Valenti

Submitted by Mitch Cumstein on

Is ripping on UM fans right now for being fair weather fans. Actually pretty funny. On 97.1 for those who don't know. Hes also calling UM chicks fat.

NHWolverine

January 26th, 2010 at 2:13 PM ^

I think a "Valenti is ripping on UM fans right now" thread could probably be opened every afternoon. It would be news if Mikey V. wasn't ripping on us for something.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 26th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^

Yeah, what a jerk! RAAWWWRR LET'S ALL GET REALLY PISSED OFF AND PRANK CALL VALENTI AND SEND PIZZAS TO HIS HOUSE THAT HE DIDN'T ORDER!

seriously, the guy's job is to be a radio blowhard and is, at this moment, carrying out his duties in the commission of said job. What do you want us to do with this news?

Hemlock Philosopher

January 26th, 2010 at 2:23 PM ^

The best response is to turn this type of shit off. It's better for your piece of mind, just like ignoring the tripe that the buckeye fans down here try to throw my way. Once I started ignoring them, they went away.

ijohnb

January 26th, 2010 at 2:38 PM ^

of Valenti based on this Blog was negative, but the guy makes me laugh. He is so MSU biased that his UM takes are not to be taken seriously. I listen to him for the devils advocate takes and they are fairly amusing.

I listened to the MSU-ND meltdown a while back. "Choked on apple sauce." Admit it, that is pretty funny.

GOBLUE4EVR

January 26th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^

michigan basketball fans fair weather??? if he is, then don't get hot and bothered about it, hes been doing it for years... and i'm sorry to say there is some truth to it, maybe not with the people on this board but with the people that look at michigan as only a football school... those are the fans that came out of the wood work last year when michigan was playing well and then went back in hiding after the back to back losses to marquette and bama this year...

BraveWolverine730

January 26th, 2010 at 2:56 PM ^

I was about to come on mgoblog and say that maybe people were being too harsh on Valenti and that he was being fair and then I started to listen to the show. He called Michigan "the worst basketball fanbase in major college basketball". So while there being some bandwagon fans is true, everything he says has zero credibility after that statement.

GOBLUE4EVR

January 26th, 2010 at 3:00 PM ^

trying to defend him on this... all i was pointing out is that hes been saying that stuff about the basketball fans since he started on the air, so its not something new... when he says shit like that, thats when i change the station and stop listening for the rest of the day. if you listen from here on out get ready for some of the stupidest calls you have ever heard...

Maize30

January 26th, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^

...has been spiraling downward ever since 1130am WDFN imploded a year ago, firing almost all of their local hosts and going with more national sport programming. Even though some of the old WDFN employees have migrated over (Matt Derry, Mike Stone), they still stink. WDFN realized their shortsightedness and went back, but they haven't regained their old magic.

Valenti's problem isn't that he's an MSU blowhard, it's that he is the bad stereotype of a know-it-all, arrogant, cocky, New York jerk. He berates other Detroit team fan bases too, especially Tigers and Pistons fans. His contrarian positions always rile up the faithful. And while he is a MSU honk, he criticizes Spartan fan all the time too. He plays his "bad guy" role very well. I can't stand listening to him. I want Stoney & Wojo back for the ride home!

BlueVoix

January 26th, 2010 at 4:55 PM ^

Well then surely this new girl is like, the hottest thing ever right? Because, like, brah, the chicks at Michigan State are unbeatable brah! Like, I even might fantasize about them all the time bro, and you know, like, maybe I go a little further and think about the dudes who are with them, and like, brah, they're even hotter than those dudes at Michigan! Yeah brah, pound my fist!

bcw_83

January 26th, 2010 at 3:31 PM ^

No one is more of a hypocrite than Mike Valenti. Countless times I listened to him say how bad the Spartans were and how they'd never make a bowl game this season after the CMU loss, and then after they beat UM he couldn't shut about about how great MSU was. He's the classic flip flopper, anything he says is garbage anyways.

dahblue

January 26th, 2010 at 3:54 PM ^

I couldn't listen to that garbage for more than a couple minutes of that chump ripping UofM basketball, its players, coaches, recruits, fans, etc.

I don't love the treatment the Freep has given us, but why isn't there more outcry to boycott 97.1? 1030am does a nice job with some pro and some anti-UofM voices. 97.1 is out of control. I can't take a State fan host ripping UofM about "closing the gap" when that's just about all they say (if not "the gap is closed and now we're better") about MSU football with regard to Michigan. State can barely sell out their football Stadium and Valenti rips us for not selling out basketball???

Switch off the hypocrite.

Bando Calrissian

January 26th, 2010 at 3:55 PM ^

Listening to Valenti is like having the text-to-speech function of my computer turned on whilst cruising the RCMB.

I'd love to see how text-to-speech would render "Wal-verines."

Seth

January 26th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^

When Jud Heathcote was coaching the Spartans they were knocking down the doors in East Lansing the same as they are today. In other news, the Izzone was first created in 1935.

This is probably the easiest criticism you can level at any fanbase in sports except the Detroit Lions (and I'm sure, if the Lions ever got good, the last 10,000 seats would be filled with "fair-weather fans.")

It's not like Crisler was completely empty before Beilein era. We even showed up for Ellerbe -- and you can forgive the last 15 percent or so of the building's occupancy for not showing up for the Ellerbe teams.

I'm an avowed fair weather fan of the basketball team. I don't think basketball is all that great of a sport (and I hate the sneaker squeaking). I only watch the Pistons when they're good too.

I'm the kind of guy, basketball-wise, that he's talking about then.

I don't think I'm so bad. I'm not fair weather for the Wings or the Tigers or Wolverine football or hockey -- I'd cheer for those teams and enjoy going to games and watch whenever I could on TV and follow online etc. no matter what their current record. But even then I admit it's a hell of a lot more fun when they're winning.

And that's the thing about sports: you don't really have to be as obsessed as this whole "fair weather fan" bullshit suggests. Valenti is speaking so because his listeners are batshit about sports. And so are the readers of this blog. And to those of us who are batshit about something, it may be irksome when someone who isn't batshit about it is taking up a spot.

I say "deal" -- sports teams don't belong to just the hardcore. Rooting for your university in any sport shouldn't be deemed a negative.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 26th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^

Good points all, and on the flip side, if your team is so lame as to be unable to attract any new fans when it's winning, you really have issues.

"Fair-weather fans" is kind of a catch-all term that people use to make fun of a fanbase they hate when they have nothing else. It should be more reserved for the kind of guy my brother described (who at the time of the Colts-Bears Super Bowl was working in West Laf) who came to work on Friday wearing a Bears jersey and on Monday wearing a Colts hat and spouting praise for Peyton Manning.

MGoPacquiao

January 26th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^

I used to listen to Valenti-Foster a lot, but I can't take much of it anymore. I don't necessarily think he's overly harsh to U-M, but he's just negative about everything. There are definitely times he makes me laugh, but those are becoming less. Terry Foster actually annoys me more because he seems like a Michigan hater, pretending to be objective. Criticizing our fans and coaches, saying our women are ugly. He never says anything truly positive about us.

Robbie Moore

January 26th, 2010 at 6:44 PM ^

for precisely the same reason. Too much negativity for its own sake. Not just directed at U-M. It's directed everywhere. I mean, they are much smarter than any manager, coach, GM or owner in the state. Anybody out there willing to turn the keys to a team over to either of those blowhards?

dahblue

January 26th, 2010 at 6:52 PM ^

Frankly, I was surprised that they even talked about sports today. Normally, it's the blandest of discussion covering wild topics like "what's your favorite pizza", "what's the thing that upsets your girlfriend", "why is it cold out", etc.? I was happy that 1130 came back for local (most of time) sports talk. WTKA also does a nice job when they talk local.

bleedzblue

January 26th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^

I agree MGoPacquiao. Terry Foster is a bigger ass than Valenti. Not only does he never say anything positive about UofM but, he seems to know absolutely nothing about sports in general. At least when it comes to knowledge about sports Valenti knows what he is talking about. The more I think about it the more I can't stand T. Fost. I would like for 97.1 to put Stoney on with Valenti, that would make for some good radio.

Griff88

January 26th, 2010 at 5:52 PM ^

During football season, when Terry isn't talking about his son or daughter... He always gets Mike going by saying something like this:

"Mike I was at a soccer game, you wouldn't believe what some Michigan fans said".... "Mike I was at dinner and a Michigan fan told me".... Mike takes the bait, and hilarity and high jinx ensue. He always lights the fuse and watches the collateral damage with great glee. They can be talking about muffins, and Foster will steer the topic back to Michigan.

He portrays himself as a Paragon of Objectivity, but in reality he is a hater. I wouldn't mind it so much if he were fair, however, he is anything but.