Chris “Mad Dog” Russo joined ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday to deliver a scathing rant on the Michigan Wolverines in light of their punishments from the NCAA. The analyst took shots at Jim Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore and the program as a whole in the process. “I’m mad at [Jim] Harbaugh, who didn’t want to answer […]
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo joined ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday to deliver a scathing rant on the Michigan Wolverines in light of their punishments from the NCAA. The analyst took shots at Jim Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore and the program as a whole in the process.
“I’m mad at [Jim] Harbaugh, who didn’t want to answer any questions yesterday. What a job by Tony Petitti two years ago, the Big Ten Commissioner, who had the guts to suspend Harbaugh for a couple of games because of that sign-stealing thing, with the kid on the sidelines, the offensive coach. How about the NCAA? They gave Michigan a $30 million fine. They suspended an extra game on (Sherrone Moore). He got two, now he has three. They embarrassed him to no end. Harbaugh ran out of town when the running was good to go to the Chargers.
“They can play in the postseason, we can argue about that, whether the NCAA didn’t go far enough, ‘We don’t want to punish the current Wolverines player,’ that’s debatable. Here’s what I like about it. Michigan likes to think that they’re Notre Dame. It drives me crazy. ‘We’re Michigan, and you ain’t. We’re the great Michigan.’ Great university. All the great things that Michigan has done, and you know Michigan showed? The kid got suspended for eight years. He can’t go anywhere near the program.
“Michigan showed that they’d do the same thing that you do down the street to win a ball game. They did that against Central Michigan, they were stealing signs. I know those Michigan folks right now have to be embarrassed. They won a championship, and nobody’s saying that championship is tainted, just like the Astros, with the home-run thing, with the Dodgers in ‘17. People are killing Houston because of sign-stealing. You know, I’m not going to go that way. Same with the Patriots against the Rams.
“But here’s what I do think, Michigan thinks they’re above the law. Michigan thinks, ‘We don’t have to do that, we’re Michigan. We play in The Big House, 102,000 people. We’re a great academic university.’ All that nonsense, that garbage that I can’t stand. This puts that to rest forever. Michigan was desperate to win, and they cheated to do it.
“That, to me, what you saw with the NCAA, they owe Petitti an apology. All those fans killed Petitti forever, that Big Ten Commissioner. They booed the hell out of him when he went to Indianapolis to give them the Big Ten trophy, when they won the Big Ten Championship Game. He turned out to be 100% right, and the NCAA verified it.”
— This story is developing and will be updated.
Category: General Sports
