Freep reporting violations by UM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4T26x6GZEw&feature=related

You took the exact words out of my e-mouth.

Was Rosenberg beaten up by Carson Butler?

The timing is deadly. I don't think there is any coincidence that this comes out now. One week before the season starts--and Rodriguez will be answering to Old Guard powers still in the AD as well as the media and probably Bill Martin. To have to spend the next week addressing this is going to test this man and his staff like nothing else.

With nothing more than an "ear to the ground," I have come to the conclusions that there is a schism at UM between academics who see sports as nothing more than a necessary evil and coaches who try to put a winning product on the field; there is a schism in the athletic department between the remnants of Bo/Mo/Lo and new people who see the changing field of athletics in terms of an arms race and more dedication to putting winning products out there; a schism between elitist snobbery and reality; and, of course, a wide rift between New UM (read: football) and the media that may be fueled by the secretive nature of past regimes or dominant alpha-dog regimes who at times had adverse relationships with the media.

I also believe that a lot of the seeming dislike for Rodriguez is the result of a media and some in the AD who believe Lloyd Carr has been treated unfairly with regard to his tenure and his legacy. I have felt there has been a backlash against the fans who seemed to feel positive about Lloyd finally hanging it up and who have welcomed a coach who embraces (IMO) the type of atmosphere, on the field, that many would criticize as being worthy of the SEC.

The hypocrisy of this situation, from a media standpoint, is maddening. NCAA football is a cash-cow industry that directly employs, and rather exhorbitantly, many, MANY people; and many of them turn up on radio shows, blogs, newspapers, and TV shows to wage some sort of moral war with this cash cow that is nothing more than disingenuous self puffery when they question or criticize what it takes to win and build winning programs. But as we see, not too many of them are covering Yale Vs Harvard games, and not too many people are clamoring for glamourous SAT Bowls between Vanderbilt and Northwestern.

Now, rules are rules, and if Rodriguez and his guys broke 'em, they in trouble and deservedly so. Rodriguez also has HAD to have known that he wouldn't be able to clip his nosehairs without someone reporting on his technique, or doing a front-page story because Rita bitched that he didn't clean the clippings out of the bathroom sink.

As this staff's story keeps unfolding, 20/20 hindsight becomes easier. A Les Miles or Greg Schiano "transitional" hire may have been what was needed (especially because Lloyd had exactly ZERO assistants capable of taking over and doing well), rather than such a culture shock that seems to have ignited all kinds of brush fires in Ann Arbor. Martin ignored a search committee that twice recommended Miles; he then went out and got His Man. Miles may have ruffled Lloyd's feathers, but the Prodigal Son returning home certainly could have thwarted what has turned into a daily circus and a feeding frenzy of negative press.

This may be way overblown, and something that all of the major programs could be criticized for.

But don't think that the Freep just put this in the paper without vetting it. This is the paper that nailed ex-Mayor Kwame K. They would have to know the consequences of getting it wrong, particularly given the timing (on their website the Saturday night before the first game, so it can be picked up everywhere for Sunday).

This is Page One on the Sports Internet today. And it ain't moving off that page any time soon. It's the last thing that the program needed, and I think if even 5% is accurate, it's really hard to recover from.

A 3-9 season is one thing. NCAA violations are something else.

UM better come out with guns blazing; if they turtle and hide behind a "no comment pending investigation," watch out.

I'm hoping, but it's not easy to be hopeful...

SDM

Um, this year the Freep won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. It singlehandedly investigated the Kilpatrick scandal. Kilpatrick, like a certain Ms. Palin, tried to make the same argument you're now making. Don't like what you're hearing? Blame the press.

You're taking a one in a thousand example of a botched investigation. Also you're totally dismissing the likelihood that the Free article may well be true, or largely true. The Freep does not have a reputation for blowing big investigative stories. It just won a Pulitzer for reporting.

The timing of the story probably isn't "suspicious"; it's because players assembled for practice only this month.

And the article clearly states that it interviewed both past and current players; it also notes that other current players, without giving interviews, acknowledged that this stuff is going on. And the freshmen, Stokes et al, flatly stated what's going on. (They just didn't know it's illegal.) The Freep isn't just making this shit up out of thin air.

recipes.

They admit in article they did lengthy interviews with at least 4-5 players who did not give the same accounts and don't give that side once.

*edit - sorry, I've had a few too many beers.