MGoBlog's Brian Cook stops by to discuss cocaine shipments, walk-on defensive backs, Rick Pitino's Italian restaurant charm, Cowherd mode and other burning topics.
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Ah, Brian Cook.
I'm starting to think that the guy really, REALLY needs to start blogging about CFB in GENERAL, a la Hinton or Swindle, and just complete the transition he's already started by adding writers @ MGo by becoming a godfather/occasional contributor to that site.
I mean, there really can be no question that MGoBlog is one of the 400-pound gorillas of the CFB blogging world, and that status is well-deserved: the guy is smart, funny, and more than willing to speak truth to power (yes, I know that's a little dramatic) and turn the conventional wisdom/bullshit proffered by the Sharps, Finebaums, and Dodds of this world on its head.
BUT: The RichRod drama, 3-9, and the near-term prospects for the Michigan program seem to have slightly broken his brain.
To wit: there have been some random rumblings, after just two or three days of practice for TSUN, that Nick Sheridan is, at the very least, competitive in some of the QB drills they've had so far, and that there remains the horrifying (for M partisans, anyway) possibility that Sheridan may start in the opener vs. Western TSUN. This of course freaks Brian out (as it should), and chaps his ass so bad that he fails to notice that the quote he cites from a practice observer to knock down this nonsense is, to put it VERY generously, a backhanded compliment to Tate "Calista" Forcier's ability to lead a team playing in a D-1, BCS conference to victory. Check it: "Its only two practices, but just my opinion [sic], but there really is not any competition at quarterback. Tate is way ahead of everyone. His presence, his football sense, his competitiveness, his wanting to improve on a daily basis. We say let him play and he will win a lot of games at Michigan in the next four years."
You will note that there is nothing in that quote that says Forcier appears ready to lead Michigan to a winning season this Fall. There is nothing at all in there about actual ABILITIES, or COMPETENCE - only intangibles, like the (presumably unintentionally) pathetic "wanting to improve". Whether he's aware of it or not, this "Maizeman" person Brian quotes gives away just how dire are the straits RichRod is in this year by talking about THE NEXT FOUR YEARS, rather than THIS one. But Brian doesn't seem to pick up on the idea, implicit in the quote, that Tate, while undoubtedly a gamer, is no more likely than any other true frosh QB to lead his shitty-last-year team to a winning season this year. What "Maizeman" is saying is that NOTHING could be worse than Sheridan, so even if Tate isn't ready we might as well let him take his lumps and get the experience. If I were a Wolverine fan, this kind of quote would chill me to my bones - of course there's many a slip twixt a cup and a lip, but they scored 20 points a game last year while going 3-9, and their defense is quite likely to be worse than last year's. They travel to East Lansing, Iowa City, Champaign and Madison. They have no realistic hope of beating us or Penn State. Something like 7-5 seems VERY aspirational at this point, and they could easily post another sub-.500 record.
The last time a Michigan football team posted back-to-back losing records was 1962-3 under Bump Elliott (of course, Bump had FIVE losing records in ten seasons), but it gives you an idea of how disastrous, and unprecedented, it would be for any and all persons currently associated with or fans of the M football program for even a 6-6 record to happen this year - and yet, it's about the best that they can realistically hope for.
At this point, somebody as smart as Brian should be SCREAMING at the fanatic faithful: GET READY FOR ANOTHER HORRIBLE YEAR, BECAUSE WE HAVE A TRUE FRESHMAN AT QB, AND OUR DEFENSE WILL LIKELY KIND OF SUCK. YES, WE HAVE ALL BEEN HOLDING ONTO THE "RODRIGUEZ 2ND YEAR" MEME, BUT WE ONLY HAVE ONE (!!) D-1 TEAM TO BASE THAT ON, AND THAT TEAM WAS IN THE '01-'02 BIG EAST (!!). 6-6 OR WORSE IS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY, SO, AGAIN, GET READY.
But he's not doing that - it's all EEE BARWIS, and
Ugh - don't know how that happened. Anyway, to continue:
...MINOR RAGE, and how an OL (that was so shitty last year that a DL got switched up and thrown into the two-deep) has all these returning starts and more time to learn "the system", etc. Plus he still keeps making "Mr. Plow" jokes even though everybody knows he'd give his left nut to have Boren anchoring M's OL. It's only due to Tress & Co.'s class that they don't taunt M every time they have access to a microphone that WE have Boren and THEY don't anymore.
The bitch of it all is this: They have a genuinely scary, potentially program-rescuing QB coming next year in Devin Gardner. I don't know why Brian can't just admit the fact that they will suck again this year, and devote his energy to tamping down the outrage that is sure to follow their sucking, and adopt a "get your whacks in NOW, because we're back and better than ever in a couple years" posture.
But no. His homerism, and that of his blog community, seem to have compelled him to pose as though this year will be a huge step back toward National-Power-ness, no matter how silly that idea is.
I can sympathize, I guess - if we Buckeyes were in very real danger of losing our position as one of the perennially presumptive contenders for the Big 10 title, I'm sure I'd bitch, and flail, and, in short, do everything M fans are doing these days - but the fact that I'm a Buckeye fan wouldn't make it any less silly or fantastical or pathetic than what Brian and the rest of them are engaged in right now. I feel sorry for him/them.
el cab, i agree with most of what you wrote, but with RR saying tate is the QB and it isn't even close kind of invalidates any questions people might have about who the starter is going to be.
i dunno. michigan will be improved- there's no one serious who is doubting that. how much improved remains to be played out, but michigan fans do have at least some reason to be hopeful. minor is a legit back, tate probably won't suck, they've got some guys to catch the ball, etc.
as far as brian is concerned, i think mgoblog has become increasingly unreadable as time goes on. the avalanche of minutiae and weird syntax that is in pretty much every post he makes is just tiresome to read. of course, i still make sure to read his response to the michigan game every year, that's like hot chocolate on a cold winter's day
Yeah, bupx3, I know - there's really no question who's gonna be RichRod's QB this year.
But that's not the point - the point is that someone as brilliant as Cook felt compelled to address the subject for even one second; and that in trying to reassure himself and his readership about the QB situation, he seized upon a quote that not only fails to provide reassurance; it actually undermines any good feelings on the subject.
In other words, he has reduced himself to the CFB equivalent of three-year-olds clapping harder to make sure Tinkerbell survives.
And this is why I want him to unmoor himself from M-centric blogging: his writing on any number of CFB topics is indispensably smart and contrarian, and is far, far better than anything I've ever read from Stewart Mandel, or Dennis Dodd, or Tim May, just to name a few. This was clear to anyone w/ any sense when M was doing well, and Cook didn't have to worry about the meltdown of his preferred program,
But at the moment, he's chosen to devote his skill and intellect to the impossible task of polishing a turd, and it's twisted him up so much that he actually professes to believe that LiC's anguish over the lost fumble in the Penn St. game is evidence of mental instability/wussiness/diva complex - take your pick; he's alleged all of the above, and said in so many words that it's evidence (along w/ the Corvette, and the late signing) that it's a GOOD thing that RichRod lost the battle for Pryor. I've had a few e-mail exchanges w/ Cook on the subject during the off-season, and I can tell you that he really believes his own bullshit when it comes to Pryor. I only bring it up because I'm a long-time MGo reader, and he NEVER said anything so dickish as that when M had a competitive team.
But maybe we're just fated to disagree, you and I and whoever else, on the subject of Cook - I just hate to see, in real time, a writer of such obvious talent deciding to use that talent in the service of propagating bullshit.
Good God El Caballo - did Brian push you down in the lunch line in front of your 4th grade crush or something? You took one of the most reasonable bloggers in CFB, who will gladly show just how shitty Michigan's season was at a drop of a hat with zero spin, and turned him into Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf.
Here's a fun fact: you could be completely wrong about the quote, just as much as you claim Brian was. Sheridan and Threet were sadly relatively equal in last season's 3-9 debacle - if Forcier is standing out as better, it's pretty safe to say the quoted was not intending to say "4-8! 4-8!" but, rather, 6-6 or 7-5.
Man, that honestly had to have taken you an hour to think out and write. You should start a site called MGoScrewYourselfBrian or something to better utilize this talent/embedded need to waste so much time.
damn son, i hope you're in some european time zone because if you really just wrote a 10,000 word diatribe on a sports blogger at five in the morning, i would feel a lot more concerned about you than i would the objectivity of hairball cook.
Well.....cocaine IS one hell of a drug!!!!
Michigan observers have been watching film of Forcier for a year now....we know what kind of arm he has, what kind of elusiveness, speed....what the quote in question tells us is that he has those intangibles to go along with it. We can see his ABILITIES on tape. INTANGIBLES (which are nearly as important) only shine through over years of watching games or being close up in practices...as maizeman was. That really doesn't seem so hard to understand.
And you really believe that UM is in danger of dropping out of the top tier in the Big Ten? Really?
As a long time and die-hard Michigan fan, I will say that most well-educated (football-wise) Michigan fans see 6-6 or 7-5 as a very reasonable possibility.
I read Mgoblog daily, and I think your premise is a little off. Brian Cook seems to be very receptive to the fact that starting a true frosh qb is always bad news, and that Michigan will have plenty of struggles this year. I think your piece may be more related to your (collective) self-consciousness as it relates to the "arrogance" of Michigan fans. Good luck with that. You have one more year to beat us, and then it's on again!
Good luck with getting anything of that type of admittance from Brian.
This is the guy who, rather than face up to the Appalachian State loss, chose to TAKE DOWN his blog for three days.
Homerism is one thing, and we're all relatively guilty of that....but it's pure sycophants at that site. Sad, too because that's going to be the smell permeating from that blog after this season and it just might create a reputation that overrides the one of excellence that MGo used to have.
Remember when Ron English was going to be the next HUGE coach? The whole "Barwis is teh awesome" thing will die eventually too, and the minions will desperately cling to someone else (until they get arrested for selling coke....then they'll deny that they ever liked the guy).
Just sit back and enjoy the destruction of all that is Michigan.
I am sure this will fall on deaf ears but since no other M fan has taken you to task then I will.
First of all get your F-ing facts straight, RR didnt make that comment about Forcier another Michigan blogger did after watching Tate in practice. So that quote has nothing to do with Rich Rod and who he will choose to start on Sept. 5th! Second I just dont understand your argument horseface. What is so apparently bad about the quote? It was simply an observation from a Michigan Alumn and fan after watching practice! He points out that in his opinion he feels Forcier is the better of the 3 QBs because of x,y and z. Somehow you take that to mean that the entire Michigan blogosphere says "Forcier or Die".
Also for someone to write such a long diatribe I would have expected you to do your homework! If you had actually read the post on Mgoblog http://mgoblog.com/content/unv... then you would know that even Brian has his doubts about a True Freshman regardless of his obvious talents and I quote
"And if you're so inclined you can take this with a grain of e-salt, but Maizeman is a longtime observer of Michigan practices and he says there is no quarterback competition"
That is exactly what Cook wrote and yet you fail to mention that. You also fail to mention that in the first part of his post he links to a quote about Sheridan and how polished he looks throwing the ball. In summation, the whole point of Brians post, that you so love, was to point out the still obvious troubles at the QB position and the panic that as a fan you just cant help but feel. So basically your argument is total bull and you spent all that time writing something that know one cares about.
P.S. when writing something you intend to be meaningfull it helps the integrity of the piece if you dont use slanders like TSUN to describe Michigan. When I read that it reminds me that you are just another un educated buckeye fan with no job and way to much time on your hands
....says the site that used to proudly jump up and down and say "Chad Henne never lost a game in high school"!
4 losses later, it's allll about Mallett!
No, wait...Threet is the MAN!
No, wait. It's Sheridan, baby! Sheridan!
Ummmm.....FEAGIN! YES! Feagin all the way!
Wait, no, this time we got it. Forcier! Yes!
We're not buying it.
Are you just making this up and hoping there's some truth to it? You're way off base.
"way to much time on your hands"
....says the guy who just spent six paragraphs dissecting what somebody else wrote and explaining it on a site that he himself claims will "fall on deaf ears".
And WE have too much time on our hands?
yes.
you do.
I think Brian is talented, but he is also the sort of smarmy Michigan grad that makes me love to hate them. I don't have a problem with him being a homer, that implies we can't drink the Scarlet and Gray kool-aid, but the we-are-better-off-without-Pryor stuff is pathetic. Take your medicine like a man, the all-world recruit wasn't interested in purchasing Snake Oil. Forcier is just an under-center version of Sam McGuffie, except probably more fragile than that cat, who tucked tail, decided he didn't enjoy the prospect of getting lit up and concussed in The Game for the next three years, and headed home to Texas.
"when writing something you intend to be meaningfull it helps the integrity of the piece if you dont use slanders like TSUN to describe Michigan. When I read that it reminds me that you are just another un educated buckeye fan with no job and way to much time on your hands"
in the words of my teenage sister: LOL!
Where is the "better off without Pryor" material? That's not what I read. If you polled UM fans most would admit that given Michigan's rebuilding it made career sense to go to OSU. As for your comments about Forcier, Snake oil, and the rest, well I guess we'll all get to see over the next few years, won't we? And, BTW, as I am one of those smarmy UM grads from the mid-90's who got used to seeing OSU choke against UM (not just the SEC) and paid for his cockiness this decade, let me tell you that payback is a bitch.
Because he's white? Yeah, ok.
Come back in 4-5 yrs. when you have a new coach and a punchers chance then......
He's the starting quarterback at the University of Michigan, right? In that case, he's ipso facto white. We wouldn't want the skin color of your quarterback to offend your delicate Ann Arbor let them eat cake sensibilities.
Wow.
That doesn't explain why your comparison makes any sense,
but regardless, incoming freshman Denard Robinson, and
2010 verbal commitment Devin Gardner happen to be black.
Not that it matters. Well, to other people besides you.
I think many of these comments are directed at a straw man. Most reasonable Michigan fans -- including me -- see our holes on D and freshman QB and expect something around 6-6, maybe 7-5 if some cards fall into place. I think something as low as 4-8 is, sadly, also a possibility.
You're not buying it because nobody was ever trying to sell it.
Feagin wasn't arrested for selling coke, and Cook clearly acknowledged that he liked Feagin. Man, you're pathetic
we are even more interesting then you guys yawwwn Boring.
YES you have too much fucking time on your hands. Six paragraphs is a cover jacket blurb compared to Marcel fucking Proust up there.
Dennis Franklin, you racist asshole
Yeah, we are going to have some problems at the U of M this season. But we aren't quite all the way john cooper yet. I suppose it could happen, but it hasn't yet. OSU wil be the class of the big ten again this year and I am good with that.
I like podcasts!
We don't need your type on the internets. Just shut down your computer, go out back, and hump your sister. KTHXBYE.
I believe you mean "than"
Careful, I don't think they know who Marcel Proust is.
I said starting quarterback, not kids-recruited-as-quarterback-then-shifted-to receiver-and-subsequently-thrown-under-the-bus-when-they-don't-pan-out. See, e.g., Feagin, J.
ohio, its full of rubes and inbreds!! he he haw haw
michigan is an infinitely better state school than ohio state! the difference between the 75th percentile score on the ACT for enrollees at the two schools is 2 or 3 points! can you imagine talking to someone who scored in the 96th percentile instead of the 99th percentile! that is a chasm of 3 or 4 correct answers!
[/endsarcasm]
congratulations on being a literature major. i am sure your familiarity with long-winded french novelists, arrogance, and rose-colored glasses will help you immensely when you take that degree (that is equally worthless regardless of whether it is from ohio state, michigan, or harvard) and put it to work as a paralegal or admin assistant.
i will say this for mgoblog: reading the archives is HILARIOUS
from the deep analysis of exactly why troy smith is a bad QB in his 2006 OSU preview, to calling ND fans delusional because of their optimism after a 3-9 season, to saying justin turner will probably have no issues with qualifying because his mom said she's tough on him with grades, it's all gold
I love the baking-soda-meets-vinegar mix of ttsun folks with tOSU. It shows how friendly hatred can be. But by October, this amiable interaction needs to end, right?
I didn't say that Feagin was arrested for selling coke....but you thought of him as soon as I said "coke", clearly.
5 years, 8 months, and 20 days ago.....
Win a National Championship once every 50 years, and they seem to think they're good.
Oh, I'm sorry....win HALF a National Championship every 50 years.
That's the difference between you and most every other Michigan fan.
When you look at Michigan, you see D-holes.
When I look at Michigan, I see A-holes.
By October, they'll be trying to explain away a loss against Eastern Michigan, or Central Michigan, or South Western Vagina Central.....
The only problem with the Feagin thing is that he was never expected to much (at all) when he was recruited. His QB skills were questionable and everyone knew it.
And Sheridan was a walk-on. I doubt anyone thought he was going to lead anything.
And Threet? He announced his transfer to U of M before (I believe) RR was hired and Mallett transferred away. When he announced his transfer, to his knowledge, he was going to a school where pro-style was the way.
Mallett? See Threet. He knew he didn't have the speed RR would demand and that he would be on the bench in a couple years, regardless of how well he could throw the ball.
You need to let up on the crazy and think about what you're posting.
Funny... I'm an M fan living in Columbus... I see a lot of A-holes... o.O
Congrats, you're at the tail end of OSU's longest winning streak in the series. Win another 5 in a row and you'll tie UM's longest streak.
Win another 15 in a row and you'll be right back in this series. Win another 4 NCs and you've finally caught up!
Point is, you're having a good decade but, like all good fairy tales, it must come to an end and, as the past has shown us, where you have one good decade, we'll have the next three. Enjoy it while you can. ;)
42-7
According to its claim, Michigan has 11 national titles. No. Michigan has 2 national titles in football (1948 and 1997), the latter of which was a split title with Nebraska. Michigan claims 9 more national titles in glorified rugby played in days before the forward pass and most modern aspects of football, as well as before there was anything approaching competition.
And more evidence of Michigan's vaunted college degree and the suspect math skills it carries: Michigan's longest win streak in The Game is 9 games (1901-1909), so we'd need to win another 4 in a row to tie that streak, a streak which in any event is largely irrelevant, as, again, IT WAS RUGBY WITH HELMETS.
Every time I see your name (Jeff at the BBC), I hear your comments in my head delivered in an English newscaster's voice.
Pryor wouldn't have fit as well in the system as everybody seems to think. He's not really all that accurate and floats the ball too much. He's similar to Pat White, and White was very good in the Big East. However, nobody will mistake Big East defenses for Big 10 defenses - that's why RR wanted to go to a more passing based offense which will likely have more success in the Big 10. Forcier was, according to most recruiting experts, the most accurate QB recruit in the country or one of the top few. He's a better fit any day, though Pryor is a better athlete. RR passing offense needs extreme accuracy, very fast releases, and a fast ball from the QB to the WR. Pryor has OK accuracy but the ball just sits in the air far too long. Best comparison I can think of is Julian Edelman at Kent State - just Pryor is much taller and a freakishly better athlete. My opinion - Pryor would have been a WR at Michigan - a very good WR, though.
My opinion is that you clearly don't know what the heck you are talking about.
Not accurate? Pryor only completed 66% of his passes last year and lead the Big Ten in passing efficiency. Oh, but they kept the passes easy for him? Well, isn't Rodriguez's passing offense largely based on intermediate throws?
More of a passing offense as opposed to what?! The zone read is a staple of RichRod's offense - that's why you saw him running it with mules like Threet and Sheridan.
The passing style of offenses differ greatly between the two schools. Rodriguez isn't much of a down the field passing offense kind of coach (with the exception of when he was the OC at Tulane). Tressel's playbook has frequently included these types of passes.
If you're going to come around here please refrain from pretending like you know how to compare. Calista is going to be a fine QB but don't for one second try to say, when Forcier hasn't taken a snap in college, that he's somehow a better fit and ultimately a better QB.
a WR at michigan? you sir, are a certified moron if you really believe that
Have I mentioned that I am the preeminent Proust scholar in America?
Hahaha. This was funny
Feagin was never slated to be a quarterback. He was the third string by default and was looked at as a DB or slot reciever. Enough with Feagin he is gone.
"When I read that it reminds me that you are just another un educated buckeye fan with no job and way to much time on your hands"
Ah yes, the "you have no job" meme. It seems your job keeps you too busy to learn the usage rules of the word "to". Nothing is more e-awesome than you banging on people for sounding stupid while painting yourself the leader of the "wal-mart wolverine" club.