Big Ten Football Tweets of the Week: Michigan Needs a Little More Glasnost

Every Friday on the Big Ten Blog, we'll bring you the best Big Ten-related tweets of the week.

It seems hard to believe, but the notion of press availability seems to be more of a negative than anything for many college football teams these days. Yes, game plans and strategies thrive on secrecy, so whenever coaches get a chance to stem the flow of information about the football team's preparation, they take it.

Still though, the entire reason these teams exist is—well, it's to make money, if we're really cutting to the core, and that money comes from fans. In return, these fans want to be able to follow the program as closely as possible, and yes, that includes having the local press around. Their familiarity with the teams is crucial to helping breed that devotion and closeness from fans.

Thus, it's understandable that AnnArbor.com writer Kyle Meinke isn't exactly thrilled with Michigan locking reporters out of preseason practices this year. 

"

Michigan used to open practice to media, but rule was no tweets. This fall, no access whatsoever. Today, BTN gets to watch practice & tweet

— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) August 23, 2012"

"

I have opinions, but I think I'll just leave it at that.

— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) August 23, 2012"

Well, we'll say it for Meinke and the rest of the writers on the Michigan beat: This is crap, and Michigan fans should be upset at their school and program for putting such heavy restrictions on press access.

This next tweet isn't specifically Big Ten-related, but it's too good not to share. ESPN released its 450-game college football TV schedule on Thursday, and PR person Heather Potts cheerfully and dutifully tweeted out the link shortly thereafter. Noted Internet personality (and embodiment of everything wrong with humanity) Clay Travis took the opportunity to take a jab at Potts, and what ensued was a one-word atomic bomb:

"

Degrees. RT @claytravisbgid Y’all? #Syracuse just pulled your degree.“@mspotts_espn: ESPN's cfb sked for y'all.. es.pn/NnVbaT

— Keri Potts (@MsPotts_ESPN) August 23, 2012"

BAAAAAAAM.

Ever wondered whether college football recruits pay attention to their headlines and star ratings? Oh, they do, and you absolutely would, too. So when Rivals announced its new star ratings and longtime Michigan commit Shane Morris was bumped up to the elite level of 5-star status, he was quick to notice that very morning:

"

S/O to @rivals for giving me the 5th star! Thanks a lot!

— Shane Morris (@S_Morris12) August 20, 2012"

And finally, this is not an alternate uniform for Nebraska, but it totally should be. B/R's own Erin Sorenson noticed a picture from Nebraska tight end Ben Cotton of an unusual guest to Memorial Stadium:

"

Nebraska TE Ben Cotton posted a photo of a bomb squad testing at Memorial Stadium. Well, you don't see THAT everyday. twitter.com/helloerinmarie…

— Erin Sorensen (@helloerinmarie) August 22, 2012"

Fortunately, we never had to write a story about a gigantic crater at the 50-yard line of the Huskers' field, so whatever the bomb squad was doing that day, they did correctly. Whew.