Interesting article about Michigan and OSU football making a case we are both bad guys but for different reasons

How about we use our brains & alum $$ to come up with a legal way to beat them at their own game. Follow me here.

1. Every M players opens an ebay sellers account with a given username

2. Those players are instructed to pick up whatever $2 nick nacks they stumble into at yard sales, flea markets etc. 

3. Players list those items on eBay with buy it now prices of $500 or $1000

4. A list of those usernames is distributed to the vast pool of M alums with $$ that want to support the program. 
 

5. Profit. 

What the actual fuck have we done on par with those abuser protectors lmfao

Michigan's main sin is that it's a Jeb Bush in a primary field full of Donald Trumps i.e. we put a lot of emphasis on showing how virtuous we are in comparison and how we'd never stoop as low as them, but (a) it means we lose and (b) no-one will give you credit for it after the fact.

I mean, why don’t we not pay coaches millions of dollars, use the football revenue to make all of the university better. That way the coaches rich players poor idea is gone. Further, players should be able to profit off of their likeness. 
 

that said, if you want a pay day, go to the NFL. 

Article is the same type of bs that allows "good Christian" Hugh Freeze to bang hookers, pay players with $ and female company, and then claim he is being persecuted like Jesus.

OSU and the SEC are not Robinhood trying to help the poor....they pay players to win and they do it outside the rules.  They do not pay players out of some deeply held ethical stance that the players deserve better than the current NCAA system allows.

I am 100% in favor of a compensation plan for college football and basketball players (the huge revenue generating sports), but also realize it will be complex given the other varsity sports that will want to claim payment as well.  The "likeness" model from California seems to be a good first step. 

However, this article is a ridiculous false equivalency. And asking UM and Harbaugh to essentially help redesign the rules that have made CFB a farce, have allowed "Hawt Take" media idiots to disparage Harbaugh as "overrated" with every big loss, and allow a corrupt conference to pick winners and losers (2016 OSU game), is ridiculous.

Michigan operating within the rules of a shitty system does not make it equivalent to sleaze like Tressel and Meyer who operate outside the system. 

It’s basketball season.....

“As Sports Illustrated documented in detail a decade ago, Tressel supervised a program in which players were connected with local businesses and boosters that provided them with money, cars, tattoos, and other NCAA-forbidden benefits. Many observers, this writer included, would consider such transactions benign, even admirable.”

I stopped right here.  

The leaders and best? Well get out front of a system that pays players, you draw what 770,000?  Charging a bunch per ticket, start bringing in the best players for the football school like you would med school or any other part of the school. If not move the OSU to earlier in the season or move to the west division or stay on your high horse and let things be status quo. What do you say Leaders and Best?

Jesus.... if I’m going to be a bad guy I’d damn well better be winning while I’m doing it.

As far as this article is concerned, that’s the difference.

I didn’t read all of of it and based on the comments, I’m glad I didn’t. It was just more of the same stuff we read and post on here. We can be naive and pretend we’ve never been sanctioned, removed any banners, or had someone name us as a school that he paid players. Gary was an academic all American here yet scores a 9 on the wonderlic? How does that happen? We somehow flip Dax Hill from Bama after he flipped to them and everyone screamed about bagmen. How does that happen?

We’ve skirted the rules by hiring a players high school coach or parents and we pay the top available guy $7.5 million to come here and be our coach. We keep dipping our toe in the water while standing at the edge of the pool and we complain about getting wet when those around us cannonballed in. We need to decide if we are going to jump in or sit on the deck and watch others have fun. Right now we just look stupid standing there and complaining to nobody in particular. 

What was the last clean (or at least cleanish) CFB dynasty?

Nebraska second half of Osborne era?  On the cutting edge of steroids.

Miami in the 80s and early 90s  $$$. 

Okahoma under Switzer?  LOL.

Southern Cal under Pete Caroll?  Not clean.  Not even close. 

Alabama under Saban?  Not clean.

Clemson in last four years?  Not clean.

Is OSU under Meyer/Day a dynasty?  Maybe.  Yes, if they win it all this year.   So...not clean.

Long story short:  It probably is not possible to really be a 90% plus winning percentage program over a 5 or more year period without being dirty. 

The answer is quite simple. The University of Michigan should leave the Big Ten in football only and play in the Ivy League. Therefore, the football program under Harbaugh can maintain its academic standards keeping it above Stanford. The recruiting field will certainly be fair as Michigan will only have to worry about Harvard and Yale year after year. Last but not least, Michigan will always have chance to win the conference title year after year. The football program can be just like Ohio State is to the Big Ten- the conference monster. It’s a win win situation for the program and it’s fan base. Michigan football will keep the medical field supplied with physicians while never giving up ethics or integrity while dominating on the gridiron. They won’t have to get caught up year after year in the playoff drama nor will they have to play in a meaningless bowl anymore. This is the answer folks. True leaders of the West. John Bacon can stop writing his books and focus on a Netflix documentary on each player as they progress through medical school and their lives afterwards. In the meantime, Harbaugh’s salary can be raised to 11 million and each year the team can start taking trips into space when they have explored the entire globe. 

Claiming that the other schools have bagmen is a convenient way to explain not being as good....

Also claiming that other schools have lower academic standards is also convenient.  
 

Talk to a Michigan athlete off the record, and you will learn. Hundred dollar handshakes aren’t rare anywhere...they aren’t.  sorry.   And I’m glad they get these perks.   They deserve it  

Some scholar athletes take advantage of a rigorous schedule...some don’t   This happens everywhere.   Listen to interviews of athletes from any school   Some seem smart...some don’t.

If you want to see evidence, you don’t have to look far.   The Fab 5 wasn’t that long ago.  Ed Martin had full access to the program, not just 1 player.  

Michigan loses out on the majority of recruits because of on field performance   Kids want to go to a program that wins and a program where they will get to the NFL.

Most of these guys are going to college to prepare for life...and their preparation is for the NFL.  Thats what they are here for.  

It needs to be discussed.  

I'm sick of this hiding in plain sight bullshit.  Ohio State is spoiling college football.  

Cosby doesn't go to jail unless the comedian talks about it.  

Can anybody write anymore?  "this year's version of the game."  There is no version.  Nothing changed.  The phrase "this year's game" is all that is needed (you know, the whole brevity thing).  If he really loves that phrase, I guess he could use rendition instead of version.

Sorry, the lack of writing skills shown by today's "journalists" really sticks in my craw! 

There are now four 'camps' amongst the Michigan fan base in regards to why OSU has pulled ahead of us.  As a public service, everyone should know which camp they're in and be ready to publicly state it:

1. The Equivocators - these people believe that everyone cheats, therefore Michigan and OSU both cheat equally and OSU just wins because they're superior.  These are the same sorts of people who win every political argument by ignoring degrees of magnitude.  If they commit a murder, well, everyone speeds and jaywalks so who are you to judge.  I think most of these people are trolls or OSU graduates.

2. The Machivellians - these people acknowledge that OSU cheats to a greater degree than Michigan, and think we should cheat just as much to be on level footing.  The fact that we don't is just weak and pathetic on our part.

3. The Moralists - these are the folks that are OK with us cheating less, and losing 2-4 games per year as long as we maintain the high ground.

4. The Alchemists - these are the people who acknowledge that we cheat less than OSU, but think we should still be able to beat them every year.  Mostly they blame Harbaugh for not doing this, for reasons that are unclear.

Just for the record, I'm a moralist.  I think the NCAA rules are going to dramatically change in the next 4-5 years anyway, so now is not the time to sell our soul.  I don't mind being the underdog for a while longer.  Our time is coming.

This was not worth a read. I award you no points

"What makes Michigan such a galling case is that it could do something about this. The school has a credibility with college-sports traditionalists that, let’s say, Florida State and Baylor do not. It has a coach with a national platform and a reputation as a true believer in the ideals of college athletics, and a school president who comes from the Ivy League. For such people to make the case that college-sports ideals are not incompatible with player compensation—for Harbaugh to become the Calipari of football—would be a significant step in the direction of justice."

The fact Michigan has a President from the Ivy league is the reason why they will continue to uphold the bad system of the NCAA. And also remember how Harbaugh disparaged this very Michigan teams academics while at Stanford. He can feel that player should be compensated and lead that charge. But that doesn't do anything for the players who can't get admitted because they are not academically prepared for the rigor. 

I’m a let’s figure out how to legally support and attract the best. Do we use, I mean really use the all of the tools at our disposal? Do we introduce recruits to M alums who hold decision making positions at companies that can ensure a future for the recruit, or even perhaps the recruits family, after football? 
Would it be NCAA legal to offer recruits & immediate family some sort of lifetime health Insurance benefit thru the UM health system?

I’m sure we could come up with more & better ideas than these but if our institutional approach was. 
1. let’s stay on the legal side of the line.

2. Let’s push tight to that line and do as much as possible for both the recruit and their family.

3. Let’s demonstrate clearly that your relationship & benefits continue and even increase when your time playing here is done. 

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.