I think we just found Ireland's interrogation point for those 3 meetings. Captaingate beats whoregate, although Ireland is very partial to cokeheadgate.
There's SO much crap to do with this draft stuff, I can't even imagine handling the ridiculous amount of information that traffics through NFL Draft Scout on the regular. Someone looks through a bio page, they don't see a team captain note, they say he wasn't a captain. Then someone else, or maybe that same guy just at a different point in time, reviews film of Mallett and maybe they even see him at the coin toss...and they've already forgotten that they wrote he's not a team captain. The embarrassing thing is that Rob Rang shined a spotlight on that inaccurate note.
Yeah. I've been working as a journalist for almost 15 years now and I know how easy it happens to publish a wrong bit of info based on some lazy research when you've got a million other (and more important) things to do. But I would also say, from personal experience, that no editor in chief I ever worked with would have looked lightly on me highlighting the wrong info. They would at least expect me to - and rightly so - to double check by, say, a quick Ryan Mallett + team captain Google search.
LOL. True. Well, the flap is going in tomorrow's piece. Not intentionally shining a light on other peoples' mistakes, but it is important to the whole character thing that Ryan Mallett was voted a captain by his teammates as soon as he was eligible to play, and even before he'd actually won the job. And also, the whole thing sort of highlights how faulty or incomplete information, innuendo and whatnot, can give people such a strong impression/opinion that can at times be based on really nothing. And then it comes down to "Ok, if he's such a good guy how come I think so strongly that he's a douche?"
I think they'll ask Jake Long his opinion of Mallet (even though they're not aloud to talk). Supposedly him and other top Michigan players disliked Mallett (could be rumors). Even though Mallett was a freshman and a lot can change from freshman to junior year. I would still be interested in what Long might have to say. Although he may be Henne bias if he did dislike him I would want to know the reasons why. I'm all for drafting Mallett. You draft him and then draft DJ Williams and you instantly upgrade your offense, their chemistry together already is a huge plus.
Could it be maturity issues? Unless it's just more rumors, my only fear is that Mallett, trying so hard to be "White chocolate", will not be taken seriously by his team mates either.
I've never seen any substantiation that Jake Long didn't like Mallett. In fact, you can spot Mallett tweeting back and forth with guys like Steve Breaston and Lamarr Woodley. But we'll see.
In the case of Mallett, one has to acknowledge that he rubs a lot of people the wrong way. His facial expressions, his body language, his tone ... to quite a lot of people the guy comes across as brash and raffish. His infamous Combine press conference serves as a perfect example. I didn't think he said anything wrong, but people threw him under the bus afterwards. A first impression often goes a long way - whether it's the proper impression or not - to form a strong opinion. And that's when wrong informations and innuendo come into play because people will readily believe them as they only substantiates their own impression of a guy. I suspect that in the case of a guy like Brady Quinn, the mistake would have been quickly realized as it wouldn't have fit with the golden boy image many people had. Mallett comes with a difference image (whether there's anything to it or not, is a different story alltogether), so the info seems to fit.
Could be. I just find it hard to believe that all these rumors are false when they came from three different places and all basically say the same thing about a guy (drug problems, lazy, arrogant). In my experience, it is very rare for different, independent groups to arrive at the same conclusion about a person and then later find out they were all false. It could be that Mallett will be one of those people that changes, but most people don't change habits like laziness. If you go around betting they will change then you will end up losing the vast majority of the time.
If you read the Draft Winds piece for today I think you'll see that it can be based on not a lot, and the reality is the SEC and Arkansas media all adored Ryan Mallett. Sometimes expectations frame these "first impressions" to where there's nothing really "first" about it. That's probably what was going on at that media day in Indy. I came away hearing all the journalists talk about it and I just chalked it up thinking man, he must have come off like a grade A douche, can't believe he failed his media test when he should have been prepared for it. Then I saw the video and immediately thought, he didn't fail anything. The media failed. I think with time the media of whatever market he's in is going to see and feel the same thing about him that the Arkansas and SEC media all clearly see and feel. You listen to him interviewed and you're like, all this guy is doing is smiling and laughing with you and making jokes and showing a self-deprecating sense of humor, being thoughtful, sounding genuine...what gives? But then you think back to how Ryan Mallett was NOT, no sirree, NEVER a team captain...and then you're like, "Oh, that's what gives". And it has nothing to do with Ryan.
You've yet to cite any of these different, independent groups. Believe me, we dug. We dug a lot harder than I can guarantee you've ever done on the subject.
In my case, it genuinely was a first impression. It was the first interview I had ever seen with Ryan Mallett, literally my first exposure to the guy without a helmet on. And while he didn't say anything wrong, he didn't ring true. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is; you know when you meet someone for the first time and you instantly dislike him without being able to tell why, exactly? It was like that for me and from the later buzz, it was like that forthe attending media too. But since they couldn't print a story called 'Ryan Mallett rubbed me the wrong way but I can't explain why', they made a huge fuzz about him refusing to answer any more drug related questions when that was precisely the proper and wise thing to do. Et voila: You have another huge character red flag because the dude ostensibly sidestepped the question. Mind you, you don't need to convince me that Mallett is a really nice guy. To be honest, I don't give a damn. I don't want to marry the guy. I've never particularly liked Dan Marino as a person either. Didn't make him a worse quarterback. The reason Mallett scares me is that I'm not sold on prototypical pocket passers in this day, age and game anymore. Unless you're looking at a first ballot Hall of Fame talent like Peyton or Brady, I think you need to be able to extend plays with your feet in the modern game. I'm not sold Mallett can do that, and I think a lack of this ability is what played a significant role in Chad Henne's lack of development, too. I might be wrong, of course. Or maybe it doesn't matter because Mallett becomes the next Peyton or Rivers. But I'm not sold. Yet.
I wasn't digging. Most internet articles that remain tend to skew towards the most current. I'm simply a Michigan fan so I came across the reports over the years. The three different, independent groups were HS, Michigan and Arkansas. When Mallett went to Michigan he seen as the saviour. He was a five-star QB who everybody was hoping would be the guy to bring Michigan back to prominence. The reports of him being a jerk in HS at Texarcana (sp?) were all over the place. There were several who defended him of course as just being cocky. There were also a few drug rumors back then. He played quite a bit that freshman year b/c Henne was hurt so everybody at Michigan was praising him. There were some drug rumors swirling about on the message boards even then. Then after he transferred from Michigan there were reports that his team mates hated him. I even gave you a link to a more recent report that actually used the word "despised". The reasons most often cited were most often: arrogant, second most: work ethic and third most: drug habit. I believe the specific drug was cocaine. Then at Arkansas his coach made mention that he needed to work harder (or words to that effect), there were more drug rumors and there were rumors that his team mates didn't like him. I don't know if any specific rumors at any of the three places are true, but I think it would be tantamount to sticking your head in the sand to pretend they were all false.
Or tantamount to waiting for something other "I think I read once that..." The fact that you think the desire for ANY corroborating evidence whatsoever, is sticking your head in the sand? That's ridiculous.
It's not an "I think I read that once". Its an "I know I read that several times". And as for corroborating evidence, the links to the articles are probably all gone by now, but if you read through old Michigan forum posts or recruiting forums from 2007 - 2009 (most any of those forums) you see people debating those reports. Personally, I don't need corroborating evidence b/c I know what I read.
It was in one of these Mallett threads. I responded to CK's request for a link. I think it was a a Fox news link.
