Lynn Henning of Det News backs off RR, shows class
A quick reprise; a week or so ago Lynn Henning of the Detroit News wrote a piece basically asserting that we should not have fallen so far under RR, and that the assertion from some that talent was low was "ridiculous." I then sent him an email containing misopogon's great "decimated defense" analysis, and he replied to me, that he had read it and would "do better" next time. In today's News, he write an article focusing on the importance of the next A.D., but in the article he said the following:
"A new AD cut from Canham-grade cloth will understand the job and the challenges in advance. He or she will know that Rodriguez can fix things once a depleted roster gets the benefits of another winter or two of Michigan-grade recruiting."
I think we should salute Lynn for following through in his word, and backing off his previous anti-RR stance. Full article here:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091121/OPINION03/911210396/1004/U-M-s-…
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 AM ^
But it raises a point that I think is nothing less than a complete indictment of "professional sports journalists," not only in Detroit but nationally.
On one hand, you have a cadre of well-paid individuals whose day jobs are totally devoted to covering sports, and there is absolutely nothing in their terms of employment that would prevent them from working nights as well. They have, by our standards, virtually unlimited resources to aid in research, including interns, access to statistical databases, access to program insiders that "normal" people don't, and the support of large organizations nominally devoted to the gathering, analysis, and dissemination of information.
On the other hand, you have a motley collection of unconnected individuals, virtually none of whom are trained or educated in "journalism." The vast majority of these individuals in fact have day jobs in fields that have nothing to do with sports, which was the case with Brian before MGoBlog took off. These individuals have to do research on their own time, after their day jobs or day classes, for no financial reward, with virtually none of the organizational advantages that writers at the Freep and the News and ESPN and SI have. They can't call up Rich Rodriguez or Bill Martin or Mike Barwis or former players for inside information; they have to wait for the "professionals" to interview them to glean needed information.
Given all this, which is the group of people that you would logically assume would be the first to have researched the details of Michigan's roster issues, with respect to recent recruiting class attrition? Which of these groups would have logically been the one to get at the real stories behind Boren's departure and the Freep's smear efforts?
Overall, regardless of isolated exceptions, there is not a more incompetent, disinterested, arrogant, and above all, stunningly lazy group of alleged "professionals" in this country than "sports journalists."
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 AM ^
Yep. The reason there's better, more accurate content here than in normal journalists' work is a matter of priorities.
The priority here is wholly based on a love for and obsession with Michigan football. Not many facts slip through the cracks here.
The priority for a journalist is getting paid for their work, which means that as long as their paycheck is coming, they can be a bit lax with their investigation and analysis.
This sucks for us because we don't get to see many valid points made in the media when the journalists aren't unabashed Michigan fans that actually care deeply about what they're writing about.
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:52 AM ^
There is no reason on this earth that a writer for ESPN, for example, with no love for or connection to UM, couldn't have explored or written about the roster issues in the course of writing another repetitive article on why RR is on the hot seat. I'm not asking for any writer to be a Michigan homer; what I'm asking for is professionalism in its true meaning.
Put it this way: if architects and structural engineers across this country did their jobs with the same energy, attention to detail, and competence that our sports "journalists" do, we'd have buildings and bridges collapsing and bursting into flame in every city on every day.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 PM ^
Exactly. They care about what they're doing and they know that if they screw up some facts or design without proper safety factors they're going to get fired.
Sports writers don't seem to have that. Rarely do they deeply care about the teams they're covering, so they let some of the facts slip. There aren't any repercussions because they still have their jobs, and their articles are generating more traffic.
We as die-hard fans don't have many options to force them to do better work though... too many lemmings read the articles either to comment on how they agree wholeheartedly or to argue that they're ridiculous. Until the general public realizes they're not getting good journalism (which they won't...), we're stuck with this crap.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 PM ^
Well, not totally, thank God. That's why we're all here.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:22 PM ^
...and it would be + 100 if I could. Your comparison to engineering is the best description of the MSM and their "work" that I've seen so far. Maybe Henning has been hanging out with Angelique on coffee breaks.
To go off topic, I think Angelique might make a great mentor for Andy Reid if there is still a Detroit News when he graduates.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 PM ^
She doesn't hesitate to criticize RR, but she gives the appearance of being motivated by a desire to report facts.
To idiots like Caputo and Valenti, "research" consists of nothing more than repeating and rehashing what is said by other "professional" sports journalists and radio hacks, in an endless cycle of mutual masturbation, with the random internet posting-board rumor serving as "inside information." Screw 'em.
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 AM ^
nice reference to canham...have not heard a lot of references to him, but he played such a huge part in the success of the program during the bo years.
if i could pick any one in the world to be our next ad, i might consider tony dungy: he is from marshall, mi, played big 10 football and basketball and has a fondness for the history and tradition of big 10 sports, father attended um, has been associated with some of the best coaching minds over the years, has numerous networks in the sports world and would have a good eye for developing coaching talent, very ethical character, has a passion @ education-parents were both teachers, has a christian based mission to impact others, and is a skilled manager of people. talented players and coaches would be interested in working with him.
i would love to see someone talk to tony to convince him that he could make a huge impact with young athletes and his home state as the um ad.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:10 PM ^
You can get your daily dose of an idiotic and unsubstantiated hack job from Caputo in the Oakland Press. I won't even bother to link it. He likes to call himself the prince of objectivity but somehow he always manages to take shots at Michigan while either glorifying the old alma mater MSU or, as he did last week, calling their 6-6 season following their 9-3 2008 mark a "program on the rise."
But the worst part about it is that the man doesn't even use complete sentences. He is sadly, neither professional nor a journalist. Yet he is still allowed to publish this crap daily in the paper and verbalize it incessantly on his equally idiotic radio show.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 PM ^
as brian said in the podcast, quoting an old journalist:
"these bloggers sure seem smarter than the journalists".
(or something like that).
how true!