Another hackjob by The Worldwide Leader in Propaganda.

This article was originally going to be more of a game recap on the Wolverines' dreadful showing against the Badgers, but I decided to change it up and shoot from the hip a little bit.

Ahem, here goes: Pat Forde sounds foolish after ripping Michigan in this column:
Foolish Article

Forde says Michigan was exposed by Wisconsin on Saturday, that while they're not the same team that went 0-2 to start the year in embarrassing fashion, they're also not a contender.

Um, elaborate a little, will you Pat? A contender for what? Are you talking about the national title? Because I don't think anyone thought that. If that's what you mean, thanks for pointing out the obvious. You sure earned that presumably fat ESPN paycheck with that astute observation.

The only other thing UM could possibly be a contender for is the Big Ten title, and that they still are even after the bad loss to the Badgers. The game against Ohio State next week would have been for the Big Ten title no matter what happened this week.

Give Wisconsin all the credit they deserve for playing a great game and controlling the game, but the fact of the matter is that Forde just wrote an entire column bashing Michigan for losing what was essentially a fairly close game with a freshman QB on the road and backup running backs. If Michigan really needed this game to have a shot to win the Big Ten title, Henne and Hart would have played at least half of the game. To make a final judgment about the true strength of this Michigan team after they lost a game that they really didn't need one week before the game that just might define Lloyd Carr's legacy at Michigan (he's 6-6 versus Ohio State in his career right now) is just idiotic.

Then, for good measure, Forde threw in a couple of quotes from Wisconsin players telling him how much better Ohio State is than Michigan this year. And that's relevant to whether or not Michigan is a legit team in what way? Last I checked, the Wolverines played against Wisconsin and not the Buckeyes.

Here's a better concept for Mr. Forde: How about you actually wait until the two teams play before making the assertion that Michigan is not on the Buckeyes' level?

I realize that Forde needed to write something about the game since he appears to have filed the story from Madison, but how about writing a story about how the Badgers overcame their own injuries this season and showed the resolve and skill of a team that had their own disappointments to bounce back from this season?

That was the story here, not Forde's non-sensical sudden realization that everything Michigan's accomplished in the Big Ten this year is meaningless because of one bad game in which the Wolverines didn't even bother to risk the health of their two most important players.

And people thought ESPN hated Ohio State.

Meanwhile, another front-page ESPN article headline talks about how Charlie Weis is feeling the pressure of surpassing the standards that Tyrone Willingham set before Weis came to town. Yeah, either that or the fact that his current Notre Dame team couldn't even beat the Coast Guard right now, let alone Air Force and Navy. ESPN still seems to have a lot of love for Notre Dame which is understandable because of their popularity, but Michigan is right there with them in terms of national profile and ESPN seems to jump all over them whenever they lose a game.

Needless to say, I didn't read that article, and I really wish I hadn't read Forde's latest abomination either.

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Lloyds Apple said:

On a similiar note, ESPiN's Ivan Maisel wrote about OSU's loss to Illini, where it was obvious he had to hold himself back from jizzing all over his monitor. He discusses the game but leaves out certain details, such as the missed fumble, that should have at least been mentioned. Also interesting is them not showing the replay of that on Sportscenter. Imagine if OSU had won and OSU is the one that had gotten a big break on a call--the replay would have been shown endlessly. Certainly mentioned in Maisel's article. ESPiN hates both OSU and Michigan. They hate the Big 10 Network and the Big 10 collectively. I can't wait for Bowl season. Hopefully the Big Ten gets in Bowl games they SHOULD be in, rather than too good of bowls because the Big 10 is the only reliable conference for bringing fans to games. Pat Forde==Smug Bitch!

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November 12, 2007
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ItOffishul said:

	there was a good article posted about how the big ten has the best record against teams from bcs conferences this year at 9-4 while the sec is only .500 not to mention auburn losing at home to SFla and some other bad games. the whole big ten is weak thing has just been passed around as fact thanks to a few bad losses. mostly michigan, which sucked but what can you do. sorry.
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Lloyds Apple said:

I'd say bowl season could change things, but really, the Big 10 was 2-1 against the SEC last year and has a better head to head record over the last 5. Bottom line, people will believe what they want to. It just pisses me off to see these assholes talk their jive, pretending to be non-partial. OSU just got a top ILB recruit, Etienne Sabino from Miami, FL who commited on ESPNU. The first question he gets is about Florida's superior speed and if the OSU coaches mentioned that's why they needed him. Sabino was nice about it, but as a recruiting analyst you should know OSU gets some of the nations top athletes. Michigan too. Hell, just look at NFL rosters to figure that out. How the ESPN "experts" get away with the consistent stereotypes that always persist is beyond me. It makes the common fan dumber and influences polls, which is the most frustrating aspect of the whole deal.

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November 12, 2007
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