Mike over at BSD must have the patience of a saint. On Friday, he aired his displeasure with Shaw committing at the last second to Michigan.
Immediately, he was bombarded with comments denigrating his credibility, without paying attention to what the message of his post was. Even MGoblog slammed him, providing specific examples on how PSU did the same thing. Again, it missed the point.
What Mike was trying to get at (see edit below) was that it is rather dubious that a person who had committed to PSU signed an LOI to another school without notifying said first school. And that it occurred on LOI signing day. And that Shaw's friends are now going to Michigan. And that the B10 coaches have a gentlemen's agreement not to bother a recruit once he verbals.
I still believe Mike to be correct-his followup post was the kind of arguments that I fully expect out of Mike-accurate and thorough. The problem I have is how many reactions were so far off the point. I visited Michigan this year for the game, and I have to admit-their fans are well mannered, and for the most part, very knowledgeable about their team. I thoroughly enjoyed all activities peripheral to the game. I guess I just expected a better argument.
Edit: What I failed to realize (thanks joisy) is just how offended the Michigan folk were over what Mike had stated. After reading the posts a few more times, I realize what Mike posted could be considered slanderous, especially "stealing recruits". Ouch.
O, and if any Michigan fan reads this, the PSU fanbase really doesn't think we get screwed by the referees in general. Just Dick Honig.
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3 comments:
I don't feel you're accurately depicting the tone of what Mike wrote. He wasn't just simply pointing things out. It was an attack, based on zero established facts.
He claimed "Michigan fans can laugh this off for now, but there is a trend beginning to show", and "Rich Rodriguez is a man who cannot be trusted." because he is "stealing recruits from other Big Ten schools throwing the honor of the conference in the trash can" while concluding with "I hope the Wolverine faithful think giving up your honor is a worthy trade to beat Ohio State."
Why?
Because a running back that thought he wanted to go to PSU, decided to go to school at Michigan.
I'm not sure why you would expect any other kind of response.
Rob
I don't think I could have written my thoughts in any more of a confusing manner. My apologies.
To summarize:
Mike was hostile, and made serious, unsubstantiated accusations against UM's coach and program, stating them as fact.
So why would the response of Michigan fans surprise you?
A verbal changed his mind at the last minute and went to Michigan.
Must something untoward occur for that to happen?
joisy:
Now that cooler heads are prevailing (translation, i read mike's post(s) a few times over), it appears that Mike probably overstepped his bounds, which is rare for him.
For me, MGoBlog provided the best argument by merely stating Bret Bielema's recruiting practices. If there was any kind of gentlemen's agreement, he has long since broken it.
The surprise was mostly due to my previous experiences with the Michigan folk, i.e. i believed they were ignoring the one side of the argument that players should contact the school they had previously aligned with before decommitting. Given what has been provided by Brian in the last few days, maybe we were wrong. Or at least, we might want to look into updating recruiting practices, e.g. having Joe visit our prized recruits regardless of verbal commitment.
Is it sour grapes? Admittedly, a little bit; myself and others were looking to him as being our outstanding recruit, and he switched at the last second.
However, Mike should prob. not have stated that RR was shredding documents in such vile manner, or was actively involved in "stealing" recruits. He could have left it to speculation.
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