Desmond Howard at the Football Bust

I laughed when I read that and moved on. RR has taken shots at the school. Certain people like Desmond have taken shots at RR. It's only a big deal because people make it a big deal.

is entitled to express whatever opinion he cares to about the football program wherever he cares to express it.  As someone above aptly pointed out, it is his opinion.  Each of us is entitled to his own.  Anyone who actually wore the uniform and performed at a high level is probably more entitled to express what he thinks about the program than any of us is.  And, yes, why do we feel the need to pick apart what everyone says and where he says it and how he phrases it?

Let it be.

Please identify one, by source and date.

And, "dumb and inappropriate remarks from Desmond Howard" is now a predictable, routine occurrence.

Didn't Desmond in fact garble his references last night?  Didn't he actually say "Cherry Coke," when he meant "New Coke"?

Anyway, let's recall this from the Desmond's Greatest Hits Collection (Speech Edition):

"I'll give you a perfect example: Michigan fires coach Rich Rodriguez. All the noise in Ann Arbor is, 'Is Denard Robinson going to stay or leave?' I'm like, 'Hey, if the kid wants to go, don't let the door hit you on the way out.' You looked fantastic for five games against nobody. That's what you did. I'm not going to deny his talents, but you ain't won nothing in Ann Arbor, son! Not so much we need to worry about if you're going to be here next year or not." 

And don't forget; if you order Desmond's Greatest Hits now, you'll also get, free, Desmond's Greatest Hits (Twitter Edition), in which Desmond and Phil Simms face off for a fistfight, plus too many other unforgettable Tweets to list!

That likes cherry coke?

Desmond was on the search committee the first time, and Bill Martin pretty much pulled an end around.

DH was opposed to RR from the beginning and spent most of the next 3 years biting his toungue on ESPN.

Can anyone rehash the Molk speech?

Count me on the side of finding the comments self-serving and inappropriate.  Given Desmond has been a pretty vocal critic of the Rodriguez tenure, they probably shouldn't have come as a surprise, though.  Still it's a bit of a smack in the face to those guys who were recruited and played for Rodriguez for 3 seasons.  You can love and feel loyalty to Coach Hoke AND Coach Rodriguez and still be a Michigan Man.  Comments like Demond's continue to highlight the fractionalism of the fanbase and imply that people need to choose sides and we should be past that by now.

I mean, it wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting, but he probably should have just praised the current staff rather than bring up the previous staff.

I find the Cherry Coke v. New Coke thing odd.  He had to have meant New Coke, right?

I'm sure that in the inner-sanctums of Michigan foobtall, Desmond Howard is going to say some real shit from time to time.  I think he's earned that right.

But with all speech making, you're either informing, persuading or demonstrating something to the audience.

Personally, I think those kind of remarks were made in poor judgement and in poor consideration of the audience he's talking to, which obviously included Michigan football players who committed to and worked very hard for Michigan and their coach Rich Rodriguez. Some of those players still love coach RichRod.

Yes. If you're a Michigan football hero, Heisman Trophy winner and All-American legend I guess you can damn well say whatever you want if you choose.  

But it doesn't mean you should.

Making disparaging remarks about the previous coach and the choice to hire him.  Congratulations, you won over 20% of the room.  Now what about the other 80% who are staring at you and who liked that former coach? What are they? Idiots in your eyes?  At that moment somebody might as well have picked up a muzzled trumpet for the Debby Downer tune.....wha, wha, whaaaa!

Desmond's message could have been delivered with greater eloquence, but hey, there it is.  I'm glad Molk got to contribute some real shit of his own.

I'm guessing the whole overanalyzed, overdiscussed RR episode ends at the exact moment that the Sugar Bowl results are overanalyzed and overdiscussed.  Desmond shooting his mouth off a little in the wrong place- Huh.  Imagine.  One of RR's players (barely old enough to buy his own beer) coming to the defense of his old coach and giving the fan base a little for not standing with the team-Holy shit. Another shocker.  This topic will be so boring at this time next year that no one at the bust will think of bringing it up.  Discussion of RR, his treatment, and his record could become a parlor game for people like us.  But the subject has been so badly beaten that weariness will finally have set in and not even we will want to talk about it.   It will finally be dead.  (unless of course RR runs off about 3 straight MNCs at AZ)

If he called the Rodriguez hire a mistake and compared it to New Coke, he was right in both respects. It doesn't sound like he disparaged Rodriguez personally. It sounds like he said Michigan hired a guy to bring in the latest and greatest offensive system, ala new Coke, and it didn't work out. I think Rodriguez might agree, if he's not swearing he'd have won at least 10 games this season. So where's the controversy?

No need to rehash the past. Desmond should have kept his mouth shut about the failures of the team over the past 3 years. When a majority of the players in the room were the guys on the field, the guys losing the games, why not just celebrate the great season and the commitment that they made instead of highlighting the negative aspects.

His inability to us the correct analogy is irrelevant, but highlight his inability to understand the impact of his words on the people that matter the most - The Team.

that you're telling the audience that they bought the New Coke too and that they should have known better.

It's his opinion. He can say it all if he wants.  But it's not going to be well received by all.

It's not something I would say.  I'd want my presentation at such a football bust to be positive for the audience, congratulatory all-around and recognizing everyone in the room for their sacrifice, perseverence and positive contribution. It makes no sense to yank the Rodriguez chain, but I acknowledge that there's alway going to be an "I told you so" crowd that just can't resist making the jabs about the past. 

Oh well, meanwhile Michigan is 10-2, beat Nebraska decisively and OSU, and is headed to a nice BCS bowl game. 

He compared him to cherry coke and pineapple Domino's pizza.  

His comments were fine. RR WAS a mistake to hire in hindsight. (At the time I thought he was a great hire) But if you say RR wasn't a mistake then your delusional. (He won 15 games in 3 seasons....For something to compare that too, LSU is going to win 14 games alone this season)