@Trey_Burke3 My advice, believe in YOUR heart & mind, everything else is interference. People u seek out is better than those that seek u.
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) March 28, 2012
Yesterday afternoon Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis sent out a poorly worded tweet in response to Michigan point guard Trey Burke. What Hollis is doing following a Michigan basketball player on twitter is anyone's guess. Why he thought it was a particularly good idea in a public forum such as twitter is part of a much larger discussion of just how different a medium of communication --- both in the nature of its reach and its instantaneous delivery --- the social media service is. Why he said "people is" is just plain funny for anyone looking for an easy Michigan State joke.
The negative reaction to the tweet was quick and surprisingly less grammar based than I thought it would be. A message board thread about the tweet was up on MGoBlog in less than a half hour. The responses range from the understandable "that's weird" to the extreme "he's trying to get Trey to go pro!" and the misled "isn't that an NCAA violation". Over at RCMB --- a veritable bastion of intelligent thought and opinion --- the responses were much more focused on the trolling effect this had on the Michigan fan base --- something it is hard to disagree with.
Eventually, Dave Brandon, Michigan's own athletic director and brand manager (I say that without a hint of bitterness or derision), had his own response, "Mark Hollis had good intentions-but made a mistake. Not appropriate to tweet one of our student-athletes. Won't happen again. End of story."
And so, some 16 hours later (some news cycle, eh?) we have to ask ourselves, why should we care?
Ultimately, we shouldn't. The tweet itself was a piece of innocuous advice in direct response to an exasperated tweet by Burke:
EVERYONE got something to say... smh I thought this was my life!
— Trey Burke (@Trey_Burke3) March 28, 2012
If you are of the opinion that this was a serious faux pas in polite 21st century society, I have some bad news for you: things aren't getting much better. Mark Hollis gave a piece of advice to a student athlete from a different institution because thanks to twitter the frustration of Burke was plainly visable and the time it took Hollis to mentally compose and send his tweet was less than what it took me to write this last paragraph.
Twenty years ago the only way this happens is if the two men are in the same room, and that is likely where the advice would stay. We are blazing a new path with Twitter and sports, people. The rules aren't quite written yet, and as soon as they are they will just have to change again. Save your outrage for things that really matter.
Links? Links.
Who wants a ride on Taylor Lewan's tandem bicycle?
That's a lot of lineman.
Lloyd Carr shares lessons learned from Michigan's 1997 national championship team - Interested in Lloyd Carr's speech from the Appreciate + Reciprocate dinner last night? Read about it here. We will have more information in the next week or so from one of the group members.
Recruiting Notebook: Monte Morris back on the radar, 2014 stars - Michigan is back in the running for the Beecher high school guard.
Sometimes You Eat The Turnover Bar
But once we get past the woo and start talking about setting expectations for year two we should not base it off what Michigan did last year but what they should have done, what they lost to graduation and attrition, who they return and add, and who they play. We should start with the premise that Michigan was super lucky last year and probably won't be this year.
Brian from MGoBlog takes some time to look at Bill Connelly's turnover numbers and put them in the proper perspective for both last season and the coming year. Namely, A) Michigan was extremely fortunate to recover the number of fumbles it did, B) turnover margin will likely regress toward the mean, and C) the best chance to keep the turnover margin highly positive is if Denard is able to cut down his share of turnovers.
The GIF Bracket: No. 1 'Mortified Michigan Punter' Vs. No. 2 'Hockey Massacre' - Your voice was heard and Will "Mortified Michigan Punter" Hagerup moves on to the next round. Go blue.
Danny O'Brien talks Wisconsin decision - Danny O'Brien has decided on Wisconsin which means three things. First, someone in the Big Ten is going to cry "cheaters" after losing to the Badgers in 2012. Second, Randy Edsall is just one step closer to being fired out of a cannon in the center of College Park, MD because just firing him won't be enough. Third, somewhere there is a quarterback on an ACC roster that has no idea he will be starting for the Wisconsin Badgers in 2014.
Bonus after the jump: Craig James calls Mike Leach a bully. And he does it while keeping a straight face.
Like what you did to those five hookers while at SMU, Craig?