Tim Staudt of the lansing state journal on Harbaugh

Submitted by ThadMattasagoblin on
"All these complaints about Jim Harbaugh ' endless publicity in the various media. Wait 'till you see it if Michigan football starts winning big right away. And I'm not sure that won't happen, especially if the Wolverines win their opening game at Utah. If I was a rival fan I'd let it all go in one ear and out the other so as not to display the usual insecure feelings from Michigan's opponents." Interesting take from a newspaper that's been going on and on about how Harbaugh is selling hope and is just the same as Hoke.

bronxblue

May 24th, 2015 at 7:43 PM ^

Not directed at the OP, but I vote for a moratorium on posts where we point out idiotic comments from hack journalists at crappy newspapers covering hated rivals.  I don't need to know what some goober in Lansing feels about Michigan football, and the only thing that will come out of it is further proof why print journalism is spiraling ever deeper into irrelevance.

ScottGoBlue

May 24th, 2015 at 8:04 PM ^

Tim Staudt is the antithesis of a "hack" journalist. This is an internet message board so I guess I should expect the lowest common denominator, but I'm calling you out and up to a higher (better) standard. Here is Tim Staudt's bio from wilx.com, his employer: "Tim Staudt has been a mid-Michigan broadcaster for over 40 years, the longest tenure of any sportscaster on television in the state. Known as the "Dean of Sports" , Tim has anchored the sportscasts at WILX in Lansing, since 1980. Prior to that, he was the Sports Director at the former WJIM-TV in Lansing from 1970-1980. Tim has won several awards in the industry and serves on numerous area charities. Tim also hosts the popular "Staudt on Sports" radio program each weekday at noon on Sports Radio 730 WVFN (The Fan). Debuting on March 8, 1993, the show has grown to become the most widely listened of its type in Michigan. Tim has hosted a number of coaches shows over the years and has hosted Big Ten Basketball play-by-play for more than 10 years. Tim is married to Cathy and they have three sons, all residing in Okemos. He graduated from East Lansing High School in 1967 and Michigan State University with a journalism degree in 1971."

bronxblue

May 24th, 2015 at 11:14 PM ^

I'll fess up to misreading the quote, but the VAST majority of media members at LSJ who cover sports are just depressingly bad at being objective. 

That said, I hate the weak counter-argument that because someone doesn't link to her LinkedIn account on every post her opinion is invalid.  I'll admit when I'm wrong, but considering how rarely media members issue mea culpa's for their screw-ups I'm loathe to give them deference just because they are minor celebrities in the middle of the state.

mgoblue78

May 24th, 2015 at 10:00 PM ^

He covers most games from his living room or the bar at Dusty's Pub. I've seem him reporting on games as if he was covering them live on the 11 pm news when I knew for a fact that he was parked on a barstool pitching yet another spot on "Staudt on Sponsors" to some hapless barkeep.

He's been coasting on a long-stale local reputation and a complete lack of ambiton for longer than most of the posters on this board have been alive.  Yeah - he had the talent a generation or two ago to be a big market sportscaster. But he never had the ambition or work ethic to do anything about it.  He'd be eaten alive in a market other than Lansing, where he can spend half his time covering the Pewamo-Westphalia JV baseball team.

Remember - his biggest scoop ever was: Earvin Johnson was going to sign a national letter of intent to play basketball for Johnny Orr at Michigan.  And, in the past 40 years, his reporting and opinons haven't been any more accurate than that.

 

bronxblue

May 24th, 2015 at 11:09 PM ^

I'll admit I misread the quote - had there been a link to the article, I probably wouldn't have made the mistake.  But I've read enough of these takes from LSJ writers with the most obvious of agendas that I'm reflexively against them.

I retract my statement about Staudt being a hack, but based on my time in Lansing he might be the only guy covering sports in that area who isn't a shoot first, report second type of writer.  But I'll fess up to making a mistake and take my punishment.

befuggled

May 24th, 2015 at 8:03 PM ^

To find a Michigan coach who beat Michigan State in their first year. MSU wasn't even in the Big Ten then.

Michigan State should be a solid team next year and Harbaugh is just beginning to install his program, so unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if MSU won. 

Farnn

May 24th, 2015 at 7:52 PM ^

Can we please stop talking like the tides have turned in the UM/MSU rivalry until the team has actually won something on the field?  People were saying the same damn thing when Hoke was hired and we all know how that turned out.  I'm not saying Harbaugh is Hoke or anything close, but its the same words.

ThadMattasagoblin

May 24th, 2015 at 7:58 PM ^

Harbaugh nearly won a super bowl and hoke had a career .500 record. It's not like anyone is guaranteeing a 15 and 0 season or even beating msu or ohio st in year 1 but people are going to be excited since he's turned around three programs much worse off than Michigan is. Let people have their fun after the shit we've been in under Hoke.

ThadMattasagoblin

May 24th, 2015 at 10:46 PM ^

The point of being a fan is to think you're going to win every game in your mind. I'd be much more concerned if people were throwing in the towel to a season we haven't played yet with a new nfl coach. What's the point of pumping the breaks. This place will be boring as hell for the next three months if we're all talking about how we're headed for a 6-6 season instead of hoping for a good season.

Ronnie Kaye

May 24th, 2015 at 9:41 PM ^

You're right - Hoke is a career .500 coach and always was. That didn't stop people here from proclaiming the MSU rivalry won based on nothing but recruiting rankings. Harbaugh's track record is awesome but a little humility is probably in store here after how wrong many of us got it on this front. I think that was the poster's point.

BigBlue02

May 24th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^

I agree. The game this year will be won in one place and one place only. The message boards. Let's show some humility or our performance on MgoBlog will cost us the game this year. Some people are ridiculous. As if fans being excited about our football team and predicting wins somehow makes us less likely to win. Let people have fun. And it isn't even that crazy of a sentiment that we beat OSU and MSU. You know, for as much as MSU fans crow about how recruiting doesn't matter and having a good coach is the only thing that does, they sure make up a lot of excuses as to why we won't win with one of the better coaches in college football. You know why? Fear. They have it. Lots of it. And as a Michigan fan, it is completely fine to acknowledge it and have fun with it

Ronnie Kaye

May 24th, 2015 at 11:01 PM ^

How did you interpret my point as saying it has a damn thing to do with on the what happens on the field? It's just a bad look to not learn from the past. The consequences are not that dire - you're just setting up the chance to look like an ass in the future (though I think we already reached the apex of that with Hokeamania).

ThadMattasagoblin

May 24th, 2015 at 11:14 PM ^

What's wrong to believe that harbaugh can come in and take it to our rivals like he's already done at multiple schools? As a fan I believe this will happen just like I think the tigers will win the world series or the Lions winning the super bowl. It may not happen but I don't become a fan to believe my team is gonna suck. We may have been wrong on Hoke but at least we were passionate and believed in our team. That is worth more in my eyes than looking foolish to rival fans whose opinions we shouldn't even care about anyway.

Ronnie Kaye

May 24th, 2015 at 10:01 PM ^

Do you know how humilitating it would be for this board if some quotes were fished out from 2011-2013 claiming Michigan was going to roll over MSU and that their party was over because our recruits had more stars? It was very prevalent opinion. Not sure why a guy asking to pump the brakes after that experience is such a problem.

Farnn

May 24th, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^

Thank you, glad someone understands what I'm saying.  This idea that we have already beaten MSU and tied OSU is absurd if you look at the state of the team and the last 7 years.  I think Harbaugh has it in him, but it's by no means a sure thing.

BigBlue02

May 25th, 2015 at 3:40 AM ^

I get your point, I just think it's stupid. The last thing I care about on a Michigan message board is looking bad to MSU fans in 5 to 7 years. I'd much rather think we are going to win every game and if we don't, I can fall back on the fact that it's only a football game and I'll be fine afterwards. Pumping the breaks because you want to look good to MSU fans is pointless and stupid.

Ronnie Kaye

May 25th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^

So in other words, the opinions you express here are not genuine because you don't value your words enough to care if you're wrong. That sounds like what you're saying. And Farnn and I haven't said one thing about how we look to MSU fans. Intellectual honesty is more the concern.

Clarence Boddicker

May 25th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

And why should we--collectively or indivdually--be embarrassed by 'Michigan IS BACK' posts directed at OSU or MSU at the dawn of the Hoke era, when we were all charged up with "This is Michigan fergodsakes." So, we should feel bad about feeling good then, and not get excited now about landing a coach now engaged in remaking the program from the ground up, and based on extensions of best practices. Because the last A.D. made a bad hire, one most people were blah at best about, if not pissed outright, until that speech. Just not seeing your argument.

Ronnie Kaye

May 25th, 2015 at 2:09 PM ^

Because "This is Michigan fergodsakes" shouldn't have charged anybody up. It was propaganda. Hoke's record was his record. Thinking a pizza CEO had found this diamond-in-the-rough coach who was hugely undervalued by the rest of the country was always a wishful delusion.

Nobody said not to be excited about Harbaugh. I am excited as HELL. The post that started this exchange just said can we stop acting like the tides have turned in the MSU rivalry before a game has been played. Not an unfair point.