Longballs Dong…

February 22nd, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^

Why do we do this?  Do we think brain tumors are more worthy of research than Niemann-Pick Type C?  Does anyone even care about the causes or do we just want to feel good that we gave espn a bunch of clicks and we get to see Michigan win something that didn't generate any additional funds and might have taken away from a better cause.  Go donate real money and time, these click-bait charities are annoying.  To be clear, I don't really care if you do this, I just find it annoying and don't believe charities are popularity contests.  

MichiganG

February 22nd, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^

Nobody is stopping you (or anyone) from using this as a prompt to visit the site and determine which charity you feel is 'most worthy' and vote based on that rather than your affiliation with Michigan.

But I think you're missing the point.  If nobody shows any interest in clicking, then ESPN and Infiniti don't feel compelled to have a charity tie-in, and the alternative use of these dollars are additional advertising.  In this case, at least someof the ad dollars are going to charities that likely would not have otherwise.

Longballs Dong…

February 22nd, 2017 at 12:32 PM ^

I'm not really annoyed I guess, but do you really know that Infiniti and ESPN wouldn't donate this money if you didn't click?  Most of these companies set targets for goodwill and they probably chose this type of setup because they donate and make money from all the clicks.  I just wish people actually cared about the causes and not "yay, Michigan won something" and that's the impression I get from these posts.  I much prefer the EDSBS popularity contest where they challenge fan bases to actually give money.  I'm happy to see Michigan win that one.

Kewaga.

February 22nd, 2017 at 1:14 PM ^

is because many of us DO care for the cause, as we know the story behind Chad Carr (Llyod Carr's grandson).

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/11/5-year-old_chad_c…

 

Afterall it affected a member of our extended Michigan family and community.

 

 

PS:  Let's not rank charities based on worthiness, any contribution to a charity should be applauded. 

MichiganG

February 22nd, 2017 at 4:24 PM ^

My corporate experience is that things like this have a tendency to be from a different budget than the general 'corporate giving' budget.  Different departments, etc.  In this instance they're using it as a hook for Marketing purposes and that usually means Marketing is paying the bills.  But even if that's not the case, you're still missing the point.  The whole reason these companies do a lot of that is for the publicity they generate (or other similar, non-altruistic goal).  If they don't generate publicity, then they don't make the donation.  Your desire to make this 100% altruistic and free of ulterior motives would ultimately sink it.

Not to mention the free publicity that these charities get along the way.

schreibee

February 22nd, 2017 at 4:47 PM ^

I'm happy to see Michigan win ANYTHING!

CHADTOUGH!!!

Some of you are on here are just TOO objective - this is at its essence a sports blog that focuses on things University of Michigan related, specifically sports!

Chad Carr was Lloyd Carr's Grandson, taken from his family too soon by a horrific disease. I don't give a royal fuck if other worthy charities don't win because we are more loyal and ready to click to support Michigan.

Feel free to donate to any and all of the charities at your own time and in your own fashion, but do not come on a Michigan blog telling Michigan people NOT TO VOTE for a Michigan based charity, man!!!

ska4punkkid

February 22nd, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^

Dude Chadtough is a worthy cause for sure. When the grandson of the last coach to win us a national championship dies and his parents set up a charity hoping for a cure, we should support it.

Yes I'm sure all these charities are good causes, but we would like Chadtough to get the money, so we click.

I haven't seen 1 comment ever on these posts about "Michigan winning".

Also I see you took the Dave Brandon approach and don't feel something is important if it "doesn't generate any additional funds"

jayp424

February 22nd, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^

Most people will donate money (or volunteer time) to causes they either have an emotional/relational investment in or feel strongly about. A challenge like this allows people to make minimal effort (maybe 10 seconds a day) to vote for a cause that has Michigan ties with someone else (ESPN/Infiniti) making the monetary investment. 

Is everyone going to be fully invested into ChadTough? Of course not. Is ChadTough necessarily a "better" cause than the one Matt Painter or any of the other coaches are sponsoring? No. But it's relevant to the readers of this blog and it is helping to fund something that is severely underfunded. 

At the end of the day, a 5-year old boy lost his life to a disease that currently has no treatment, no drugs in development, and very very little research being done. The foundation is trying to do something about that so that someday maybe families won't have to suffer the same thing the Carr family did.

If you read the posts on the foundation's facebook page, you'll see that it has nothing to do with a popularity contest for them. It's about winning money to put toward research, and ultimately, a pediatric brain tumor center at Mott. Nobody is forcing anybody to vote for ChadTough (or anyone else), but the daily reminders are helpful for those who do want to vote.

Longballs Dong…

February 22nd, 2017 at 1:41 PM ^

Please don't misunderstand, i very much appreciate ChadTough and everything you have stated.  My nuanced complaint should not be read as any sort of attack or disparagement of ChadTough, Chad Carr, or any charity.  

I feel ESPN is manipulating people but that shouldn't take away from the causes and the good work they do. 

jayp424

February 22nd, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^

I hear you. In my opinion, in an instance like this, I'm fine with giving ESPN the clicks if they (through Infiniti) are ponying up $100k to the winning charity. Sure, they could just donate $100k to an organization without this contest, but the contest helps drive awareness of these charities. I know I've looked up a few of the other coaches' charities, which I would not have heard of if not for this challenge.