Check your math, 3 out of 7 is 43% and we're throwing away Chris Long like he's worhless. Those three have each been named all-pro at least 3 times. Meanwhile, how many QB's drafted in the top-5 overall since 2000 have been named All-Pro? Answer: zero.
Here's the list, show us where the savior is:
Andrew Luck
Robert Griffin III
Cam Newton
Sam Bradford
Matthew Stafford
Mark Sanchez
Matt Ryan
JaMarcus Russell
Vince Young
Alex Smith
Eli Manning
Philip Rivers
Carson Palmer
David Carr
Joey Harrington
Michael Vick
There are some decent QBs there, but none of these guys qualify as 'saviors'. So, who would you rather bet on: Jedeveon Clowney or Teddy Bridgewater/Johnny Manziel/Blake Bortles?
I have 9 Defensive Ends drafted in the top 5 overall since 2000, two of those were last year (Dion Jordan, Ziggy Ansah) and its too early to tell how good they are but Ansah looks aiight (8 sacks as a rookie). That leaves us with 7:
Mario Williams - All-Pro in 2007, 2008, 2013
Julius Peppers - 6 time All-Pro
Justin Smith - 5 time All-Pro
Chris Long - has not made all-pro, but has 33 sacks the last three seasons.
Tyson Jackson, Gaines Adams, and Courtney Brown were busts.
Those look like pretty good odds of finding a GREAT DE to me.
The value vs CBA is an awkward benchmark, Suh is probably the best at is position. The messed-up-ness of the CBA at the time is the Lion's problem, not his.
Who said anything about sacred? I personally dont really care about this but I do think its really dumb and unnecessary. Not the endowment part (I dont care what people do with their own money) but rather the appendix to the title part.
When the appendix gets added to the title of a symphony director or university professor, yawn; those positions are ones the general public has virtually zero awareness of so the "look at me and how much money I have" aspect of it is way more low key and the need for the endowment is much more elevated.
When the appendix is added to the title of Athletic Director and Head Coach at a marquee university its a totally different matter. Michigan's Athletic Depertment is very much able to afford whatever salary is needed to fill those position with a high performing individual. The only reasons for universities to do that are to take money off some people who aparrently want very public recognition so as to validate something, I guess.
Why not endow programs that aren't financially self-sufficent such as professorships and symphony directoships? There are plenty of coaching positions that would fit the bill: cross country, swimming, gymnastics, etc. Endow the scholarships for the athletes in those propgrams. And so on..
Again, I don't care that this happened but I think its dumb, am not impressed, and think it makes the Athletic Department look like some money grubbing clowns. Its an opinion, Sue me.
Come on, now. There is a difference in how much publicity each position receives and how much the regular public gives a damn about them. It doesnt matter what we think about it but we can at least objectively acknowledge the very real differences between the two situations. The title is awkward at best, and, dare I say...wait for it...Hokey*.
*my bad, I couldn't resist. I am a weak and terrible random dude on the internet
Excpet for the fact that they held a "not a press conference" ahead of signing day to talk about the situation during which a prepared statement was issued. There's so much talk about building "The Brand" and how strong it is only for the AD/University to turn around and smudge the fresh polish with its big fat bare ass.
From everything I’ve seen, the University played it straight, and the athletic department never attempted to interfere with the process. That’s the good news.
The bad news is, having gotten the hard part right, the athletic department seemed determined to get the easy part wrong. The various responses have given the appearance of skullduggery where none existed.
How many people reading SI know that level of detail about a marquee football program's kicker's career trajectory? Only *some* Michigan fans. The rest of the readers see that Gibbons got kicked out at the end of his final season on the team.
It looks like the University waited until he was "expendable" as a player. What actaully did or did not happen is irrelevant to the rubberneckers of the sports world.
In general, I agree, but I think there is definately a difference between a member of the team and members of the support staff. The Veteran-Rookie distinction is pretty weak as it is, most galringly because Jonathan Martin wasn't a rookie, he was a multi year starter who *should* be reasonably expected to stand up for himself personally and professionally.
However, with the other guy (trainer?) I think the intimidation factor is WAY more galring and out of order.
I realize that Icognito was over the line and is generally a slimy guy, but its one thing to be an asshole and its a whole other thing to be a bully. In my opinion "All Bullies" are a subset of "All Assholes". I made it a point to read the released text messages as ugly as they were, and it reads like a plausible "macho" relationship to me; Martin doesn't come off as a choir boy either.
Suppose Icognito actually thought he and Jonathin Martin were friends? I'm not sure he treated Martin any differently than he treated other people he considered to be his friends. In that case, I wouldn't consider him to be a bully. Apparently Martin saw their relationship as abusive and finally got fed up. However, I wonder if he ever had a conversation with Icognito about what he had beef with. Judging by Icongito's texts to Martin when the situation went public, I have my doubts about that.
Now, the treatment of the trainer is a completely different story to me...
General Motor's brands in the '80s and '90s were so strong that the corporation continued to sell the most vehicles of anyone right up until bankrupcy despite putting out product with poor quality the whole time.
As consumers of this 'Brand', we should care more about quality than we do about recognition.
The football program has not lived up to expectations since 2003.
Our winning record was built on beating some low end competition: Central Michigan, Akron, UConn, Northwestern (miracle win at that). Our best wins were Minnesota and Indiana.
Borges lost his job.
It's just semantics, I guess, but "a turd by any other name still stinks." Shakespear, right?
Recent Comments
Check your math, 3 out of 7 is 43% and we're throwing away Chris Long like he's worhless. Those three have each been named all-pro at least 3 times. Meanwhile, how many QB's drafted in the top-5 overall since 2000 have been named All-Pro? Answer: zero.
Here's the list, show us where the savior is:
Andrew Luck
Robert Griffin III
Cam Newton
Sam Bradford
Matthew Stafford
Mark Sanchez
Matt Ryan
JaMarcus Russell
Vince Young
Alex Smith
Eli Manning
Philip Rivers
Carson Palmer
David Carr
Joey Harrington
Michael Vick
There are some decent QBs there, but none of these guys qualify as 'saviors'. So, who would you rather bet on: Jedeveon Clowney or Teddy Bridgewater/Johnny Manziel/Blake Bortles?
I have 9 Defensive Ends drafted in the top 5 overall since 2000, two of those were last year (Dion Jordan, Ziggy Ansah) and its too early to tell how good they are but Ansah looks aiight (8 sacks as a rookie). That leaves us with 7:
Those look like pretty good odds of finding a GREAT DE to me.
The value vs CBA is an awkward benchmark, Suh is probably the best at is position. The messed-up-ness of the CBA at the time is the Lion's problem, not his.
Who said anything about sacred? I personally dont really care about this but I do think its really dumb and unnecessary. Not the endowment part (I dont care what people do with their own money) but rather the appendix to the title part.
When the appendix gets added to the title of a symphony director or university professor, yawn; those positions are ones the general public has virtually zero awareness of so the "look at me and how much money I have" aspect of it is way more low key and the need for the endowment is much more elevated.
When the appendix is added to the title of Athletic Director and Head Coach at a marquee university its a totally different matter. Michigan's Athletic Depertment is very much able to afford whatever salary is needed to fill those position with a high performing individual. The only reasons for universities to do that are to take money off some people who aparrently want very public recognition so as to validate something, I guess.
Why not endow programs that aren't financially self-sufficent such as professorships and symphony directoships? There are plenty of coaching positions that would fit the bill: cross country, swimming, gymnastics, etc. Endow the scholarships for the athletes in those propgrams. And so on..
Again, I don't care that this happened but I think its dumb, am not impressed, and think it makes the Athletic Department look like some money grubbing clowns. Its an opinion, Sue me.
Come on, now. There is a difference in how much publicity each position receives and how much the regular public gives a damn about them. It doesnt matter what we think about it but we can at least objectively acknowledge the very real differences between the two situations. The title is awkward at best, and, dare I say...wait for it...Hokey*.
*my bad, I couldn't resist. I am a weak and terrible random dude on the internet
Predicting the future is tricky. Reporting the past? Not so much.
Excpet for the fact that they held a "not a press conference" ahead of signing day to talk about the situation during which a prepared statement was issued. There's so much talk about building "The Brand" and how strong it is only for the AD/University to turn around and smudge the fresh polish with its big fat bare ass.
John Bacon has a write up about this incident on his website today:
http://johnubacon.com/2014/02/the-brendan-gibbons-case-and-the-athletic-departments-response/
How many people reading SI know that level of detail about a marquee football program's kicker's career trajectory? Only *some* Michigan fans. The rest of the readers see that Gibbons got kicked out at the end of his final season on the team.
The questions was ' why is this getting so much attention?" You're rebutting an argument I didn't make.
It looks like the University waited until he was "expendable" as a player. What actaully did or did not happen is irrelevant to the rubberneckers of the sports world.
In general, I agree, but I think there is definately a difference between a member of the team and members of the support staff. The Veteran-Rookie distinction is pretty weak as it is, most galringly because Jonathan Martin wasn't a rookie, he was a multi year starter who *should* be reasonably expected to stand up for himself personally and professionally.
However, with the other guy (trainer?) I think the intimidation factor is WAY more galring and out of order.
I realize that Icognito was over the line and is generally a slimy guy, but its one thing to be an asshole and its a whole other thing to be a bully. In my opinion "All Bullies" are a subset of "All Assholes". I made it a point to read the released text messages as ugly as they were, and it reads like a plausible "macho" relationship to me; Martin doesn't come off as a choir boy either.
Suppose Icognito actually thought he and Jonathin Martin were friends? I'm not sure he treated Martin any differently than he treated other people he considered to be his friends. In that case, I wouldn't consider him to be a bully. Apparently Martin saw their relationship as abusive and finally got fed up. However, I wonder if he ever had a conversation with Icognito about what he had beef with. Judging by Icongito's texts to Martin when the situation went public, I have my doubts about that.
Now, the treatment of the trainer is a completely different story to me...
General Motor's brands in the '80s and '90s were so strong that the corporation continued to sell the most vehicles of anyone right up until bankrupcy despite putting out product with poor quality the whole time.
As consumers of this 'Brand', we should care more about quality than we do about recognition.
The football program has not lived up to expectations since 2003.