Unverified Voracity Has A Tattoo Of Itself All Over Itself; It's Very Realistic Comment Count

Brian

More fixening. So I'm starting to make small tweaks to the website—you'll notice that mgolicious is less ugly—with an eye on implementing a couple features for fall. On the list:

  1. Some variety of mobile support.
  2. Adding subscriptions. (No content will go premium, but a few people have inquired about murdering the ads while still supporting the blog. Subscriptions would basically be no ads + increased power to moderate things. Speaking of…)
  3. Implementing some form of user moderation to cut down on things the majority of people think are wastes of time.

There might be some other things but they're not new features, they'd be new ways of dealing with things on my end that would cut out some of the annoying robotic tasks I have to do. Upshot: over the next couple months you may get a friendly Drupal maintenance screen if you visit after 10PM. There's no reason to be alarmed.

Now we need Javon Ringer to get a Leonidas tattoo so large and realistic he ceases to be Javon Ringer. EDSBS posts some picture of Terrelle Pryor showing off an extremely complicated hand sign and his massive Ohio State forearm tattoo, but Lamarr Woodley sees that and raises:

lamarr-woodley-hugh-jackman

I think Lamarr Woodley's arm is bigger than my leg. I think his tattoo is bigger than Hugh Jackman. It is definitely bigger than Hugh Grant. Lamarr Woodley's watch could cover Andorra in eternal night if placed in the appropriate geosynchronous orbit.

Also, I ask about the Pryor picture again: what's with the fey lumberjack shirts?

Blowin' up. Basketball recruiting again, but not Evan Smotrycz this time. It's someone sporting a name familiar to Michigan fans:

The hottest player in the state of Michigan right now is Patrick Lucas-Perry, from Flint Powers. The 5'10 PG has blew up to the point, where he is a legit candidate for the #1 player in 2011 in Michigan. Lucas-Perry was the #1 ranked PG in Michigan in my updated rankings for college coaches and subscribers.

Yes, that's LLP's kid brother. Lucas-Perry the younger joins a crowded field of 2011 Michigan guards with significant recruiting hype; Brandan Kearney and Carlton Brundidge are the other big names. Michigan has strong interest in all of them, but only Kearney has the sort of height (6'4") usually associated with Beilein guards. (Brundidge is listed around six foot.) Though it's too early to tell which of the three will be the top priority and which Michigan State will target, the 2011 basketball class is looking a lot like this year's instate quarterback crop: there's enough talent to go around.

We still noticed. Someone in the Minnesota AD must have worked in a senate office before, because the Gohers released this information Friday at 5 PM hoping to mitigate whatever TRY FIGHT BEST damage it might WIN DO TRY TEETH do to Tim Brewster's reputation:

Minnesota's football team lost three scholarships after its Academic Progress Rate dropped during the 2007-08 reporting period. The Gophers' APR fell from 927 to 887, and their multiyear APR dropped to 915, which is below the scholarship-reduction cutline of 925.

Whee! Minnesota will be operating with 82 scholarships next year. This is another BCS program, albeit a second-tier one, struck down by the APR and is further evidence it's not completely useless.

I was momentarily taken aback by the timing of this—May is pretty late to find out you don't get three scholarships, especially if you've signed a Minnesota LOI—but it appears the Gophers knew about this for a while:

Football factored in its penalty by signing three fewer players to scholarships this spring, meaning the program will have a maximum of 82 players on scholarship this season. If the Gophers are above 925 next year, which appears likely based on the fall semester team APR of 957, the scholarships will be restored.

(Thanks to the Daily Gopher for the link.) There's no kid out there who just found out he's getting a grayshirt, sparing me a somewhat self-important gavel-pounding rant.

Minnesota's APR troubles are likely to be mirrored by Michigan over the next couple falls, as the Gophers suffered from a lot of attrition when Brewster came in. The APR deducts one point for anyone leaving your program, no matter their academic status, so Michigan's array of transfers will see their gaudy numbers fall to meh levels. Michigan's starting out from a much higher spot than Minnesota was, though, and scholarship reductions are unlikely.

FRIENDLY TIP. Here's a handy tip for Eleven Warriors. Don't write this

A lack of communication could have something to do with the Cameron Wright decommit though another school of thought says Matta and company grew disinterested.

…when there is a quote from Cameron Wright saying this…

"I was definitely going to stick with Ohio State," said Wright.

…because then you look like a stupid fanboi attempting to downplay the 100% fact that Wright's scholarship was yanked. Cameron Wright did not "decommit." The internet has links, and you're chucking credibility out the window when you blatantly misrepresent reality.

Etc.: The JCCW on Deadspin and how it's pretty much the ESPN of sports blogs: "You want clutter? You want something that is not, in fact, about sports, but is about the useless, "funny" sideshows that surround sports? I give you Deadspin."

Comments

Md23Rewls

May 4th, 2009 at 3:05 PM ^

He grew a beard and started wearing flannel non stop about two years ago. Always specified that he was going for the lumberjack look over the grunge look. I think he started the whole trend.

MGoAero

May 4th, 2009 at 3:59 PM ^

No location could be covered eclipsed by a watch in orbit, no matter how large. Regardless, more orbital mechanics should be introduced into the blog, most obviously in the form of the Weis gravitational field.

jason

May 4th, 2009 at 4:05 PM ^

Perhaps we should not have been so nuanced when discussing Wright, but fanboi is a little strong for a site that regularly goes against the prevailing jingoism of Central Ohio. Do fanbois question the toughness of the team's best player when nobody else would dare utter such things? http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2008/11/five-things-illinois-2.html Do fanbois call out the offensive line coach for his knack of destroying talent? http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2009/04/like-kryptonite-for-line-talent.h… Do fanbois blame the medication when a historical underachiever gets tazed into submission after the Super Bowl? http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2009/02/how-not-to-improve-your-draft-sto… Appreciate the friendly advice.

El Jeffe

May 5th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^

and not that Brian needs me to defend him, but I believe the friendly advice was (stapling together quotes without loss of intended meaning, IMO): "Don't write this... ...because then you LOOK LIKE a stupid fanboi..." Emphasis mine, which I would have bolded instead of capped if I hadn't just turned 40 recently.

Blue boy johnson

May 4th, 2009 at 8:09 PM ^

I saw PLP in State Title game and was not impressed, he cannot possibly be the top soph in the State. If he blew up he must have been pretty poor before. PLP had trouble getting his shot of in the paint, he is good player, but not Big Ten good at this point. He does have 2 years left of HS, so maybe he will continue to blow up.

Blue boy johnson

May 5th, 2009 at 4:34 PM ^

I said he is a good player, he is just not at a Big Ten level yet. Did you see the State Title game? PLP is small, not freakishly athletic, the competition was not great, and he had issues getting his shot off in the paint. That's alls I'm saying. The article seemed to suggest PLP was the top Soph in the state. The class of 2011 in Michigan is loaded and I do not think many would rate PLP as high as Brundige, Williams or Kearney to name 3.

Blue boy johnson

May 5th, 2009 at 5:58 PM ^

Have you seen PLP play? Based on your comments so far, seems unlikely. The kid at this stage of his development is just not that impressive to me, in 2 years he may be great, just not there yet. I saw Mark Macon play as a freshman in High school. Macon played on a team with an All-Stater, Archie Tullous (sp), who went on to have a fine career at University of Detroit. I would project PLP on a par level with Tullous, an All-Stater but not a great talent. Macon had jaw-dropping talent as a Freshman, he had the WOW factor. No surprise to me that Macon had a long career in the NBA. As an aside, if Macon had John Belien as a college coach instead of John Chaney, I think he would have been a much better player. Trusting the scouts? Just did a search on Scout.com, results are as follows. Kearney **** Williams *** Brundidge *** Lucas-Perry Not Found

M-Dog

May 4th, 2009 at 9:01 PM ^

as to where he really intended to play in college. Likewise, we should have all probably paid better attention to the Beav's yellow hurricane tattoo and Newsome's blue mountain lion. Munchie Legaux's wolverine tattoo bodes well though.

Don

May 4th, 2009 at 9:36 PM ^

Interesting stuff about the Buck's O-line, Jason. Only two drafted in the past 3 years, and neither higher than 6th round is unusual considering their overall record during that time. If Boone wasn't a drunken putz that might have changed things a bit, but still... I guess now that they have Boren they'll be fine.

MaximumSam

May 5th, 2009 at 12:33 PM ^

I was intrigued by the line about Cameron Wright and the blog Eleven Warriors and clicked through hoping to find more information. Unfortunately, the only site misrepresenting reality is MGoBlog. The article was entirely about Jeff Boals being added as a new assistant to the OSU basketball staff and the impact he will have. Part of the article is about him recruiting, and that some people think that losing John Groce will hurt recruiting. The entire last paragraph reads: "Some insiders claim the loss of former Matta assistant John Groce had a negative impact on recruiting, in game strategy and overall communication with prospects and existing players. A lack of communication could have something to do with the Cameron Wright decommit though another school of thought says Matta and company grew disinterested. Regardless, it was wasted time either way so maybe Boals can play a role in helping avoid the few recruiting mistakes made by the current regime. " Ergo, don't bash a site for misrepresenting reality then do the same thing yourself.

GCS

May 5th, 2009 at 12:57 PM ^

So what if the article is about Jeff Boals. The sentence Brian quotes makes the suggestion that lack of communication during the transition led to Cameron Wright choosing to leave. This is 100% false. Just because it is a minor point in the article does not mean that it isn't wrong.

MaximumSam

May 5th, 2009 at 1:18 PM ^

1. It isn't wrong - Cameron Wright didn't say his scholarship offer was yanked, and Matta hasn't commented, so saying that his scholarship was yanked is speculation supported by a strong amount of evidence. But it is still speculation. 2. The article doesn't argue that point. The context of the article is about the impact on recruiting from losing Groce and gaining Boals. The only tangible impact so far has been Wright decommitting, and thus the article briefly explains that this may not have anything to do with the recruiting prowess of either of them. 3. Picking one sentence out of an article and completely changing its context is, in fact, misrepresenting reality.

GCS

May 5th, 2009 at 1:29 PM ^

If you can look at this quote:
"I was definitely going to stick with Ohio State," said Wright.
and believe that it is possible that Wright left voluntarily, I just don't know what to say. I guess I'll just cite the usual UM/OSU perspective clash and let it go. I still have no idea where you go the idea that Brian is trying to paint the entire article as an attempt to downplay the move. He only quotes that one sentence and makes no mention of the rest of the article. The context of that sentence is completely irrelevant.

MaximumSam

May 5th, 2009 at 3:40 PM ^

1. We don't know what the conversation was between Wright and Matta. I agree, the most likely result was that Matta said you don't have a scholarship offer, goodbye. Is it possible that Matta said "look, we won't withdraw your scholarship offer, but I really don't see you playing here?" Yes, it is possible. Therefore, it is completely irresponsible to say that the offer was withdrawn when no one, including Wright, has actually said that. We can only speculate based on the evidence. You don't speculate, then criticize everyone who doesn't report your speculations as fact. 2. The reason it is annoying is because MGoBlog has very high levels of integrity and thus I usually take what is said as truth. The line was clearly taken out of context, as it made it appear like the article was defending Matta, when it clearly, clearly was not. 3. It has nothing to do with OSU/Michigan, only that I understand why Eleven Warriors would be upset that they get quoted out of context and then slammed for it by a very respected blog with a high readership. I'd be upset, too.