I've never felt compelled to write a diary entry, and surely many readers will wish I never do again. But, as a lifelong M fan, and as a proud grad, and someone who doesn't work for the Freep, or know Rosenberg, I need to say this:

The pattern is always the same. Local paper reports on alleged misdeeds by the local football team. Blogosphere immediately and reflexively explodes, crying "Witch-hunt!"; and boycotting the paper and accusing the reporters of bias, grudges, you name it; and protesting that the coaches wouldn't so much as jaywalk. Recognize this pattern? From KU to USC to, um, UM basketball. To that end, I challenge you to list examples in which this pattern didn't play out accordingly -- in which charges of systemic problems turned out to be totally bogus. Can't think of many, can you?

Thou doth protest too much, I think. Most of you can't really feel that confident that RR is the victim of a baseless witch-hunt. Seriously, in your heart of hearts, you're at least a little concerned that RR, while perhaps a fine coach, is a bit...murky. Problem is, you either won't or can't admit it. Because you only want to hear what you want to hear. Because you can't handle the the (possible) truth. Because you're seeing this through blue-colored glasses. Which is usually a fine quality, but not so much when we're talking about potentially serious violations that, if true, seriously impact our players. I'm shocked that nobody seems the least bit concerned about this. And a little ashamed.

Let's be clear: Even the News confirms that the team exceeded the practice limits. The freshmen confirmed same, and please stop trotting out the red-herring re the manner in which they were asked questions. They were clearly describing their practice schedules, on the record, on tape.  That at least ten players, former or current, complained is a sign of some sort of trouble, if only in terms of team unity. Never would have happened in years past. Last but not least: that everyone else breaks the rules is no excuse. This isn't Alabama or Miami. This is Michigan. We play by the rules, or ought to. Student-athletes, not athlete-students.

Our collective response, so far, has been textbook: defensive, whiny, paranoid, biased, Palin-esque, a joke to every other fanbase. We sound like the KU basketball base, circa 1970s. Read this postings, replacing ND with M, and imagine what you'd be thinking. It's absurd. Posters protest bias by displaying monumental bias. Get some perspective. Let's let the investigation run its course before drawing conclusions. After all, have you been practicing with the team all year? Do you really know what happened? No, you don't. So maybe let's let the truth play out, rather than play the truth. Hysteria smacks of desperation. If RR messed-up, he and we must suffer consequences; if he didn't, we'll all be stronger in the end. We went to Michigan, most of us. We have hearts and brains. Let's start thinking more with the latter. Go Blue.