Rivals vs. Scout
Hi all,
I am looking to subscribe to one of the recruiting websites to help pass the time and keep up with Michigan football recruiting. Which site, Rivals or Scout, has better in depth coverage of Michigan recruiting and why? Brian tends to extract videos from Rivals for this blog, but Scout seems to have more up to date news articles. If you are a subscriber to either, I would appreciate any input.
I have belonged to both and I can't say that one had more "inside" info that the other. If you can wait 45 minutes, that issue is moot. Rivals is more careful, IMO.
I still belong to Rivals because I can't stand the look of the Scout site. It's about aesthetics to me.
I am ready to quit pinching my pennies. Which site do you guys recommend. I do not care who rates Michigan recruits higher, or who dishes out more five star ratings. I just want to know which site has the best coverage. Thanks.
Scout has better coverage, but the writing quality is often lacking, and as MD mentions, if aesthetics are an issue, Rivals is probably better. As far as "instant, blanket coverage"? Probably scout, but really, neither is markedly better than the other.
and what it boils down to is this:
If you want something that looks and reads like a newspaper, get Rivals. That means you may not always get breaking news first through Rivals, but when they do put up info its always well verified, with actual quotes.
If you want TMZ.com/MichiganWolverines, sign up with Scout. They get a lot of scoops, sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. But priority #1 seems to be catching wind of stories, posting a headline first and verifying them later. They've got great inside info and their sources work like crazy to catch stuff early, but when it comes to posting it they kind of just barf it all over their ugly website. but that doesn't mean its not interesting to read.
Also, Rival does a much better job of providing links and perspective about recruits that either aren't in the center of Michigan's radar or come from areas outside of the Midwest. They have the better national network for recruiting stories.
Rest assured, they both engage in Pecksniffian, sanctimonious posts intended to undercut the other when beaten out on a commitment scoop. (See Rivals re: Marvin Robinson and Scout re: DeQuinta Jones (? IIRC)). So that's fun. Nothing better than reading one service wax on about how they didn't call a kid a commit because they believe its journalistically unethical to do so before interviewing said commit's grandmother... and then months later shed those ethics to beat the other to the punch. Good times.
Scout has more coverage.
Rivals has better coverage.
Here's the way I look at it: If you enjoy sitting in front of your computer all day and reading rumors and pontificating about different scenarios, and trying to sift through a lot information, read Scout. If you want more concise reports and don't have the time or inclination to sift through loads of information, read Rivals.
in all of their points. Also, at Scout while you get some better inside information from non-employed posters, that information generally shows up a couple of days later here:
http://gobluemichiganwolverine.blogspot.com/
I also find the videos are much better at rivals as well.
...if you don't have the ability to wait 3 hours for the free sites to come out with the latest recruiting/Michigan information, honestly, what have we turned into as a society?
Are you afraid you won't "keep up with Michigan football recruiting" with the weekly MGoBlog post, the twice-weekly VB posts, the "within 3 hours" commitment posts, the repeated MGoBoard posts about 2 star free safeties from Wyoming, and McFarlin's daily spaz as to why Michigan has no idea what to do in recruiting which inevitably turns into an attack on other MGoBoarders' sexuality?
Seriously, I love Michigan football. I love reading about the recruiting stuff. But I seriously question paying any money to learn information about high school sophomores and juniors that is fair use free within a half a day.
Actually, there's video that's unavailable on Youtube, reports from people who are allowed to attend practices, write-ups from people who have actually talked to recruits, and lists of who has offers from whom, among other things.
If it weren't for people like me who pay for information, people like you wouldn't get it for a very long time, if ever.
You've got me on all those points.
Though I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing that I spent countless hours during the past six months worrying about Shavodrick Beaver, DeQuinta Jones, Pearlie Graves and Anthony Fera. Consider this my "come to Jesus" period. I'm trying to care less at least until my kid goes through this process.
So, I'll save the money and still love my Wolverines. More importantly, I'll stop the rip job on those who do pay.
As a former subcriber, I can say that frankly, the best thing about being subscribed wasn't even so much the inside info (which always leaked out), but the right to post on the premium message boards. The free boards on those sites are unreadable messes. The premium boards had pretty good discussion. But ultimately, I felt it wasn't worth $120 a year.
rivals. and i haven't paid for my account since last september so maybe i'm biased.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:21 PM ^
Are you sure? When I joined Rivals, it was for a six-month membership, but my subscription (and monthly payments) automatically continued after that point. Check your credit card statement to see if they aren't actually still billing you. I had to call Rivals' 1-800 number to get them to stop.
Scout is sloppy IMO. They made numerous mistakes in listing last year's UVA class that weren't corrected til Signing Day....hell, they still haven't fixed all of them. What good is "more" information if it's wrong?
Besides, as others have said, Scout's main advantage over Rivals is that they tend to be a little quicker on the draw on information. But once news is posted on Scout, within 15 minutes of the posting, someone is gonna run to MGoBlog and say it on the forums, so why bother? I say, go with Rivals for the ease of use if nothing else, but also the thoroughness.
Edit: I should add that I subscribe to Rivals, but to the Virginia site, not the Michigan one. If it's possible to read the Michigan premium board with my Virginia subscription, then I apparently need to lodge a complaint, but the upshot is, I don't know which premium board is better for Michigan recruiting specifically.