IF CONNOR COOK IS A (BLANKETY-BLANK), THEN WHAT IS CARDALE JONES?

Is it possible to insult and/or disrespect a person without knowing it and without the other person knowing it, either?

That's where we're at with the latest assault on Spartans,

the trumped-up claim that Connor Cook was somehow

disrespectful to Archie Griffin on Saturday night.

I watched the trophy presentation after the championship game and could not understand what people were talking about afterwards...something about Connor Cook "insulting" Archie Griffin, but I never saw anything like that happen. Upon review, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Cook didn't mean any insult, and Griffin didn't perceive any insult.

It's the Michigan-loving sports media that has (once again) found a way to pick on Michigan State. The UM crowd is beside themselves watching MSU win its third conference title in five years, and they have to pick up some mud and start throwing it at anything they see.

Read the following quotes by Archie Griffin, published this week in the The Sporting News:

"The conversation with Connor went fine. That was an awkward exchange, no question about it. But at the time, I didn’t realize it.

"The next day I started getting a lot of calls and I was really wondering what they were all about. Then someone sent a copy of the exchange to my wife and we started looking at it and I said “wow.” It surprised me. When I got home to Columbus from Indianapolis I got a call from Connor Cook and he apologized for that exchange. He certainly didn’t want it to come off the way that it did and he looked at the video and was surprised at how it came off.

"It looked a lot worse than it really was and Connor was very apologetic that it came off that way. He really was appalled by the way it came off. Connor’s coach Mark Dantonio also called me and I know as an organization they were sorry. I accepted Connor’s apology and I think he was sincerely sorry.

"On that stage it was hectic and kind of chaotic with everyone celebrating. You could not hear anything. You could could not see anything and I had no idea it had come off the way it did."

-Archie Griffin

 from The Sporting News 

The reason Griffin "had no idea it had come off the way it did" was because IT DIDN'T "COME OFF" THAT WAY. I watched it live and didn't see anything bad happening. As you can see in retrospect, neither did the two principal parties involved with the non-incident.

Turns out that Griffin was on the podium last year when his alma mater won the championship game, and he played the same role with presenting the MVP trophy in 2014 to Cardale Jones. We have found a video clip of that ceremony, and it turns out that Jones, a Buckeye, didn't even shake Griffin's hand, instead brushing by the two-time Heisman-winner like he was little more than a pile of week-old roadkill. Check out the video below:

The MVP trophy presentation takes place between the 2:30 and 3:30 mark

in this video, with the main exchange right around exactly 3:00.

Let's summarize the key facts in this case:

1. Connor Cook did not intentionally insult Archie Griffin.
2. Cook did not think that he insulted Griffin.
3. Griffin did not perceive any insult from Cook.
4. Cook apologized to Griffin multiple times anyway.
5. Mark Dantonio apologized to Griffin.
6. Ohio State player Cardale Jones did not even shake Griffin's hand in the same situation last year.
7. Jones did not apologize to Griffin.
8. OSU Coach Urban Meyer did not apologize to Griffin.

I would add that there didn't seem to be any problem to those who watched it, since I watched it and found no problem, but technically the people who were screaming "foul" probably watched it, too.

If this was a criminal case, the Prosecutor would decline to press charges. If this was a civil case, it would be hard to prove "damages". But it is, essentially, SLANDER against Connor Cook.

The Michigan folks who stirred up this tempest in a teapot 

are still sore over losing to Cook and the Spartans

the last three seasons, especially this year

with their Savior at the helm.

"Michigan Man" needs to GROW UP.

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