Today In Frothing At The Mouth About Harbaugh
Today it's Alabama's turn on "Jim Harbaugh makes people so mad they go cross-eyed and spit in their own face":
For opponents of the satellite camp, and I am firmly among them, Johnson's commitment to Michigan also reinforces what a sham we're presently operating under. Attaching one's self to a high school 1300 miles away like a dad-jeaned toadstool is by no stretch a "teaching opportunity," as the camps were so designed. We've said all along these are nothing but recruiting junkets. That even Michigan's own film study and recruiting efforts previously overlooked the lightly-regarded Johnson only underscores this fact.
Rather than bolstering the satellite camp, in fact, a measured view of the camps in light of Johnson's commitment, only shows that the loophole is a chance to lazily poach talent in contravention of a rule designed to avoid turning recruiting into a 12-month long circus.
This is of course Alabama, the fanbase that annually responds to Nick Saban cutting 6-10 guys with "tough shit, it's a business." It is specifically the blog—albeit not the person—who responded to a post here about a kid getting cut by titling a post "Brian Cook is, Amongst Other Things, a Coward and a Liar." They live in the conference of bag men and are no doubt amongst the most committed participants*. Nick Saban himself caused a kerfuffle several years ago when he skirted the boundaries of the NCAA's quiet period by maybe possibly having conversations with recruits he was permitted only to "bump" into. The number of Alabama fans who cared about this is zero. Alabama fans do not care about NCAA rules, whether it's letter or intent, one iota.
While that is an increasingly defensible position, the word soup above is not. If it even has a position. Its author, Erik Evans, is clutching every pearl in a five-county radius that Michigan might be using these camps to find football players. Several dozen Crimson Tide matrons collapsed to the floor after Dytarious Johnson's recent commitment. The state has never endured such calumny.
The post's argument was difficult to parse out in the first place; it is more confusing now that Evans edited it after the fact. He discovered that Johnson had talked to the Michigan coaching staff before the camp and asked him to attend it to earn his offer; this invalidates large sections of the post but provides an opportunity to sick the specter of a Level 4 violation on Michigan if in fact the compliance officer they're bringing to every damn camp doesn't have his Ps and Qs straight.
It takes a special kind of person to argue that Michigan's satellite camps are an opportunity to "lazily poach talent" and create a "12-month long circus" without even allowing so much as a period to separate those two diametrically opposed thoughts. Attempting to rebut any particular point is futile since most have already been rebutted in the same damn sentence they were made, so we'll have to take another tack. Let's evaluate the stakeholders here to see who is harmed.
JIM HARBAUGH. Evaluates lots of players from across the country in person. Develops relationships with otherwise remote players. Finds some recruits. Improves his football team down the road. Gets to write letters that end with "sincerely yours in football."
Verdict: WIN.
CAMP ATTENDEES. Get exposure in front of not only the Michigan coaches but various local staffs. May get scholarship offer they would not as a result. May get to play Peruball against shirtless Harbaugh. Don't have to go at all if they don't want to. Attendance veritably implies approval, and many attend.
Verdict: WIN.
CAMP ORGANIZERS. Hype from Harbaugh visit can almost double attendance.
Verdict: WIN.
SMALL CHILDREN WITH TERRIBLE DISEASES. Increased attendance helps raise money for brain cancer research.
Verdict: WIN.
ALABAMA. May have to work slightly harder in the future to convince certain players they should play at Alabama.
Verdict: LOSS.
I don't mind the Alabama fanbase's purely mercenary mindset so much anymore, but at least own it. You would put your grandma through a wood chipper for a tiny increase in the chance at a national championship. There is literally no moral or ethical issue that would even vaguely factor into your decision making. And that's fine. We need lizard people too. Just don't pretend your objection to satellite camps is anything other than pure self-interest.
On the bright side, Evans has a bright future as a Toys R Us CEO down the road.
*[I gave up on condemning such practices because nobody's ever come up with an actual harm caused by people offering football players petty cash that doesn't involve fan anger stuff.]
Anytime anyone does anything that so confuses the GED conference that they start running in circles trying to find the moral high ground, it's pure comedy gold.
I largely picture the annoyed 'necks of said conference reacting like boss hog. 'Them Harbaugh boys is at it again'
We need lizard people too.You owe me a new monitor, Brian.
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Love this. Brian is at his best when he is disrobing idiocy disguised as altruism.
So...did Harbaugh "overlook" Johnson, or did we set up the satellite camp just to evaluate him?
And...is this a lazy move, or is it something that turns recruitment into a neverending "12-month long circus"?
I'm so confused that I'm just gonna say I'm not confused. At all.
Roll Blue!
see, it all makes sense. Making the extra effort to go TO recruits to evaluate them in person when they could be enjoying mai tais on the beach during the dead period is LAZY.
Clicks be damned, I enjoyed all the MGoBlog thrashing of the place in the comments section.
Doesn't everyone see the hidden genius in this move by Harbaugh? He gets to be the satellite pioneer, and next summer the SEC will be swarming the midwest while Harbaugh and Co. increase their prestige in the south while the SEC morons are focusing on revenge. The return to on field glory will be here sooner than we thought.....
SEC swarming the Midwest isn't a bad thing for the players, but it's not a plus for Michigan.
However, as mentioned upthread, the reason the SEC implemented the rule in the first place was to prevent SEC schools from camping near each other. So if -- more like when -- they repeal the rule just to get back at Harbaugh, the first thing they'll do is eat their own.
That's what's so brilliant about this. First, while it's steeped in self-interest, unlike oversigning it doesn't hurt the players. Second, Harbaugh wins the first move as the SEC can't fight back. Then, Harbaugh wins again when the SEC moves to shoot itself. The Midwest doesn't gain a long-term advantage, if anything it'll be more pain for programs like Indiana, but Michigan gets to throw two punches into the SEC's face and then watch the SEC tie its shoelaces together.
I would not want to be on the other side of a Brian Cook takedown.
And with classes filling up so quickly these days, a lot of players obviously feel pressured to commit early and secure a spot, well before official visits are allowed. So that's got to make it harder for kids to see what's outside their backyard, especially those without extra money to take unofficials.
Brian Cook just took a dump on your forehead.
Have some respect for yourself and get cleaned up, douche.
I read this twice because it was that awesome.
but I'm getting tired of people calling UM's participation in these camps a use of a "loophole" in the NCAA rules. There is no loophole. There is no rule, right? That's kind of the whole point. The rule is an SEC rule. If my mommy tells me I can't go the park, but Jimmy's mommy doesn't tell him anything, Jimmy is not exploiting a "loophole" by going to the park. Jimmy is just living his life. I guess we as Americans are exploiting a loophole by getting tattoos and drinking alcohol and eating pork, since people in other countries might have rules against such things.
Even calling a more traditional loophole a loophole is a rhetorical device, since your "loophole" is my "merely following the rules as given". In other words, calling something a loophole is just another way of saying the person is actually following the rules but we don't like it anyway. If I don't care about your opinion, then I can shorten that to: a loophole is just another way of saying the person is actually following the rules.
This is a long way of making the point others have already made: Alabama's problem is with the SEC - not with the NCAA, not with Michigan, not with Mr. Harbaugh, not with high school coaches. I wish Alabama supporters would recognize that fact and argue that position (meaning, complain about the SEC rule and nothing else). But at least when someone uses the word "loophole", it's a reliable indication he thinks this is everyone's fault except the SEC's, so I have a good idea of where the argument is going to go before I read the rest.
that actually promote the kids and give them opportunities at quality schools and see nothing wrong with the Nike camps that do nothing more than rank the elite atheletes who already are on the radar and for which the main purpose is to attach a swoosh when people think of elite atheletes.
You would put your grandma through a wood chipper for a tiny increase in the chance at a national championship. There is literally no moral or ethical issue that would even vaguely factor into your decision making. And that's fine. We need lizard people too.
My favorite part of the article.
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