Is Rivals worth the $$?

One word no. Any good information is eventually found on here.

I feel like this blog is so well-run and up to date that it wouldn't be worth it to buy one, because any meaningful info would almost instantly show up here anyway

I don't have it, and I learn what I consider to be enough just through MGoBlog.

That's what I figured.

I had rivals for a year. After the subscription was done, as a poor college student, I couldnt justify spending 100$ a year on it. I lurked at mgoblog and get all the info I got on rivals, usually just a little after rivals. For some reason I still get texts from rivals for all the important info like commitments and what not, so thats pretty cool.

But I love it. The way I look at it - Rivals has a LOT of insiders that offer a lot of reliable stuff on recruiting and inside of the program. Most of their content is updated day by day instead of weekly like they are here on the blog. What Brian does great is interprets all that stuff into segments on the blog. He also does a lot more stuff not about recruiting where Rivals is basically ALL about recruiting. I read most of the articles that Brian puts out and don't read many on Rivals. I do however follow most of the recruiting stuff on rivals because it updates commitments and quotes almost every day. Eventually all the information gets posted here but I get bored at work and need a lot of new stuff every day to get me by lol.

Here are two examples of why it is now unnecessary to pay for recruiting news.

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/furman-blue
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/furman-commits

It was posted here the second it was posted there. I used to subscribe to both Scout and Rivals. You get the same stuff here. Plus, Tom Beaver is a gigantic douchenozzle.

but i'm biased

It depends on how in-depth you want to get.

If you just want to know what's going on with Michigan, then this site probably covers most of what you need. There is some premium board information that often doesn't find its way here, but the important stuff (commits, offers, etc.) always gets out, obviously.

Personally, I like to follow what's going on throughout the entire recruiting world. I like to watch the videos, check out players from local schools/areas, etc. So it's useful for me. There's obviously too much information to keep up on completely, but it's always there if I need it or if I get bored and just want to read a bunch about football and recruiting.

I actually like Rivals. I would recommend it. The writing is pretty good, and Josh Hembolt (sp) and Chris Balas actually seem like decent guys -- unlike Tom Beaver at Scout.

One quick rant: I used to have access to Scout and I can say without a doubt that Tom Beaver is one of the most annoying internet personages I have ever read. His writing is obscene and frankly childish. I hate how he thinks his writing is clever because he knows what a word like "tres" means. He tries to cultivate this sense of hero worship and many of the Scout subscribers/supplicants chime in with gems such as "Preach it Father Tom!" (Actually a real quote from today.)

(On the other hand, Sam Webb from appears to be pretty solid.)

Rivals, and Jonathan Chait in particular, is great. Scout, oustide of Sam Webb, sucks. Rivals offers somethings that Mgoblog doesn't, like in-depth recruiting analysis (which is ultimately more important than the did he/didn't he up to the minute updates that you can get anywhere if you are willing to wait a little). It is also a good in that it is a legitimate main stream media source AND it gets it right. A rare creature indeed.

Not that $8 a month is a lot but heck my gym membership only cost me 9. I don't mind waiting a week till everything leaks because its still news to me, even if received late.

If you really need a steady flow of info ASAP then by all means go for it. Otherwise the gist of any real story will show up in the mainstream media (including blogs like this) within days.

For the junkies though, pay up and enjoy.

You can't beat this place right here.
And the Make A Donation button conveniently located above the Diaries header is a good indicator that Brian should be paid for providing such coverage.
There's no monthly fee, but you certainly should make a contribution every now and again out of appreciation for the great effort.

I signed up for Rivals shortly after the 2008 football season ended (roughly a year ago) and I've been very happy with the information and way it is presented. While I agree that if you just wait a little bit you can find out anything you want regarding Michigan recruits or general Michigan info, I enjoy reading about other recruits and some of the topics discussed that are not necessarily pertinent to Michigan. Basically, I enjoy reading about football.

So, for me, Rivals has been worth the investment.

Agree with everyone about scout -- but you would miss out on Saume and his 100 useless/pointless threads a day -- oldmancoyote and his embarrassing pregame speech & 100 useless/pointless posts a day -- and ripnice telling everyone how he is connected to the Ann Arbor elite and bragging about how much money he has made as a business man. (I don't think anyone believes him)

Speaking of douchebags -- don't even get me started on sonofjorel.

As for the Scout v. Rivals. I had Scout for about a year and decided to try Rivals for a couple of months. I ended up dropping Rivals and keeping Scout. They both have their pluses and minuses.

No. Just wait for free!

the one thing i like about my rivals account is the videos of practice, player quotes, etc.

rivals / scout give you access to the other team (besides Michigan) premium sites as well? If so, that could be a plus if you want any inside information on other programs.

Mgoblog is great for Michigan coverage, but if you want to find out which Buckeyes sharted their pants doing squat thrusts during off-season workouts or which Spartans recently made debit card purchases at Joe's Army Navy you may find a subscription useful.

is to split it with like 8 of your friends so it each costs u a dollar a month. I use my friends account, as do all of my other friends who want to go on rivals. I also sign into that account on any computer and it seems to work fine. There are probably 100 computers logged onto his account. So if you want to split it or just borrow someone else's account, i recommend that