This is an article some SI douche wrote, DJ addressed this in one of his own today and did a great job so go find that instead of clicking on the link below.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20140509/jim-tres...
Ohio State Football Forum
Ohio State football talk.
Let me say: screw Dohrmann and Rosenberg. Staples and Mandel are OK.
Save your money for an 11w insider subscription.
High and tight boo boo
I canceled mine as well. They were getting pretty thin on content and filled with ads anyway.
http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2014/05/35654/jim-tres...
DO NOT CLICK THE LINK TO THE ARTICLE!
You will inflate that hacks page views. Read DJ's summary of it on the main page if you are so inclined.
Yeah listen to Chief!!! I just now found DJs article and it makes you want to stand up and yell O-H no matter where you are or what you're doing.
"The only good thing about it is winning the d*** thing" - Urban Meyer on
The GameThe WarEveryone read this article instead:
http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/may/10/campus-mahoning-valley-laud-tresse...
The author isn't worthy to write about his subject. I try to never click on the anything at SI or comment there even when outraged. A better revenge is to give low reviews to the author at places like Amazon.
To my great amazement, the trashing that Rosenberg took, and is still taking, in the "Customer Reviews" of his book War As They Knew It, apparently has truly hurt Rosenberg.
Here's John U. Bacon, writing about his encounter with Rosenberg during the writing of Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football. Bacon quotes Rosenberg, talking to former Wolverine linebacker (and Rodriguez loyalist) Larry Foote, when Foote had left the Steelers and returned to his hometown Detroit under contract to the Lions:
To be clear; the review-trashing of Rosenberg on Amazon really was dishonest. Rosenberg's book, War As They Knew It is a fine book that I enjoyed when I read it, and which has gotten lots of honest, favorable reviews from readers here at 11W.
But I was one of the Amazon reviewers who trashed Rosenberg. I did it out of pure rage at the guy, for what he did to Rodriguez. Rosenberg is a clever writer, and, I'd have to say a very, very smart guy. He is also a gutless, dishonest, malevolent, agenda-driven, arrogant sportswriter. His shot at Tressel (I very much enjoyed DJ's Fisking) is so mild compared to the real conspiracy that Rosenberg orchestrated against Rodriguez. We can't overstate the comprehensiveness of the injury that Rosenberg inflicted on Michigan football. And not many people understand the depth of Rosenberg's dishonesty in that enterprise.
Rosenberg has a few loyal friends in Ann Arbor, some in exalted circles. But it is a very small group. Dave Brandon and the current administration of Michigan Athletics has disowned not only Rosenberg but also his former employer, the Detroit Free Press. Rosenberg still lives in the Ann Arbor Area, but does not cover Michigan football. No one close to the program would look at Rosenberg with any seriousness. And widely (though not universally) among Michigan fans, Rosenberg is despised.
You guys are like the Donner Party. Cannibalize yourselves and leave the rest of us alone.
“Don’t fear criticism. The stands are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down on the field are the doers, they make mistakes because they attempt many things.”
Let's do a quick review here. When Rich Rod came to town, the mantra was "The Cupboard is Bare, The Cupboard is Bare!" and people blamed Lloyd Carr for leaving the program in shambles. Fast forward into the 4th year of hoke and you are still blaming Rich Rod for the troubles that hoke is having. Now we have heard an all time first, a writer is to blame for "comprehensiveness of the injury inflicted". A writer did that! Sticks and Stones. The issues that your team has are due to losing on the field, not 2 former coaches and a writer. Your team hired a coach with a losing record. Let me repeat that, a coach with a losing record was hired to be in charge. Stop blaming Carr for Rich Rod. It just didn't work out, time to move on. But stop blaming Rich Rod for the current failures, that is squarely on the shoulders of the current staff. And by all means, stop blaming a writer.
Where, and when, have I ever once "blame[d] Rich Rod for the troubles that [H]oke is having?"
I say Brady Hoke has been given every opportunity that Rodriguez never was given. A fourth year after a 7-5 record, for one! Football alumni have rallied around Hoke. The press has largely adored Hoke. Hoke has been given a press "pass" on dozens of things (like lying to the press about the nature of player injuries and discipline) that would have been even more ruinous to Rodriguez.
And as for Lloyd Carr, I have been very circumspect. I really only have one question about Carr, and that is why he never spoke out loudly and publicly about Rosenberg's hack-job of an expose' on practice time at Michigan under Rodriguez. Rosenberg's own work was comprehensively shown to have been rotten, biased and largely incorrect and overblown. That's after the University's and the NCAA's investigations. All that Rosenberg succeeded in was in fomenting that investigation. Dave Brandon has said in no uncertain terms that Rosenberg's reporting was grossly inaccurate. But Carr never has. That's my one suspicion about Carr; that he's been a friend and ally of Rosenberg.
As for the damage done by Rosenberg, just read Three and Out. We may have lost a chance to get Jeff Casteel (Rodriguez's personal chosen DC) due to the controversy. We lost a lot of recruits because of the controversy. It divided the Michigan family in such a devastating way, the the divisions exist to this day.
I don't need to "blame" Rosenberg so much for what happened in the football program so much as I can condemn him for doing such an inexcusably incompetent and malicious job at his own profession.
"You are still blaming" was in regards to the fanbase as a whole, not you specifically. Relax.
But pointing a finger at a writer still mkaes me giggle. I'm marking this one down.
I was a near-laughingstock on the MGoBoard, for railing against Rosenberg and the Free Press. I was thought of as an extremist. Then John U. Bacon's book came out. I wanted to exclaim, "I was right, you bastards! All along; I was right! In fact, I may have been too mild, too circumspect. Rosenberg had deserved much worse." But it wasn't just me. Brian Cook was the pacesetter; he led the charge originally -- and rightly. So my published comment was, WE were right.
And on the national scene, there was Jon Chait (with whom I share nothing, politically), who took his former colleague and friend Rosenberg to task for "journalistic malpractice." Chait was someone who had reviewed, very favorably, Rosenberg's book (War As They Knew It) favorably for the New York Review of Books. Both Rosenberg and Chait had served as editors of the Michigan Daily. Chait's criticism of his natural and long-time friend was devastating.
The sum and substance of the official MGoThinking on all of this (and here I am talking about Brian Cook and his fellow content-providers, NOT the MoGoBoard masses) is that there is scarcely another example to be found in the history of college football, wherein allegations that were so trivial in their substance did more to seriously derail a football program. Rosenberg tried to hit Michigan where it would hurt the most -- squarely in the gut of "respectability" -- and it worked. And clearly the deciding factor in Rodriguez's eventual termination was not a record of 7-5 in his third year. We know that because Brady Hoke had the same record in his own Year Three. No; the deciding factor was the completely toxic atmosphere surrounding Rodriguez. And no one came close to contributing as much to that atmosphere as Michael Rosenberg.
You are very cordially invited to mark all of this down. I'd appreciate it.
There is no doubt that a faction was out to get Rich Rod from the beginning and it got worse. He should have been given enough time to transform the team. He wasn't and there is nothing that can be done about that. However, the reason hoke still has his job is because you cannot have a revolving door of coaches and expect to get a good one to accept the job if they only have a short timeframe to succeed or get fired. Brandon knows this and that is why he will back him for another year or two. The new OC gets him a bye this year in my opinion. He's still in over his head if you ask me.
I think you give to much weight to the written word and the effect it has on high school recruits who don't read to begin with. The fallout of practice gate hurt the old guard and their egos, but recruits don't care about that. They want to play football and they want to play now so they can get exposure for the NFL. Win football games and the recruits will come. Firing coaches and changing the entire direction of a program makes winning difficult, which impacts recruiting. Watch hoke keep his job for two seasons then "retire" or move to a made up job that is a "promotion". Your new OC will then move up.
I was going to substantively disagree with you, until I got to this, which makes the really important point:
And so it was, with Rodriguez. Hell, Rodriguez had trouble in his second attempt to pull in Jeff Casteel (after Scott Shafer) -- his old friend and colleague and current DC -- with the rumors of his demise in Ann Arbor swirling. Yes; that is one of the main ways that Practicegate hurt not just Rodriguez but all of Michigan football.
I don't know what will happen with Hoke. I think he is rather secure. Secure, that is, until someone better comes along. I have no idea if that will be Nussmeier, and I have a few doubts that it will be. I think the emphasis will be on a real legit superstar as a coach, who fits. Right now, I'd say that list has two names on it and both are "Harbaugh." That's no prediction, by the way. Just a statement of fact and really not at all any sort of expectation.
It also depends a lot on Brandon. Never ever underestimate the importance of that AD position at Michigan, and how important it is that the AD has "his guy." Hoke is Brandon's guy. How long Brandon stays, might be the question. My guess is that Brandon will stay for a good while. I'm one of those people who think that Brandon's next stop will be as a Republican nominee for Governor in about 2018. And Hoke will be around at least that long.
M Man, I'm not sure why the down voters got so whipped up about your original post above, but I agree that War As They Knew It was an excellent read, and that Rosenberg is the lowest form of scum. And your points about Rich Rod are all pretty much accurate.
I'll never give SI a single solitary cent. Just a farce of a publication.