Drew Sharp is at it again. http://www.freep.com/article/20081201/COL08/81201092/1048/SPORTS The gist of the article: RichRod better watch the ND situation closely and learn something from it, otherwise he will be out the door sooner rather than later. Let's examine the claims. On RichRod: "He came to Michigan a year ago extraordinarily confident in his role as a revolutionary. He scoffed at those who questioned his strategic intellect because he never doubted for an instant that he was the smartest football guy in any room he entered." Huh? Where was the scoffing? Where does the claim about him thinking he is the smartest football guy in the room come from? Sure, he is confident; would you hire him if he weren't?. But beyond that? And then: "Rodriguez passed the buck. He indirectly blamed Lloyd Carr’s suspect recruiting — in what were, nonetheless, highly ranked classes the previous two years — for his first-year transitional difficulties. He chastised fans for what he deemed unrealistic expectations for a new coach stripping a program of its reliable, though staid, personality. Even though he was pretty much correct on both counts, it nonetheless comes across as arrogantly selfish and unaccountable." Why does the press do this? If Sharp had listened to any one of RichRod's press conferences, he would have heard him repeatedly saying the coaches have to do better and that at the end of the day, he is the head person and most accountable for what has taken place. Repeatedly. One time, he made the mistake of saying he thought they were short a few players (they are). And perhaps he chastised some fans by saying that people who say awful things to coaches should "get a life". The press takes these comments and blows them up to make news, repeating the untruths until they believe them themselves, distorting reality such that it is little wonder why people bother speaking to them. Journalists complained about lack of access in the Lloyd era, and then, given more access, utilize it to invent this type of tripe about the subject of their venom. The result of all of this criticism will soon be clear: RichRod will slowly provide less and less access to the press. Who wouldn't? And then we'll soon see an article from Drew Sharp about how RichRod has changed. And the final dumb quote: "Michigan should watch closely how Notre Dame resolves the Weis conflict because it’ll next make that same determination — perhaps as early as next year if Rodriguez doesn’t reverse this season’s slide." Why should Michigan watch closely as Notre Dame fires a coach they overpaid who, in his fourth year, has shown an inability to build a consistent winner? That frankly did much better when his players were trained by another coach? And the thought that Michigan would fire RichRod after two years is so asinine that it should not find its way into print. Why does the Freep keep paying for this substitute for journalism? Or perhaps this is just what journalism is, and always will be: sensational instead of informative, extreme instead of intelligent. What an ass.