U of M thread (in the Lions Forum) :)

[froot loops]

Again I say bone up on the rules.

[Rocky Bleier]

Tell it to Rosenberg.

[Rocky Bleier]

Violations truly worthy of Firing


Jon Chait
Special to TheWolverine.com

Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg's expose on Michigan workout program revealed a shocking breach of rules that should cause somebody to lose his job. That somebody is Michael Rosenberg's editor.

Rosenberg is a talented writer. I enjoyed his book and gave it a favorable review in the New York Times. Yes, he has strong opinions on Rich Rodriguez. (He's hated him from the moment he appeared on Michigan's radar and has made it is life's work to run him out of town.) But that's his right as an opinion columnist.

What's not his right is conducting investigative journalism for a newspaper on a topic on which he has expressed such passionate opinions. In my primary field (writing about politics) no respectable newspaper would dream of letting an opinion columnist who had crusaded against an administration write a news article claiming to uncover dirt on that very same administration. It's wildly improper.



If I were a sports editor at the Free Press, and Rosenberg came to me with his stories about illegal workouts at Michigan, I'd thank him for the lead. Then I'd pass the information on to one of my reporters. I'd tell the reporter to look into several college programs, not just ones run by coaches Rosenberg was trying to get fired. If Michigan really turned out to be doing something unusual, fine.

Instead, the Free Press published a prosecutor's brief, determined to make the case against Rodriguez, rather than present the facts in an evenhanded way.

The key concept behind his allegations of rule-breaking is "involuntary." Players can work out as long as they want. It only breaks the rules if the players are being forced to work out beyond the allotted time. Rosenberg filled his article with quotes from Michigan players describing how hard they work. It's meaningless. It's as if he set out to expose an epidemic of rape, and came back with an article mainly describing the conjugal relations of happily married couples.

Now, the concept of "voluntary" is pretty hard to pin down. The Free Press would have done college athletes a great service by exploring
whether it's actually possible for players to make voluntary decisions. After all, college coaches have enormous power over their players, and the players usually see the coach's desire as a command. When I played high school football twenty years ago, I did not consider offseason workouts to be voluntary. Neither did the players who, having missed such sessions, "decided" to stay after practice and run wind sprints until they puked.

A few years ago, USA Today did a good piece on offseason workouts in college, questioning whether such activities could truly be voluntary. The article quoted one Georgia football player scoffing at the notion. ("It's mandatory to us," he confessed.) But that sort of comprehensive approach didn't advance Rosenberg's goal.

Rosenberg made only a farcical effort to compare Michigan's program to that run elsewhere. He solicited a few on-the-record quotes from former Michigan State players, who told him with a straight face that no, sir, we only condition for an hour or two a day. Maybe this claim is worth verifying.

Now, I'm no Bob Woodward. But I did manage to dig up an obscure source confirming that Michigan State football players work just as hard as the Wolverines. My secret source is a publication called the Detroit News. It printed an article on July 29, 2008, reporting:

MSU says it has a strong weight coach, too
Dave Dye
The Detroit News

Much has been made about the intense workouts at Michigan under Mike Barwis, the new strength and conditioning coach.

The Michigan State Spartans would like everyone to know they're working pretty hard, too.

"I don't think they're working harder than us anyway," MSU running back Javon Ringer said. "I'm pretty sure they're working tremendously hard, but the things we go through with our weight-training coach -- coach (Ken) Mannie -- are unbelievable."

Big Ten players know each other pretty well - especially players from the same state, who often share hometowns. I think they probably have a good sense of how often they work out.

Now, here's why Rosenberg's opinions matter so much. In an article like the one he wrote, the readers have to place a lot of trust in the author. We have to trust that he interviewed the sources fairly, and didn't solicit answers that confirmed his prejudices. We have to trust that he granted his sources anonymity for good reason - not because they had an axe to grind. And we have to trust that he looked for evidence to undermine his thesis, and if it didn't appear in his article, it's because none could be found.

Rosenberg, with his deep connections to the anti-Rodriguez community, would be a good source of leads for an enterprising reporter to follow up on. Letting him write and report the article himself is journalistic malpractice.

[mason reese]

I'm confused, was the connection to the Detroit News article supposed to be an example of hack investigative reporting, or was he being serious?

[NewOrleansLion]

I thought Rodriguez did a pretty poor job at the press conference. Him getting "choked up" seemed a bit contrived. Explaining that members of the weight training staff had to be there to make sure that players "didn't drop a weight on their foot" was laughable. And the fact that he already made himself out to be tired of questions about this issue when the story broke one day earlier makes me wonder how he's going to make it through the investigation.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a State grad, but I'm just talking strictly PR here, not football. My bias might have affected my opinion, so I'm interested in hearing what U of M fans think about how he handled himself at the press conference.

[Mainevent]

I think RR's a fucking weasally shyster that will probably eventually get the program in some legitimate trouble and I hate watching his offense being run in maize & blue. But this sounds like a witch hunt by Rosenberg and much ado about nothing.

[chemiclord]

I thought Rodriguez did a pretty poor job at the press conference. Him getting "choked up" seemed a bit contrived. Explaining that members of the weight training staff had to be there to make sure that players "didn't drop a weight on their foot" was laughable. And the fact that he already made himself out to be tired of questions about this issue when the story broke one day earlier makes me wonder how he's going to make it through the investigation.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a State grad, but I'm just talking strictly PR here, not football. My bias might have affected my opinion, so I'm interested in hearing what U of M fans think about how he handled himself at the press conference.

He did as well as 99% of college coaches do in a contrived press conference setting.

Terribly.

And despite that no one, outside of a butthurt reporter who has an axe to grind because he feels his buddy (Carr) was run out of town to make room for a new coach (Rosenberg was going to hate anyone the Wolverines hired, this isn't a specific anger against Rodriguez), cares.

Get over it, Rosenberg.

[froot loops]

Is Rosenberg the only one that needs to get over it? I agree that these allegtions aren't going to amount to much, but I wonder if Rosenberg is doing this on his own or people behind the scenes are pushing this along.

[nhwbrooklyn]

All this really means in the end is RR has to win 8 or 9 games this year...

[WingsFan]

Him getting "choked up" seemed a bit contrived.

RR can get emotional. He got "choked up" in the same way up after losing to Pitt (even more really, I think he had the tears flowing) when he was at WV.

Is Rosenberg the only one that needs to get over it? I agree that these allegtions aren't going to amount to much, but I wonder if Rosenberg is doing this on his own or people behind the scenes are pushing this along.

Yep, It is speculated that not everyone inside the Fort supports RR . There seems to be a lot of behind the scenes restlessness with the good ol boys network that loved LLLoyd. Having said that a big winning season would quiet this like nhwbrooklyn said.

This was an ambush by the trash that is Rosenberg, once I told him to please leave town and go to the National Enquirer. I did tell him I will never read anything he writes again ( like I did with Sharp 2 years ago) Looks like I had him pegged good, I hope he enjoys his 15 minutes!

[Rocky Bleier]

Is Rosenberg the only one that needs to get over it? I agree that these allegtions aren't going to amount to much, but I wonder if Rosenberg is doing this on his own or people behind the scenes are pushing this along.

I'm certainly wondering about Lloyd Carr. Watch his demeanor change at the end of this interview when he's asked about Rich Rodriguez.



http://www.fox17online.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=29d922bb-df65-4f77-b78...

[froot loops]

I don't know why you wouldn't read anything by Rosenberg, I heard his U of M/OSU book was very good.

[WingsFan]

I heard it was good also, I never really had a problem with him till about a year ago. LLLoyd is a F'N baby! Always has been, he stopped Miles from coming b/c of personal reasons, he's still upset Kirk Ferentz turned the job down. Now he shows no support for RR, and I would not be surprised if he's turns a blind eye when people are trying to sabotage RR.

[froot loops]

It's more than just Lloyd though, there is other people who are pretty vocal about U of M hiring the wrong coach.

[Rocky Bleier]

There's a saboteur in The Fort. This reminds me of the aftermath of Bear Bryant's retirement. Alabama suffered while the old guard bitched about the next coach having to be one of Bear's Boys.