Two things:

1. His "criticism" of the report sounds more like effusive praise. He acknowledges: "This is the case even though not all the coverage, considered in isolation, has been unfair. The Free Press's long story about Dorsey is, in fact, a model of journalistic probity. The story lays out all the facts. It interviews Dorsey, and people sympathetic to him, but also one of his intended victims. It presents the complexities in such a way that readers with opposing views can reach opposite conclusions. I gained a deeper understanding of Dorsey from reading it, and the reporters deserve commendation."

2. The Free Press isn't anti-U-M. They've been a U-M homer for years. The writer Chait hates so much, Mike Rosenberg, is a U-M grad.

The Freep has been on an anti-Rodriguez tear since he took over, primarily because they have concluded he is an incompetent douche and they want him fired.

August 31, 2009

"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....

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."

February 5, 2010

Writes article based on his deep connections the anti-Spartan community.

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"The Biggest Douchebag in the Universe."

(Or maybe the second biggest. Hi, Gollum!)

Basically boils down to, "but what about Michigan State? Wah."

http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1049065

It's like reading Sperber -- the mindset of the various players needs to be explored. And you did that well. Much appreciated.

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You have to view the fans' reaction through the prism of their past experiences. The Ann Arbor News was declared "out to get Michigan" when they ran the painstakingly well-researched expose on the school's shoddy academics for football players, the one in which Harbaugh famously slammed his own school, which has left the fan base in the awkward position of simultaneously holding a grudge against him and coveting him. Rather than admit that, gee, maybe our prestigious academic institution is doing football players a disservice, UM fans chose instead to conclude that the local paper was simply orchestrating a major smear job.

Then came the Detroit Free Press' story on the NCAA violations on workout hours. Again, it wasn't that Rodriguez did anything wrong. It was that the writer, Michael Rosenberg, had an axe to grind (against the school he graduated from, incidentally).

So it surprises me not one iota that Michigan fans view any article that dares to challenge Michigan on the Dorsey situation as more picking on poor old Big Blue.

Chris Henry and Pat Lazear (see link below for Lazear's backstory). Rodriguez could give two shits about a recruit's character as long as he can run fast.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701244.html

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but as you allude to, the story here isn't a character referendum on Dorsey, but rather the lengths Rich Rodriguez will go to sugarcoat the truth. Rodriguez didn't say, "Dorsey's had some issues, and while it is risky to take a chance on a kid with a checkered past we think we can work with him, and he's committed to bettering himself." Rodriguez actually claimed, more or less, that he did nothing wrong.

I'd trust the kid on his own to go right more than I'd trust RichRod to steer him right.

Hilarious note: Michigan fans would argue that RichRod's teary-eyed presser shows how much he cares about his players.

Rodriguez didn't seem to have any salubrious effect on Chris Henry, Pac-Man Jones, and Noel Devine.

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Sure, I'll buy that he may be on the right track, but it would have been better to see how he does at the JUCO level first. Maybe he'd have been on an even better course if his actions had been punished by failure to obtain a full ride at a "big time" college football program. This smells too much like things are getting washed over, and I've seen plenty of kids react to that by just doing the same things that got washed over before.

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Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.

Rodriquez thinks model citizen means being a talented football player.

Seriously, the man always recruited the hard cases. I get that.

What I don't get is that why people would think that would stop at Michigan.

Michigan sucks

The guy has kept his nose clean for over a year and a half. I'm inclined to think he's made some positive changes in his life.

Having his cousin already up there worries me. Not exactly a 100% fresh start.

I wish him the best though. Except when he's on the football field.

Sorry to keep bringing this topic up, but I find the way this story is playing out fascinating.

When I first heard Michigan was signing a kid with an arrest record, it didn't seem out of the realm of possibility that there could be mitigating factors and that Michigan was taking a reasonable risk. I thought this might be an instance of a kid who may have gotten into trouble once due to the crowd he was surrounded with, but who was looking to separate himself from that environment and get a fresh start. However, when Rodriguez refused to provide details of Michigan's diligence and decision-making process with regard to Dorsey, my suspicions flared.

The local papers responded to Rodriguez's evasiveness by doing their own research. It turns out Dorsey is not just a kid who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time on one occasion. Dorsey has been involved in at least three burglaries, two of which he confessed to. Additionally, he wore his football gloves to conceal his fingerprints during one of the burglaries, which is significant in that it likely indicates his involvement was premeditated. He wasn't simply riding in a car with some friends when, without any advance knowledge on Dorsey's part, those friends decided to commit some burglaries. That he brought gloves with him suggests that Dorsey planned his actions ahead of time. As the facts have emerged, this looks less and less like a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and more like a pattern of intentional behavior.

I have also found the Michigan fanbase's reaction fascinating. We've had our experience with local reporters attempting to make a name for themselves by going after the football program. But where we were angry at Weineke and Carroll for attempting to make an issue out of trivialities (e.g., Clausen violating an obscure Indiana blue law that perhaps 2% of the population even knew about), Michigan fans are angry at the local press for unearthing serious, disquieting information that the Michigan coaching staff was hoping would be swept under the rug. I'm not sure how anyone but the biggest Cook-esque homers could find fault with the local press here. The timing of this is also interesting, in that a concurrent story is an assault by several Michigan State football players against other members of the MSU student body. Michigan fans are outraged that these players are being given second chances. Cook is apparently even marketing a shirt that refers to Sparty as the place "where second chances get second chances." It will be interesting to see if he will continue to use that line, since Demar Dorsey is currently on his fifth chance (at least that we know of).