October 23rd, 2014 at 5:52 PM ^
Don't be so dramatic.
But you've got to be much more careful with something like this in the future. I'm no lawyer, but given the publicity this email received, this is libel.
And your apology needs to be directed to Dave Brandon.
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:55 PM ^
"I'm no lawyer"
Always IANAL when you have a chance to IANAL
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:04 PM ^
I think MGoUsers would have been more forgiving if this didn't happen at the height of WD's program jihad, which pushed him towards Ace Williams territory, including multiple Dave Brandon bashing threads a day, a false rumor accusing DB of strong-arming student athletes into supporting him, a false rumor that Peppers was benched, and this fake email.
He's not a bad dude, he just went overboard.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^
No it isn't.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^
Libel requires proof of damages.
Pretty hard to prove Brandon has been damaged by this, unless the Univeristy were to fire him over it. If posting on an internet forum that some public figure did a douchy thing rose to the level of libel, geez, how many lawsuits would there be?
Now, could Brandon sue the major news outlets for running with the unverified story? I guess so, again if he could somehow prove the story had caused him damage. I'm just not seeing it.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:42 PM ^
May be some kind of defamation charge here but given that almost no credible news source picked this story up (other than an opinion anchor and a computer-geek blogger), and therefore it merited no official response from the AD, it is unlikely that legal action will come of this.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:57 PM ^
Right now the only people that know about this are mgoblog types and people that watched one particular episode of Olbermann.
MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SUES ESPN FOR LIBEL brings it to a whole new level of fame, and probably leaves him worse off even if he wins. He'd always be the guy that sent that e-mail, even if he didn't, and at the very best, to the most reasonable of people, he'd be the guy that was so obnoxious people believed the phone e-mail story.
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:03 PM ^
He liked to say something to the effect of this: You want to avoid at all costs having to stand on a street corner while holding a sign that says "I AM NOT A WHORE."
October 24th, 2014 at 1:13 AM ^
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:57 PM ^
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:00 PM ^
Here's the thing. Most of us really like you. Your knowledge of all things Michigan is great.
But, it seems as if you really weren't duped, but instead that you duped many of us. Even the tone of your response is not one of surprise - it is as if you pretty much knew what was coming.
We have all made mistakes, done stupid thigns or told lies, and then realized after the fact that we got in too far. I expect that this is what happened to you. As a complete and total die hard fan, like many here, you desparately want DB gone, as you believe that his departure makes it more likely that Harbaugh will come here to coach. Perhaps your level of passion for Michigan sports, combined with the frenzy around DB at the time, led you to believe that perhaps your actions could help push DB out, and that in doing so, you were truly helping the team that you root for. How would you know that a message board post would go viral and make its way into the MSM.
If that is what happened, you should fess up and just take your lumps. You are only what, 19 years old? I expect that you will end up losing a few thousand MGoPoints from all of the negs, but that most of the level-headed posters here would accept your apology, trust your posts a bit less for a while and then move on.
Just some advice.
Go Blue.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:11 PM ^
I agree with you. WD's response makes it sounds like he knew it was fake. Had he responded with "No way - this is BS I know this is legit" and threw the AD under the bus, I'd feel differently. But he went right to "well I guess I was duped."
I didn't believe it in the first place so I'm not upset about it. But if you're going to "report" something like that, you need to either know for a fact it's legit it take the blame for it. Passing the buck and blaming the person who "duped" you is a little weak.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:27 PM ^
But maybe he saw the evidence like the rest of us and thought "damn, that's tough to dispute." Seriously, how can you argue against that? I appreciate the fact he posted knowing the consequences. Let the MGoChips fall where they may.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:34 PM ^
But if he knew that it was legitimate, then this evidence wouldn't sway him. If I saw something with my own eyes and later someone posted that they didn't think it was real because of an FOIA request, I wouldn't think I was duped.
So this either means that he knew his source was weak, or more likely he knew it was false before today. Even in the case of the former, his first post in this thread would be more along the lines of "I'm going back to my source right now to get to the bottom of this because I believe I was right."
October 24th, 2014 at 2:00 AM ^
This is exactly how I also took it. The FOIA request denial doesn't prove a negative (that DB didn't send that supposed email). Had he sent it (not surprising that he almost certainly didn't), it wouldn't be hard to believe that they wouldn't admit it. If a trusted source had provided me with something like that, or I knew it to be otherwise true, I'd at least be skeptical of the AD's response to the FOIA request.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:41 PM ^
Heh. My advice would be therapy.
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:16 PM ^
None of us knows whether he made this up, including you.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:14 PM ^
This guy made a mistake and unfortunately the national media has to jump on everything.
This is just my opinion but cut this kid some slack.
We're told to and feel the responsbility to show empathy to the college football players so why not show some to this guy.
WD: I hope you learn from this mistake but believe me none of us on this board are saints. Just do better next time.
This is of course one man's opinion and feel free to disregard.
Edit: yeah this is different than making a poor play but again college student that made a dumb mistake and unfortunately it got publicized. I hope DB shows mercy and does not try to sue. I agree with the above poster that you should apologize and fess up if anything is made up.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:16 PM ^
...you have bigger issues to deal with than mgoblog.
October 23rd, 2014 at 9:36 PM ^
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:30 PM ^
(kind of)
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:31 PM ^
I doubt you'll be sent to Bolivia for this, but next time being so adamant about an email sent to you by a family member and not really doing anything else to confirm it is on you. Honestly, I think a lot of people around here figured it was kinda BS, not so much as a shot at your credibility as much as it didn't pass the sniff test.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:32 PM ^
Devotee! Devotee! Devotee!
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:44 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^
You manned up, +1 to you.
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:01 PM ^
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:07 PM ^
Good response. You should give disaster management PR lessons to our athletic department.
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:23 PM ^
I will say this about your above post, WD---you're doing a better job of taking ownership and responsibility for starting this whole chain of events, than what DB did handling the messy aftermath of the Shane Morris "possible" mild concussion.
October 23rd, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
October 23rd, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^
I don't think most of us really care. You're going to get ribbed for it for a long time on an internet forum but who really cares? Just keep posting anyway.
And lets be honest, a consolidated effort to neg you to hell would be an absolute failure. Like all of us could neg you faster than you have been generating points lately
October 23rd, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^
Eh, can't hate on ya too much. You had something you thought was juicy and you ran with it without really verifying it, because being 100% accurate was secondary to scooping a big story and making a splash. Pretty much just following the example set by our "professional" media. Isn't that right, Mr Herbstreit? How about you, Mr Rosenberg?
October 23rd, 2014 at 9:36 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 24th, 2014 at 1:36 AM ^
October 24th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
I tried running "Dave Brandon" through snopes and all I got was the old BS story about the guy that went into a Pittsburgh tattoo parlor for the Chinese characters "strength" and "honor" and was given a "small penis" tattoo instead.
October 24th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
it's a singular mistake (if it even is one). I am not convinced, even after reading the FOIA request, that there was no wiggle room. I thought the request was well done, and possibly better than anything I would have come up with, but the top half doesn't match the bottom half when it comes to thoroughly addressing any possible source of email origination.
If it is a mistake, people make mistakes. This may be a big one, but it doesn't represent any sort of pattern of presenting knowingly false information or even being reckless in presenting information. For an incident which, though singular, represents a pattern of incompetence and inattention to detail, see concussion-gate. And then that wasn't even singular, as it was compounded multiple times over by the dishonest/fumbling statements made in the aftermath.
I get people's frustration with WD here, but this whole thing doesn't sit right with me.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
The trouble you stirred up wasn't mature, but your response to it definitely was.
So props for that.
October 27th, 2014 at 11:02 PM ^
Wolverine Devotee,
You will be missed. You were a brave soul. He fought the good fight.
*sniff* *sniff*
ALL HE WANTED TO DO WAS TALK ABOUT MGOSOCKS!
*sniff* *sniff*
You are all nasty people!!!!
This brave young man....you will be missed
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:47 PM ^
Fire WD!
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:49 PM ^
They're lying.
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:53 PM ^
I'm more inclined to believe that UM is refusing to disclose the email on a technicality i.e. specificity of your request, etc.
I believe in WD.
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:58 PM ^
October 24th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
After all, he was the Walrus.
I could be the Walrus.
I'd still have to bum rides off of people.
October 23rd, 2014 at 5:58 PM ^
UMich only keeps their emails backed up for 7 days, so if David Brandon deleted this email they would have no way of recovering it for the FOIA request.
Source: worked for CAEN
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:01 PM ^
still around ? That's a blast from around 25 years ago.....
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^
Is that a choice due to cost of saving/maintaining all that data?
It'd be real juicy if it was so they didn't have to fulfill any FOIA requests
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:06 PM ^
They have a lot of weird data management rules. My uncle (a prof) was complaining this week that they only allow him to take up 10 mbs with saved voicemails.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:04 PM ^
That's would be a reason to delay the request, as they did.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:31 PM ^
If the email existed but had been deleted, the reponse to the FOIA would have been worded differently.
October 23rd, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^
I imagine the rules are different for administrative staff and top-level people versus your average student, at least based on the various universities I've worked for. With all of the issues regarding discovery during lawsuits and auditing by outside entities, most schools keep records like this for months. Plus, you can always check the logs on the SMTP or Exchange servers, which should hopefully be backed up.