The
Spin – Here It Comes
In the 24/7 news cycle, the BranDictator – Hoke - Concussion
story actually had pretty good legs. 4
days in a row, it was the lead story on the National News and all the morning
shows. But now, we are in the “Everyone
has made their statements, hunker down in the bunkers, and let’s see exactly
where were at” mode. If another college
football scandal erupts (which I’m sure BranDictator is praying for - I heard he tweeted Jameis Winston a new meme) then
Michigan will be temporarily off the hook, press wise, anyway.
But this is one story I’m not totally sure will just go
away. It’s going to linger and create
further damage, if that’s possible, than has already been done. And of course, time begins to heal all wounds
and it also gives the spin doctors and master manipulators time to do their
thing. Which, as we all know, time is a
precious commodity. In either direction…You’re
either using it wisely or wasting it.
There’s now a “handful” of groups that are coming out in
support of BranDictator, as I knew there would be. BranDictator is a master of spin and when he
does finally “bare his soul”, which will also need to happen, but he will wait
to do that, he will explain that he is “always acting in the best interests of
Michigan”.
And
here it is! I was trying to get this put together and post this afternoon when I
got a tweet that “Brandon has Spoken”
And frankly, I’m disappointed the Daily, which I’m still kind of an avid
reader of “on-line” didn’t take on the tough questions! This entire thing has a “PR Firm/Specialist”
tone to it as well….Sickening….The Daily Link:
Some
Excerpts:
On
communicating to Hoke:
Brandon said he doesn’t know how Hoke eventually learned of
the concussion. As of Monday afternoon’s press conference, the coach had
claimed he was only aware of Morris’ high ankle sprain, also suffered against
Minnesota.
I can’t believe we’re still
sticking with this story….Incompetence and no communication….Dysfunction at its
finest. I mean, that’s a pretty damning
statement and he’s just saying, “Yeah, we need to do better.”
The Statement
As the person “responsible for Michigan athletics,”
Brandon explained that he made the decision to release Tuesday morning’s
statement, despite Hoke previously saying it would come from medical
professionals. The Athletic Director said information learned throughout the
day Monday led to the release being finalized close to 1 a.m.
“The appropriate person in athletics — and I judged that
to be me — needed to make it very clear that a mistake was made,” Brandon said.
“We own it, we recognize and we acknowledge that a mistake was made, we
apologize for it — and I did — and we immediately committed that we would learn
from it and make changes to ensure that it wouldn’t happen again.”
Uh, I think this was
covered pretty well in the earlier post/rant.
Dave couldn’t get his way and decided that “instead of letting the
medical guys make the statement”, he would make it and weasel word it in his
own way. And release it at 1:00 AM.
BranDictator’s
“Pain” and “Hurt”
For Brandon, though, he said he hopes to fix his
relationship with students. The protest Tuesday, he said, hit him hard.
“That’s very hurtful,” Brandon said. “Anybody who thinks
that they want groups to gather with the topic being criticism and sometimes
very personal attacks on the work and the job. It’s hurtful. It’s hurtful to
me, it’s hurtful to my family.”
“I’m not tone-deaf,” he added. “I felt very badly. My job
and my personality is to the best of my ability, I have to fix that.”
Brandon also noted that he has received incessant
feedback from alumni and donors. He noted that some of it was constructive,
though he did not mention how much of it was negative.
And
to that, we can all say, “PHHHBBBTTTT!!”
OOOhhhhh…..We’re
so sorry we hurt your feelings Dave!!!
Gee, you’re only making a cool $1M a year to make dumb decisions and get
those feeling hurt! And were sorry that
your family thinks we’re being mean….maybe you should step down if you can’t
take the heat on what are fair job critiques? And how about the fan’s
feelings of lost trust, ever escalating prices and everything on “The List”?
The
Money…
As with anything, it always pays to follow the money and
the real decision and direction makers for the University. An alert blog follower (HT: TJH ) found these
articles and they unfortunately paint an all too real situation that we’re
probably looking at when it comes to the BranDictator. TJH’s Comments:
I suspect this articulates the Dave Brandon situation best. The Brown
guy is going to learn who the President of Michigan really is and he lives in
Miami. Always follow the money. Brandon
will marginalize Schizel quickly. The rehabilitation of Dave Brandon has
already begun. He forced the Michigan Student Athlete Association to issue a
public endorsement and forced Brady to give him a big character reference in
his press conference today.
The articles are lengthy, but worth the read. I’m starting another heading, in objective fairness
to BranDictator, to the right that will be the reasons we should keep
BranDictator. Unfortunately, most of
those reasons are focused on and around the money and growth he has brought
into the Athletics Department.
Here’s the links in their entirety. From the Big Lead:
This Crain’s Business article is an interview with
Stephen Ross and his public endorsement of Brandon that is also gaining some
local attenthion…
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