Marcus Ray walks back his Purdue comments
Like a true antagonizer in the vein of Valenti and Cowherd, Ray backtracked on his opinion that Purdue is the best team in the Big Ten this morning on WTKA, although somehow even less adeptly than those two. He basically said, “Oh I didn’t mean they were the best team in the conference, I meant they looked great and with the West up for grabs I was trying to motivate them... I don’t know why everyone made such a big deal out of it.” Sam called him out and said ok Marcus, so without trying to motivate anyone, who do you think is the best team right now.” Then he took the easy way out and said Michigan and Ohio State. This guy is losing it. He’s already lost all hope of a good media job. He should just go back to being a Michigan guy and maybe he’ll get some local work. Podcast should be up in a bit.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
can we stop paying/giving attention to marcus ray
November 1st, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
I wish Sam would cancel his segment. Just a brutal listen.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
Back when I listened to the show M-F, I enjoyed his segments most of the time. I rarely listen to the show anymore because it's the same callers, e-mailers, tweeters, and guests every week or even day. Ira also plays the same boring music coming back from commercials. It just got old. All of that said, from what I have been reading on this site about Marcus, I'm glad I stopped listening on a daily basis. The only segment I make sure to listen to is Brian's. That said, I wish it was just Craig and Brian because I don't think Ed offers anything to the MGoBlog segment. Nothing personal against Ed, as I don't know him, but I just don't think he offers anything to the discussion. I could not care less about his analysis that is listed on site.
November 1st, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
I like Ed's 'role'--an analytics guy. You've got Sam the insider, Craig the historian, Brian the synthesizer, and then Ed. I just don't think he's forceful enough in articulating his positions and why they're important.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
i initially thought of Ed similarly too, especially with how Brian would disagree with him often. but these days most of what Ed says seem to be agreed with, and approached less confrontational(?) by Brian. so i think it was a bias on my part.
November 1st, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
Marcus is awful.
I wish Sam would stop taking calls from Jake from Ann Arbor. I have to mute the radio every time that guy calls in. He's just painful to listen to.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
Oh come on. Jake is great. He never calls for more than 15 seconds. I laugh every time I hear him.
November 1st, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
Big time disagree. Jake's calls are a pointless ramble. I could also do with limiting Dennis from the OC's Ufer impressions to once a year at most.
November 1st, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Of course they're a pointless ramble. But he's just a kid, and so into it and so excited. Let the kid have some fun. It should be fun to see a kid having so much fun.
November 1st, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^
I'M FREAKING PUMPED UP!
*yelled in high pitched voice*
November 1st, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
November 1st, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
There are more than a few people who call the station too much. One of them frequents this blog, but I shall not state his name.
November 1st, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^
Jake is great. Dude is always so positive. As for making fun of him I think from listening to him he may be special needs of some sort so I'd cool it on that stuff unless that's your thing.
November 1st, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Yeah...not sure how people have missed that. It's obvious from the first time you hear him. He's somewhere on the spectrum, you'll notice he always repeats himself two times, likely OCD. He calls every single day. And rick leach gives him shout outs. Seems like a kid that means well and loves Michigan football.
November 1st, 2018 at 5:48 PM ^
He's an enthusiastic, positive fan. I wish we had more like him.
November 1st, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
I thought it was a Great listen
Go Blue
November 1st, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
Thank you, as soon as I saw the title of the post, my reaction was
"Are we really going to have a post every time Marcus Ray says something?"
The existence of this post is a win. For Marcus Ray.
November 1st, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
I think Brian should add him to the mgoblog podcast.
November 1st, 2018 at 1:10 PM ^
As a special guest, just once....yeah, I would be interested in that.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:52 AM ^
I think Rutger is remarkably underrated. In fact, they look darn good, maybe great. Best potential in the B1G.
Lost by 60 again? Oh, I was just trying to motivate them.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:53 AM ^
He's so full of himself. Does he really believe his comments would motivate us? Get him off the air Sam
November 1st, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
....or really motivate Purdue??? WTF!!!
In Marcus' world, discussion in the Purdue locker room:
Coach Brohm: "Guys, Marcus thinks we are the best team in the B1G, we can't let him down. So play your best against sparty so we can prove him right"
Players: "Damn, I don't want to let Marcus down either, hey I heard he use to play with Charles Woodson, so he must know what he is talking about! Damn, I'm so motivated thanks to Marcus, I'm glad he has our back"
November 1st, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
^ This - exactly right! Maybe he could say a few words and also motivate Purdue to upgrade their visitor's locker room.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
He thinks it's motivating the Michigan team. Last week after his Purdue take, somebody on Twitter replied to him that they give him the benefit of the doubt and "He's trying to fire up our Michigan Wolverines to keep playing with a chip on their shoulders." Marcus quoted that and replied, "You're a man of great understanding and cognitive reasoning!"
Either that's an excuse, or he believes he's playing next-level motivational mind games with the current team.
November 1st, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
I once heard Lloyd Carr tell his team that he would trade every offensive lineman on his team for just one of the opponent’s tackles. His line had something like 7 current or future All-Conference players in the meeting room and a couple All-Americas. They’d allowed like 5 sacks in a whole season and the running back led the nation in rushing.
Maybe Marcus is trying something like that, but he’s not the comic genius Lloyd was.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
He should take a long walk backwards off a short pier.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^
Trying to motivate them? I'm sure Jeff Brohm appreciates the assistance. Jesus, what a stupid and hackneyed attempt at saving face.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
after loss to sparty: message not received. what a joke.
November 1st, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^
I kinda feel bad for the guy, as he clearly doesn't know what he's doing.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:08 AM ^
Marcus sounds like a guy who doesn't know what he wants to be as a broadcaster, but he's seems to believe that credibility only lies with not being pigeon-holed as a Michigan homer.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
He seems to be the kind of broadcaster that likes to talk about how good he and "Charles" are as if they were equals. It also appeared he likes to be take naps and zone out on air.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
Why do we care what some old lady who is a denture adhesive spokeswoman says?
November 1st, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
If you want to hear a guy that sometimes tries a bit too hard to not be a homer, listen to Brian Griese call a Michigan game
Marcus Ray is not that. He’s an angry old dude who takes pot shots at Michigan because Michigan has moved on from his era and he’s pissed he’s not as relevant as some of his former teammates.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
Right on the mark. For one thing, he doesn't seem to realize that he can't be looked at as any kind of credible media person when he makes predictions to "motivate" some team. Anyone can be a loudmouthed, opinionated personality to get clicks and attention. But you can't be both.
I lost respect for Ray a few years back when (on WTKA p.m. show) he would constantly badmouth and otherwise denigrate the value of athletes getting their degree vs. leaving school to make money. And he wasn't just talking about first round draft picks either.
November 1st, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
....I wonder if he got his undergrad degree. I know he has an MBS - Master of Bull Shit.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
I might have felt bad for the guy - except he's such a self-promoting-at-all-costs attention whore that it's impossible for me to care.
Marcus, the spotlight moved on. Grow up and stop chasing it.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
We've had these threads a million times so I wont create a new one, but Sam also said right after the Marcus segment that he really believes right now that Zach Harrison is feeling the pressure about not wanting to go to OSU. Had to go into work before the Recruiting Roundup, but did anyone catch what else Sam said about the Harrison situation?
November 1st, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
I caught the end of it where Sam said Zach doesn’t want to go to osu and that it’s likely Zach takes this all the way until the early signing period as he will be an early enrollee. Sounds positive for Michigan but the osu pressure is there.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
If the OSU pressure is that strong, seems like a tough get for him to come to Michigan. Like, everyone you know will all of a sudden hate you.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
If people hate you for what school you go to, then they are not your friends in the first place. This sounds so similar to the successfull athlete that after they retire, make bad decisions and run out of money. All of a sudden, they have no more freinds when the $$$ dries up.
Fuck the people around him that are pressuring him. That would personally give me more incentive to go to Michigan, not OSU.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:34 AM ^
I was busy doing stuff this morning but didn't Sam say that Harrison could delay his announcement or just not make one, sign early, lay low with his family over the holiday, enroll early and basically avoid the haters until he's on campus a few weeks later?
That seems like the best case for him if he's looking to escape the shadow of the Shoe.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
I think the kid is attention seeking.. with that twitter crap of "oh, im more confused than ever !" this is the second time he goes public with being confused... now i am stop paying attention to his drama...
November 1st, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
If you can relate, think back to when you were a senior in High School and maybe well liked by most of if not the whole school for whatever reason (sports/academics/choir/student body), who, because you went to High school in Ann Arbor/Columbus/Evanston where about 80% of the students are fans of the local team/20% don't care, but most of the students/coaching staff felt it would be awesome to have you on that team. You probably got comments of various sorts every day.
Sometimes we forget this, and tend to assume its like a choice we may make. (Forgive me if I peg you wrong, but) he's not a 40 year old guy going in for a quarterly meeting with his investment advisor, and making logic based choices in a mostly pressure free environment.
That he hasn't made a decision and is communicating his frustration is, in my opinion, most likely an effort to get some of his friends/school pressure off of him.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
"If you can relate, think back to when you were a senior in High School and maybe well liked by most of if not the whole school for whatever reason..."
See, I'm thinking, based on the posting history, that Alumnus93 can't relate to this. Maybe the opposite.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
And for anyone, let alone an alumnus of Michigan, you are very poor at verb tenses.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
If only you could stop paying attention in silence, wouldn't that be something.
November 1st, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
I mean, when I was a senior in high school it was a difficult decision on whether to go to a college or get into a trade with zero pressure from anyone, I can only imagine how tough this decision is with him being pulled into two different directions by family/friends/possible teammates. I'm sure its wearing on him.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
VERY Disappointing of him..Say what you mean and mean what you say..
November 1st, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^
Michigan media (including this site) needs to start ignoring Marcus. He thrives on attention, both positive and negative, and all we're doing is giving him what he wants.
Something is clearly wrong with him and I hope he gets the help he needs. Or shuts the fuck up at least.
November 1st, 2018 at 9:09 AM ^
This, and there is nothing wrong with him that a good taste of "ignore" wouldn't fix.