Drake Harris' dad on WTKA w/Sam Webb
This is sounding good right now! Mike Harris, "Drakes always been a State BASKETBALL fan, but he's always loved Michigan FOOTBALL!"
We'll see how this turns out, but I could see Drake committing quickly. Drake's entire family is fed up with the decommitment reaction from Sparty Fans.
I have a good feeling about this. The visits with the timing of his decommitment.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
We have a good shot at landing Harris, but I was more impressed by what his father said. They seem to be a grounded family with their priorities straight. If we are fortunate enough to land Drake, it sounds like we will be getting a high character kid who will represent Michigan Football in a positive manner both on and off the field.
His dad did a nice job addressing the negative feedback coming from State fans and explaining how they support Drake. Too bad all recruits don't have parents like that.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^
March 13th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^
has terrible character according to that teams fanbase. And almost every kid that a team has a really good shot at has great character according to the fanbase of the team that has a good shot at him. Fickle fans are fickle, go figure.
"Drake's entire family is fed up with the decommitment reaction from Sparty Fans."
What, why?
I thought Sparty didn't care he's not a commit anymore?
Mike Valenti's blog post yesterday was ridiculous. He said he didn't care about recruiting, and then on his Twitter, he commented on MSU's new basketball commit...for the class of 2016.
Valenti is such a disingenuous hypocrite. He and Foster will say anything to angry up their radio audience and boost ratings. The man just completely lacks any semblance of integrity.
Wow...hypocrite seems to be a common description for Valenti. I agree with your point about how they "angry" up their listeners.
It's the equivalent of reading a Drew Sharp article (which I have not read in years). For some reason they believe that they can get more callers/readers/page clicks by being negative.
I don't get it. I refuse to read Sharp's columns and I find my ability to listen to Foster & Valenti is declining by the day. I've only been able to tolerate it because of a lack of local sports shows in Detroit at that same time. I can only handle their show now for a few minutes before I turn it off.
Glad to hear Harris decommitted from Sparty. It sounds like there's still a long way to go, but I have faith in Hoke & company.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^
Valenti's annoying when it comes to college sports, but he seems pretty clear eyed with the area pro teams. I just turn the station when they start talking college, but think they're good for pro. If nothing else it's better than music radio on my drive home from the office.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:41 AM ^
The guy is clueless when it comes to baseball.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
He wanted the Tigers to dump V. Martinez one month into the 2011 season.
Based on your posts in the Boesch thread, I'd say that you know a clueless baseball fan when you see one.
Yes, I'm generally able to tell if somebody knows what they're talking about pretty quickly.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
No. When they don't have listeners calling in, he resorts to banging on "how bad Detroit is as a sports town".
Detroit is a great sports town. It's just that most fans don't feel the need to call in and talk to an idiot.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^
A dudes gotta eat, right? It just reinforces that fact that he's not a very talented broadcaster and only knows one way to put proverbial "butts in the seats".
March 13th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
about cars and said he would never buy one built in the USA. Then he insulted autoworkers that called in. I thought he was going to get fired for that. I pretty much stop listening to his show after that.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^
Am not in the area now, but whenever I was the radio was immediately tuned from 97.1 to another station @ 2pm after Karsh & Anderson as I couldn’t stand the way they played their audience to incite people to call in. I have to admit even I was duped @ the very beginning of their show’s run 5-6 years ago.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:16 PM ^
I think that's what the words "Drew Sharp" do to me. I mean, despite all the Mike Rosenberg douchebaggery, that cannot trump years and years of him bagging on anything UM or Detroit sports related.
Thing is, other cities have reporters that go too far the other way trying to not sound like a homer, but this guy sounds like he has a vendetta. When we beat Sparty in hoops, it doesn't matter because they still have a better program and one or two wins don't change that. But when they beat us in football, there was a changing of the guard and our program is overrated.
Valenti sucks, but he is still the author of "The Rant" with HR Puff 'n Stuff after the ND game in 2006. For that, he will always have a place in my heart.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
Sounds like you need to help reduce ratings by not paying any attention. Let sparty be sparty and continue to follow us on TV, radio, blogs, boards etc.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:46 AM ^
sensationalism is what is selling for the most part these days. it generates listeners, viewers, page clicks and all that leads to ad revenue associated with those audiences. Most stations will have someone drumming up controversy somehow because it drives interaction see Jim Rome, Skip Bayless, Stephen A Smith. They dont care if you agree with them and they probably dont actually agree with most of what they say but that is the face they present to the public and it gets people talking about their show/channel/youtube clip
March 13th, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
glued--it's all about the clicks and views. I question whether, as driver of our mediated lives, that's a real good thing for the country, how we view our problems, pretty much anything. Does not--in any case--lead to calmly considered opinion. The thoughtful media types--oh wait, there aren't any.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:10 AM ^
Indeed. Broadcasters in the mold of JP McCarthy, Paul W. Smith, Paul Harvey, Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow are anachronisms in today's 140 character, sound bite, social media society.
That's exactly what I thought. Mike Valenti is a self-serving hypocrite. It's hard to believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^
I don't know if I would go so far as to call it "intellectual-sounding". The only currency radio talk hosts have is the perception of authority and the perception of credibility. People who think they are going to call into a radio show and out-argue the host when that is the one thing a radio host can't allow, it's funny when you think about it. Those guys control the phone line, those guys control the volume of the microphones and the phone speakers. They can spin any call anyway they want to ensure they come off better than the caller.
Mike Valenti is a blithering idiot. You only have to read his blog to confirm that. The man can barely spell. Still, no caller into his show is ever going to be allowed to make him look bad, otherwise the show loses the perception of credibility.
The smartest thing you can do is follow the advice several other posters have already made and just don't listen. If they don't have any listeners, they won't be on the air.
Tell me about it. I was listening to his rant. He was so pissed that Drake didn't call the State coaching staff himself (Valenti said that his HS coach called MSU to break the news). He said that if that was his kid we would drive him up there himself and make the kid tell Dantonio to his face.
He kept complaining that all these kids are getting too much attention too soon and it is going to their heads. Drake would be in the next class correct? And this class recruiting is done correct? How the hell is that too soon?
He sounded like an ex-girlfriend. It was pretty funny.
The State coaches needed it to be spelled out that he was decommitting? It was obvious this ball was going to drop and it only enrages them more that he will probably commit to Michigan. According to Valenti, if you want to win a National Championship you must commit to Bama. While I agree they might be the closest thing right now to a sure bet, these things eb and flow. Florida State, Nebraska, Tennessee, USC, Texas, LSU, now Bama.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:04 AM ^
Actually, what Valenti said was if Harris' goal was to sign onto a program that can compete for a National Championship, then Michigan doesn't belong on his list, along with Michigan State, because neither of those programs, "play in that pool". Typical straw man logic that he likes to employ to present the appearance of objectivity while pissing off the rival fanbase and getting people to call him and yell at him.
and rockin' block M on that glorious pink pony, not the sad desecration and demise now shown. I'm now sad on a few levels.
Hey man, I held a posbanger for photoshoppin that puppy. I have no skill at doing things like that myself, and the only pony with a Block M on it ended up being a Blue one. The dead OSU pony won by default really.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^
Won by default?? Come on, man, I put like 5 minutes of my blood, sweat, and tears into that thing!! Give me some credit here.
http://www.freecreditreport.com/
Also, I appreciate your work and proudly put it on display about 10 times a day (roughly as many times as I post in a single day).
[edit:] ....well, not anymore I guess...
March 13th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^
Level one; dead ponies are sad.
Level two; unless this particular pony made the practice squad, she probably had to pay for that tattoo.
Level three; regrettable mistakes in life by sweet ponies are unfortunate, but shouldn't lead to suicide.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^
Way to lose your MGoVirginity with style.
maybe the best first post ever.
oh wow
That was cool.
...and for a rather epic first post, the mod who employs Rainbow Dash as an avatar will award you 200 points. Welcome to MGoBlog!
March 13th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^
To be fair he did say that them getting a 2016 commit was 'awful' in terms of how early kids are committing these days
March 13th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^
So funny how Sparty "Doesn't care" about the #3 WR in the nation de-committing & saying he isn't even considering them anymore...But you know deep down inside it's eating them alive. I have a VERY vocal Sparty buddy, who talks so much sh!t when I email stuff like this that he doesn't care anyways...Then he'll CC me on emails he sends to his Sparty co-workers FREAKING out for like 20 emails...It's awesome. They can saw whatever they want, that was the best recruit they'll have in 10+ years.
Also, Valenti knows he can egg UM fans on & get them to call in. It's really the idiot part of our fanbase that fall for it. I bet he's a pretty normal & cool guy, just knows how to get ratings --> Slam UM & then yeehaw part of the fanbase calls in immediately sounding like an idiot.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^
I met Valenti a few years ago when I was working a live sports broadcast (I did this part time when I was at UM). It was obvious that it's an act/shtick. I was wearing a Michigan shirt, and while he razzed me immediately, we talked for about 20 minutes, and he was actually really cool, and he somewhat admitted that it's a shtick as we talked.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^
Blackgandhi - I'm not shocked by this. You can tell a lot of what he says is to piss people off & get phone calls to his radio show. I would bet he's a dude that loves sports, drinks, gambles, etc, just like the rest of us. Now, I do think msu being little brother in so many ways to UM chaps his ass and stuff that goes against State does bother him more than he shows.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/03/12/valenti-recruiting-has-become-a-…
Here's the blog post for those that don't want to take the few minutes to find it.
Drake has gotten a lot of criticism for commenting about wanting to go to a program that will compete for a championship and feeling MSU was not the best place for him to accomplish that. Also Drake and his parents have caught a lot of flack over not contacting Dantonio personally and informing him that he was decommitting and leaving it to his HS coach.
Basic reaction from Sparty sums up like this: "Drake Harris has no character and we don't want him as a Spartan". Basically, grown men acting like dickheads to an 18 year old kid. Recruiting can get so ugly sometimes....
former MSU football players.