Those Rumormongering Athletic Directors Comment Count

Brian

This from a Crain's Detroit interview with Dave Brandon got under my skin:

There was some chatter last year that the Ohio (State)-Michigan game could be moved in the future from its traditional spot in the schedule as the final game of the season.

Brandon dismissed such talk as gibberish.

"I think it's nonsense. I've never heard any talk of that," he said. "I don't think there's anything being contemplated as it relates to that. I think someone spewed something on a blog somewhere, and is usually the case by the time it gets told three times, people start to believe it. There's a pretty strong commitment on behalf of the conference that that game belongs as the last game of the season."

Brandon on the Michigan Insider about 18 months ago:

SAM WEBB: Would it be still be the tradition to keep that game [The Game] the last game of the season?

DAVID BRANDON: I think there's a distinct possibility that game will be a later game in the season, but not necessarily the last game of the season. …What you're really going to want is for that last game of the season to determine who's going to be the champion of that division and who is going to play for the Championship... Although I love playing OSU the last game of the year, I don't thinks it's necessarily a slam dunk.

That is all.

Comments

Fake Jim Harbaugh

February 13th, 2012 at 5:24 PM ^

"I think it's nonsense. I've never heard any talk of that [because I was wearing the cans they make you wear when you go on the radio]," he said. "I don't think there's anything [other than what I already said on the radio] being contemplated as it relates to that. I think someone spewed something on a blog somewhere [about what I said on the radio], and as is usually the case by the time [what I said] gets told three times, people start to believe it. There's a pretty strong commitment on behalf of the conference [and many blogs] that that game belongs as the last game of the season [and I should be Brian'd for saying things inconsistent with that, as well as for blaming the blogs for directly quoting me]."

Naked Bootlegger

February 13th, 2012 at 5:25 PM ^

DB, you must understand the true power of the Interwebz in the hands of people like Brian.   Information does not go away.   Brian's internal auto-detect quotation algorithm remembers everything.

BiSB

February 13th, 2012 at 5:25 PM ^

Rumors were spewed on many blogs, including this one.  That is, if you define "rumors" as "the Athletic Director's words", and define "spewed" as "reported  verbatim."

In the spirit of Bob Loblaw, Dave Brandon wants to know why HE should get in trouble for a quote that someone ELSE remembered?

StephenRKass

February 13th, 2012 at 11:36 PM ^

Herre is what wikipedia says regarding douche:

The term usually refers to a person, usually male, with a variety of negative qualities, specifically arrogance and engaging in obnoxious and/or irritating actions, most often without malicious intent.

 

So, the questions for you would be:

  • Are you a male?
  • Are you arrogant?
  • Do you engage in obnoxious and/or irritating actions?
  • Is your arrogance and are your irritating actions done without malicious intent?

For good or for bad, I would hazard a guess that these markers are relevant to a large majority of mgoreaders, and to most male Michigan students and alumni.

If the shoe fits . . .

 

Feat of Clay

February 13th, 2012 at 5:27 PM ^

The great thing about being high up in an organization is that you can ignore/rewrite the past as you wish.

The problem with being a blogger is that since you can't roll around in Scrooge-McDuck piles of cash, you have nothing to satisfy your meager soul except truthfulness, accuracy, and archival record-keeping. 

Aspire to higher things, Brian!

DonAZ

February 13th, 2012 at 5:29 PM ^

... that's what ADs do, and that's what Brandon does particularly well.  Let Hoke be Hoke ... saying only what needs to be said and not a word more.

That said, I do think it's a distinct possibility this issue will get revisited if Michigan and OSU play back-to-back games two years running.  Just a hunch.

DonAZ

February 13th, 2012 at 5:39 PM ^

In general I agree ... I think the Big 10 has a whole lot more parity than it did back when Michigan and OSU dominated year after year after year.

But ... let's say we get back to the Big 2 and Little 10.  And let's say we see Michigan play OSU in the final game, then again in the B1G championship.  What I'm saying is that's when the murmurs will start.  And if it happens a second year then it heats up quite a bit more.

So I guess we should hope it's not Michigan/OSU year after year.  Yeah, Michigan to win its division every year.  But let the other division sort out its teams with a different result each year. :-)

zlionsfan

February 14th, 2012 at 8:11 AM ^

they were certain that Miami and Florida State would be meeting on a regular basis for the title, and they were moving into a conference that was significantly weaker than the Big Ten.

Miami's ACC title game appearances to date = 0. (Obviously the preferred comparison here would be Michigan = Florida State and OSU = Miami. Well, it would be nicer to have Virginia Tech's appearance percentage, but you get the idea.)

woomba

February 13th, 2012 at 6:32 PM ^

imagine a year where a rematch was inevitable due to both Michigan and Ohio locking up their divisions before The Game.  

I think that'll be even worse since it'll cheapen the value of the first game, which has more meaning to most of the fans than the championship game.

03 Blue 07

February 13th, 2012 at 10:20 PM ^

I could not agree more. If we don't beat OSU, we don't deserve to play for Big Ten championship, in my opinion. In reality, putting M and OSU in opposite divisions, I think, will eventually lead to the game being moved to earlier in the year, or the divisions being changed with U of M and OSU in same division. Because if UM and OSU play twice in a row, it's not going to be as much of a hit with fans as DB seems to think (as in, his past comments about the issue, and also the comments of, I want to say Delaney, about how AWESOME it would be to have the biggest game EVAR twice in a row; I'm fairly certain I've heard DB invoke 2006 as an argument in favor of this). That being said, divisions usually won't be wrapped up until sometime during that day (the last day of the season), so it's also quite conceivable that U of M and OSU wouldn't know they would be playing each other twice in a row until after the slate of games on that Saturday before the Big Ten championship had concluded.

Still, it just makes much more sense for us and OSU to be in same division. . . but "sense" seems to be somewhat overshadowed by "ZOMG UM-OSU TWICE IN ONE YEAR! TWICE IN A ROW! IT'S RAINING MONEY!"

Magnus

February 13th, 2012 at 5:35 PM ^

I think we should all realize that Dave Brandon is a former CEO, a bit of a politician, and will spin things any way he can to make Michigan fans/boosters happy.  If he made a mistake in saying something, then he never said it.

El Jeffe

February 13th, 2012 at 9:15 PM ^

Well, first of all Emerson said "a foolish consistency," as in, an unthinking consistency.

Second, I don't think he was referring to "denying that you said the precise thing you actually, empirically, factually, said."

DonAZ

February 13th, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^

+1 ... that's Brandon's job.  Well, that and making revenue exceed expenses.

I kinda-sorta like Brandon ... I think he's the right man at the right time.  Like it or not, college athletics really is a matter of keeping the fans/boosters interested, energized and happy.  Brandon, as a former CEO and a marketing guy, understands that.  The night game against ND was a master stroke -- the TV imagery was magic -- then not scheduling a night game in 2012 is brilliant ... keep night games rare and mysterious.  (And whoever thought of the maize pom-poms should win an award -- that looked awesome on HD TV.)

3rdGenerationBlue

February 13th, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^

Cook breaks his own rules and rewrites history "on the regular" (as he would say). We can all agree we aren't happy the game will potentially/probably moved up in the season but spare us the righteous indignation Brian.

P.S. - it is unfortunate that no one will read this comment thanks to your censorship and fear of dissenting opinion.

yzerman19

February 13th, 2012 at 5:38 PM ^

he is speaking to the sarasota - bradenton M club.  it only costs $30 to hear the man himself.  thirty measley dollars to be graced by His presence.  yay.