A Reminder That Should Not Be Needed - DO NOT Attack Recruits
Judging by people's reactions to this thread, I feel like I should clarify a couple things:
1) I believe that Michigan fans are by and large less moronic than other fans (I'm a relatively recent convert and, from my experience, we have one of the better fan bases).
2) This isn't about wanting Weber. I think he's a fine athlete, but I am very happy with Higdon...especially after reading MichiganMan14's wonderful post.
3) Weber's Mom is probably overreacting, though at the same time this is her kid and no parent wants their kid attacked -- online or otherwise.
Let me preface this by saying that this critique is not directed toward MGoBlog users. During my time on this Board, I have gotten the distinct impression that the people who post here are by and large intelligent, reasonable fans.
That said, just like any other fan base, we have our complete MORANS. Don't let this be you!
The upshot of the article is that Michigan fans have been attacking Weber, leading his mother to have a very negative opinion of the Michigan fanbase. If the LOI wasn't the final blow to the chances of Weber wearing the Maize and Blue, then everything that seems to have happened since then was.
DO NOT ATTACK 17 AND 18 YEAR OLD KIDS!!!!
February 8th, 2015 at 3:08 PM ^
Classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 8th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
Enough Mike Weber already. He Gone.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 8th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 8th, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^
Social media gives a public platform to people who should not have one nor deserve one in some cases. It's been around long enough though that recruits should know its the nature of the beast. If you don't want it, make your account private.
If they rule out a school because of what moronic lunatic fringe part of that school's fanbase tweeted them, then they were looking for an excuse to exclude that school anways.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:18 PM ^
The problem is that the idiots who do this stuff don't see a problem with it; they figure once he leave he's the "enemy" and at that point you can say whatever you want. It's why I always feel a bit embarrassed when talking to non-sports fans about my passion for Michigan sports because it sometimes does come across as a bit of insanity.
Social media also doesn't help, but I remember in college (early 00's) people spamming John Navarre's email account after a loss and calling him every name in the book. When there is a near-0% chance that the guy you are attacking isn't going to walk into your room and call you out for being an ass, there are lots of muscle-flexing online.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:19 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:22 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:21 PM ^
This was definitely not thread worthy.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:24 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:28 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 8th, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:28 PM ^
Don't tweet at recruits, unless you know them personally.
Fwiw I've seen this same topic brought up about 1000 times since twitter became a thing.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^
The problem with this attitude is that if you tweet at recruits with the intent of persuading them to come to your school, you become a booster by the definitions set forth by the NCAA, and boosters are not allowed to recruit. Hard to enforce, but a secondary violation all the same that your school would have to follow up and do their due diligence to mitigate. On the flip side, if you berate a recruit for not choosing your school, that's all sorts of immature, creepy and wrong and at that point a serious reprioritization of one's life is in order.
So, basically, they are allowed to be Twitter just the same as you and I, but don't pretend for a moment that their presence on Twitter makes abusive remarks directed at kids alright or that having an account is tacit consent for being the subject of ridicule. If that's the attitude you have, I have major problems with that.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:48 PM ^
You can do what you want.
It is an incredibly stupid and incredibly dickish thing to do, but you can do it if you want to be a stuipid dick.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
Weber is a great kid.
He should know that in the age of Social Media that you never believe anything you read/hear and only half of what you see.
It is not possible to stop a troll moron from writing crap and pretending to be a fan when they are not and this is for all colleges, not just rival schools.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:40 PM ^
i do not see any reason to attack the kids or family. they are not at fault. the school is doing this to them. how would you like to have someone talk to you son or daughter like some of you are talking about the kids. not just weber but all the kids all over. they are guided by school. give them a break. BACK OFF
February 8th, 2015 at 3:40 PM ^
Some morons that simply can't help themselves.
Why the negbangs?
February 8th, 2015 at 3:41 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 4:01 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 4:14 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 4:46 PM ^
Im not justifying anyone trashing recruits period. Im telling you the reason Weber is not a commit to Michigan has nothing to do with idiots trashing him because both fan bases have idiots doing plenty of it. Did you call me a motherfucker?
February 8th, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
While there are asshole M fans, it is so easy for rival fans to pose as Michigan fans at go at these kids.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
The internet is an asshole.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:47 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 8th, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^
Since these two ideas are not mutually exclusive, I'm sure she does.
February 8th, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^
What about d-bag OSU fans pretending to be Michigan fans? Yes, it happens.
February 8th, 2015 at 4:24 PM ^
What about d-bag Michigan fans pretending to be OSU fans? Yes, it happens.
February 8th, 2015 at 4:27 PM ^
This crap needs to be ignored because of what it is, total bullshit.
February 8th, 2015 at 5:57 PM ^
This is insane. Your fanbase has bad fans who tweet at recruits. Accept it. What's a more logical thing to believe, a dumb scorned Michigan fan tweeted negatively at Weber, or a happy OSU fan created a fake twitter account, pretended to be a Michigan fan, then tweeted negatively at Weber ... for what purpose? To make Michigan fans look bad? For what? The OSU fan won the battle already, who cares? That whole idea just makes no sense. None at all.
News flash: Some Michigan fans are shitty people. Sucks.
February 8th, 2015 at 6:51 PM ^
I graduated in 2007. I saw it for 4 years, and I walked into the #1 vs #2 game in 2006 with a Michigan sweatshirt on. I always sold my student ticket to my friends who were OSU fans, but I damn sure was going to that game.
I love the university, and I'm glad that I went there. However, I have never seen anything at any sporting event that can even compare to the treatment that rival fans get in Columbus. I saw countless examples of disgusting, deplorable behavior that made me sick to my stomach.
I saw a husband and wife with their two young children trying to get back to their car after the game. The oldest kid couldn't have been older than 8 years old, and I watched a kid get in their face and walk backwards all the way down the street in front of them telling them to go fuck themselves and then smash his beer bottle on the sidewalk.
So no, I wouldn't put it past them at all to do something like this.
What makes me sick is the muni lot on Sundays is turning into Columbus on Saturdays.
February 8th, 2015 at 9:52 PM ^
I'm totally not arguing with you about the fact that OSU fans, especially in Columbus can and will be assholes. You went there closer to when the wounds from the 90s were still very raw. It was significantly worse then. I graduated in 2012 and I've been to every OSU/UM game since 2008, home and away, and can definitely say this year was the most docile OSU crowd I've ever seen. It was like a Minnesota game or something.
I don't doubt you for a second the stuff you're saying in Columbus happened.
But, that is a far cry from creating a fake internet account to troll OSU commits as a pretend Michigan fan. That just sounds ridiculous out loud.
I totally buy OSU fans act like idiots in person to Michigan fans, especially when drunk. I don't buy they create fake Internet accounts to pretend to be Michigan fans while mocking their own commits.
February 8th, 2015 at 4:28 PM ^
This crap needs to be ignored because of what it is, total bullshit.
February 8th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 4:04 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 4:01 PM ^
when people make a decision that they are not sure is right and in fact starts to look wrong then people grasp for reasons to support that decision to convince themselves it was in fact the right decision. You can see what you want to see in effect. The mom might be the person most pushing weber to go to OSU and now there is unhappiness because its not going as planned. Who knows, clearly this is a family not sure of the right direction to take or their alligiances and likely would not have been a good fit at M.
February 8th, 2015 at 4:07 PM ^
February 8th, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^
I have a feeling it's not as bad with guys that are hardcore readers of the blog like everybody here because they are smart guys who get the point. Most of these "attacks" are the cynical asshats who live in the ESPN comments section and feel like the world revolves around Michigan athletics