Who can we believe?

Probably.

I don't think that people get upset with reasonable objections to Michigan's program. But with the crap that's out there (i.e. Drew Sharp) I see nothing wrong with people objecting to what seems to be a self-serving steaming pile of innuendo. Let's face it, Michigan is an inviting target right now. We've been good for so many years. So when we struggle, there is going to be certain glee that come along with it from those that hate the program. So be it. As long as it is reasonable. If it isn't, then prepared to be called on it. The other factor is the vulture like nature that has become the "news" of today. What would they like to report: the good news or the bad news? Just watch your local news at night to see the facination that news orginizations have with death and tragedy. Sports news is no different. But people like Sharp know that, if there is no true bad news to report, they can at least draw controversy by making up a load of donkey dick and presenting as "an expert opinion". Don't think that newspapers don't count the number of complaints they get about their reports and it helps to confirm their audience numbers. If it considered "whiny" to protest to low standards and uninformed opinion, then sign me up. Ok. Ok. Rant over.

"I don't think that I have ever seen an article from someone I know who isn't... a blogger that is remotely critical of us that we don't have a 40 post thread about how none of it is credible." i count 4 negatives in that sentence. bravo. also, i think that we, as a fan base, can handle criticism. as long as it is justified. i'm guessing you're referring to the flame up about micheal rosenberg's freep article. i think the problem there was the fact that he drew conclusions about RR based on the mistakes of a kid on the team, rather than drawing conclusions from RR's reaction to those mistakes. of course, it would've been a boring article otherwise, and we wouldn't be discussing it now.

You are whining about this fanbase being too whiny.

Just compare with comments on any espn/rivals/scout article and you'll remember we're pretty rational here.

Are professional sports writers really this bad or are we really this whiny? Yes.

has not warmed to Rodriguez since he was hired and have been hard on him pretty much from day one. The national media hovers from the periphery, and thus they lack insight and pick up mostly on the negative vibes played up by the locals. So a lot of the bitching about the local and national media is justified, but the best thing to do is stop caring and ignore it, because frankly they won't tell you anything you don't already know if you're a reader of this blog or The Wolverine, and thus are not worth giving any of your valuable cotton pickin maize n blue attention.

at least they are still talking about us, even if it is through a southern orafice. Personally, i really don't care who says what about michigan--good or bad. Its not a popularity contest.

Jay Mariotti sucks

negative news about MSU doesn't sell advertising around the country. People in Florida, Arizona, Missouri or California don't give a rat's ass about MSU. Even if they put a convicted felon back on the team the same day Michigan kicks an alleged drug-dealing sophomore off the team immediately after finding out about it. The news is Michigan having a wayward football player. MSU having a thug brought back to the team is nothing to get excited about. It's typical. (Smoker, Rogers, etc) Florida has 25 arrests and nine felony convitions in the last year, but no one cares, Michigan kicks one bad apple off the team and it becomes a major headline. Michigan, Stanford, Cal-Berkley and other elite academic Institutions make news when one of their own goes astray. The difference bewteen Michigan and those other elite schools is Michigan can win at football and still have high standards. It's always easier to kick someone when they are down. Once we start winning again, most of this negative nancy crap will go away. The media are just waiting and hoping to see RR fail so they can pounce and say he can't handle the big stage. He will succeed if given the time to do so and the balance of power in the conference will shift back toward AA and Michigan will become a serious part of the national discussion.

A bit of both. There is a lot of bad journalism out there with little research of the facts. Examples... Articles about RichRod breaking a gentleman's agreement was bad PR for UofM. However this website could find examples of I believe 10 of 11 coaches in the BigTen that did the same thing. An Article about how Dantonio's class of 2007 recruits was the one you build championships off of like Tressel did. When in fact research shows Tressel had significantly better recruiting classes than Dantonio's three 4 star effort in 2007. The smear Rod articles over Boren and family issues with little investigation by the media, followed up by a positive-OSU Rittenberg ESPN blog that Boren is a great player to have at OSU, because Boren cusses and yells at other players a lot in practice, hits players late to show his edge and is willing to pick fights with teammates at OSU. We are a bit more sensitive after all of the negative publicity, but the media isn't doing its job very well - if actually doing serious research and thinking is part of the job before reporting.

Michigan fans are pretty whiny. Maybe all schools' fans are. I prefer to wait until after predictions have a chance to come true to see whether they know their shit or not. As far as commenters on this board, I think there are a few who remain somewhat unbiased. Chitownblue and Jay are two of them. I try to remain unbiased (although I have no idea if other people see it that way or not).