(FACETIOUS TITLE) Rutgers defeats Harbaugh, wins the war (per Steve Politi)
We lost, you guys. Per Steve Politi. Link below. Indeed, it is a sad day.
http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2016/06/why_jim_harbaughs_n…
[It actually isn't too bad an article. It reads like a man who just cannot get himself to compliment a vastly superior leader and coach. Even his criticisms are subjective (questioning the motives of the camp in general, namely Harbaugh's apparent ego). All in all, the theme seems to be "hey, maybe that wasn't so bad, after all. Maybe Harbaugh is dedicated to this cause."]
Not because it matters, or that this amounts to anything. I just want to know that that the dozen Rutgers fans pushing this stupidity realize the absolute insignificance of their program.
After reading this, I still can't believe people don't understand this guy. He's a preacher in the Church of Football, spreading the gospel according to Schembechler. That is literally the best and most obvious way to understand this guy. Sure, he's using the camps to spread the word of Michigan; he's also using Michigan's resources to spread the word of football.
Of course, there are significant advantages to this for him; no one is denying that. However, this does help explain why he's choosing THIS path to get those advantages.
He's USING the children!!!! Won't someone think of the children?!?! /s
at penn state.
Why?
Why ask why?
Try Bud Dry.
How is that for marketing?
It's all good for the kids.
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It's all good for the kids and it's all good for Michigan. If there is a recruit out there who doesn't know who Harbaugh is, I'd be very surprised.
The Michigan brand is alive and well and is constantly in the news. That type of publicity is hard to come by in the off season.
so if someone who has clicked already wants to summarize what I am sure is hilarious lunacy, thanks in advance.
It wasn't all that stupid. Politi says he thinks Harbaugh is a self-promoting showboat, then spends the rest of the article talking about how JH worked really hard, seemed to care for all the athletes, not just the ones he's trying to recruit, and looked better than Narduzzi and Babers, who ducked out for a break and schmoozed, respectively.
If anything it sounded like Politi was moving from pissed to more bemused and even somewhat appreciative of the positive aspects of Harbaugh's rampage.
I have a hard time disagreeing with anything Politi said
He said it so Politi too
In summary:
- despite this being Parmus Catholic's camp, it was actually Harbaugh's
- the camp was a win for Rutgers because it "brought together the entire new Rutger's coaching staff...Urban Meyer...and more than 1000 high school recruits to support the Scarlet Knights"
- Harbaugh's prime motivation is still "shameless self promotion"**
**I found this ironic, considering the very next paragraph he notes how Harbaugh "never stopped working." Later, he even remarks "if it was all an act, well, it was a pretty good one." This is after Politi seemingly criticizes the other coaches for "schmoozing on the sidelines" (Dino Babers from Syracuse) and "(sneaking) out after an hour" (Narduzzi).
I was wondering how the camps compared in terms of participation. Did he offer hard numbers claiming that more than 1000 attended the Rutgers camp? That would be incredible. I believe the Paramus camp was limited to 600.
I'm beginning to think the best Rutgers is an ignored Rutgers.
Now I can go back to not thinking about them. I spent about 5 minutes thinking about Rutgers yesterday. I can't get that back.
Damn, so close to the W.
Did you read the article?
I can't read.
Nowhere in the article does Politi state that "Rutgers defeats Harbaugh" or anything close to that. In fact, considering the lunkhead comments Politi has made in the recent past about Harbaugh, he is surprisingly complimentary to JH in this new article.
"Harbaugh is the best showman in college sports right now, and make no mistake, he put on a hell of a show during his camp"
"Harbaugh's big New Jersey invasion turned out to be yet another positive development in a growing list for Rutgers lately."
"I mean this sincerely: Rutgers fans should stop trolling Harbaugh and send him a fruit basket instead."
"I watched Harbaugh for the full time that he was on the Paramus Catholic field, and he never stopped working."
"If it was all an act, well, it was a pretty good one. Again, while I think he's a self promoter who would make P.T. Barnum proud, I do think there is another factor at work here. He actually enjoys the interaction with the young athletes. Oh, and he's a little crazy.
Crazy, and when it comes to generating buzz for his program, brilliant. Harbaugh has managed to become a national storyline during June, arguably the quietest month for the sport. He has Nick Saban pounding a podium and all of the SEC suddenly demanding oversight."
That's what I sit here and think about with all of Harbaugh's antics and his personality. Yeah, he is a little kookoo for coco puffs, his brain is wired just a bit differently than the rest of our's. But there is a method to all of his madness.
He has everyone around the country talking about his program in June, when college football is, as you put it, essentially in a dead period. There is nothing going on save for the occasional commit, but all anyone can talk about is Harbaugh and what he's up to next. I live down in Atlanta, and the sports radio station I listen to on the way to work in the morning talks about him at least once a week.
Of course, all the hype in the world means nothing w/o wins to back it up, and big wins at that. Have to start beating the rivals and becoming perennial playoff contenders for any of this to mean anything. But Harbaugh is laying the foundation. Building the connections with kids and coaches everywhere, and he looks like he couldn't be having more fun doing it.
You beat me to it. I read the article as an example of Harbaugh slowly winning over his critics.
Are those people in the comments referring to the same Rutgers everyone else does!?
I think you could have stopped after #1. That is enough reason, I can't wait to hang 70 on them. That will be fun.
The name of a one-hit wonder band from the '80s?
That was Scritti Politti. Maybe his brother.
Scritti Politti was better.
Saw yestrerday where Buttgers was ranked #6 in Rape/Sexual assaults so you know they have that ging for them......
Harbaugh is so committed to pretending he's not doing this for selfish reasons that he actually made it look like he wasn't doing it for selfish reasons! He actually pretended to be coaching for real! What a snake in the grass.
In June? Okay.
Now we can kill them again like we did last year.
They're idiots for doing this in year one of a new coach that has never been a head coach. They're still gonna have the same shitty team they did last year.
Before, they may have had a chance to catch us off guard. Now we're gonna have that game circled and I wouldn't be surprised if we go for two again and make it while up big.
I can guarantee you that other than maybe the RU coaching search, the Rutgers section of NJ.com hasn't gotten half as many clicks as they get from anything Hrbaugh related.
Don't feed the trolls! Mabe visit their page incognito.
Not a terrible article. I suspect we will find more like it from those who don't like the coach.
Here's a snippet:
"If [putting on camps for any purpose other than recruiting] was all an act, well, it was a pretty good one. Again, while I think he's a self promoter who would make P.T. Barnum proud, I do think there is another factor at work here. He actually enjoys the interaction with the young athletes. Oh, and he's a little crazy."
This mirrors what an Auburn writer penned earlier last week.
Essentially, Harbaugh's detractors' reports tend to go something like this:
I suspect that Harbaugh has ulterior motives. I attend camp and observe, intent on exposing said motives/hypocricy. Restatement of initial suspicions, failing to provide evidentiary support. Grudging admission that Harbaugh appears genuine - and nuts.
What this says to me, more than anything else, is that Harbaugh is laying the foundation to win over his critics. The culture of the game at the moment, thanks in large part to the LEB and the NCAA, is one that only seeks to benefit themselves. This is a business afterall. Given more opportunity to operate counter to this culture and you'll find Harbaugh winning over more and more critics like Politi.
Is really the only thing I take issue with. Coach is doing what he's doing to advance the agenda of Michigan Football and football in general.
He's not a media whore out there trying to boost his own "brand".
I think Politi walked into the article with that premise firmly entrenched. Nothing in his article really supports it though. It's like he's fighting with himself. I want to write this... but crap, I have to write this instead.
Bingo.
I honestly don't think Harbaugh is that self-aware, in the context that his self image isn't that important to him. He is a robot programmed to compete and win. I honestly think he may be on the spectrum somewhere.
He played baseball by himself for 10 hours straight when he was a kid. More than once.
Aspie confirmed.
What kid didn't grow up throwing tennis balls, racquetballs, bouncy balls, or any circular object against a wall in their basement growing up? I had one wall that was all mine. I could throw any ball against it. And I did this for hours and hours and hours and hours all by myself. It was fun. It built excellent eye-hand coordination. I also spent a bunch of time kicking soccer balls against walls too.
I still do all of that to this day. I also play frisbee by myself at the beach. Throw that sucker into the wind as high and far as you can; then prepare to get on your horse to catch it. So many diving catches into the water.
There is nothing diagnosable because someone is interested in self-improvement of eye-hand skills.