Free Press Headline "Major Violations"

Submitted by SpreadGuru on

So I just clicked over to the Freep (the death rag) and their headline is "UM made 5 major rules violations." That's not what I have read anywhere else at all. So let's cut to the shit:

1. Freep, Dolphin-puncher Rosenberg, Sharp - stop patting yourselves on the back. You didn't get it right.
2. Freep editors - That headlines been written for months.
3. UM's problems came down to periods of stretching and interpretations of that rule.
4. Let UM answer it and we will be fine.

Tshimanga Cowabunga

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^

"NCAA finds Michigan broke practice rules" That's pretty much all the article says too. No mention on major/minor or specifics.

Espn: "NCAA: Michigan not in practice time compliance"

I guess they aren't too bad. Hopefully it will turn out to be as minor as it all appears.

Captain

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^

Headline:

"NCAA faults RichRod for overpracticing players."

The final line?

"According to his contract, Rodriguez can be fired for cause if the NCAA, the Big Ten or the school determines he has committed a major violation of NCAA rules or he has intentionally committed any other type of violation of NCAA rules."

---

David Brandon could not have been any more transparent when he said "Rich Rodriquez is our football coach, and he will be our football coach next year."

Enough of this firing babble, kthxbai.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35543808/ns/sports-college_football/

ontarioblue

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^

Maybe the Freep counted the time it took the players to walk to the training sessions, shower afterwards, eat, see a movie, then walk home. There you have it 9 hours on Sundays. Great reporting.

bouje

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 PM ^

• From January 2008 through this past September, the program exceeded the permissible limit on the number of coaches by five. The NCAA alleges that five quality control staff members illegally engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities.

• From January 2008 through at least last September, the school permitted football staff members to illegally monitor and conduct voluntary summer workouts and impermissible activities outside the playing season. The NCAA also alleges that U-M required players to participate in summer conditioning for disciplinary purposes, and exceed time limits for countable athletically related activities during and outside the playing season.

• Graduate assistant coach Alex Herron provided “false and misleading information to the institution and enforcement staff” during the investigation.

• Coach Rodriguez “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program and failed to adequately monitor the duties and activities of quality control staff members, a graduate assistant coach and a student assistant coach, and the time limits for athletically related activities.”

• From January 2008 through at least this past September, the athletics department “failed to adequately monitor its football program to assure compliance regarding the limitations on the number, duties and activities of countable football coaches and time limits for countable athletically related activities.”

MaizeNBlue

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^

yeah, look out. We're going to get sanctions for "not fostering a family atmosphere" next. Seriously, it wouldn't surprise me at this point.

The worst part is that Nick Saban, USC, John Calipari, and the SEC all exist, and here's the NCAA pounding Michigan because, God forbid, we don't want our graduation rate to be the stereotypical sub 50% that SEC schools boast...

this is really frustrating.

aaamichfan

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:24 PM ^

In my opinion, Michigan comes out of this smelling like a rose.
There was a rat inside the athletic department, and this is the best they could come up with.

The most frustrating thing to me is that they are unwilling to reveal the name of the rat.

99bobcats

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:24 PM ^

I could only take 5 minutes of them today. They are railing on us because we criticized the Free Press and the Free Press turned out to be right. (their words, not mine) They think we should call in and apologize to Rosenberg and Snyder.

That's what I get for listening.

aaamichfan

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:36 PM ^

I don't normally listen to them, but I am today. As usual, they cannot get any Michigan fans to call in, so they have been gradually escalating the level of ridicule. Eventually it becomes comical, and they are forced to take calls from angry Detroit Lions fans.

My name ... is Tim

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^

Their allegations were against individuals who likely would be considered "public figures" which basically means that the reporting by the Freep had to be brazenly reckless. While to myself it's fairly clear they have some sort of agenda against Michigan, if they're able to point to a source or two who gave them this information that'd likely be enough to kill any sort of suit.

bsb2002

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

the freep is reporting the notice of allegations as conclusions, which is completely disingenuous. the university gets to respond.

what brandon was giving was how the allegations fit with what the school has found to be the case, which is basically a, "well, sorta"

Section 1

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

victory.

Here is what the Freep accomplished:

~Rosenberg got the June CARA-form report, and turned it into his own little crusade with all of the guys he could find outside the program, and the few inside the program that he could shanghai into unwitting comments.

~The Freep took one month, doing its own interviews, not chekcing with the Compliance Services Office, and launched its splashy Sunday-edition story.

~The Freep got the "hours" story substantially wrong. It got the "guys-wearing-coaching-staff-golf-shirts-watching-us-workout" story substantially right. And, that part of the story appears to be even more minor that what we originally might have thought.

~The Freep had no idea about the class-attendance-monitoring issue, which might be the most ludicrous of all the allegations, but it seems to be quite the thing with the NCAA. Good thing the Freep is watching out for the welfare of these young student-athletes, and protecting their constitutional rights to skip classes.

Oh, and let's never, ever forget that in the course of Mitch Albom's practically living with the Fab Five in the Ed Martin days, and writning a book entitled, uh "Fab Five," he never had a whiff of any wrongdoing. But Michigan should have. Which Michigan is paying for now, it seems, a second time.

Kilgore Trout

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:34 PM ^

I may have missed it because it was a long document, but I didn't see any mention of anything to do with coaches physically checking up on players being in class. There was something about disciplanary action against players for missing class, but it didn't say anything about them checking up on them by physically going to the classes as had been previously discussed.

Kilgore Trout

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^

It says right in the NCAA report that all of these can be considered major violations unless otherwise indicated as secondary, which I didn't see anywhere. Get over it about the Free Press and about Valenti and all. The NCAA just accused the University of Michigan of five major violations. It doesn't matter that you or any of us don't think they're major, the NCAA says they are, and they are the only ones that matter.

mtzlblk

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^

not what the headline in the Freep says. Freep headlines state nothing about alleged or accused of violations requiring response and further investigation.

They are clearly biasing the facts by stating things that way in the headline and are on some pretty shaky ground ethics-wise in doing so, considering the foundless expose they ran at the beginning of this whole mess. They would do well to get some form of insitutional control themselves and to start doing something to retain their credibility in this matter as it really undermines whatever shred of credibility they have left by continuing to slant things so obviously.

The unfortunate aspect of this whole thing is that 99% of the people that read that headline will have no understanding of the nuances that are involved and some, especially those with an agenda, will trumpet it as vindication of their bias.

-Rodriguez haters will impune his character and point to this as an example of why he is bad news for the UM.
-Opposing fans will babble on about this ceaselessly in taking pot-shots at UM
-Anyone looking for a story will jump on the more sensational view in order to generate traffic, eyeballs, whatever.
-Opposing coaches will employ this in their recruiting spiel any time they are up against UM for a player

For those of you indicating that you can't wait for the death of the old guard, paper-based media, stop worrying. It is dead already. It is clear that the Free Press is a struggling entity in terms of long term viability as a business, but what is even more clear is that the concept of journalistic ethics, responsibility and objectivity are no longer concepts that mean much to them as they struggle to survive.

In my opinion, they have chosen their constituency and are going to pander to them as much as possible in attempting to hold onto an audience.

Add up the following:
-fair weather Michigan fans that really don't follow the team that closely and essentially only connect to the W/L and how it impacts their own self-esteem
-the old-guard fans that have it in for RR, who for whatever reason (accent, outsider, change, attrition, stupidity, ignorance, whatever) are going to invest in pitchforks and torches becuase they fear change and just want to be able to sit down at games and go home a winner
-MSU fans, die-hard or fair-weather
-people with no strong allegiance one way or the other that are going to be easily swayed by sound bytes, incomplete information and misleading headlines

Now, compare that to the number of M fans that are loyal, follow the team closely, analyze the situation and draw conclusions based on fact and analysis.

Which group is going to buy more papers, especially when a good portion of the latter group has already forsaken them for their earlier attempt at jihad against M?

Stop being surprised by the bias shown by Freep coverage. It isn't going to change, they are never going to retract anything and they will continue to pander to the broadest base of consumers in the state with what they want to hear.

ijohnb

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^

the NCAA identified perceived violations, and demanded a formal response from Michigan. Listen, the Detroit Free Press is biased against the Michigan football program. Mark it down, it is a fact. Most that come down hard on Michigan don't even contest that fact, they just move on from it. The headline "Major Violations" could be better stated as "Our Investigation was Almost Entirely Wrong and Exaggerated." Ask yourself, why would the Detroit Free Press want there to be major violations, why would their headline for this not be "Michigan to Answer NCAA charges" or with the first line being "The NCAA charges against Michigan revealed that the practice overages are far less than original feared." Why does the Free Press want major violations?

Kilgore Trout

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^

These are allegations, I think that's a little more than perceived violations.

Why would the Free Press put major violations in their headline? They do it to sensationalize and to sell papers and generate internet traffic. That's pretty obvious. You honestly think they are going to run a headline saying they were wrong? That's insane. The facts are that their investigation prompted an internal UM and external NCAA investigation that resulted in five allegations of major violations. That is a fact.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

February 23rd, 2010 at 2:49 PM ^

No, freep-eater, the NCAA says they are "potential major violations", which is very much different than the NCAA telling Michigan they found major violations. You're a potential rapist, but there's a big difference between that and the real thing, right? Way to swallow the freep's load, hook line and sinker.

Kilgore Trout

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:02 PM ^

A, eff you. You're a dick. You generally seem to be a reasonable poster, but this was a stupid attack on me, and you're a dick because of it.

B, I think you ought to read it all. These are allegations from the NCAA. The connection between that and calling me a potential rapist is just non-sensical.

C, if you must know, I haven't read any spin on this whole thing other than Brian's, but I did read the entire allegations from the NCAA.

D, eff you again, just for good measure.

bouje

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:23 PM ^

and she ALLEGES that you raped her. This is akin to the Freep coming out and making a headline story "KILGORE TROUT RAPIST HIDE YOUR WOMEN!!!"

Allegations are just that allegations. OJ Simpson ALLEGEDLY committed murder and that will forever be an allegation.

In sum an allegation does not mean: YOU WERE FOUND GUILTY it means "these are the charges how do you plead".

***EDIT*** Beat you to it M&BW :-p. I got your back!

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^

I did read it all, and I still say you need to check again the difference between the NCAA's wording (potential major violations) and the Freep's, which is misleading. In other words, if you're accused of being a rapist, it doesn't give the newspaper the license to write "Kilgore Trout is a rapist."

But my only actual comment is that I just think it's funny that "freep-eater" brings such a heated response. Which is more of a comment on the Freep, really.

Kilgore Trout

February 23rd, 2010 at 3:23 PM ^

Did the Freep ever say "guilty of" or anything like that? I just checked of there and now it says "NCAA: U-M football made 5 major rule violations," which is brilliantly ambiguous on their part. It does say it was updated recently, so they may have changed it.

I apologize for the force of my reaction. That was unnecessary. I just get so sick of the Freep thing. It seems like all anyone wants to focus on is the Free Press instead of honestly looking at the whole situation and figuring out what it really means. They are trying to sell papers and have a slant. Who cares, let's all just let it go, for Christ's sake...

Ryan

February 23rd, 2010 at 4:06 PM ^

Did the Freep ever say "guilty of" or anything like that?

Title: "UM made 5 major rules violations."

My vocabulary is terrible but even I know that there is a difference between 'made' and 'alleged.'