So are we officially calling him Urban Liar now? We almost have to don't we?

Ugh, can we just beat these fools so we can stop hearing about how good these coaches are since wins and losses is all that's cared about and us beating them is the only thing that will put cracks in their facade.  

John Cooper would have been fired twice for this.

This is precisely why winning matters, whether on the gridiron or at the ballot box.

It's the only sword of justice remaining to counteract those who have neither scruples nor shame.

Well...I doubt we'll be alone in rooting against OSU this year.

agree 100%.

i love football.  i love going to and watching michigan football games.  but i can count on my fingers the number of non-michigan games i've watched in the last decade, at least partially because these are young, often poor, often minority, kids that literally put their lives and future health in danger so that older, more wealthy, often white, fans can cheer and pump their chests.

it's the roman coliseum for modern times.

the other reason i'm losing interest is shit like this.  scumbags who will do anything and allow anything, as long as they keep winning, and i'm not even talking about urban meyer.  i'm talking about the scumbag administration of his university and the scumbag fans that enable him, and will continue to do so...apparently up to and including rape and murder (cf: aaron hernandez). 

if you believe that urban meyer (or joe paterno, or mark dantonio) should keep his job you have made a conscious ethical choice between winning and basic human decency.  osu has made that choice.

wear that scarlet and grey with pride, scumbags.

I have not and will not read the comments because I am guaranteed that there will be an ignorant OSU fan in here with some immense stupidity and rationalization.  It is too bad that the Mods continue to allow it to occur.  As in this topic, it ruins the board.  Unfortunately, it's exactly as they intend to do.  Much like cowardice terrorists and their fear manufacturing.

OSU was given the perfect opportunity to PRETEND that they care, and they took full advantage w/out any real tangible punishment.  Guaranteed as the season goes on there will ESPN pieces about how the OSU football team is using the incident to rally around and come together...them against the world.  They will turn it into a positive.

Tired of the self-righteousness and passing judgment on our competitors and their loathesomeness, if that's a word. Our University and athletic programs have made mistakes.  There's a whole rash of people who are still pissed about the Brendan Gibbons situation.  Judge not lest ye be judged.  OSU and MSU will be what they will be.  I'd rather focus internally on making sure Michigan is a Leader and Best.

 

We need to stop looking at the NCAA as an organization that is supposed to check these behaviors and start looking at it as the primary cause of them...There is a giant see-no-evil culture across the sport.

How are you supposed to care?

• Grant Newsome
• Denard Robinson
• Vincent Smith
• John Beilein
• Larry Prout Jr.
• Jim Harbaugh
• Jack Harbaugh
• Karan Higdon
• Rashan Gary
• Jabrill Peppers
• Jourdan Lewis

There are so many more reasons to care than reasons not to care.  All of the men listed here are contributing to bettering the world in their own way.  And college sports enabled/is enabling that.

Don't ever let the assholes ruin it for you.

At least this is over ... for now.

But don't you feel something coming from Courtney & McMurphy?  Like some big, "fireworks finale" of a story being penned before Urban gets re-instated to the program on Sept 2.  Is there more dirt on Meyers, like real ugly stuff she can divulge?  Maybe NCAA violations she learned from Zach or discovered from Zach's computer / phone / records, etc.  Like she has Urban Meyer texts with Zach about bagmen or something really bad like that.  This doesn't feel over to me.

Ohio State: dead to me. Michigan State: dead to me. Penn State: dead to me. Wisconsin: dead to me.

I, a former lifelong fan of the Big 10 who believed in its balance of academics, athletics, and ethics, am fully disgusted by the conference, its "leadership", and its blatant favoritism of certain programs.

The University of Michigan can stand alone academically, and it can stand alone athletically. Therefore, I truly believe that Michigan should extricate itself from this mess (at least in football) once and for all and move to independent status.

Great stuff, Brian.

I love Michigan football more than just about anything. But only Michigan football. I couldn’t care less about the NFL, or even the rest of college football. It’s why I’ve always been a fan of the old ways - conference championships based on the season standings, not championship games. Bowl games instead of playoffs. Polls instead of BCS.

People used to tell me that I’m a romantic and all of that. Or that my mentality is why Michigan can no longer compete. But I don’t care to compete in the sport as it is currently constructed. The desire to appease the fans to such a degree that there cannot be room for an imperfect end to the season has turned it into an all-or-nothing season. But for the people in those programs, it’s not all-or-nothing.

Because in the end, if Michigan builds a program that will consistently be able to compete for those championships, it will necessarily have to sacrifice some important things. Character, propriety, dignity, and the pride that we take in our program.

I’d rather beat Ohio than be the President of the United States. But if we have to become the type of program that would employ Urban Meyer to coach our ballplayers to do so, I’d rather we just keep taking our lumps. 

I suspect a lot of you will think I’m crazy, or defeatist, or whatever. But I hold the memories of my time in the program as so much more important than the wins and losses. Although it helps that we won quite a bit.

My big takeaway since this scandal broke is that it's just a very bad idea to get emotionally invested in the success of a sports team.  Watch them for a bit of entertainment, sure.  But don't live and die with their performance. You can't control how they play anyway.

Now I am invested - I'm a Michigan fan, certainly - but I'm trying to dial down the intensity a bit and remind myself that it's only a game and life goes on afterwards.  If we stop putting these guys on pedestals and glorifying their every move, some sanity can return and criminal actions might not be enabled.

"Serial abuser". SMDH.

Another sad yet poignant reminder that winning isn't everything. If Harbaugh was accused of the same thing, I'd want him fired. I guarantee he would be fired. Even if he was 6-0 against MSU and OSU at this point. 

Which is precisely why I want Harbaugh around. He's still the last best shot we have as an institution to produce a program that wins games, but not at all costs. To do things the right way. If he can't do it, in my opinion, nobody can. Which means we'd have to sell our souls in order to win football games. And fuck that.

I just don't care about wins and losses. I just want this goddamn toxic culture to end. Our school is now in a division where greater than 50% of the schools have been recently involved in major scandals. And for what? A trophy? It's just not worth it.

I hope and pray that this significantly damages the OSU brand. That recruits look at it and say "WTF is wrong with this coach?" I'm doubtful obviously...but maybe, just maybe, some parents will care enough.

I think Brian hit the nail on the head here. The NCAA's rules about players' status have created an environment where every team is already breaking rules, so if you're already an outlaw, why not break more rules about far more serious conduct?

It's like alcohol prohibition. The NCAA has made something entirely reasonable a crime, and now they're shocked that the schools are all run by people with the same moral code as a mafioso. 

apparently we're going to have to rely on karma rather than the OSU Board to appropriately discipline Meyer ...and it'll come sports fans 

... its tough to be outraged, because its ohio - that's how they do!

I find most of this so very depressing.  I’ll just post a few of the questions that are raised by the report:

1. Defries “probably” met with CS in 2009.  Why?  Why the fuck is some former CEO meeting with a battered spouse to discuss her marriage?  I can’t be the only person who doesn’t understand what the fuck an middle aged man needs a “life coach” for, or what this guy does for football players.  Is he just a fixer for Urban?  Even then, why this guy?

2.  It states that Earl Bruce did speak with CS about the assault in 2009, while mega-asshole Snook reported comments from Bruce’s family categorically denying hthat.  I’m assuming the report is more credible, so why was Bruce’s family lying about this?

3. Urban wishes he knew more, but he never talked to his wife about ZS’s alleged assault in 2015.  He never asked other employees if ZS was behaving improperly (otherwise he would’ve found out about the affair, presumably). What kind of sense does that make?

4. So, just to be clear, Shelly Meyer was worried that ZS might be violent with Urban and or others at OSU if he’s fired, but she didn’t believe ZS was violent with CS.  Soooo, when it’s your husband that could be attacked, the guy is a menace to society, but when it’s your “friend” he’s allegedly beating, that’s just he-said she-said.  She and Urban are perfect for each other.  

Looks like Urbs didn't suddenly "decide to attend to personal health concerns" quickly enough this time around.

Eat at Arby’s?

I take exception to the comment that we will "very, probably lose" at OSU.

I understand Brian is pissed, but I think we have the pieces in place this year. 

We should expect to take this one.

to recap: after 12 long hours and a lot of greasy pizza, to symbolize their consensus decision; the OSU Board of Trustees pulls out a dusty ol' igloo cooler with 'accountability' written (misspelled) on its side in black magic marker, and then the entire 20-person OSU Board formed a congo-line of sorts and then proceeded drop trou and defecate one-by-one into that scarlet and gray colored cooler - until it was just about full

...and for the finale, Urban Meyer got to 'top it off', as the board members bowed to their squatting 'leader' ...and Meyer was also presented with 20 buckeye helmet stickers (one from each board/bored member) to commemorate his leadership through this difficult process

Can't say that I disagree with much here. I will say that Zach Smith, as shitty if a human being he is, was never convicted of beating a woman. There's also this - "Meyer will face no real consequences for his behavior"... His behavior isn't really in question here as by most accounts he is a well behaved person. I do agree that he should have fired smith years before now though. Also, UM covered for an actual rapist for years and even allowed a fellow teammate threaten to rape her again if she said anything! Honestly, that's probably even more disgusting than what Meyer did with Zach Smith. Spare me the outrage because a head coach isn't omnipotent and they also can make mistakes when blinded by loyalty. I would have preferred if they had just fired him but that's just because it could give other teams a better shot at recruits and wins on the field (who am I kidding, they would probably get even better without Meyer - that program seems to weather storms and come out even stronger)