Pete Thamel wrote an SI article 9 yrs ago (Sep 29, 2014) titled “Inside Read: High stakes of stealing signals” — Lots of interesting coaching names come up, they all said it’s part of the game, and we get a curious little quote from Gerry DiNardo
These article links prevent Thamel & co. from getting clicks:
- https://archive.ph/lrCHb
- https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.si.com/college/2014/09/29/auburn-stealing-signals-michigan-brady-hoke-devonte-fields
Re: Gerry DiNardo, his quote was “video tapping signalers is where he drew the line”… Could he have played any part in recording Michigan’s practice when he was in Ann Arbor in 2022 with BTN crew? If the specific practice that was leaked was from the week that he & the BTN were there…then I think that’s one thread that deserves to be pulled on, especially considering the recent rumors about the B1G:
- https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/2022/08/17/big-ten-network-michigan-football-gerry-dinardo-ohio-state/
- https://x.com/gerrydinardo/status/1559997156601303042
November 6th, 2023 at 1:49 AM ^
Edit: Removed article bc I guess it’s copyright infringement? See link below instead:
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2014 Pete Thamel SI article:
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November 6th, 2023 at 2:30 AM ^
Thamel Off.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:36 AM ^
Exactly.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:11 AM ^
1 - I doubt Pete Thamel cares about clicks from a former employer for a decade-old story
2 - Not wanting to give him clicks means ignoring his content, not stealing it.
3 - Why would you extrapolate from a guy saying that he did not approve of videotaping signals that he would risk losing his job and becoming unemployable in the media -- and probably in coaching ranks also -- by videotaping signals?
The media get behind-the-scenes access on the very explicit condition that they do not share anything that the coach doesn't want shared.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:29 AM ^
1. Did it for those here who care- I don’t care what Thamel cares about
2. Didn’t steal, clear attribution made all over the post and comments
3. Idk, people do stupid shit all the time. Potentially consider becoming a tad more skeptical / cynical about how honorable the media is with their super ironclad promises to coaches…
November 6th, 2023 at 2:39 AM ^
You can't simply take an entire post, put it on the site, and say that you're "not stealing" because you gave attribution. That is a clear-cut case of copyright infringement.
Edit: The original first post of this thread contained the entire article, copied and pasted. The OP has, rightly, corrected this.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:57 AM ^
Ok edited now what? We good?
November 6th, 2023 at 2:17 AM ^
Oh, BTW -- 13 years on the site, and you haven't figured out that it's trivially easy to see if somebody's upvoted their own posts / comments?
Truly an impressive effort all around.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:34 AM ^
No, I didn’t know this was even a thing. Assumed everyone did that. Noted, and undone. Have a wonderful, wonderful Monday.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:00 AM ^
I only just recently learned about being able to who is upvoting/downvoting other users. It's been enlightening in some cases.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:25 AM ^
Got one for you this fine Monday morning :)
November 6th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
I don't post much and it may be why, but I can't even see upvotes or downvotes, let alone award them to myself. Am I on probation or something? Do I need to lurk moar?
November 6th, 2023 at 12:07 PM ^
I don’t think you have enough points to get all of the privileges
November 6th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
That's what I figured, so thanks for clarifying. Guess I need to stop lurking and give the board my takes. I'm sure you've all been clamoring to hear them.
November 6th, 2023 at 8:15 AM ^
13 years, and you don't know it's a faux pas to upvote yourself? I don't believe you. Never once, in 15 years have I upvoted my own comment or post.
Also, in no universe would Dinardo risk his cushy position, and reputation, such as it is, to record Michigan practice while there in his professional capacity. No way, no how.
November 6th, 2023 at 9:39 AM ^
I remember you from forever ago- and if I was you I would think the same thing. I honestly get it, and I don’t expect you or anyone else to believe me. I also don’t expect anyone to care about the following, so skip it if you want, but I’ll offer it in case it’s at all helpful context:
Here’s how I arrived at not knowing this was even a thing here:
- I was an obsessive on this site until 2020, pre covid
- Then I lost my job during covid because company I worked for went under in 3 months
- Took me forever to find a new job, 2.5 years
- In the meantime, all due to my own faults, I progressively lost ability to care about virtually any of the things I used to enjoy, very much including Michigan football/basketball/this site (yes, depression and anxiety, and, stupidly, increasing beer/liquor consumption…I fell off the wagon hard)
- around that same time when I fell off the wagon, was when this site went through a bunch of drupal/web hosting changes, or whatever that was, and I was already very much in the process of checking out on so many things I had cared about for 3+ decades, going all the way back to my childhood
- Unfortunately I found reddit and that didn’t help because stupid infinite subs for every topic known to humankind until you realize it’s 99% recycled garbage and bots
- And reddit’s upvote system automatically gives you an upvote from yourself
- then I found a new job and a dr who said to try to care about what I used to care about even if I didn’t want to…and it started to work
- then I quit reddit, started to come back here, and yes it definitely helped that harbaugh/M have been owning the B1G around the same time
- And I just thought that my posts comments were at 0 for who knows what reason, I clicked the upvote, it went to 1, and I didn’t have a reason to think about it past that until now
- I wasn’t trying to upvote myself- I just thought something was wrong with the site and it had been years since I been back here because of all the stupid shit I caused myself above
Anyway, if it helps, I’ve gone ahead and downvoted myself.
November 6th, 2023 at 11:36 AM ^
Upvote yourself if you want to. How lonely do you have to be to care about that?
November 6th, 2023 at 12:47 PM ^
Idk how lonely one has to be- I didn’t want or intend to inappropriately upvote myself at all, no awareness/realization of the faux pas because of said context [listed here]. The nice thing is, I’m much, much less lonely than I was the last few years. And very glad to be back enough from the edge of the abyss that I can feel some growing connection here, with a bunch of anon M obsessives like I was and hope to still become :)
November 6th, 2023 at 1:23 PM ^
this wasn't an attack on you, it was a question for the upvote nazi.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
Yeah I thought so but I still wanted to try to diffuse if I was able and it was welcome from other poster- regardless, I appreciate your effort to clarify! :)
November 6th, 2023 at 7:35 AM ^
How DOES one see if they upvoted their own post? Asking for a friend.
EDIT: if it's simply just looking at the "Points" page then I do know about that.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^
Yes. And if you see the user impacted their own points with a +2 (funny that we always say +1) then that means they upvoted their own post somewhere.
November 6th, 2023 at 12:22 PM ^
who gives a fuck?
November 6th, 2023 at 12:57 PM ^
I don't know.
I thought the poster above me was asking.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:19 AM ^
Nice find. Thanks for posting.
November 6th, 2023 at 2:33 AM ^
Appreciate you sharing a relevant and somewhat amusing article by Thamel, but your speculation about DiNardo is wild. Nine years ago he said taping signals is not ok, and because he was in A2 for his very public job last year he’s a suspect in the current practice taping rumors? Am I missing something?
November 6th, 2023 at 2:35 AM ^
Nah you’re right- my tinfoil going off way too hard :)
edit: not /s…I think you’re right
November 6th, 2023 at 8:47 AM ^
Jeez. Downvoted for owning a mistake? Tough crowd!
November 6th, 2023 at 12:49 PM ^
It’s all good. Didn’t mean any harm. Just glad to be back here and able to enjoy things in this M universe :)
November 6th, 2023 at 4:05 AM ^
This is good work finding the Thamel article, Comrade! The Vast Network needs to compile all necessary information that exposes just how overblown Sign-gate has become. Sign stealing is common place, trade craft, among college programs, and the Big Ten and the media are treating Michigan like the progenitors of a technological advancement that forever threatens competitive balance.
Michigan has been caught breaking a rule that's murkier than swamp water. Let the punishment be commiserate to the perceived crime, if proven, after all thorough investigations are completed.
November 6th, 2023 at 4:48 AM ^
Pete Thamel is a pussy ass bitch. That is all.
November 6th, 2023 at 6:01 AM ^
so is this board.
November 6th, 2023 at 4:56 AM ^
Thamel is having the best month of his so called journalist life. All I see online is a regurgitation of info that was posted from the beginning. Eleven Michigan haters is where the true entertainment is. I get it we are in their heads but some of the comments over there are about as delusional as you can be.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:27 AM ^
Pretty sure this article wasn’t already posted but maybe I just missed it
November 6th, 2023 at 6:04 AM ^
It seems that the MGoBlog readership has already already hit the web archive link too many times.
I was able to find the SI version of the article. Would it be OK to drop a few quotes here? I hope so. Comments in brackets.
The Inside Read interviewed a dozen current and former coaches about the prevalence of stealing signals, and a majority consider the espionage a high-stakes game within the game. Most programs have staffers with binoculars in the press box peering at the signals being sent in on the opposing sideline.
Another SEC assistant said the bigger the staff of the school, the more he’s concerned. [Interesting. What Big Ten school does that bring to mind? Hint: It's in an adjacent state and south of Michigan.]
Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman said the Buckeyes don’t have a specific staff member assigned to trying to break the code of the opposition’s signals. [Did he mean to say they had a small army instead? Maybe this is just paranoia on my part, but I think this shows how smart and diabolical Urban Meyer was in that role. He anticipated questions about actions that could possibly be considered unfair and instructed his staff on how to handle them. Why unfair? See my earlier note. It would be easier for richer schools to have large, well-coordinated efforts.]
“I think it happens all the time,” Herman said of opponents stealing signals. “I don’t have a problem with it.” [So, just in case we're discovered, we won't have to backtrack from any morality position. It also makes us look above it all and keeps us in the good graces of other schools. Brilliant.]
There’s an easy way to curtail the culture of signal stealing in college football. McAulay, who has refereed three Super Bowls, is a vocal advocate of sideline-to-helmet wireless communication. [Timeless.]
I've made some edits. Hat tip to joegeo.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:11 AM ^
This is all just talk about stealing signals IN GAME, which isn’t cheating.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:28 AM ^
They talk about stealing signs from game film and recordings though. It’s not just in-game IMO.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^
There is nothing wrong with that either, as long as it doesn't come from staff performing in-person scouting of future opponents in the same season.
November 6th, 2023 at 8:18 AM ^
Stealing signs from game film is also legal. It’s just in person scouting and making your own recordings that’s illegal.
November 6th, 2023 at 8:30 AM ^
And it's illegal not for competitive reasons, but cost reasons.
November 6th, 2023 at 8:41 AM ^
But it’s been shown that 3rd party in person scouting is not illegal.
Moreover, the fact teams are sharing stolen signs proves this. Sharing a stolen sign is the same thing as 3rd party- the sign stealer is the 3rd party and he was definitely in person at the game.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:09 AM ^
Let's stop bringing this douche bags name up on threads
November 6th, 2023 at 7:16 AM ^
As an aside, thought these postgame comments from Walters and Card were interesting:
Purdue altered its signals before the game, and apparently that wasn’t a big deal. “I thought they handled it well,” Walters said. “There wasn’t any issues in terms of communication breakdowns.”
Purdue quarterback Hudson Card echoed his coach and noted it is “pretty common” to change signals regularly. “It happens regardless of the situation,” he said.
So, after complaining about how he was going to have to teach his kids a new language, he said it was no problem and his QB says we do it all the time?
November 6th, 2023 at 7:29 AM ^
lol very well put
November 6th, 2023 at 7:33 AM ^
They were also 2-6 going into Saturday. Maybe their old language was just shit.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:58 AM ^
And at the start of the broadcast Todd Blackledge was crying saying it wasn't fair to Purdue because they had to take time away from other things to change their signs.
November 6th, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
someone should remind Todd Blackledge that he played for a pedophile enabler.
November 6th, 2023 at 8:46 AM ^
It sucks that these quotes are not being pushed more.I get that they don't fit the narrative that the pearl clutchers want to push, but still.
I'm actually surprised that they made it to print anywhere, even getting transcribed out of post game interviews.