M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Rocky Bleier]

I now understand why St. Jim is nicknamed "The Senator." Who is more corrupt than a politician?

[hack]

I too would like the satisfaction of beating him on the field, but let's remember that in the end what this means is that his beating us on the field means a lot less now. We've long known that the guy's a cheater. If that's what Tattoo U must do to in order to beat us -- to dedicate themselves to the art of corruption -- than now everybody else knows full well what we have known for a while. They can enjoy their hollow victories while and if they last, whereas we can relish our legitimate ones and look forward to the legitimate ones to come.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Another poster (forget his name) linked to quotes that DB made early in the week at a business meeting in Dearborn. What caught my eye was his comment that he has told all his coaches that he never wants to go before the NCAA infractions committee again and I probably don't do justice to the intensity with which he communicated this line to his audience. He said, "we will play by the rules." We may not like the rules and some of them I don't, but we will abide by them until we can change the ones that don't work well."

I wonder if Brandon knew this shit storm for osu was coming down? Seems to me he did and he is blowing M's horn in the face of an utterly corrupt osu football program that cheated like hell to establish conference dominance and in the process relegate Michigan football relative to osu to a once was.

I don't care whether half the stuff that is going to come out on this regarding the vest's hypocritical character is accurate or not because I suspect there is whole lot going on inside osu athletics that we will never know about that is illegal and has nothing to do with what osu is going to get hammered for. We've all known something was amiss. Now we're seeing a part of it ..... a rotten piece of flesh partly exposed with the suspicion by almost every sports fan that the totality of the rot is not even barely visible.

[SeanB]

If I'm not mistaken, Smith, the OSU AD, currently chairs the NCAA basketball selection committee. I'd say that given what has transpired under his watch, his term in that position should end quickly.

Sure, he can say that Tressell kept the information from him, but it's his watch, ultimately. That's not the kind of guy other member schools are going to want making final determinations on the field of 68.

What else is particularly galling is that OSU's defense of its players back in December was "they didn't know, we didn't do a good job of telling them". Yet Tressell knew well in advance yet chose to not do a thing. The fact that he ultimately played an entire season with ineligible players is going to be a major problem.

I'm still with Liney, though. I'll believe sanctions when I see them.

[hack]

Everybody knows its the tip of the iceberg. Smith saying ``we trust him'' is a pretty Orwellian way to basically say ``The AD tries as hard at concealing our cheating as Jim does at winning''.

As for Brandon, well, that side of him that amounts to a snotty schoolgirl tossing her hair at you and holding her nose up is generally annoying and unbecoming, but in this very specific case I guess it works just fine for him.

[Hannibal]

Hoke, Mattison, and co had better be out there hammering away at this on the recruiting trail.

[lineygoblue]

I watched most of that presser yesterday. To me, when Tressel spoke, he didn't seem like a contrite man, wanting to clear up wrongs of the past and move on. He looked and spoke like a man that was trying to justify what he did, and save his job.

The bottom line for OhNo has always been winning. They can talk about "winning in the classroom", and put up all the academic achievements they want. The bottom line is, win. Just like the old Oakland Raiders under John Madden, whose motto was, "Just win, baby". Walk that tightrope with the rules. It doesn't matter if you fall off a couple times. Just make excuses, and pick up where you left off.

Someone made the comment upthread about Tressel's nickname as "the senator", because of his squeeky clean image, all groomed up nicely, etc. Well, now he fits the "senator" role just fine, because yesterday, he spoke like a nabbed politician.

[lineygoblue]

Hoke, Mattison, and co had better be out there hammering away at this on the recruiting trail .

I disagree. I think Michigan's recruiters should totally ignore it, unless asked directly by a recruit's parents or the recruit himself. And even at that, say as little as possible. We're Michigan. We don't have to base our success and tradition on what "smell du jour" is rising out of Columbus.

[*JD*]

Did Boren get any ink while in stinktown?

[lineygoblue]

Did Boren get any ink while in stinktown?

Not much that I remember. I think he was an All Big Ten selection, but his NFL draft status is probably somewhere from the 3rd round on....

[Rocky Bleier]

ink = tattoo?

Let's not forget this:

According to a Columbus Division of Police report, the burglary occurred sometime between Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. and Nov. 23 at 8 p.m.
Hawk, Mangold, and a third roommate, Jonathan Thomas, told police that their apartment in the 100 block of West Norwich Avenue was broken into and about $3,000 in cash, $1,425 in movies, two laptop computers, a $500 Gucci watch, two Microsoft X-Box games valued at $500, a Sony Playstation game valued at $250 were taken.
Police were not told about the crime until Nov. 28, according to their report.

[Rob F]

IMHO, Tressel and osu will get---and deserve--- more severe santions from the NCAA than their own self-imposed slap-on-the-wrist.

Look at what happened to the U of M assistant who lied to NCAA investigators----fired.

Look at what happened to Dez Bryant, who lied to NCAA investigators---10 game suspension.

Look at what (after years of investigation) finally happened to Reggie Bush and USC, after Bush lied to NCAA investigators---Severe sanctions for USC, including vacated victories, loss of scholarships, and the separate action of the Heisman Foundation of stripping the Heisman Trophy from Bush.

I'm sure there are other instances (wasn't Bruce Pearl determined to have mislead NCAA investigators, resulting in bigger penalties?---not certain on this if someone can add their input) of the NCAA coming down much harder on programs and individuals for lying and misleading investigators on specific charges. I don't see how the corrupt senator can wiggle completely out of this one. He lied about when he knew something was going on relating to Pryor and the other kids selling their memorabilia, and no amount of self-justification can change that.

Liar Liar (gold)Pants on Fire...

[Hannibal]

I disagree. I think Michigan's recruiters should totally ignore it, unless asked directly by a recruit's parents or the recruit himself. And even at that, say as little as possible. We're Michigan. We don't have to base our success and tradition on what "smell du jour" is rising out of Columbus.

Sorry, but you're wrong. We need to hammer away at this. Negative recruiting works and I don't want to see us bring a knife to this gun fight anymore. When Rodriguez's job wasn't secure, everyone else was out there doing it to us. There's nothing wrong with being negative when you are telling the truth.

[Rob F]

<i>There's nothing wrong with being negative when you are telling the truth. <i>

Good point, Hanni----I would use it, too. Not to make it the prime focus, though, but as part of the mix in recruiting, yes. I still think, though, that the positives of playing at U of M should be the biggest selling point(s) rather than focusing on other peoples negatives

[Mackenzie]

I have to side with Liney. I don't think M should make it an issue unless directly asked by recruits, coaches, etc. Even then, I think all recruiting related individuals should be on the same page as far as what is said when asked and that is should objective, straightforward, and factual. On the one hand I see opinions criticizing some who live on the edge with respect to rules and on the other hand opinions supporting M running a clean program. I would agree that the truth is always a good defense. But, I also think that the truth is not necessarily the best offense. And since at this point, the truth or the ramifications of the truth may not have been clearly defined then I would prefer not to get the cart before the horse. I think there is a high road in this issue and M should take it. I agree with Rob in that playing at M and wanting to play at M should be our selling points.