A Full Eleven Warriors Blog on Rodriguez

Submitted by StephenRKass on

So, I haven't been to Eleven Warriors, one of the better Ohio blogs, for about a month, or before the game in Columbus. I happened to run over, and whaddaya know, they have a full column by Johnny Ginter focusing on Rich Rodriguez and Michigan.

LINK:  http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2012/12/17692/the-rodriguez-redemption#more

I guess this is what you can expect when they are going through a bowl ban and have nothing to write about in terms of Ohio football. The piece has been up for a day or so, is about Michigan, and actually references mgoblog and Brian several times. For some of you, it will be an interesting read.

I'm not going to put a whole bunch of quotes in:  if you're interested, go to the link. If you're not, well, I didn't waste your time. Basically, Ginter goes through the whole thing of Rodriguez being a decent coach who made some missteps, was never given a real chance by Michigan, being both mistreated and having some rotten luck.

However, I'll put in two quotes that were intriguing.

So now you have a choice, Buckeye fans. Do you root for the guy, knowing that each successive victory angers the Wolverine fanbase in a vague, irritating way? Or do you root against him, forcing him to walk the earth as a shadow, forever branded with the mark of Cain that is Michigan football?

You can link to see which way Ginter goes.

The other quote is from a Michigan fan in the comments, regarding our blog:

You could send MGoBlog into a complete meltdown with this post.  Not because it is in any way inflammatory; it isn't.  But because anything related to Rodriguez now seems to divide Michigan fans.  Through no fault whatsoever of Brian Cook (always fair to Rodriguez, and sometimes critical of Rodriguez such as when Brian Cook was about the first person anywhere to doubt the wisdom of Greg Robinson), the mostly anti-Rodriguez MGo readership -- with many notable exceptions -- sort of convulses in a denial of service attack whenever Rodriguez's name comes up.

I kind of agree with this analysis, and can see why Brian wants to just roll his eyes, disappear, and put his fingers in his ears when RR comes up . . . "LA LA LA LA LA LA I Can't hear you LA LA LA LA have you gone away yet LA LA LA LA LA."

Hopefully we'll be able to have rational and non-meltdown discourse on RR at some point in the future.

One thing for sure (unrelated to the Eleven Warriors Blog) is a terrible legacy of RR:  his recruiting, even for the different "spread" scheme, has set Michigan back, and left Hoke at a disadvantage. It irks me to have heard the "cupboard bare" complaints about Carr, when Hoke and Mattison and Borges have not complained once (that I've seen) about the players they inherited, but have made do and coached them up.

jmblue

December 18th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^

I didn't have a chance to watch any of their games, but from looking at their scores, 2012 Arizona actually seemed a lot like 2010 Michigan - all O, no D.  They capped off the season with a 49-48 bowl win.

 

jblaze

December 18th, 2012 at 1:34 PM ^

they were down like 21-0 in the first half and scored 14 points in the last minute and change. It definately sounds like the same ol' RR.

BTW, recruiting head-to-head against Urban for spread athletes would have doomed RR at Michigan, if he were still around.

Magnus

December 19th, 2012 at 8:09 AM ^

I'm not sure that's entirely true.  Michigan could have grabbed its fair share of spread athletes, and Meyer/Rodriguez seem to recruit different types of offensive linemen.  Meyer wants beefy, powerful guys, while Rodriguez wants lean, athletic guys who can move.  Meyer might still win out because he has the advantage of recruiting in his home state (Ohio produces better football players) but I don't think the advantage would have been particularly significant.

TheGhostofYost

December 18th, 2012 at 1:08 PM ^

Half of the "content" on Eleven Warriors wouldn't last five minutes on this blog.  There are a few good contributors, but for the most part,  it's only a couple of steps up from RCMB.

vnperk

December 18th, 2012 at 1:25 PM ^

I don't go to the site very often, but I will say the pieces their contributor "Ramzy" has posted on The Game the past couple years have been great. I would highly recommend them to fans on both sides who haven't had the chance to read them.

Awkward_Amalgamation

December 18th, 2012 at 2:58 PM ^

You can dislike both sites but the comparison isn't necessrily apples to apples.

The main difference between Eleven Warriors and the RCMB is that one (EW) is a blog (much like MGOBlog) and the other  (RCMB) is a public message board branched off from the 247sports Michigan State site (Spartan Tailgate).

Personally, i find nothing wrong with the staff-writers (or Mods if you will) for Spartan Tailgate or Eleven Warriors. It's the fans that post on the message board(s) that often define these sites and give them a bad name. For many a Sparty site is still a Sparty site and likewise for a buckeyes' site, but if you are feeling objective (we all have the gift) the writers themselves are fine or, at the very least, much like any other team-based writer.

SpartanTailgate has the (mis)fortune of being the most popular MSU site (i think?) and when that's the case, you will get plenty of the riff raff that has come to define RCMB. If you go to the message boards of GoBlueWolverine (Scout) and TheWolverine (Rivals) you will see the same thing.

MGOBlog has excellent writers and in many ways we are spoiled but there are plently of times when the MGoBoard fails to live up to the quality of thought, reason, and objectivity laid out by the staff-writers.

Logan88

December 18th, 2012 at 5:46 PM ^

I find it odd that people would feel that way.

Personally, I don't really like to be reminded of the three awful years I suffered through during RR's tenure, so I generally avoid following him (except to comment on threads like this one, naturally) just to mitigate the pain by association I would likely incur if I paid attention to him or his team.

To borrow from RR himself, I only talk about the coaches who coach for Michigan.

Lazer with a Z

December 18th, 2012 at 1:12 PM ^

tl:dr And I don't care. 

The only way this could be worse is if you cited an article by Ace Williams about the Rich Rod post on Eleven W site that was posted on RCMB. 

The level of "I don't give a crap" cannot be measured by earthly means. 

mGrowOld

December 18th, 2012 at 3:11 PM ^

Oh i get it now.  Glad to help - can't beat Figgy Bread during the holidays.

Figgy Bread

Preheat oven to 350*

Ingredients:

1 cup splenda

3 large eggs


3 1/2 cups oats

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Recipe Mix:

Olive oil spray a brownie baking pan. In a large bowl, blend eggs and sugar. In a smaller bowl, blend oats, baking powder and cinnamon. Now mix smaller bowl with larger bowl and add the vanilla, stir well. Nuts optional. Scoop batter into baking pan. Bake 24 minutes, open oven and flip around and bake another 6 minutes. Should be golden brown, this is absolutely delicious figgy treat!

lbpeley

December 18th, 2012 at 3:05 PM ^

I do care. I care deeply. That is why I took the time to post, post again, then edit the double post. If I truly didn't care, I would have - and this where a lot of "couldn't care lessers" should really pay attention - not bothered clicking the title, much less posted.

Lazer with a Z

December 18th, 2012 at 2:37 PM ^

Point being...can't we just move past the whole Rodriguez thing at this point? If someone started a thread like "Should we root for Rich Rod?" it would be annoying. Someone linked a post on the Eleven Warriors site essentially asking the same thing. To me, that makes it double annoying. It's just so beat to death at this point. 

 

I fail to see the value in it. 

lbpeley

December 18th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^

I would counter with the fact that I know damn well I'm not in the minority when I say I couldn't care less about the soccer content this blog unfortunately fills up with every 4 or whatever years. I'm also not one to whine about it (except for indirectly right now) because there's plenty of people that do like that stuff. 

NFG

December 18th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^

Doesn't this fan base have better things to do like go to class, recycle or make pizzas?



RR is a good person but just couldn't demonstrate it a way to prove himself to the fans and program. However, as a coach he fails to see his weaknesses, which is evident with Zonas defense and special teams.