Rittenberg Rejects PSU Fan's Dubious Take on RichRod's Future
Warning: This entry is not meant to start another "How many wins does RichRod need to keep his job" thread. I can't prevent you from going there, but that territory has been more than adequately covered. Instead, it's meant to simply point out the obsessive idiocy that exists out there in Big 10 rival fan land regarding Michigan and RichRod. Make no mistake, the rest of the conference is having their laughs, but they're scared of a resurgent Michigan. They want the RichRod hire not to work in the worst way because they know that his firing would lead to another 2-3 year rebuilding program. And that's how Rittenberg answers this clown.
His latest Friday Mailbag post contains a nice beat down (for Adam) of a PSU fan making the standard uninformed assertion of RichRod's job security.
Kelly from Manassas, Va.: While what happens on the field this year will certainly play into Rodriguez's future, the decision has very likely already been made. ...In all likelihood, he needs ten wins to keep his job, so in essence, given that no rational person expects this team to sniff .500 much less a winning record, the decision to fire him with cause has already been made.
Adam Rittenberg: Kelly, gotta say I love getting your e-mails every week. Always a good time. When did you start working in Michigan's athletic department? I thought they didn't let Penn State fans in there. While Rich Rodriguez obviously needs to show significant improvement in Year 3, by no means is his fate sealed. ...Michigan would have to weigh the desire to make a change versus the potential cost of staying irrelevant for even longer, or getting worse...
Out of the Freep/DetNews/AnnArbor.com/ESPN, Rittenberg has got to be my favorite journalist covering Michigan Football right now. He has some lapses in reason, but most of the time he is pretty impartial and corrects his mistakes, which is more than I can say for the other 3 outlets.
i think you're going a lil far. considering many UM fans don't know if it's going to work out, to claim the conference is 'scared' it will is a bit much.
there's only two sides of this issue and one odd, sad little tangential:
-those laughing at UM and wondering if RR will work out
-those crying at UM and wondering if RR will work out
-those whose only happiness comes from "lolercopters" and claiming IN-STATE DOMINANCE FOR BAJILLION YRZ
OTOH, Michigan fans tend to be very pessimistic, so we aren't necessarily a great gauge. During the Carr years, the consensus among the other 10 fanbases was that we had top-notch talent and suspect coaching. (I'm not saying tbis was an accurate assessment, but that was the refrain you'd hear all the time.) There has to be a bit of nervousness that if RR gets the time to fully install his system, things could be very different.
on Halloween weekend to kick their ass. No ghosts or goblins are going to protect JoePa from getting a facial by the guys in the winged helmets.
I will leave a mini Snickers bar on my seat for any Nittany Lion fan who wants to take it home.
Go Blue!
Zombies though... watch out for Zombies.
have never been spoken.
To see the PSU fans dejected and depressed after a M beatdown will be better than any Christmas present I've gotten for 2 years...unless I find tickets for that game and call it Christmas.
You won't need to wait until then to see Penn State get their asses kicked; Alabama should do that just fine. We'll just twist the knife later.
Go Blue!
he needs to get an MGoBlog account so I can +1 him.
Maybe this Kelly did work in the Michigan athletic department and was the bozo that lost the training logs.
Come on Adam. You know you want to tell us which screen name is yours.
I'd like to think Penn State has a classier fanbase than most B10 schools, but they are capable of being an awfully petty bunch at times.....
I've found them to be passionate and intelligent fans. They'd much rather cheer for PSU to win than cheer for an opponent to lose.
Kelly from Manassas might be the exception that proves the rule.
The YouTube moment that will live, in infamy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDiRPUiQZHc&feature=player_embedded#
OSU crushed the State College boys that year, by the way.
And if I am not mistaken, the year that video was recorded (by some PSU genius, obviously -- nothing like posting online video that you made yourself, of you and your friends committing an assault and battery that gets you kicked out of Pitt because, like, dude, you don't even go to Penn Fucking State) that year is the last year that the OSU band ventured into Pennsylvania.
Something about a little problem with urine being thrown on the band, along with other assorted abuse.
YouTube and alcohol tend to produce regrettable results, but things posted on YouTube probably aren't indicative of a larger fan base--but rather indicative of being a dumbass.
... shouldn't spoil things for the other 9 to 10% of PSU fans who are really good and decent people.
In fairness, PSU fans actually were pretty classy (probably the most polite visiting fans in the conference) until their losing streak to us got really long (around 2002). Then they became jerks.
The vast majority of them are like Kelly: 100% convinced that RR is an abject failure whose dismissal is a foregone conclusion; we've been at the bottom of the conference for two seasons and the only news they ever read about RR is negative, so it's not surprising. Lord knows there's enough Michigan fans who feel like this.
I'm completely fine with that, and I hope that opposing coaches and players similarly dismiss us as well. If RR is smart, he will use every bit of dismissive smack talk about Michigan he can get his hands on as motivation. The team has to play with a gigantic chip on its shoulder.
I believe they will be, just going from comments by players... and when Rich Rodriguez said they'd be playing with a gigantic chip on its shoulder.
The other Big Ten teams are not worried about this team let alone RR. They are only focusing on the negative information they hear on a regular basis about the program and the Coach. I can't wait to see how scared the Big Ten is of this team when they rip through the Conference enroute to the Big Ten Title this year. They have all the motivation they need. GO BLUE!
I don't care what other school's fans say. Michigan will just show them that they are back on the field!
The poke from Rittenberg about getting emails from that guy every week probably points to the emailer's overall excellence.
Obviously, there needs to be improvement this year, but we'll need to see what the situation is in season before we start playing the how many wins game.
PSU fans will talk smack with the best of them and maybe I don't have to hear OSU fans talk everyday or Spartina but PSU is pretty bad.
I live in PA, grew up here and have my father and my uncle as PSU grads. My path took me to Ann Arbor and I loved every minute of beating them every year from my Soph year in HS to 2 years ago.
My friends and family think that the past 2 years make up for "We Own Penn St" decade but they have a long way to go and I will be at that game and will sit in their alumni section in head to toe Michigan gear with beads and whatever else I can find in our colors.
I hate PSU! That is all.
Go Blue!
Beat down? Was that blurb the beatdown or is there more in the blog?
I will be disappointed if "When did you start working in Michigan's athletic department? I thought they didn't let Penn State fans in there." is the beatdown that you referenced.
...that's a beat down and that's how I qualified my beat down statement "(for Adam)". Sorry you're disappointed.
Unfortunately I can't look at youtube at work, but if that's the video I think it is, it's an ohio state fan getting beer bottles thrown at him from point blank range? That kid was my fraternity brother(PiKA), and they were on the local news when they got back in town (which was kind of funny to hear ohio state fans call the kettel black). This incident is even more disgusting, because it happened at the Pike house at the PSU chapter. If any of you belong to the greek community, then you understand how classless and utterly ridiculous that is. I know their chapter was put on some serious sanctions after the video got out.
March 29th, 2010 at 10:21 AM ^
Opposing fans aren't even the remotest bit scared that RichRod will lead a resurgent Michigan to glory. The last two years have eclipsed the craziest wet dream that any Spartan or Buckeye fan has ever had. The greatest fear that MSU or OSU fans have is that RichRod will get fired after this year. They are all on their hands and knees praying that Rodriguez lasts as long as possible. Just like we hoped that John Cooper and Booby Williams would stay at their schools forever.