OT: Help Me Choose a Recruiting News Provider
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:54 PM ^
Not sure what else you need apart from Mgoblog, but I believe that Brian has made several posts over the last couple years reviewing the pay services.
From recollection - Rivals is easier to read, and their rankings tend to be more favorably viewed than Scout. Scout has Sam Webb who is gold, but the site is difficult to read.
If the pro-con breakdown that I recall seeing over the past couple years is not in the FAQ's, maybe it should be for future reference.
Others who subscribe can probably provide more info or point you to Brian's posts on the topic.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 PM ^
Save your money or donate to MGoBlog OOOOOORRR:
(in his best FA voice) why not try a new Adidas pull over fleece from the M-Den!
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:57 PM ^
and I'm pretty happy with it. The info is pretty good, and my uninformed impression (I've never had a Scout subscription) is that there's a bit less absurd pro-Michigan spin from the Rivals mods than there is from, say, Tom Beaver (not that there still isn't a solid amount of spin). I think if what you're really looking for is every possible nugget of inside information as fast as you can possibly get it, you might want GBW, they're legitimately pretty tapped in. If you want better writing, a better layout, better Mods and Jon MF'ing Chait, then probably Rivals.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 PM ^
Not the magazine, but the fundamental dimension of temporal measurement.
I've used time for every recruiting class since 2000 and it has almost never failed to tell me exactly which recruits are going where. It even lets me know which players will transfer and which will turn out to be stars and busts. It almost never fails. It's totally free. And it's not nearly as creepy as the other services.
The only problems with it is the incredibly slow download speed (probably because everybody's on it, but this can be fixed if you travel near the speed of light), and the incredible amount of assholes who populate its boards.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 PM ^
Yeah, but I hear that shit'll kill you eventually.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:18 PM ^
has the better, more traditionally developed columns and opinions regarding Michigan football.
Scout posts a lot of interview transcripts, poorly written articles and the manner in which the site and its links (headline->message board featuring link to article->open article) are presented appear to have been chosen by a retarded monkey. That being said, if you want transcripts, rumors and inside info and you want them fast this is where you want to be.
The Rivals site does have its own sources for insider info, but its not as prevalent week to week.
and one thing that pisses me off is that rather than making new posts about an ongoing topic (usually recruiting), Beaver will copy and paste an old message board post, underline three key words or change some text from blue to red, and then repost it as some new thing you should pay attention to.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:19 PM ^
Don't waste your money on either of them. Anything that is posted on Scout/Rivals is on this website within the hour or is on that E-Blog known as GBMW (99% of all Maizeman's shit ends up there now anyways). Rivals has some decent articles but they're no different than what you can get here.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:22 PM ^
will be interesting going forward. The bricklayer has been banned from Scout so we'll see if he still dumps Maizeman's information on to his site.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:37 PM ^
Why'd he get banned?
And just because he's a bricklayer doesn't mean he doesn't know about Michigan football! Same with the janitor! Someone has to take out the trash and see the shredded documents that RR got rid of!
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:39 PM ^
Scout is extremely sloppy, IMO. They'll set down the list of schools that a guy is considering and never update it. They'll ignore verbal commits sometimes even when the kid has come right out and said "this is where I'm going" and everyone else has it. They've been known to put basketball commits in the football section. The site is a lot harder to navigate than Rivals. Rivals is extremely easy to use - I don't find Scout very self-intuitive.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:46 PM ^
I've been a Rivals subscriber for 7-8 years and have sampled the others but always preferred Rivals.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:47 PM ^
Honestly, I joined Rivals once and it is an absolute cesspool...everything disturbing about the obsession with high school kids is on display there, and if a recruit is cool towards Michigan or commits elsewhere out comes the vitriol and personal attacks. It made me ill and I have no desire to subscribe ever again.
MGoBlog has lots of recruiting coverage, I don't think there's really much benefit to anything more than you'll get here. Between Tuesday/Wednesday Recruiting and the Friday Night Lights bits, plus various interviews and updates from TomVH I think you're getting pretty comprehensive info without the seedy side of Rivals or Scout.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:58 PM ^
How exactly is what TomVH, Paul and Tim do any different than Rivals?
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:15 PM ^
It's not.
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:31 AM ^
It's not, which is why there's no reason to join Rivals. The problem with Rivals is the user base. MGoBlog users are much, much more civil and respectful (and there is an effort to tell people to get a life when they get too stalker-y). If you do join just give the forums a very wide berth.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 PM ^
It's weird that you typed "Scout" but your computer output "Rivals."
Honestly, though, I have been a subscriber to Rivals for about 7-8 months now and I am quite pleased with the content and professionalism. The site is laid out in an easy-to-read format, which, uh, is the complete opposite of Scout (as others have noted).
Note on professionalism: Well, except for when someone says "Brian" or "Brian Cook" or "MGoBlog" - those posts are almost immediately deleted. I guess that's my only gripe.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:30 PM ^
Rivals for sure. The writing there is actually very very good. There is so much more to the site than recruiting news. They have tons interviews, and now with the addition of Jon Chait there are some super opinion articles.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:51 AM ^
I think the board is much more navigable than Rivals--which is set up exactly as MLive. You click on a thread in Scout and BOOm every post is up there in its entireity.
Now of course, Scout has three posters worth a shit: Maizeman and King Beaver for inside info and recruiting tidbits, respectively, and Sam Webb, who brings a different feel to recruiting and seems to be pretty grounded.
I just read their stuff and skip the rest. I imagine Rivals has their Big Guns and like Scout, a few other little weasels who pretend to know "stuff" and post it to the drooling love of the rest of the board.
Scout suffers from absolutely horrible writing from the Big Guys down to the individual posters, but the info is pretty good.
I'm not recommending Scout, just telling you what I think of it.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 AM ^
I have a rivals account and I think they have good information. I enjoy the videos they have up from time to time. I never bothered with scout because it looks like a 5 year old put up the website.
Also I never go on rivals message board for the fear that my head will asplode when I read the posts.