Even the posters at GBW give Mgoblog props (most of em)

Submitted by natesezgoblue on

This was my favorite quote..

The guy has taken the initiative to start the best Michigan website on the internet, which is widely regarded as one of the best sports blogs on the internet, regardless of its team affiliation.  On top of that, he offers it all up for free.  I think it's safe to say that he's all in.  


What have you done???

 

Link

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=162&f=2019&t=7048270

Jon06

January 14th, 2011 at 6:30 PM ^

does this remain "the best Michigan website on the internet" if brian doesn't get on the hoke bus soon? i think one thing that brought a lot of us here (or me, at least) was his continued support of the team in contrast to the hostile media. some exciting and generally underappreciated-in-the-MSM stuff happened with RR here, but i wonder if his niche will disappear now. i mean, he's a talented writer and has great insight, but i wonder if he can make a career out of M blogging as the program changes. of course, members of the MGoCommunity always step up to help make the site great, but the passion of our fearless MGoLeader seems like an essential element of the whole thing, right?

i'm really curious what other people around here think about this, if they've thought about it at all.

edit: since it took 0 seconds to start getting negbanged for this, let me emphasize again that i'm asking a genuine question. how much of his niche was created by his strong support for the team and coach?

Jon06

January 14th, 2011 at 6:41 PM ^

 

but don't you come here in part looking for reasons to stay excited about the next game, no matter what happened on any given saturday? i mean, by brian's lights his niche is supposed to be the UFR (although the part of the website where he says this probably needs to be updated, if it hasn't been since i last looked, to take into account the draw of contributions from TomVH and diarists like the Mathlete), but that's not really why i come. it's more for the sarcastic analysis that keeps hope alive, come what may.

(also, damn you for responding before i could change it to say "yay brian" after getting negbanged like twice per minute. at least some people are understanding it was just a question and evening it out for me.)

Huntington Wolverine

January 14th, 2011 at 6:38 PM ^

His niche won't disappear because people desire quality work regarding the teams they love and Brian provides that.  I also think you're association of the rise of this blog with the rise of RR isn't caustive.  There are a lot of blogs that have started with RR tenure (i.e. In Rod We Trust) that are too closely intertwined to continue without him here but Brian started this before RR was hired. 

FWIW, didn't think your comment was neg-worthy, just disagreed with it.

Jon06

January 14th, 2011 at 6:50 PM ^

I also think you're association of the rise of this blog with the rise of RR isn't caustive. 

hope you're right. i know brian's been doing this a long time but he only got on my radar in the last couple of years. maybe that has more to do with when i was living outside ann arbor and looking for ways to stay in touch with the program or how long it took him to gain publicity and build the community or some other non-RR thing.

FWIW, didn't think your comment was neg-worthy, just disagreed with it.

yeah, that's what i was hoping for. your comment (like YBB's below, which i see beat me to the punch about UFRs) are the kind of answers i was hoping for, but it's always dangerous to ask questions on the interwebs. anyway i hope he continues to impress, and that the site continues to do well. part of me even wonders how committed you can be to a program if you don't like its direction, though. there's always that stuff about how sports writers have to stop being fans because it's too taxing to do your job that way, right? i guess we have no reason to think he can't keep it up given how well he's done so far, though.

Yinka Double Dare

January 14th, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^

This site was great well before Rich Rod.  The reason people came to this site wasn't defending Rodriguez, it was unbiased (well, as much as a Michigan fan can be in writing about Michigan) analysis and quality content, something that the mainstream media lacked severely during the RichRod era, but also lacked before he was hired mainly in the real analysis department.  In-depth work like the UFRs, something not seen anywhere else, made this blog worth reading.  And then you'd get the "column-type things" like this:

http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/eleven-swans.html

Brian is still producing that content that brought many of us here to begin with.  It's not about the coach.

uminks

January 14th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^

I was a reader of this site before RR but after RR was getting attacked on other blogs and in the press after his first season, I joined mgoblog officially. I don't post as  much as others and would never post a diary unless it was truly mgoblog diary worthy! Brian has always provided great content. Many successful blog sites start out with a lot of content from their creator but the creator generally post less on their blog site as time goes on. Brian has never let up on his site, and this is what keeps mgoblog the best Michigan sport site on the web. Plus, all the other great posters who add a lot of content!

Jon06

January 14th, 2011 at 6:59 PM ^

 

From this blog's FAQ:

How can I start up a blog and have it be successful?

Create something that does not exist elsewhere. As a nobody, you have to go above and beyond the normal stuff people can read every day in the newspaper or on other blogs. A picks column is a waste of time. You can do this any number of ways. Johnnyposts erratically and infrequently but since there's no one who writes quite like him he has a following. Vijay posts equally erratically and infrequently but drops a lot of original research and has a following. This blog's calling card, IMO, is UFR.

in brian's mind, UFR = his niche. in my mind it has a lot more to do with the MGoCommunity and his continued support of the team/coach through adversity. but obviously reasonable people can disagree here, as many of you obviously do. but, i mean, keep in mind he had a (granted, extremely good) blogspot blog until mid-2008 (=RR) and most of the people who are registered here, like me, haven't been around even that long.

Blueroller

January 14th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^

I love the UFRs, but I'd be here regularly without them. To me the real calling card is Brian's Monday post-game essay. As a writer, I appreciate outstanding writing, and Brian is the best writer I've seen on the Internet – about anything. It's a pleasure to think about what metaphor I would build an essay around, only to find that Brian's come up with something far more original and insightful. Even in the shorter doses of Unverified Voracity, there are always a few sentences that delight.

I disagree with how hard he has come down on the Hoke hire, but that won't affect my appreciation of Brian or the blog in the slightest.

kmanning

January 14th, 2011 at 7:05 PM ^

I personally came here for the high end analysis we get from Brian(UFRs mainly) and other posters on the site(Mathlete comes to mind, along with guys like steve sharik and Magnus that give us a great look into coaching side). Brian's opinions tend to match up with my own, so that of course helps.

I don't expect any of that to stop. Brian isn't super happy about Hoke because his coaching record isn't stellar. He's not a very young HC and doesn't seem to have any specific aspect of his coaching that really stands out. The things that make him a great candidate to others(Michigan Man aspect... the rah rah attitude) are the type of things some people just don't value that highly/at all. I'm in that group, and I get the feeling Brian is too.

I don't think Brian's passion for writing was built up because of Rich Rodriguez. I'm pretty sure the site started and became popular before Rich Rodriguez got here. Brian's been a Michigan fan for what I expect is most of his life. I don't really think a subpar hire is going to make him stop beein passionate or stop writing about the team he loves.

There may be some people that stop following the blog, but I suspect most of them are the most diehard "BELIEVE WHAT THE PROGRAM SAYS AND DO NOT QUESTION IT" type that I don't think are going to be a big loss. At the same time I'm sure there will still be more people that discover the site or get driven away from Scout/Rivals/Mlive/wherever that want to go somewhere with a higher level of intelligent discourse.

Geek

January 14th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^

...is why someone would dress up a dog?  also, i wonder why people don't capitalize the first letter of a sentence?  is it that hard to hit the shift key?  another thing i've been wondering about is why do people capitalize MSM when they can't use a capital letter to start a sentence?  i mean, that must prove that the shift key works on their keyboard, right?  oh yeah, like, another thing i'm wondering about is why someone would own a rat-dog in the first place and then dress it up and then take a picture but not start a sentence with a capital letter?  and one other think i'm wondering about is if people know what MSM is and if they prefer whips and chains or handcuffs?

i'm really curious what other people around here thing about this, if they've thought about it at all.

Jon06

January 15th, 2011 at 1:17 AM ^

1. he's 12 and doesn't like to go outside when it's especially cold. the sweater helps him shiver less. also my fiancee made him the sweater so i like it. also somebody else was using the avatar i used to have so i thought i'd replace it with a picture i actually took.

2. laziness.

3. No, it isn't. bUt WoUlD yOu PrEfEr It If I tYpEd LiKe ThIs?

4. i cannot tell a lie: i do not know

5. well, he's a dachshund, and i have him because i'm allergic to real dogs and my mother wouldn't let me get a nice hypoallergenic husky when i was 14. also, as i learned back when i was single, girls like him.

6. you aren't very funny, but go blue, buddy.

also, FWIW, i wouldn't emphasize how genuine questions are if it were easier to start a kind of against-the-grain discussion without getting negbanged.

this response brought to you by not wanting to proofread a paper. hooray weekend deadlines.

UMICH1606

January 14th, 2011 at 6:33 PM ^

The premium side of GBW is also always very complimentary of Brian, the blog, and many posters of this blog. A thread gets linked over there every once in awhile, and everyone is always quite complimentary with their response.