that Michigan fans have had in him, and help him to gain 100% backing from the fan base.

Here is a link to tweets of fans showing support for him...I wish there were more.

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%40UM_CoachRod

Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview was the focus on Barwis. That's probably the issue, the time Barwis spent with players as a "trainer" and whether or not those workouts were voluntary, involuntary or simply not covered by the NCAA rules. Like I said before, Barwis and S&C is a clever way to stay engaged with players. It does not appear, however, as though there is a direct football gameplan connection between Barwis and the coaching staff.

I read this back in the day, but never created an account and commented to get the MgoPoint. Rectifying in 3... 2... 1...