Friendship vs. Integrity: FIGHT!

After listening to John Bacon last night, dancing around the subject of Rosenbergs intentions, and listening again this morning to Eric Adelson, a common theme emerged:  "I don't want to judge <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Rosenberg's intentions because he's my friend / I know him / I have a relationship with him...."

And yet it doesn't seem like there's any such rush from Bacon or Adelson to afford Rich Rodriguez the same sentiments.  Why?

Rosenberg is simply following the Jim Carty parasitic shortcut to job security by "make a name for myself before the ship sinks"; while Rodriguez is trying his hardest to make a dreadful team better.  Rodriguez isn't perfect, none of us are.  But explain to me how a team that is "over-worked" and just concentrates on football managed to put forth the best team GPA in recorded Michigan history?

Eric Adelson is a regular guest on WTKA, and John Bacon is an occasional host and author of “Bo’s Lasting Lessons”.  Adelson I tolerate but his views are rarely relevant as he's generally not even close to being in-touch with anything local.  After this morning, I'm wondering why the heck he's even on there?  Any "valuable national opinion" he may have of the team is being blurred by his relationship with Rosenberg.

John Bacon, however, should know better.  He wrote a book about one of the highest caliber human beings on the planet.  Stubborn Bo was, yes, but the man had integrity.  I cannot picture him standing by silently while something, or someone, he believed in was being unfairly and unneccessarily attacked simply because a "friend" was behind it.  John KNOWS what this is about.  Dammit, Snyder, the co-writer of Rosenberg’s hit-piece, won't even field questions as to what he considers a "countable hour"!  Why then is Michigan supposed to scurry about madly trying to disprove an allegation the accuser can't (or won’t) even properly frame or define?

The timing couldn't be worse for desperate journalists trying to make a name for themselves at the expense of program trying to climb out of the mire of an awful transitional season.   Meanwhile, both John Bacon and Eric Adelson are refusing to acknowledge the upset players and furious parents, the head coach pouring his heart and soul into the team, the integrity of Michigan's compliance department - they're ignoring these other sources because of a friendship?  Both John Bacon and Eric Adelson are choosing to put their integrity aside by refusing to condemn what they know is wrong. 

It’s not like any of this yellow journalism is new.  The way the Freep has handled recent stories about Feagin and MSUs prison-to-practice field nonsense, the way they've handled this story by talking with anonymous disgruntled sources at Michigan, the way they've taken advantage of Rodriguez' player access by misleading two freshman - not to mention how Carty's Ann Arbor News writers mislead football players by telling them they were going to do a piece "honoring" their professor, only to field another unjust attack on Michigan athletic academics – all of it shows that there ARE people at work trying to, at the very minimum, damage the program.

I don't care if Adelson is ever asked back.  Getting the “out of touch national perspective” is seldom enough of a draw to keep me tuned in during the commute.  John Bacon, on the other hand, I very much enjoy.  To say that I'm disappointed in him is an understatement.  John is intelligent, humorous and insightful.  I also believe him to be a man of high integrity that is making a very poor decision by not condemning the recent Rosenberg piece in particular.

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The good news is that the morning show on WTKA is quite solid and MGoBrian has somehow managed to infiltrate the station’s airwaves more and more frequently.

All of the recent hit-pieces and “I won’t comment on that because he’s my friend” crap have really made me appreciate the efforts of Brian and the MGoBlog staff more and more lately.

Thank you for a forum to wallow in the unvarnished truth.  And vent when the need arises…