An Involuntary Round-up on the Free Press report

My colleagues in the blogosphere do a much better job of the periodic link-out posts.  Today’s posts and articles reacting to Rosenberg’s piece are really solid.   My initial reaction was more of a stream of consciousness starting from 1am last night and finishing up this morning.  Good to see a range of reaction across the nerdosphere and elsewhere:

* mgoblog: props to TomVH for getting a few quotes from parents, here’s the father of Michael Schofield:

The worst part of all of this is that the reporters targeted the freshman, with misleading questions they can get them to say anything. I’m a fire chief, and I deal with the media. I don’t let my men deal with the media, because they can get them to say anything. They could make us sound like the worst station out there if they wanted to.

Without names, this article means nothing to me.

* Maize ‘n’ Brew: Dave presents his own smattering of thoughts, here’s one:

7)  I would like some answers from the coaching staff.  It’s not just that UM passed the rules a little bit – if the article is 100% true – they obliterated them.  That’s the kind of thing that strikes me (a casual fan and observer, nothing more) as being a bit reckless.

* The Wolverine Blog: Ace not happy.  You won’t Ace when he’s not happy (or maybe you will after seeing his revised Free Press logo):

While I will still wait to pass total judgment until the NCAA investigates (and, according to MGoBrian, any potential repercussions should be minor if any penalties are levied at all, based on NCAA precedent), I still find this to be (1) irresponsible journalism and (2) therefore totally overblown until someone can actually prove to me that these accusations are true.

* AnnArbor.com: A few takes from Mike Rothstein on the report, as many folks are waiting to see how the new local news organization reports this thing.  A good line from Rothstein looking ahead to Monday’s press conference:

He’ll get his chance to defend himself Monday. And by the end, he might beg to talk about quarterbacks. On Friday, the biggest questions surrounding Michigan were all about play on the field.

* Richard Deitsch:  One of those watching AnnArbor.com’s handling of the Rosenberg piece is the Sports Illustrated writer who blasted out this tweet:

Interesting early test for AnnArbor.com’s sports dept.: How will they follow up on Free-Press’s huge U-M story today

* Michigan Sports Center:  Sean has a nice post rolling through the report and some of the reaction. 

I think it’s safe to say there will be an investigation, as this story isn’t going away anytime soon.  It has been the top story on ESPN.com since it broke and has already made its way around the media.  To put it bluntly, it’s a big story.  Anytime you have the mention of NCAA violations it will be a big story, but when Michigan football is involved, it is taken to another level.

* Paper Tiger No More: Jim Carty retired right?  No chance, Lance, he’s popping back in on this.  Many takes from JC including

That will change if the NCAA gets involved, and the ESPN story makes me think that’s more likely. Will it be a major case? Probably not, but even a minor NCAA investigation involving Michigan football would be a significant black eye for a program that prides itself on its clean image.

Fanboi response: But … but … but … everybody’s doing it.

Umm, it’s Fanman, man!  Later, Carty: “And "everybody’s doing it" has never been a defense Michigan or its fans have embraced.”  Correct.

* Wolverine Liberation Army: Chitown Blue sings the blues and is not pleased with Comrade Rodriguez:

The simple facts are these – the Free Press published a story that is, in part, corroborated by current Michigan players on the record. Other portions are corroborated by a former Michigan player – Terrence Taylor – again, on the record. Other portions are corroborated by a number of anonymous sources. The veracity of much of these revelations are, frankly, nearly impossible to refute.

* ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg:  a well-balanced piece by A-Ritts

The Michigan situation stands out because if the allegations are true, the coaches and trainers didn’t merely go over the time limits for practices and workouts — they obliterated them. If you’re regularly keeping players at the football facilities for 10 to 12 hours on the Sundays after games — as current and former Michigan players told the Detroit Free Press and ESPN.com — you’re probably asking for problems.

Maize and Blue Nation.  Brad with a nice post, more concerned about the impact on the foundation of RR’s program:

It’s likely that Michigan will receive some attention from the NCAA, but probably not enough to garner any sanctions. Michigan’s football program has never had an NCAA sanction imposed. The only thing that this kind of accusation can do is drive apart the program further than it already is. More friction will be created between players and coaches. And with less than a week from Rodriguez’s 2nd season at Michigan, this is the worst thing that could happen to this team.