Signgate The Tenth: All Over But The Shouting, Of Which There Is Plenty
What's this? Why no UFR? YouTube just implemented a daily limit of video uploads unless you've gone through a verification process that they have a 24 hour turnaround on. So it'll have to be tomorrow. Instead: this. Hooray!
Seems like everything has happened. I haven't put up one of these posts this week because there hasn't been much to talk about. It seems like everything bad has been reported, more or less, and that the Harbaugh suspension is the only thing that's happening before the NCAA issues a ruling in 2026.
There's a hearing Friday as Michigan seeks to get its temporary restraining order, which I am not qualified to opine about the likelihood of. You seem to get wildly different takes from the various law-talking guys out there.
As far as the NCAA stuff is concerned. It still seems clear that Stalions was operating on his own. Or, at least, it's clear there's no evidence tying anyone else into Stalions's scheme. Michigan set a land speed record for most quickly fulfilled FOIA when Larry Lage asked for Stalions expense reports, of which there are none. This is some small relief since given events that have already transpired there was a nonzero chance Stalions would file reports with column headers like "I NOT BOUND BY THE LAWS OF GOD AND MAN," etc.
Meanwhile, John Harbaugh confirmed what everyone suspected once Jim's contract offer was put back on the table: they went over all of Harbaugh's communications and found nothing.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on his brother Jim Harbaugh and the situation right now at Michigan due to alleged sign-stealing investigation. John said he's "proud" of his brother and "he stands tall through all this." pic.twitter.com/MhNB4559Vm
— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) November 14, 2023
Not surprising since the Big Ten admitted they had no evidence linking Harbaugh to Stalions immediately before suspending him anyway.
[After THE JUMP: chicanery!]
The money angle. The money angle has not been particularly compelling to me given everything else we know about Stalions, and the fact that he'd managed to get a job at Michigan that had some pretty high upside, salary-wise, if he'd managed to keep it. But FWIW, Josh Henschke has some details on a house that Stalions owned in California when he was at Camp Pendleton that he sold upon taking the analyst job in Ann Arbor. Our man appears to have cleared a nice profit over the course of three years.
The legal chicanery! Raj:
I regret to inform you that the most Michigan™ thing has happened, and that is UM Law prof Daniel Crane arguing in the Yale Journal of Regulation that NCAA bylaws prohibiting advanced scouting violate antitrust law. We are reaching never-before-seen levels of Michigan™.…
— raj.docx (@internetraj) November 9, 2023
This is because they are solely financial in their motivation and Alston has blown up the ability for the NCAA to restrict these sorts of things:
In recent years, NCAA rules that limit economic competition by member schools have been in serious antitrust trouble. In 2021, the Supreme Court unanimously held that the NCAA’s enforcement of rules limiting member school compensation of student athletes up to the full cost of their education violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act. National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141 (2021). Six years earlier, the Ninth Circuit reached a similar decision regarding NCAA’s restrictions on student athlete name, image, and likeness rights. O’Bannon v. National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 802 F.3d 1049 (9th Cir. 2015). In the more distant past, the Supreme Court held that NCAA limitations on television broadcasting violated the Sherman Act. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 468 U.S. 85 (1984). The common thread of these cases is that NCAA rules that limit member schools from freely determining how to allocate their resources can run afoul of the antitrust laws, even if (or perhaps because) those rules are designed to achieve intercollegiate economic parity.
I don't think Michigan is going to bring this argument in front of the NCAA directly but it could be another reason—aside from all the good ones, you know—that the NCAA is disinclined to do much more than slap Michigan's wrist.
Another good reason. Bruce Feldman's article on the aftermath of the Wakeyleaks scandal—wherein a guy who Dave Clawson did not retain on staff became a radio announcer for Wake Forest and leaked the Demon Deacons' gameplans to their opponents—is another example of the NCAA looking at a pretty clear violation of the prohibition against in-person scouting and doing nothing. What's more than that, the NCAA learned of Wakeyleaks and did not tell Wake Forest:
That coach asked Clawson if anything ever happened with Elrod. Clawson was confused; despite the notoriety of “WakeyLeaks,” he hadn’t been aware that his friend had known about the scandal. But the coach told Clawson that he’d actually called the NCAA in 2014 after he got a call from someone he didn’t know; he was trying to give him Wake Forests’ game plans right before they played. It all seemed very fishy and really suspicious, the coach told Clawson.
“Did the NCAA ever get ahold of you?” he asked Clawson.
“Yeah,” Clawson replied, slowly. “Three years later.”
Clawson was incredulous as to why the NCAA didn’t alert his staff after the organization had been tipped off in 2014.
“Maybe the NCAA didn’t feel like it constituted a rules violation. I don’t know,” he told The Athletic. “You’d think they’d have at least given us a heads up. We were compromised for three years. Those next three years could’ve been avoided.”
I have no idea how you turn around and hammer Michigan after literally ignoring that event.
More documents. Michigan supplied a PDF noting that OSU had decoded a lot of Don Brown's signs based on TV:
This is accurate. We were in possession of these documents as well. It’s a 7 page PDF. Here are some pages not included in Matt’s tweet. https://t.co/ignwFIshb5 pic.twitter.com/LbuyKXJkWi
— Josh Henschke (@JoshHenschke) November 10, 2023
Not against the rules, of course, but further indication that sign stealing is common, that you can get just about all of it off TV, and that player safety arguments are complete bunk.
Etc: J Brady McCullough on the Pac-12 teams entering the league that are like "wait… what?" A summary of the Michigan and Tom Mars letters to the court if you want to tl;dr it.
November 16th, 2023 at 1:51 PM ^
Never forget that Tony Petitti literally called this "THE WORST SCANDAL IN THE HISTORY OF THE BIG TEN"
Never let him live that down. Ever.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
He may not have that long to live it down for.*
* I mean as B10 Commissioner. I am not predicting nor advocating for his literal death.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:30 PM ^
Death is a bit harsh, how about disappearance?
November 16th, 2023 at 2:40 PM ^
A really itchy rash would be ok.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
Only if it covered 95% of his body, then maybe....
November 16th, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
For the next 40 years
November 16th, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
Disappearance like Hoffa?
November 16th, 2023 at 3:00 PM ^
Not sure how anyone can say that with a straight face.
But also, if it is the “worst scandal in BIG history” then “only” punishing Jim for three game days would not be a sufficient enough penalty.
Tony is so dumb, he bungled both ends of it.
November 16th, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^
The scandal here is that at least 3 Big Ten teams gaslit the media, fans and most importantly the league commissioner that this was the worst scandal ever when they were doing the same thing. They CLEARLY knew better. They lied, or at worst, had their heads so far up their own asses they convinced themselves they didn't stink.
Which is just lying to yourself. So yea, 3 lying, crying, gaslighting sign stealers.
November 16th, 2023 at 4:27 PM ^
I still can't get over how that imbecile Dennis Dodd wrote that Tony Petitti handled the situation masterfully.
Yes, the halfwit actually shat out that opinion from his brain asshole.
November 16th, 2023 at 6:40 PM ^
How about “the comfy chair” for Petitti!?
November 16th, 2023 at 8:58 PM ^
There was a violent attack by the players of one team against those of another barely off the field LAST YEAR! But no, this, doing something everyone else does because it is not against the rules is waaaaay worse.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:02 PM ^
Unfortunately thus far, the sharper the analysis -- whether law-knowing or ball-knowing -- the less applicability it seems to have to what the Big Ten or NCAA will do.
I mean, Petitti took (easily refuted) MSU and OSU talking points verbatim and put them into legal documents. They are making this up as they go, and up to 13 other Big Ten schools (plus SEC/ESPN) are cheering it on.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:23 PM ^
Yep. If the lawyers mattered id be feeling pretty good. I expect the NCAA to overlook Wakeyleaks then try to hammer Michigan and care 0% about the obvious inconsistency because its the NCAA and the only thing consistent is the inconsistency. Especially because they have half the Big Ten cheering them on as they do it
November 16th, 2023 at 3:28 PM ^
Honest question: If NCAA tried to punish Michigan (even a slap on the wrist) for what Stallions did, could Michigan lawyers appeal and use the precedent set by the Wakey Leaks scandal in which the NCAA didn't care? Or does precedent not matter and the NCAA can pick and choose what wildly inconsistent magnitudes of punishments to hand out with all immunity and Michigan wouldn't have any chance to win the appeal?
November 16th, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^
Which is why the relationship with not only the conference but the member institutions may be irreparable. Forcing Michigan to have to leave for fear of being unfairly persecuted again in the future.
The fact that schools like Northwestern, Minnesota or Indiana don't have the self awareness to understand where their bread is buttered is mind numbing. You guys know you're riding the cape right??
November 16th, 2023 at 2:04 PM ^
The magnitude of the ridiculousness of the B1G response and actions taken on this whole situation will never be able to be adequately expressed in the mere symbols that we call words. Even combining all of the verbal and written words attempting to do so will never be able to. Depending on how things shake out in the end, this will likely go down in history as the biggest sports governing blunder that has ever occurred - at least up to this point. Asinine doesn't even begin to scratch the surface here; maybe there's a German word out there can do more justice.
As others have much more effectively asserted over the last week, at this point I'm not sure how you can stay in this relationship with the B1G if you're Michigan.
November 16th, 2023 at 3:57 PM ^
I think there should be only one reason why Michigan would stay in the big 10. And that is if the big 10 conference and each university publicly apologized and asked them to stay. Otherwise, fuck them! How could Michigan, in good conscience, ever trust any of them?
November 16th, 2023 at 4:11 PM ^
That and Pettiti fired.
Otherwise, go to SEC.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:04 PM ^
Quick question on the Don Brown signs thing - some of those screenshots are of the scoreboards inside the stadium showing him. When is that ever captured on the TV broadcast? They never show the scoreboards which are showing the sidelines and it looks like the images are from someone in the pressbox showing the scoreboards.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:05 PM ^
I thought it was suspected these images came from the All 22 videos that every team has access to.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
But I was told by OSU and MSU fanboys that the all 22s don't show this info. Hmm something doesn't add up
November 16th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
They couldn't possibly be using forbidden in-game video technology could they???
November 16th, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
Weren't we also told that the All 22 video makes an effort to screen or hide the signals? If so, I am having a difficult time reconciling those two claims.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:22 PM ^
Yeah seems weird that an all-22 would keep panning to the scoreboard instead of just filming the field.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^
Some all-22 film uses the scoreboard to capture down and distance before each play.
November 16th, 2023 at 4:13 PM ^
all-22 has to show the down, distance, and time on the scoreboard before every play.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
Easy fix. Take the data points that fit your narrative and only use those ones. The other data points are irrelevant anyways.
Then you get storylines like this. Signals take forever to change, but TCU changed them and that's why they won, also Michigan didn't scout them enough, but also OSU knew, but it wasn't enough time to fully change signals, but also Michigan's scoring went down this week without Stallions. It's simple.
November 16th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
Someone on reddit or twitter claimed that All-22 video actually cuts to the scoreboard between plays for this purpose, so that kinda checks out
November 16th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
Looks to me like the camera is fixed on Michigan's scoreboard from the press box. If this is available in All 22 videos, what the hell was Stalions trying to accomplish?
November 16th, 2023 at 3:26 PM ^
Don't question the Stalions method. It was advanced. It was vast. It was unprecedented.
November 16th, 2023 at 7:49 PM ^
Seems like he made his decisions in a vacuum
November 16th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
My assumption this whole time is that they've been from an OSU person recording the scoreboard, and then turning around and saying "I wasn't recording the sidelines, so it's not against the rules. It's not my fault if the scoreboard sometimes includes a picture of the coach"
And, you know what? My take on this is that, if defensive signals are that important, Don Brown should be ashamed of himself for using the same damned signs every year. In truth, I don't think they're that important, because Don Brown's defense could be summed up as "man coverage with a lot of pressure." I don't think OSU beat Michigan because they knew Don Brown's signs, but if they did, more power to them, and I hope Jesse Minter is smarter than that.
November 17th, 2023 at 9:12 AM ^
It's the All 22 or different broadcast angles. Teams can get all the video of all the signs directly from the broadcasters.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:05 PM ^
whats with all the recent smoke about a certain defensive coach? Anything to it? Balas seems a bit concerned
November 16th, 2023 at 2:10 PM ^
Hasn't Balas starting being off about stuff very recently?
November 16th, 2023 at 2:13 PM ^
Sure, for a definition of recently that stretches back at least a year.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:11 PM ^
Balas is always concerned. It's like saying my wife is worried. Yep. What about? Not sure but she is.
Ignore him and wait for more reputable people.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
Thanks for talking me off the ledge!
November 16th, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
Didn't Balas say that the contract is off the table? And then it was refuted immediately by JUB??? Like the next day. It seems Balas has some good info but not always and he seems to be negative about every scenario.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:22 PM ^
I have not committed myself to a comprehensive study and catalogue of Balas' oeuvre, but he seems to have shifted from trustworthy insider to hysterical click-merchant. MGoBoard's second-hand descriptions of his posts always seem to start by taking Balas' overwrought headline at face value before someone with a subscription chimes in, clarifies that Balas has nothing but vague innuendo and unfalsifiable insinuations about future events to back the headline.
Ultimately, nothing happens, everyone forgets what was supposed to transpire, and Balas starts the cycle anew. The goal is to sell subscriptions; the promise of insider knowledge is the (illusory) bait.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
It’s in regards to Clinkscale. He apparently just deleted his twitter account so idk what’s goin on with that
November 16th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
I heard someone saying Partridge deleted his as well. I'm not on twitter so I can't verify. Might be worth looking into for someone on twitter.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
Balas seems the least reliable of any other the insiders and is perpetually dooming. Ill wait till Webb, Henschke, JUB, or something similar says something
Balas could be right this time, but hes been wrong or excessively negative several times in this saga already
November 16th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
Maybe I'm just too stubborn. But I have been noting here every other day for several weeks that Stalions handed the data, what he learned, probably reports, to someone. That link--how high up the chain his influence and ideas traveled--has got to be of interest to investigators, and has not been revealed. To this extent, I worry that those protesting that we have already learned all that we're going to learn are sticking their fingers in their ears, maybe even giving themselves Wet Willies.
Yes, it's stupid; one shouldn't have to note that after weeks and weeks among friends. We know that the world is unfair and that assholes often write the laws and make the rules. But when someone is looking for ways to pound you they're not interested in the fact that the world is full of similar violence and corruption. They are trying to nail you for a fucking rule.
EDIT: Why, if the court couldn't issue an immediate decision last week, did it put the whole thing off for a whole 'nother week?
November 16th, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
As someone who once lived in San Clemente, on the line with Pendleton, even if Stalions had actively relieved himself on the floor repeatedly, while chain smokeing four packs a day, he'd clear a tidy profit.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:24 PM ^
No joke. That whole real estate corridor - from northern San Diego area all the way up to S. Orange Co. is like the Gold Coast. You can't not make a lot of money. Unless of course you have to pay a fortune for fire insurance.
November 16th, 2023 at 3:26 PM ^
As I learned during two stints in SF, the fact that you can make money on real estate--providing you have some--does not mean that you can't lose your money on many other things. CA has the highest cost of living in the country--and the highest poverty rate, adjusted for it--of any state, including the states we think of as pathetic. I love it, and it has broken my heart two times to leave it, but it is in many ways an illusory paradise.
November 16th, 2023 at 2:10 PM ^
funny, that article linked about the P12 has chip kelly's picture at the top. he ain't entering the B10 unless he takes sparty's job.
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