It’s been an interesting week as a Wolverine fan watching
the media coverage in the wake of a disappointing loss last week in East
Lansing. Despite being an ocean away in
land-locked Afghanistan, I've been able to follow most everything thanks to the
Freep and Detroit News online.
Best of
all, and this is a shout out, to the UMGoBlog on Twitter. Not only does the crew at UMGoBlog hook me up
with some food for thought throughout the week, but on game days I can follow along. Many thanks for standing up to the Spartan
media handlers and keeping the tweets flowing last week.
Let’s begin with the ugly.
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| Detroit News Photo |
It seemed like the fact that the Spartans dominated the line
of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, the story coming out so far this week
has focused on personal fouls, dirty play and suspensions. Apparently ‘little brother’ took Brady Hoke’s
comments about face punches a little too literally; at least it seems William
Gholston did at any rate. Now you have
the Freep’s Michael Rosenberg calling on Dantonio to suspend the player while moronic
Matt Millen saying it was nothing but, “Youthful Exuberance”.
Any given Sunday I’d put Rosenberg in charge of my team’s
front office before I’d even let Matt ‘Mayhem’ Millen fold the towels in the
locker room. At least I could have faith
that Rosenberg would actually draft a football player whereas Millen would
probably go for the ball-boy with a checkered past in the first round.
But I digress.
Suspension or not, that’s a decision the NCAA is going to
have to sort out and whatever the outcome I’m okay with it. Likewise with the other personal
fouls/roughing the passer penalties that were called, the big boys get to look
at tape and figure it out. Here’s what I
can say for sure, Rosenberg wasted a great column because Coach Dantonio will
not suspend anyone. Gholston could have
robbed the concession stand at halftime, the whole thing on tape, and he’d
never bench him.
Think back to 2008-2009 and Glenn Winston. Had the coach acted decisively and
immediately, eight of his players would likely have not been involved in the
2009 frat house beat down and subsequently suspended. Or how about the ESPN headline that went something like, 'Michigan State Spartans reinstate Glenn Winston following jail term'.
That’s not to say Gholston even approaches the level of dubiousness
because he’s done nothing Winston-like but you still have to wonder about
Dantonio’s stomach for discipline. John
Niyo from the Detroit news hits on the same point about college coaches and an
aversion to discipline. Shoot, sit the kid for a half, something that says the MSU program has class and will police itself.
There are some positives to take away from the plethora of
media commentary however, Hoke’s team and even the coach himself, didn’t
bite. No, they are all taking the high
road. It’s clear to me the boys in Maize
and Blue are going to put this one in the bank for next season’s in-state
rivalry game in Ann Arbor.
Rest in peace
Sparty.
2 comments:
Imagine, the wolverines taking the high road for once. No, they will put their noses a bit higher in the air, call themselves the "Hahhhhvahhhd" of the Midwest and generally be even more obnoxious than ever. While I don't condone dirty play, I think it's time Michigan buck up and admit that they were under prepared and lost to a better team. That's how these things work.
Could be they take the high road because of a generally high self-opinion but I think they take the don't get baited by the media in this case because you are exactly right, they got beat by a better team. Preparation didn't seem to be the issue so much as the Spartans had more talent and cohesion, which is what you would expect. Sparty owned the line of scrimmage and Michigan couldn't run. The sad part is, and I think I said this from the outset, is that the press let us off the hook by talking about personal fouls...haven't seen much in ink talking about how a team dominated the line and that UM has a QB who couldn't hit is receivers along with receivers who couldn't adjust their routes. Would say this though, if Dantonio had handled Gholston's situation with even a half-game benching right up front there wouldn't still be discussion about fouls, it would be about the game. Why is it Izzo has no problems benching guys who need to get straightened out and Dantonio won't? He's so Tressel-like and who knows, maybe he goes to oSU next year. Not that Michigan has much to cheer about there, brought in a sketchy coach because it was supposed to be all about W's...big mistake.
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