WSJ Grid of Shame
I'll start by saying the Wall Street Journal is not known for being great at sports journalism. It's obviously not their beat, they dabble and usually end up with the softest fluff, or being hilariously out of touch. This is a case of the latter.
THIS ARTICLE (if you get a paywall try incognito mode) and accompanying graphic try to build a grid where the dimensions are on-field success, and admirable/embarrassing behavior off. The good news? It appears to have Michigan ahead of OSU and only slightly behind Bama, Georgia, and Clemson on the Powerhouse side. The bad news is that we're on the wrong side of the embarrassing axis. Below Penn State! Clemson and Auburn are on the good side, both ahead of Notre Dame! Whatever metrics they're using are seriously out of whack.
However, on the bright side, they add in an additional "ick factor" to account for some things which have been in the news recently. Which puts our rivals MSU and OSU clearly at the bottom, by some margin over the rest of the pack.
If someone wants to steal the graphic and post it to the board, be my guest, but I encourage everyone to read the entire article.
August 29th, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
Having Michigan being less "admirable" that Miami - "the U" known for their part in "Catholics vs Convicts", among other things?
Sounds completely legit.
August 30th, 2019 at 4:43 PM ^
Whilst thuggery was a trademark of "The U" since about the mid 80s, I'm not sure about the "catholics vs. convicts" comment's relevance or legitimacy. WHICH (of the two) IS WORSE, given the recent state of that church and its multitude of sexual abuse cases???
August 29th, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
Doesn't WSJ sometimes publish articles by John THE U Bacon?
August 29th, 2019 at 7:16 PM ^
Plus UNC and Miami (YTM)?
August 29th, 2019 at 8:27 PM ^
Notre Dame I believe also killed a kid...
August 29th, 2019 at 6:20 PM ^
This is why Waystar Royco must acquire the WSJ.
August 29th, 2019 at 6:21 PM ^
Why on earth are we behind PSU? that’s ludicrous! Must be on some screw ball techinicality which of course they don’t list or show.
Read WSJ for $$$ not sports.
August 29th, 2019 at 6:28 PM ^
And somehow Army is closer to embarrassing than admirable? I would think nothing screams "admirable" more than the students choosing to be at a military academy.
August 29th, 2019 at 6:34 PM ^
Don't click on this shit. The WSJ just needs clicks for its ad department sales.
August 29th, 2019 at 7:16 PM ^
Too late. There's three minutes I'll never get back.
August 29th, 2019 at 7:29 PM ^
I was able to rub one out in that time, so it wasn't so bad.
August 30th, 2019 at 9:18 AM ^
DON’T CLICK IT!
...is the ticket...
August 29th, 2019 at 6:41 PM ^
FWIW, Sam Walker, the WSJ’s Deputy Editor for Enterprise, went to Michigan and was formerly on the WSJ’s sports staff. He remains a huge Michigan fan - or at least he was at the time of Braylonfest. We watched the overtimes at a bar in Phoenix (and the bartender was a Sparty). I’m not sure if he has any influence over sports content any more.
August 30th, 2019 at 6:11 PM ^
Sam is born and raised in A2. #CoolStory. Bro?
August 29th, 2019 at 6:47 PM ^
Ick factor/click bait.
August 29th, 2019 at 7:00 PM ^
As Bryan Mac pointed out on Twitter, Maryland basically killed a football player last year and they are somehow among the top 20 most admirable? What?
Also the UNC academic scandal apparently doesn't mean anything as they are way up there too.
But Penn State ahead of Michigan is definitely the biggest head scratcher. What off field controversy has Michigan had? I honestly can't think of anything real.
And by real I mean not some Harbaugh comment getting blown up for clicks, and not the Eric Swenson thing(since Alabama runs kids off left and right and they are still ahead of us, so "processing" a kid obviously doesn't hurt on this list)
August 29th, 2019 at 9:46 PM ^
WSJ is so full of shit. No way we are below ped state - so stretch gate is more heinous then rampant pedophilia???
Funniest thing is reading the BUTT HURT staee fans complaining that their beloved team was being besmirched by that "gymnastics thing", those people .
BTW, FUCK ped state and all their delusional joepa loving fans and all the paternos and field goal franklin!!!
August 29th, 2019 at 7:10 PM ^
IDK man. Sometimes it feels like journalism is dead.
The WSJ just posted front page a few weeks ago an opinion article saying a well known company was essentially about to go bankrupt... without checking with that particular company on the details within the article, for comment, prior to publication. Turns out a lot of the particular data was bogus and they aren't!
Best guess is they published it because it would get clicks and otherwise they wouldn't get the piece.
Here's to Michigan rising above the riff-raff this year and doing it right.
August 29th, 2019 at 7:33 PM ^
What you mean is that "main stream media" is dead. Once reputable news sources have been exposed as glorified "National Enquirers", and they are allowed to hide behind "Freedom of the press" to avoid accountability
August 29th, 2019 at 8:01 PM ^
This article --- I mean, I know WSJ does it every year.
But it's mostly "red meat" for the tribal college fans who derive a portion of their self-worth from their favorite college football team (and are prone to saying "my tribe is better than your tribe!!!").
August 29th, 2019 at 8:58 PM ^
If I want to read about the implications of the 30-year T-Bond falling below 2%, I'll pick up a WSJ.
If I want to read about admirable college football programs, I'll pick up my HTTV and go from there.
August 29th, 2019 at 9:24 PM ^
I would expect nothing less from the WSJ. Brainless, ignorant clickbait.
August 29th, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
I think they based it on "how often they were in the news" so Michigan is getting knocked down a lot for...
/checks notes
...educational trips abroad.
August 30th, 2019 at 12:43 AM ^
Well that was horrific.