Damn Mike Hart has a big mouth

[I am a huge CUNT]

sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2966536&sportCat=ncf


Anyone else been following this?? I swear the kid never shuts up. MSU bias or not, you never say anything like that about a guy who did great things for your school.

"That's a guy I have no respect for," Hart said. "You graduate from the University of Michigan, and you're going to talk about your school like that, a great university like we have? To say that we're not true student-athletes? I don't know if maybe he wants to coach here and he's mad because he didn't get a job. … He's not a Michigan man. I wish he'd never played here."

[detroitbasketball]

...and then trashed it in the media.

I guess nobody's allowed to defend their school, then? If someone like Plaxico Burress or Drew Stanton came out and trashed MSU, you'd just be fine if the players who have pride for their school didn't say anything?

Your bias is messing with your common sense.

[USN]

I think Hart was justified...Harbaugh may have had facts, but comparing Stanford and Michigan is retarded....especially criticizing what the players are or aren't majoring in...it's none of his business..

[Sportsbuck]

Hart always has, and he'll always be a crybaby who can never accept the facts.

At the Big Ten Media conference last week, he still talked about his claim that the Wolverines would've won a rematch with Ohio State.

Have fun talking shit Mike, because Vernon Gholston will tear you limb from limb this November.

[I am a huge CUNT]

detroitbasketball said:

I guess nobody's allowed to defend their school, then? If someone like Plaxico Burress or Drew Stanton came out and trashed MSU, you'd just be fine if the players who have pride for their school didn't say anything?

Have you seen how many times he opens his big mouth? Something doesn't go right for him, he lets everyone know. Like Sportsbuck said, it happens multiple times.

Would I care if Stanton or Burress say anything, at first yeah. Difference is, Harbaugh has facts. That's what the damn article was about. Showing where Harbaugh is coming from. Obviously he cares about his school. He never competes with Michigan on anything. Wouldn't you want your former school to be as great as it can be? Michigan is a great university regardless of how much I hate them. That's why Harbaugh is disappointed with the situation. If I remember right, alumni from every single school in the nation don't like everything going on with their school. Harbaugh is just more known and that's why this gets attention.

Obviously, if it was something totally retarded then yeah I would have a problem. That does not mean I want it to come from the players. I think the only ones who should have stepped in are Bill Martin the UM AD, and any other administrative employee.

Players are there to play. I doubt Mike Hart knows anything about what's going on with other people's academics and anything that has to do with Stanford. And for Hart to say that Harbaugh was jealous because he didn't get a job there, that's complete arrogance.



EDIT: PS Mike- No one cares about the stupid "Michigan Man" shit anymore. Even if it was important, I doubt you have a say in that.

[Freak93]

It is alright for Hart to defend his school. It is respectable if you ask me. Shows his passion and love for the school. I do think that Harbaugh has a point, but brought it up because he has some problem towards his alma mater. Which in my eyes, gives Mike Hart just cause to defend his school.

[McGahee]

freak93 said:

It is alright for Hart to defend his school. It is respectable if you ask me. Shows his passion and love for the school. I do think that Harbaugh has a point, but brought it up because he has some problem towards his alma mater. Which in my eyes, gives Mike Hart just cause to defend his school.

Agreed.

[I am a huge CUNT]

Just to point out, Mike Hart has one of the "General Studies" majors that Harbaugh is talking about. Think I know the reason why he is speaking up.

[Freak93]

I understand that. He gets to take it easier and focus on being a better football player to have a chance at the millions NFL players make. I think it is stupid to major in that while being an athlete, but to each his own. Hopefully Michigan looks at this and corrects the problem. These players can easily go down with an injury and then where are they?

[Leak2Troupe03]

I agree with Harbaugh here. I think his intent was good, and that he proves he's a coach that is in it more for the players and their future rather than just football. I believe with the facts he provided he proved that Michigan's football program is paying more attention to setting up a winning record than doing that while producing graduates and successful men after college.

You can't just try and have them all focus on just football and say it's for their pro careers, after all only about 1-2 even from a school like Michigan make the pros each year.

[I am a huge CUNT]

Thank you Leak. That's what I've thought all along.

Harbaugh's comments weren't necessarily an attack on Michigan. Basically he just wants what's best for his school. That's why I think Mike Hart needs to shut his mouth.

My cousin used to go to Michigan and he knew Tyrone Wheatley. Said Wheatley got special tutors, classes, and didn't have the same requirements that regular students had.

[Leak2Troupe03]

You could say Hart was defending his school, and I could see that point and believe he was. But who gave Mike Hart the authorization to do so? Just because he was defending his school doesn't exactly make it right. After all, if a player starts to fight with a guy on another team because he was defending his team and teammate, doesn't he still get in trouble? Hart kind of stuck his nose in something where it didn't belong, and went too far as to call out somebody who did what Jim Harbaugh did for Michigan as a player and to claim he's doing so due to coaching opportunities is just ridiculous.

I see Spartan's point in this one, and this is coming from someone who has nothing at all against Michigan. I would like to see some of the Michigan fans comment on this with their thoughts though here on DC.

[Sportsbuck]

What really irks me is that Shawn Crable chose Michigan over OSU because of "Michigan's Business school", but then proceeds to major in general studies.

[Chief Bstn]

lol michigan fans

[Maize]

Mike Hart is not the smartest of Michigan players. Although that being said, still smarter than any OSU player. I would love to step up and defend him, but it was a stupid comment. It was passionate and just off-the-cuff, don't read farther into the comment than it goes...

[Sportsbuck]

maizeandblue15 said:

Although that being said, still smarter than any OSU player.

Ohio State players actually declare majors in courses that can help them later in life. I guarentee you there is no way he can even be anywhere near Craig Krenzel in term's of smarts.

Ohio State players are also smart enough not to shoot their mouths off.

Typical Michigan fan comment.

[detroitbasketball]

sportsbuck2745 said:

maizeandblue15 said:

Although that being said, still smarter than any OSU player.

Ohio State players actually declare majors in courses that can help them later in life. I guarentee you there is no way he can even be anywhere near Craig Krenzel in term's of smarts.

Ohio State players are also smart enough not to shoot their mouths off.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of their fans.

[Sportsbuck]

detroitbasketball said:

sportsbuck2745 said:

Ohio State players actually declare majors in courses that can help them later in life. I guarentee you there is no way he can even be anywhere near Craig Krenzel in term's of smarts.

Ohio State players are also smart enough not to shoot their mouths off.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of their fans.

Sadly, I'd have to agree with you on that.

[I am a huge CUNT]

I don't think there is a problem with a player speaking up for their school, this was just not a situation that needed to be addressed by a player. Especially one who was in the "General Studies" group.

Sure, maybe if the guy said your school was a total piece of garbage. Yes, then you can step up and say something. But to say it was because he didn't get a coaching job, is down right idiotic.

[I am a huge CUNT]

DREW SHARP: Hail to the hypocrites; U-M's arrogance is academic

August 11, 2007

BY DREW SHARP

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

I grew up a "Michigan man."

And then, thankfully, I grew up.

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I was kicked out of the shadowy club long ago because I violated the fraternity's basic creed: Never take a position that contradicts the fiercely protected and aggressively cultivated perception of Michigan's high moral ground in college athletics.

It doesn't matter if you're right. Silence equals subservience.

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh broke the code last spring when he openly called out his alma mater for softening its academic standards for football players in relation to the rest of the student community.

The initial response to Harbaugh's "revelation" outside of the Michigan inner sanctum was "tell us something we didn't already know."

It was the equivalent of CNN interrupting regularly scheduled programming with a "Breaking News" alert: This just in from Baghdad. Military sources acknowledge it's dangerous in Iraq.

But Michigan's recent retaliation, questioning Harbaugh's loyalty to the cause and his values as a "Michigan man," was excessive in its vitriol and revealing in its hypocrisy.

When did Mike Hart become the final arbiter in determining an ex-player's qualifications for the "Michigan man" club? What's his career record against Ohio State?

What's his career bowl record?

He's winless on both fronts. Shouldn't that cost him valuable "Michigan man" points?

And when the official spokesman for Michigan football, Lloyd Carr, labels Harbaugh's comments as "arrogant" and "elitist," isn't that the equivalent of the prima donna calling the diva conceited?

The problem is that Michigan made this a bigger issue than necessary. It didn't even try to logically counter Harbaugh's assertions with a valid defense of the general studies program that came under question in a recent ESPN.com column by Pat Forde.

The program has a curriculum that provides more flexibility than others in the liberal arts, leaving it entirely to the discretion of the student as to how much or how little he'll or she'll take advantage of the program.

A university academic official told ESPN.com that only 1% of the Michigan student body majors in general studies, yet according to the 2007 Michigan football media guide released last week, 30 of the 47 Wolverines declaring a major chose general studies.

That's more than 60%, suggesting Harbaugh might be closer to the facts than Michigan might like. But it's hardly an inconvenient truth.

Michigan is no different than any other sizable public academic institution that also brands itself as a powerful football institution. You want good students and even better citizens, but you're recruiting football players.

Keeping them eligible within the framework of NCAA guidelines remains the primary objective. That often entails hiding those athletes who consider taking 12 academic credits a semester a necessary evil toward their primary goal of reaching the NFL.

That's not cheating. Semantically speaking, it's not even a circumventive loophole of the rules. It's just a balancing act: You must provide football players with enough time to satisfy their academic obligations without compromising the immense time demanded for football preparation. Many players are steered to less-challenging curricula to better ensure their progression toward a degree.

Michigan does that.

Michigan State does that. Ohio State does that.

Harbaugh wasn't saying anything that wasn't already common knowledge, yet Michigan's combustive overreaction to his observations seemed overly defensive and opened itself to further ridicule.

But this is precisely how the "Michigan man" club works. Instead of using Harbaugh's experiences as a platform for discussion or even a moment's introspection, his character is immediately assassinated. It doesn't matter if he just might be right.

That's where the "Michigan man" club finds its comfort level. Those critics don't understand us. They'll never understand us. Therefore, their comments hold no credibility.

It must be very cool there, under the sand, where your head stays buried.