ESPN finally publishes the story about other schools sharing Michigan's signs
Written by Rittenberg and Tom VH.
They cite sources who told ESPN, lol.
I think this is new. New to me at least.
A Big Ten source said the league has forwarded any information to the NCAA for possible follow-up.
They did reference the AP story at the end.
Last paragraph:
Purdue did not respond to a request for comment, and Rutgers declined to comment. Ohio State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
No link. You know where to find it if you want to.
November 8th, 2023 at 3:44 AM ^
Thanks for making me imagine that
November 7th, 2023 at 10:35 PM ^
Hold me TomVH
November 7th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
This is correct.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
This whole thing is a mess, but this dumb-fuck attacking reporters seems so stupid. Boycott espn, boycott the athletic, because they are being slower with shit. Or saying things we don’t like as fans. Fuck off, that is such a dumb road to go down.
leaders and best, or what ever. The whole thing has taken my joy away for this season , but I’m hopeful it comes back. But you fuckers are out of your mind.
How bout, we may have fucked up, (only Conner) it is hopefully overblown, (think it absolutely is) other folks are bad or worse (which is never a good defense, and is not a defense….maybe mitigation).
it’s the silly gut reaction about every little turn and grabbing on reporting that still doesn’t take anything away that Conner done fucked up.
Appreciate the news and updates but not the stupid commentary and attacks on anything we don’t agree with a dumb fuck myopic turtle attitude.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:58 PM ^
Yep I should quit drinking and go to bed.
and I will! But I hate this butt hurt anger. not so much this thread, overall I am butt hurt with anger.
Basketball looked good!
November 8th, 2023 at 4:54 AM ^
Stop paying attention to the people that are piling on UM, and you will stop giving credit to the people that are piling on UM.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:53 PM ^
"How bout, we may have fucked up, (only Conner) it is hopefully overblown, (think it absolutely is) other folks are bad or worse (which is never a good defense, and is not a defense….maybe mitigation). "
At the end, the fang of the mob had been pulled and their potency had been lost.. This was a lost-lost scenario when they thought it was a win-lost... What they do not know is that it could be a bigger lost for them if they continue.. That is the stupidity and homerism that the mob had when thinking that they will come out of this unscathed... At the end, energy lost for something I wish could be directed to this great Michigan Team....
November 7th, 2023 at 11:17 PM ^
Bro, there's things maybe your average M fan doesn't agree with in the news, and certainly no shortage of butthurt here and there...
This shit circus is a whole different ball game. Like you said, they took the fucking joy from you, stripped it from this wondrous season. This is supposed to be a happy occasion! And they deceived you to tarnish it over some seriously petty, small potatoes bullshit. They gaslit you bro, you and every other college football fan. Why? For filthy lucre (and if we go upstream to the ultimate source... some deep-seated and entirely well-founded feelings of inadequacy on the part of our adversaries, but that's beside the point).
Purveyors of bullshit need to be condemned ruthlessly and treated with contempt. This is the way.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:57 PM ^
Hell yeah, Ernis. +1
November 8th, 2023 at 6:36 AM ^
"They gaslit you bro, you and every other college football fan."
"Kewl" doesn't understand public relations at all. He also apparently greatly overestimates the reasoning ability of the average college football plan.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:33 AM ^
Well said Ernis.
Apparently we are supposed to lie down and take bias reporting and let those who are responsible continue without being challenged. This is how the mass media operates. They emphasize sensational rumors and omit or slow walk exculpatory facts that may contradict their narrative.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:25 AM ^
Seriously? The B1G was poised to take unprecedented action in punishing a team for something basically everyone does (only thing in question are actual methods) before an investigation was even completed. Why? A big portion of that was media outlets whipping everyone into a frenzy and turning B1G coaches and AD’s into an opportunistic mob demanding immediate justice.
Your take on “what actually happened” is more or less correct… which is the whole point, it was never reported that way.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
I read it previously.
The article is 100% proof that ESPN has an agenda.
Suddenly, it's not sign stealing. Rather it's "sign sharing."
In addition, coaches are not doing in-person scouting against Michigan. Instead, they are engaging in "communications regarding Michigan's signals."
Total and absolute bullshit.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:55 PM ^
Suddenly, it's not sign stealing. Rather it's "sign sharing."
In addition, coaches are not doing in-person scouting against Michigan. Instead, they are engaging in "communications regarding Michigan's signals."
It's a rhetorical moving of the goal posts about ten miles.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:28 PM ^
Yes. Now, ESPN admits sign sharing is legal and the issue is now in-person scouting.
They are throwing the entire "competitive advantage" argument out the window and all it took was one little leak from the Michigan side.
The moving of the goal posts is the annoying as over 90% of the idiots who buy this shit will never know that the competitive advantage argument has been abandoned and has nothing to do with this situation. One week made a big difference
November 7th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
In a country where media literacy is an established bedrock in primary school curricula -Finland for example- your take would be the baseline expectation for the populace. In this country, you are a real-life Not Sure blessing the masses with brilliant insight beyond our meager comprehension. Thank you.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:52 PM ^
As much as I want to love this revelation, I believe OSU and Rutgers will lie and say they gleaned our signs from TV coverage etc., not in person. And of course, the NCAA will lap it up and close the investigation.
Hope I'm wrong.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
Well, apparently the person who is making this claim has text messages between them and the staff members of other teams they were sharing with. So we will see if that’s true if this continues.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
By the way it sounds we have more ammo. We are unleashing the dogs.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
Once they shared them it became in person scouting of another game. Using coaches not a ,ow level staffer.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
Who cares its a witch hunt. Born on 3rd Base Charmin Day can’t beat Harbaugh so he brings up some BS to try to save his job. Everyone scouts at all levels of football, cry me a river.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
That is an excellent post, OP.
Everything we need (new information) and nothing that we don’t (ESPN links).
applaud.gif
November 7th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Yeah, I've been tracking this a bit and you could tell they didn't want to have to cite anyone else but they couldn't deny the reporting. Similarly, they kept up a story about Harbaugh possibly being suspended any day now even though more reporting showed that to be highly unlikely.
Thamel's shitty reporting has seemingly put them in a spot where they have to slow play findings because his sources clearly seem biased.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:54 PM ^
Upvoted for correctly using “biased” instead of “bias”. C’mon guys, it’s not that hard!
November 7th, 2023 at 11:06 PM ^
Remember, kids: ESPN is a four-letter word
November 7th, 2023 at 11:09 PM ^
The ESPN post is still three quarters "Michigan bad" with the other quarter being dry "Michigan presented some documents to some people and made some claims", as if ESPN never even looked at them.
Which is exactly what I would do if I was trying to backtrack a story that I made a bad take on.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:44 AM ^
Wasn't that the quote from that Muslim congress woman about 9-11?.."Some people did something"
November 8th, 2023 at 8:27 AM ^
Out of line, dude.
November 8th, 2023 at 9:52 AM ^
Agree. Reporting. Folks--stick to sports; stuff like this is totally out of bounds.
November 8th, 2023 at 2:04 AM ^
To add: this story fails to include the most important findings by the NCAA, that they "do not connect the in-person scouting and recording of opponents’ sidelines to Harbaugh."
How convenient ESPN completely missed this? Pretty significant revelation that should've been the headline. And the issue with "walking back" is that, people at ESPN went all-in from the go with predetermined narrative based on unsubstantiated claims. Now, given their firm position with no wiggle room and so much evidence that discredit their entire story, I don't see how they plan to just walk this back. At least not without significant consequences.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:12 PM ^
espn better be careful. If they keep reporting that every one does this, people might see The World Wide Leader in Sports as an unbiased source of information
November 7th, 2023 at 11:14 PM ^
for those who don't want to click the link, some interesting info (highlighted in bold):
Purdue, which faced Michigan in the 2022 Big Ten championship game, received offensive signals from Ohio State and defensive signals from Rutgers, according to sources. Michigan beat Rutgers 52-17 on Nov. 5 and beat Ohio State 45-23 on Nov. 26, a game that clinched the East Division for the Wolverines..
November 7th, 2023 at 11:23 PM ^
The coaches are pissed because they had the signs and Michigan changed them or they are pissed because they knew what was coming and still couldn’t do anything
Michigan changed their signals, that’s not fair, that’s cheating call Thamel, the NCAA and ESPN-The Big Ten Conference
November 8th, 2023 at 7:37 AM ^
What Rittenberg and Tom should add to the story is that in the first half of those games the three teams outscored Michigan 50-45, with Purdue the only lead we had by 1 point.
Michigan then proceeded to make adjustments, and they came out and outscored those three schools 95-12 in the second half!!
Pretty sure Michigan changed up signs at halftime when they could regroup. We kept hearing how great of a 2nd half team we were, and I suspect the sign business had something to do with it… except it was Michigan who was compromised and decided to make the right changes.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:28 PM ^
Maybe some deep lulz to the story here is that the teams gave Purdue a faulty cipher. Do those scores inspire confidence that the coaches were really dialed-in to wtf was going on?
November 7th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^
If memory serves, someone from Michigan looked over the notes and said the signals were accurate.
We really were just that much better, at least that night.
November 8th, 2023 at 9:49 AM ^
I think you're right.
But! I've read enough spy novels to know that in this tangled web of espionage, someone claiming validity of a document is far from proof!
November 8th, 2023 at 7:41 AM ^
Yeah, I just added a comment above, because the telling sign to me (pardon the pun)… is the huge discrepancy between first half scores and second half. In the first half of those 3 games Michigan was outscored 50-45. In the second half Michigan outscored them 95-12!
Feels like they had signs and then were absolutely caught off guard with our halftime changes. Fuck them!!!
November 8th, 2023 at 1:11 AM ^
So, Purdon't had both M's Offensive & Defensive signals for the B1G Championship Game, and still got the beatdown. M outscored them 29-9 in the 2nd half. sad.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
I dunno, checking out the ESPN story might be worthwhile, especially this little nugget:
According to AP, the former staff member gave Michigan screenshots of text-message exchanges with other staff members at Big Ten schools showing the plan to collect Michigan's signals.
The AP story mentions suspected collusion, but says nothing about a "plan to collect Michigan's signals" -- making it sound like signals were shared after the fact -- and that Michigan wasn't necessarily the main target of all the information gathering.
ESPN's version reads more like there was an active operation, and Michigan was the sole target.
Please, Mr. Rittenberg, do tell us more about this "plan".
November 8th, 2023 at 12:20 AM ^
If this is true, then this is 100% absolutely in person scouting being done. Furthermore, its not some iPhone video of the sidelines, its from staffers of Big Ten teams - much more useful and giving a much larger competitive advantage.
If true - head coaches from every team who was a part of the plan to steal Michigan's signals should be suspended indefinitely without an investigation... I mean, think of the children!!!!! (JK, in reality I think this is all dumb and we should just move to helmet communication to get rid of it)
November 7th, 2023 at 11:40 PM ^
Hold me Tom VH.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:54 PM ^
I appreciate you posting this, I didn't see it the first time.
not /s
November 8th, 2023 at 12:19 AM ^
We might even hear the words "rush to judgment" on GameDay.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:36 AM ^
I'm sure it killed ESPN to Have to report it
November 8th, 2023 at 3:50 AM ^
I do wonder if the dicks over at ESPN all know how ridiculous they have been or do they really believe their own shitty reporting?
I also wonder: which is worse? They are smart and dishonest or just plain stupid?
November 8th, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^
Clearly smart and dishonest is worse.
November 8th, 2023 at 9:51 AM ^
I'm voting stupid AND dishonest.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:51 AM ^
Back in September 2013, Thamel was the lead author for SI on a heavily promoted series alleging all kinds of misconduct and NCAA infractions at Oklahoma State University. I think it was by the 3rd installment they had to start delaying the releases because there were so many errors. It seems they depended heavily on two disgruntled former players who were really pissed at Gundy and the university who didn't mind playing fast and loose with facts and reality. One claimed to be a graduate but was not. Both had huge holes in their stories. The whole thing gave SI a black eye.