Howard Kurtz is the guy I thought of. Back when he was with the Washington Post he had a unique approach: It isn't the news, it is the news of the news.
The Wisconsin game was just a football game but the news is what is wrong with Jim Harbaugh. During the Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez periods it was always what is wrong with Michigan football.
Stewart Mandel, formerly of Sports Illustrated and now behind a paywall at theathletic.com suggests five theories for what is wrong with Harbaugh. I don't know what they are. The piece starts by suggesting "the call" is one of them.
If a man cannot put one play, call, and game behind him as part of job he has serious problems and let's hope that is not the case. More to the point, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and no one knows a thing. It is hypocrisy, egotism, and clickbait. Mandel is just one example.
Probably it is a good thing it was not a Michigan home game. The fans would have been irate and the booing would have been merciless. That is not intended to be viscous criticism like some. Paying fans may do as they like, and bloggers and commenters too.
It is just that many go way overboard.
Some, if professionals and in business, no doubt hurt themselves in the process. There is no finer example and memory relating to the Wisconsin game than Brian Cook and mgoblog.com. Brian (I will use the colloquial name because his website can be that) refused to write about the game. Later in a radio broadcast or podcast he cast aspersions on Jim Harbaugh's mental health following a career as a football player, i.e., incurable CTE.
Even readers on his own blog and website--his business--criticized his actions. A common description is "irresponsible." I would characterize it more as enemy-creating and foolhardy. For now, I will simply call it a lingering negative to the Wisconsin game.
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