Per Balas, Michigan, media gathering evidence on PIs
Article not paywalled
"Several sources at Michigan and in the media tell TheWolverine.com they are gathering evidence on two private investigators they believe are behind the investigation into U-M’s alleged illegal on-site scouting. The same sources also believe the two are responsible for the media leaks that have kept the story in the news for weeks"
Didn't see this on the board. Haven't posted in many years. Please be gentle
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:02 PM ^
Don’t get your hopes up. There will be no smoking gun/paper trail to any one working for OSU.
We’ll likely never know who hired the firm, but it’s likely just some OSU booster. I’m sure someone at OSU tipped off the booster about it in the first place which led to a PI being hired, but we’ll never know who from OSU did it.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:04 PM ^
Just reported at ON3...
According to Balas, Michigan “is currently in possession of documents that could link one of the alleged investigators” to Timothy Day.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^
"Could" being a key word. Please let it be true!
Fuck Ohio State
Fuck the NCAA
GO BLUE!
November 4th, 2023 at 6:16 AM ^
“Michigan” = not you, and won’t be public, ever
”could” = might be, might not be
I stand by my point. Neg way just because you all don’t like the truth. We’re not gonna know.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^
You wouldn't think there would be.
You probably wouldn't think Connor Stalions would make these Venmo payments public with a potentially damning description to boot. And yet here we are.
People aren't rational. Especially nutheads and their fans and their podunk investigators. To use the parlance of our times: they're a bunch of fucking amateurs!
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
Welcome Back! Buckle Up!
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:09 PM ^
Let's hope this doesn't turn into that most lopsided of penalty calls:
"There are 2 fouls on the play. Offsides, #1, Michigan. Personal foul, unsportsmanlike conduct, #3B Ohio State. Those penalties offset. Replay the down."
When it should be: enforce the 5 yards then enforce the 15 yards and eject the offender.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
Unsportsmanlike conduct? I thought they called PI.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:09 PM ^
FINALLY. Get fucked OSU.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:10 PM ^
Oh the irony if it is Ryan Day and not Jim Harbaugh who is not on the sideline for The Game.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
Damn, how many PIs do they have in that family?
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^
The Day family puts the PI in PussIes
November 3rd, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^
I could picture his brother trying to convince the other inmates how tough he is in prison.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:15 PM ^
This could be getting glorious soon, I could see ESPN turning the tables and crushing Ohio State and Day for the next two weeks for the exact same reasons they are crushing Michigan for the past two weeks.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
The hope is the word on this spreads fast enough to take over the news cycle for the pregame shows tomorrow.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
ESPN would love to take down the Big Ten, who is now on rival networks. What better way to do that then to try to take out both of its top 2 teams.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^
Sadly, I could also see them spinning as "Ohio State had to do this because no one else would expose Michigan's horrible, awful, terrible cheating and we should all automatically hand the national title to Ryan Day, a true American Hero."
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
I dont want to be a buzz kill, i cant stand Day, and this news seems like a positive. However ultimately isnt the veracity of the claims against us more important than the methods? In other words how can this change the equation in our favor if OSU went in the worst case to illegal means to get the dirt? I mean NCAA isnt a legal proceeding right? There are not discovery laws that would render teh evidence meaningless are there?
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^
They circumvented the NCAA and B1G reporting process to exact their own vengeance with a hearsay campaign. The NCAA probably does not appreciate that, and if there is a crime involved, then it gets really messy for the perpetrator.
Also, if you are willing to commit a criminal act to get the data, it also calls into question the validity of what you turn over, since you are clearly a biased party.
November 3rd, 2023 at 3:20 PM ^
Exactly what I was thinking. If you’re willing to obtain evidence illegally, your credibility is lost.
November 3rd, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
Even if what you uncovered is illegal--and there is a good argument that it's not--it'd be like murdering someone to expose their crime of jaywalking
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^
The entire charade is mud slinging.
If they acquired these documents illegally that is much worse than a NCAA infraction.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:31 PM ^
The NCAA would not want to encourage this kind of behavior - teams illegally digging up dirt on each other. It would become anarchy. The SEC, where actual rule-breaking bad shit happens regularly, would become a war zone.
The NCAA would still want to give a slap to Michigan and Harbaugh, but it couldn't do it to an extent that would actually benefit Ohio State. That would entice every school to try to do "take downs" of their rivals by any means necessary.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
Because OSU, or whoever, is fucking with conference money. Cancelling games? Elimination of a big 10 team from the cfp?
Is ESPN reporting on this? They report on every damn this else. That should tell you a lot.
November 3rd, 2023 at 3:12 PM ^
Today is the first day in over a week that there isn't a Michigan Scandal story on the front page of the ESPN app when I open it.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:50 PM ^
No. If OSU or their coach's podunk family committed a crime to uncover that Michigan violated NCAA rules by technicality (assuming, worst case, that the NCAA wildly decides to interpret third party contractors as equivalent to staff) then that is definitely worse than the rules violation by technicality.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:53 PM ^
However ultimately isnt the veracity of the claims against us more important than the methods?
Not if we're talking about the court of public opinion, which seems to be driving things at this point.
*voracity
November 3rd, 2023 at 3:12 PM ^
IDK ask yourself if it would be okay to rob a bank to pay your rent?
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
Tell the B1G to fuck off plain and simple …. tell the B1G that Harbaugh will be on the sideline through the NC game in January!!!!
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
Something odd that might cause some confusion: Chris Day's "4th and 1 Investigations" isn't the only entity by that name in New Hampshire. There was already a 4th and One, LLC, run by a woman who used to be CMO for the NFL. As far as I know it's a marketing firm and completely unrelated. It's a couple of years older and on the other side of the state.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
They're probably using both. The investigative firm to get the "dirt" and the marketing firm to beat the drum through the media and social media.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:35 PM ^
I don't know. She seems way too heavy to be involved in this garbage.
But I agree, the brothers need somebody between themselves and the NCAA and the media. I just don't think that's who it is.
November 3rd, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
If I were writing the screenplay he would have pretended to be from the other firm when he contacted the WaPo and the NCAA. Would have thrown everyone off the track and would have given his so-called firm some weight. "Look! They do lots of work for the NFL!"
But I'm not the author here.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^
I doubt they're involved. Day would pass on 4th and One, regardless if they're "Investigations" or "LLC"
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:23 PM ^
Keep up the good work Balas
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
LOL, "CINDAY"
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:48 PM ^
I want to see this on a sign at GameDay every Saturday for the next 10 years.
November 3rd, 2023 at 4:36 PM ^
mom always said, don't play ball in the big house.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
You can't commit a crime while attempting to uncover another "crime". Also, is there an NCAA by law that says a school must go through the NCAA enforcement office and proper channels to investigate another team. I can't imagine that the NCAA would allow teams to hire PI firms and orchestrate compaigns to take down their rivals and dig up dirt without following some kind of procedure.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
I think the NCAA already knew that a PI firm was the one that brought them the info, so if that was an actual concern of theirs, I would think we might have heard something about that.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
Unless all we've heard has been from said PI firm...
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:47 PM ^
Yeah, that's possibly the answer. Just surprised no one brought it up before. Or if someone did, like Mean Joe, surprised that it hasn't gotten more traction on the board here.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
Except they aren't supposed to talk about ongoing investigations. How much have we heard directly from the NCAA about this?
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:50 PM ^
If there is such a bylaw on the books then that could be part of Michigan's response to any punishments. It's a good rule honestly. But the actual just punishment at the end may not be the main focus of this whole thing. They could purely be after the PR and optics to tarnish UM and get Harbaugh gone and submarine the current season.
November 3rd, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
Are (potentially illegally obtained) computer records obtained from a privately funded investigation firm by a rival school (and that firm is run by the schools head coach's brother) and purposely leaked to the media in an orchestrated hit job designed to take down the opposing coach considered "confidential off the record information"? Asking for a friend.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:47 PM ^
The allegations against Michigan are not criminal.
You can definitely commit a crime trying to dig up some unsavory innuendos to lob at an opponent and drag their name through the mud in the unaccountable court of public opinion.
November 3rd, 2023 at 2:50 PM ^
Can you post the bylaw you are referring to? I would like to read it.