Unverified Voracity Is A Mutant Comment Count

Brian

Good lord. Rashan Gary runs a 4.7 and is already stronger than half the NFL combine:

Per 247 that's more than Graham Glasgow, Joey Bosa, and Jack Conklin managed at the combine this year. Impressive! Less impressive than this, though:

Shorter arms have an easier time with the bench press but that's still crazy. I'm anticipating Hudson's on-field impact almost as much as Gary's.

Football was different in 1977. Then-DC Bill McCartney on Michigan's philosophy:

These days waiting for a mistake is something that'll get you killed against the best offenses, and while teams like Iowa continue to keep everything in front of them their defenses top out at pretty good.

#disrespekt makes an arrest report. Draymond Green falls victim to the proverbial chip on the shoulder:

Per reports, the player in question is defensive back Jermaine Edmondson, who has zero career starts.

Early lines. Per the Golden Nugget, Michigan is an 11.5-point favorite over Wisconsin, a four point favorite over MSU, a 4.5-point favorite over Iowa, and a 3 point underdog to Ohio State. That Wisconsin number is surprisingly big even though they had a rough season last year; injury and inexperience on the OL was particularly harmful to their chances. Being solid road favorites against MSU and Iowa is nice.

These are all the wrong answers. Mississippi State put Jeffery Simmons, who was caught on film hammering on a prone woman, back on their team just before a month-long period with no press for Dan Mullen. They spent that month reviewing Dave Brandon's Big Book Of Real Good PR, resulting in some unbelievably ham-handed and offensive responses to the berating they had to know they were in for:

I hate the "your wife or daughter" angle that always gets brought up when this happens. It is explicitly asking the responder to be irrational, to pass judgment in a situation when they should recuse themselves. But holy shit, that is the dumbest possible answer for that dumb (and very, very common) question. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the athletic director cited the fact that Simmons could end up at another SEC school if MSU cut him loose when the decision was actually made. People in charge of things are just in charge of them for no reason, part infinity.

You knew this but now there are numbers. Out of 321 coaches in a Kenpom autobench study, John Beilein is 308th in his willingness to play guys with two fouls in the first half. The last four years Michigan has been 1st, 2nd, 9th, and 17th in free throw attempts per FGA. Nothing about this is rational.

You can put the statue back up but he has to be wearing a blindfold. Penn State got in a fight with its insurance company, because someone had a very bad idea at one point, and today various court records were released to the public. They're as bad as you might expect:

Per the deposition, Paterno knew as early as 1976 and responded to an allegation with "I don't want to hear about any of that kind of stuff." A deposition is not a conviction; it is a thoroughly damning document all the same. There are many of them:

That is but one of the multiple depositions from the documents illustrating claims of abuse that spanned more than two decades before it was brought to the attention of law enforcement. The documents stem from an insurance lawsuit over allegations that a boy told Paterno that Sandusky was abusing young boys.

It seems likely that both Bradley and Schiano knew about it and did nothing. McQueary has no reason to lie about any of this. There are probably many more who had less direct knowledge but heard dark rumors. It takes a village to enable a predator.

Etc.: Michigan and Michigan State revenue. Gap in ticket revenue is pretty astounding. Odd things going down at Scout. Never take money from Russians. Drew Henson is now a Yankees scout. Angelique on Jack Harbaugh.

Comments

trueblueintexas

July 12th, 2016 at 4:42 PM ^

And someone....can't remember who (cough...owner of this blog..cough)...was advocating for Dan Mullen to replace Brady Hoke. Thank goodness Hackett was in charge of things for a reason instead of...ahem...other people for no reason.

jmblue

July 13th, 2016 at 12:52 AM ^

At any rate, it goes to show once again that in a coaching search, you've really got to nail your top choice because the Plan B guys often don't work out too well.

 

Steves_Wolverines

July 12th, 2016 at 5:45 PM ^

When there is a culture that not only attracts players that feel slighted or disrespected, but also breeds it, endoreses it, lives it, and breathes it; then that football player has every right to feel disrespected. He's beginning his 5th year in East Lansing, and he may feel like he's been disrespected by his coaching staff for not getting enough playing time. So to feel disrespected, by people who are constantly getting disrespected by the media and the nation; well I supposed he was bound to snap. That's just simply too much disrespect for one man to control. 

Monocle Smile

July 12th, 2016 at 4:49 PM ^

of that Green arrest. I guess it's comeuppance for all the dick shots, but bitchslapping a dude who's clearly trying to start something doesn't seem criminal...or at least falls into the fielder's choice zone.

stephenrjking

July 12th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^

FWIW both Bradley and Schiano have denied the accusations, at least in public today. Appears to be a "he said, he said" type situation. Of course, they're not under oath. 

Hard to know how responsible they would be. If they reported to Paterno, for example, that might not be enough, but that's more evidence that he was ignoring clear information of wrongdoing.

gwkrlghl

July 12th, 2016 at 5:47 PM ^

Taking off my maize and blue glasses, they have a top 5 college coach, a great fanbase, and a great run of success going. They can attract coaches equally (or more) talented than Schihano and Johnson. No question you cut them loose if this gets ugly. They'll be more than fine without them

Rabbit21

July 12th, 2016 at 5:15 PM ^

What did you expect Bradley and Schiano to do?  If I was in this situation I would absolutely pull a Clinton and deny, deny, deny, until my face turned blue.  There is no other way that this ends well for either of them and even at that it's not looking good.  

For what it's worth, while McQuery is trying to win a wrongful termination lawsuit and therefore is likely to leverage whatever he can to improve his case, I don't see what he gains here from lying about Bradley's and Schiano's connection to the case.  So I'm inclined to believe they knew and that they and the Athletic Departments at UCLA and Ohio St. are about to have some very uncomfortable news cycles as the questions of what they knew and when they knew it get asked again and the schools get to defend and justify their vetting processes.

The only thing I can think of that explains this behavior, if true, that doesn't make them complete pariahs is if they reported it to Paterno, saw him do nothing and then concluded that Sandusky was "protected" and therefrore pushing the issue would do no good,and likely even risk their livelihoods through pissing off a powerful figure in the coaching community and learned to live with the frustration of the situation and hope that something would finally open Paterno's eyes.  It's still enabling evil, but it's not like it doesn't have historical precedent.

The whole thing just sickens and saddens me and I can only hope that this example of how people enabled this monster makes people pause when they think, "It's just the way the world works and I need to put up with it." and not give up on trying to do the right thing.    

stephenrjking

July 12th, 2016 at 5:23 PM ^

I expected them to deny. However, they still deserve a chance to defend themselves before facing employment consequences.

They may have reported up the chain and concluded, wrongly, that authorities had been contacted. They may have said "let us never speak of this again." They may have called police directly and been ignored, or had their report quashed by a massive undiscovered conspiracy.

Or McQueary may have just been plain wrong.

We don't know yet. 

I suspect we will find out.

Rabbit21

July 12th, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^

I agree they deserve a chance to defend themselves, but I just think it's not looking very good.

I also think that if the timelines are accurate, that you have multiple incidents that the coaches had at least some knowledge about and there is always something you can do.  Whether it's calling a reporter or trying another law enforcement agency, or drawing a line in the sand and at least insisting Sandusky have no access to Penn. St. facilities.  I get there was likely a lot of frustration and fear and JoePa was a powerful man who obviously had no intention of looking into this, still they could have done something other than put up with the situation for years.

It could be McQuery is lying, or that he mis-remembers, but given everything coming to light, it's not very likely.

 

stephenrjking

July 12th, 2016 at 5:59 PM ^

"or drawing a line in the sand and at least insisting Sandusky have no access to Penn. St. facilities."

I will first point out that your first two points of action in this phrase would, if they occurred, imply an appropriate level of reporting (legal authorities) had already taken place. And if so, the first two points of action would be logical next steps.

I say that to say this: Simply forbidding Sandusky access to the facilities is a smoking gun of negligence. You know something is going on, and all you do is kick him out while not changing anything... well, I understand what you're saying, but that is prima facie evidence of criminal negligence. That is, in fact, almost precisely what has occurred in certain religious denominations that has been prosecuted. And may have been what happened when Sandusky "retired." 

In all those cases it obviously wasn't enough. 

Even if the motives weren't malicious (we've discussed this) the level of negligence is serious. The question is, upon whom does the lion's share of responsibility lie? If they knew something, we need to know how they handled it. If Schiano was "white as a sheet," that is not the response of someone who forgets to say anything. That's something that they know needs to be addressed.

If it is true, and they said nothing, that is a serious (legal and moral) failure of theirs; if it is true, and they reported to JoePa, and they were supposed to report it to proper administrators or authorities based upon university policy, that is a failure of both JoePa and them. If it is true, and they reported to JoePa, and that was exactly what they were supposed to do according to University policy, that is a failure of JoePa and the University. And so on depending upon whom heard about this, if anyone.

Note that JoePa is an issue in almost all of these scenarios. He was the city's leading citizen. There was smoke. Even if University and legal procedures were always properly followed he had the unique power and position to intervene in something he should have known to be a repeated problem, and failed.

If McQueary made this up to save face, well, that's horrible--and there will probably be a lawsuit. Because this is a serious accusation.

stephenrjking

July 12th, 2016 at 5:37 PM ^

Why? There have been, sadly, numerous scandals of abuse in which groups of apparently well-meaning people have systematically failed to properly interpret warning signs or actual evidence and act upon it.

One may believe that they are all conspiratorial monsters, or one may believe that it is possible for many people to drop the ball on something that is, let's face it, almost unbelievably awful. 

It's possible that there was a conspiracy; it is also quite possible that a number of people simply put just enough effort to feel like it was no longer their problem. We see it in many less serious walks of life, it is quite plausible here.

And, though it should be obvious, it does not make their failure any less horrible or morally irresponsible. 

snarling wolverine

July 12th, 2016 at 5:55 PM ^

Well, it seems increasingly clear that JoePa knew what was going on for a long time, and there is that allegation of him threatening one victim over the phone. It seems therefore that it would be within his character to also threaten anyone on staff who dared turn in his right-hand man.

It may be that the assistants aren't necessarily "conspiratorial monsters" but more like guys who found themselves in a really awkward position of having to toe the line to keep their jobs. And while JoePa is gone, they may still be at risk of incriminating themselves now, or at least risk destroying their reputations. So it may be safer for them all to keep quiet.

Wolfman

July 13th, 2016 at 12:57 AM ^

but how does a man like Sandusky get comfortable enough to even pull shit like this on the job? The fact he was sick is obvious. I am aware the defense attempted some type of psychological disorder defense, but given his career choice, how long he had been coaching,  etc., I would find a defense trying to establish Sandusky not knowing the difference between right and wrong would be difficult to accept. So really I have no idea what his attorney tried to prove as to his mental condition, but I am aware most pedophiles attempt to keep their actions secret and it doesn't appear he was, in the least, careful in this regard. Can anyone clue me in on how this behavior was explained.

What we are learning now and the fact that more than a few of his colleagues were aware of his actions strikes me as very, very odd. 

Wolfman

July 13th, 2016 at 12:57 AM ^

but how does a man like Sandusky get comfortable enough to even pull shit like this on the job? The fact he was sick is obvious. I am aware the defense attempted some type of psychological disorder defense, but given his career choice, how long he had been coaching,  etc., I would find a defense trying to establish Sandusky not knowing the difference between right and wrong would be difficult to accept. So really I have no idea what his attorney tried to prove as to his mental condition, but I am aware most pedophiles attempt to keep their actions secret and it doesn't appear he was, in the least, careful in this regard. Can anyone clue me in on how this behavior was explained.

What we are learning now and the fact that more than a few of his colleagues were aware of his actions strikes me as very, very odd. 

socalwolverine1

July 12th, 2016 at 5:06 PM ^

...certainly appears to be the one guy who had any integrity in the whole FUBAR Sandusky-Paterno child molestation debacle.  Sandusky the "doer" and Paterno the "enabler".  

Now it creeps me out to see pictures of Paterno with his arm around Sandusky, staring at him in complete admiration.    

Rabbit21

July 12th, 2016 at 5:21 PM ^

I am skeptical on that, McQuery witnessed the incident in 2001 and the investigation that finally nailed Sandusky didn't start until 2009.  This was also after Sandusky was investigated in '98.  I don't know how much integrity to assign to him in this case.