Unverified Voracity Shows NO MERCY Comment Count

Brian

ct-more-victim-statements-larry-nassar-20180122

On the awful MSU thing. I have all these tabs open and am struggling to say anything that's not all-caps and spittle-flecked. Most of these tabs have the same theme: how on earth can these people survey the devastation wrought under their leadership-type substance and not commit career seppuku? The lack of shame on the part of MSU's leadership is unprecedented; all these people should be voted out, if possible. The two guys who would have been up for election in November are getting out of the way, but if I know anything it's that a... person like Joel Ferguson will try to bluster his way through:

As a reminder, here's Ferguson in March:

“But if Coach Klages was told as early as 1997 about this and didn’t do anything, isn’t the university at fault?” Jones asked.

“I wouldn’t say that at all,” Ferguson said. “That’s a bad decision that she made, and it has to be stretched to us by all the folks chasing ambulances, because there’s no payday by her.”

He's up in 2020, and if the state Democratic party knows what's good for them they won't let him get to the ballot. Does anyone know if you can recall trustees?

Meanwhile, Lou Anna Simon should not resign. She should be put in jail. She was told that there was a sexual predator at the university she purports to be in charge of, and she said "don't tell me about it," by her own admission:

"I told people to play it straight up, and I did not receive a copy of the report."

If three Penn State executives saw jail time for failure to report, Simon should too. It is absolutely indisputable that her purported leadership increased the number of victims from the worst serial sex assault case in American history. I feel like I'm going crazy here. At long last, does Michigan State have no shame?

The nice old man who expresses himself in Werther's Originals sculpture. A very John Beilein criticism is leveled here.

The man is himself, and nobody else.

Patterson status. Michigan is waiting on Shea Patterson's appeal for immediate eligibility, but the folks in charge are dotting and crossing letters before they make their move. "Late February" is the current timeframe; Sam Webb provides the most thorough update I've seen so far:

There are six other kids/schools I know of at this point – Houston (Deonte Anderson), Florida (Van Jefferson), Nebraska (Breon Dixon), Georgia Tech (Jack DeFoor), Central Florida (Tre Nixon), and UAB (Jarrion Street). My gut tells me that the process for gathering information for each kid’s appeal is painstakingly thorough and they all want to make sure no details are missed. So the delay is largely due to their desire to make sure no corroborating details are missed, because as one source close to Patterson’s circle told me… “you only get one shot at this. You can’t go back and add things after the fact.)”

There are several additional paragraphs at the link.

The delay comes from meticulousness as the lawyer who's working with these guys collects everything from all seven of them so he can present the best case to the NCAA that Ole Miss went out of its way to lie to that year's recruiting class so they would end up signing. NCAA waivers seem to make no sense from the outside but the large number of guys petitioning gives several different schools motivation to get this done, and collectively they should be able to gather sufficient hard evidence that Ole Miss got them to sign by lying their asses off to convince the NCAA of that fact. Hopefully that's enough for the waiver.

Hurst burst in first. Daniel Jeremiah ranks the top 50 prospects for the upcoming NFL draft; Mo Hurst lands at #21:

Hurst is an undersized defensive tackle with exceptional quickness and awareness. Against the pass, he has elite get-off. He explodes off the snap and has a collection of effective hand moves to generate pressure. His bread-and-butter move is a quick swipe before wrapping around the blocker and exploding toward the quarterback. Against the run, he relies on his quickness to beat cut-off blocks and disrupt. Occasionally, he'll get stuck on blocks and is moved out of the hole. His effort is excellent. Overall, Hurst is an ideal 3-technique and could emerge as one of the best interior pass rushers in the league.

No complaints with that evaluation. I do think that #21 might be low for him since the NFL is now such a passing-heavy league. The kind of interior disruption Hurst provides is much more important than his tendency to get clunked on the rare occasions anyone can land a clean shot on him. Naturally, PFF has him third overall because they're just behind Mo Hurst's mom on the list of entities that like Mo Hurst. (MGoBlog is #3.)

Never again. Stu Douglass has a story about offensive rebounding:

I think we all knew this in our hearts already.

Good move. Now generalize it:

The agent thing has always been more pressing in hockey because of competition from Canadian juniors. Agents prefer the security of a contract to the probable-but-not-definite relationship they had with an NCAA prospect as their "advisor," so the prevailing thought amongst college hockey coaches is that agents tend to push their guys towards the CHL. That barrier is gone. Probably won't change much in the ongoing CHL-NCAA blood war, but neither will it do anything to the competitive landscape of college hockey.

It's past time for everyone to get that consideration.

Don't get it stolen, don't get it blocked. Defense by possession start:

Fairly intuitive. It is interesting that first possessions are so bad even relative to normal half-court offense.

Etc.: Quinn Hughes is the #4 NA skater in the CSB midterm rankings. Incoming D Bode Wilde is #22. No one else makes the list except 2019 recruit Phillipe Lapointe, who's #201—in the usually undrafted range. Angelique on Grant Newsome. On Dakota Raabe's first goal. If I had one critique it's that the sword is nowhere near big enough. Abuse enablers for jail.

Comments

Everyone Murders

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:02 PM ^

Nassar's sentence is a fait accompli.  It doesn't matter if they doll him up to look like Tom Hanks or Jeffrey Dahmer.

So maybe the strategy is to make him look uncomely as possible so as to avoid a jailhouse rape?*

*Two asides on that.  First off, he will likely be abused something fearsome even if he's kept out of the general prison population, regardless of his looks.  Second, I'm appalled that our prison system allows inmates to be raped as though it's part of the sentence.  I mean, I'll certainly be a lot less sorry if Nassar gets raped or shivved than if a small-time weed dealer got the same.  It's still not right - even for a monster like Nassar.  (I know this is an unpopular opinion - whatevs.)

ijohnb

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:51 PM ^

exact subject matter is at the core of one of the most brutally painful/powerful scenes in any movie ever made, Frank's (provoked) attack on Monty in 25th Hour.  That is one of my favorite movies but I seriously have to leave the room during that scene under the bridge.  Very rough stuff.

BornInA2

January 23rd, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^

Anyone still puzzled about why sexual assault is an epidemic on par with the opiod addiction in this country should just brush up on how the "leaders" at MSU have (mis) handled this for years and years and years. It's beyond disgusting and hopefully criminal.

MGlobules

January 23rd, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^

in American history, and I believe this is an important distinction that's getting overlooked. Since the late 90s what Nassar did has been technically classed as rape. 

ToledoWolverine

January 23rd, 2018 at 2:47 PM ^

I called My 16 year old son that lives in California yesterday and when I asked what he was up to, he said “just reading about this Nassar thing at Michigan State, what’s up with this?” We proceeded to have a conversation about what went on and for how long. He asked me how could this happen? So we talked some more about it. My point is this, my kid is a typical 16 year old boy, his sun rises and sets over PUBG, his hockey team, and whatever girl he likes this week. If even he is starting to hear about and take an interest in this case, then I dare say that the screams are getting louder and more and more people are starting to pay attention. If the administration at Michigan State thinks they will simply weather the storm and claim ignorance to avoid further penalty, they are making a very grievous error. This is one of the instances in life where doing the right thing, no matter the cost personally nor professionally, will define who you are for the balance of your existence. It’s truly maddening to watch how this is playing out.



TL;DR get your shit together Sparty, you are fucking up fast and picking up speed.

jamesjosephharbaugh

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^

I'm so disappointed in MSU's response.  At the very least, their lawyer should school them all in a session of saying "No comment."  Every thing that comes from them is minimizing, dismissing, making the harm to the victims worse in their moment of pain.

 

I guess now we live in an age where we can't expect adults to be adults or leaders to be leaders.

 

I usually get weary of the internet pitchfork mafia calling for public figures' heads over everything, but in this case it seems warranted.  If Simon really had nothing to do with it, I don't count her as culpable just because she's in the President's chair.  But in this case, she appears to made moves to protect herself instead of the victims.  She's gotta go.  

 

I'd also hate it if the only thing that happened here was Simon's resignation.  Several people need to be jailed.  Many more need to be fired and held responsible.  And above all, drastic measures need to be taken by a real leader to change the policies, processes, and protections for everyone at the university.  Years of investigaions at the most detailed level of operating procedures, reports, changes, and making many, many public statements to demonstrate your effort and commitment to protecting students.

 

ARE THERE ANY LEADERS AROUND THE STATE WILLING TO STEP IN AND DO THE HARD THINGS?  I understand the governor's office may feel powerless, but I bet if he fired the whole lot of them by executive order, it would solve the problem, and it may cost a few million dollars to the university and the state in wrongful termination settlements, but it would solve the problem.  

Or if the governor thinks he doesn't have the authority, maybe he should show leadership by acting as a citizen and declaring a grassroots recall effort that he will lead to replace the trustees.

Coach Carr Camp

January 23rd, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^

When a student assistant at Notre Dame died filming a football practice, Notre Dame immediately had a thorough investigation led by their executive VP into what happened. They brought in numerous independant resources from wind experts to OSHA. After 6 months they released a 145 page report outlining every detail of that day and the University shortcomings that resulted in the student's death, as well as reccomendations going forward to prevent such a thing from happening again. Contrast that with MSU's response. 2 years ago the president is told about Nassar and all she says is "Play it straight". No follow up, no report, and meanwhile the guy was still practicing and abusing girls. MSU has continually been more concerned with not getting sued and managing the press than they have in helping victims or getting to the bottom of how this was allowed to happen and who is responsible.   

Ron Utah

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:06 PM ^

Perhpas the most striking thing about the MSU reaction to the Nassar hearings is their uniformity.  It smacks of legal grandstanding and intentional collusion--every high-ranking member of MSU is acting like no one did anything wrong--and worse, that no one could have even done anything better.

There are two unintentional messages being continuosly conveyed with the "Nothing to see here" party line:

  1. These victims' stories are not important enough for the university to do some self-reflection
  2. Anyone whose child goes to MSU should be aware that MSU sees Nassar's behavior as unavoidable and impossible to prevent

These messages are absolutely implicit in the "no one knew anything" defense and the "our leaders are perfectly innocent" messaging.  The ONLY possible conclusion here is that attorneys (and bad ones, at that) have given talking points to everyone in an attempt to set MSU up for success against the coming torrent of lawsuits.  This strategy will backfire.

Because damn, man, if this isn't bad lawyering, then these are basically the dumbest, most out-of-touch leaders of all time.  Maybe it's both...

kehnonymous

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:41 PM ^

If Michigan is even 1/4 as tone-deaf and awful during a similar crisis as MSU is being right now I would call a press conference to publically burn my bachelor's degree and school apparel.

bigmc6000

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^

I don’t understand WHY they would cover it up. Penn State covered it up because it involved a coach tied to their legendary (now infamously so) coach. Wtf did MSU have to lose by firing A DOCTOR???? Is that some appeal in gymnastics? Oh hey, our coach is ok but, man, this one Dr, he’s AMAZING! I mean, I get the ties to USAG but, seriously, he was just a team Dr.



None of this even makes sense. Guh

Blue in PA

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:48 PM ^

Sparty was clearly pre-occupied during the mess in Happy Valley.... cuz they surely didn't learn from that disaster

El Jeffe

January 23rd, 2018 at 3:51 PM ^

The blocked shot PPP doesn't surprise me because in order for it to start a new possession it by definition has to be blocked and recovered by the blocking team, which is basically a live-ball TO; hence, it's more similar to the PPP for turnovers than for the other possession-starting thingies.

kehnonymous

January 23rd, 2018 at 4:01 PM ^

Credit to them for doing the right thing. Apparently, most of the actual grown-ups in East Lansing can't legally drink yet

JFW

January 23rd, 2018 at 4:56 PM ^

'There is more going on here than that Nassar thing'??? Really? Holy Shit. I just... I have nothing. How on earth does that make sense? 

saveferris

January 24th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^

I just want to cut MSU loose from the Big Ten and never have to deal with them again.  It bothers me so much that the two biggest sex abuse scandals ever both occured at schools in my athletic conference and both of those schools get to maintain membership, enjoying all the financial benefits that membership provides.

Cut them both loose from the conference and let them die on the vine, serving as a warning to any other institution that they ignore the well-being of their students and student-athletes at their peril.  Losing both douchebag fanbases would just be an ancillary benefit.

Are we sure we can't get the University of Chicago to pick athletics back up again and rejoin the fold?

Edward Khil

January 24th, 2018 at 10:55 AM ^

A movie called "The Tale" screened at the last Sundance. It's about a woman facing suppressed memories of sexual abuse when she was 13, and it stars Laura Dern. The audience was described as "shellshocked." And it hasn't found a distributor, likely because almost no one would want to see it. But it couldn't be more timely or, I'm afraid, timeless.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/01/sundances-the-tale-is-the-perfect-mov…