Rodriguez was pretty cool for the most part during the Monday morning press conference. Here’s a little audio of Rodriguez responding to a question from Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News this morning who asked if Rich Rod’s yelling at players perhaps creates some tightness in his team. This is one of the criticisms that thick Spartan fans drop on Tom Izzo when MSU struggles.
His animated (and at times sarcastic) response included his second reference to tea and crumpets this year. The first was earlier in the year referring to his relationship with Mark Dantonio, with whom RR doesn’t not have tea & crumpets.
It’s worth a listen:
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The best lines:
“It’s kind of amusing. If we had a quarterback that threw it to the wrong guy, and the guy picked it off and went 100-something yards for a touchdown and all that. And he come over to the sideline….if people expect me to put my arm around him, whether he’s a freshman or a senior, and say, ‘Honey that’s ok, don’t worry about it, misreading and all that kind of stuff. Let’s talk about it in the future and we’ll sit down on the couch and have tea and crumpets…’”
-> Links to press conference notes from mgoblog, and AnnArbor.com.
Child ID Program: Before Rodriguez’s presser, they had a special ceremony announcing the Michigan child ID program, something RR’s been active with since his days at West Virginia. Wal-Mart donated $270,000 to help provide ID kits (a home fingerprinting, DNA swab) that will help assist authorities if something happens to your child. Horrifying stat: over 800,000 children are classified as missing in a given year.
Every child in kindergarten and 1st grade in Michigan will get one of the kits at school to bring home. It looks like a nice program and there’s no “Big Brother” element that a lot of people can’t stand. Rodriguez has been recognized twice by the FBI for his efforts in this cause. More info on the official website – childidprogram.com.
