Josh Henschke says Petitti is "waffling"
While I tend to take the sort of insider information that sounds like mind reading with a grain of salt, the timing of this report is interesting since it seems to coincide with the law firm news as well as the Michigan House letter.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:10 PM ^
Is Petitti doing a "Caleb Williams" impression?
November 8th, 2023 at 4:12 PM ^
I always respect athletes when they love their game
November 8th, 2023 at 4:35 PM ^
vulcan ethics are less than ideal in this situation. JTK is out of control here. it is highly illogical but I have to upvote this.
November 8th, 2023 at 8:11 PM ^
Kirk: "Your father was a computer and your mother was an encyclopedia, rotten to the core like the rest of your subhuman race!"
Someone is going to make a trip to HR with Bones.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
Hope he waffles in the obvious right direction.
I'm skeptical, at least at the moment.
Henschke has inside contacts with Michigan, Schembechler Hall, etc.
But how can he have reliable inside information at the Big Ten offices with access to Petitti's latest ruminations?
November 8th, 2023 at 4:25 PM ^
Idk, but Balas also said last night that Petitti is "wavering." Even Pete Thamel seemed to tone down expectations in a tweet today (which I refuse to hyperlink to), saying the Big Ten will take time to "absorb" Michigan's response.
Definitely seems to be consensus that Petitti may be looking for an last-minute off-ramp.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^
Sam Webb also said that Petitti was reconsidering, but not enough potentially. He's in a tough bind where following conference protocol gets him on the bad side of 13 schools, but the other option is getting obliterated in court while looking like a doofus
November 8th, 2023 at 5:26 PM ^
Sounds like 13 schools don't want to follow conference protocol. Letting it get to this point is a failure of leadership.
(I doubt all 13 are really banging down his door about this though. It's probably a handful of ringleaders.)
November 8th, 2023 at 4:31 PM ^
I have no idea if Henschke's information is correct, but in this world with a story getting this much coverage, there are undoubtedly many insiders in all organizations sharing little tidbits with each other. There are, I have no doubt, lots of informal "lines of communication" as well. So, an executive assistant for Pettiti gives a call to someone in UM's AD saying, "hey, if we went down to a one-game suspension for Harbaugh, how would that be perceived?" That person then says, "oh boy, Tony is waffling! Which is way better than him getting pancaked!!" And the news spreads from there...
November 8th, 2023 at 4:03 PM ^
You fuck with the Wolverine, you get the teeth.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:35 PM ^
"The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself."
Fuck the B1G.
November 8th, 2023 at 6:11 PM ^
"The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey 13 times larger than itself."
Fixed it.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:04 PM ^
Hilarious. An absolutely stunning turn of events.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:05 PM ^
Tony, this is your Cuban missile crisis. You really want one of the biggest and oldest brands in the country to sue your conference? You really want a legal battle?
November 8th, 2023 at 4:09 PM ^
Well, the Cuban Missile Crisis did end in a compromise, so I'm hoping for a different outcome.
But maybe Michigan could take a quote of Krushchev's and put it to good use:
If you did this as the first step towards the unleashing of war, well then, it is evident that nothing else is left to us but to accept this challenge of yours. If, however, you have not lost your self-control and sensibly conceive what this might lead to, then, Mr. President, we and you ought not now to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter that knot will be tied. And a moment may come when that knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it, and then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you, because you yourself understand perfectly of what terrible forces our countries dispose.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:17 PM ^
A compromise that I would find acceptable is - "We'll let the NCAA continue their investigation into this matter - and, since we (the B1G office) have received information from different entities associated with the conference, we'll turn all of that information over to the NCAA as well."
And, "As B1G commissioner, I would also like to be perfectly clear on a finding the NCAA has shared with us regarding their investigation thus far. That finding is: Jim Harbaugh, Michigan's head football coach, was completely unaware of the activities of a member of his staff which brought this matter to our attention."
November 8th, 2023 at 5:52 PM ^
And then we bang our collective shoe on Tony's desk?
November 8th, 2023 at 6:09 PM ^
Stalions is out of the program which is our taking the (obsolete) missiles out of Cuba.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:54 PM ^
Turkey? The US had obsolete missiles in Turkey. The Soviet missiles in Cuba were brand spanking new.
November 8th, 2023 at 5:31 PM ^
JUST DON'T DO IT TONY!
November 8th, 2023 at 6:17 PM ^
The Cuban Missile Crisis is actually instructional here. The de-escalation worked because the US gave the Soviets an out with a way to save face: Make it look like a negotiated settlement with the US withdrawing missiles from Turkey. (They were obsolete missiles so the US wasn't really giving up anything.)
Yeah, it would be cool to grind Pettiti's face in the dirt, but the smart thing for all parties to do is to come up with a face saving way out of it. (In a way that doesn't really cost Michigan anything.)
November 8th, 2023 at 4:05 PM ^
Edit: Petitti is Chicken and Waffling. Sounds like he's a nervous bird right about now.
Damn, this is making me hungry.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:10 PM ^
I don't know why, but this made me literally laugh out loud.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:47 PM ^
it's the fork too. food photography at its finest. mouthwaterin' smackerel there.
Let's beat PSU.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:05 PM ^
I’m concerned about the level of officiating Michigan will probably receive in Happy Valley and home against OSU. I mean, Corum got called for holding when a guy leapfrogged him and pulled him down by his helmet and neck!! The teams are fairly evenly matched, so it won’t take a whole lot of iffy calls to swing momentum the wrong way. Pettiti might encourage this as a form of “fuck you” to Michigan. It’s not like it didn’t happen in 2016, so it’s very possible.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:08 PM ^
Not to be arrogant, but I'm not sure either of those teams is good enough for it to matter.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:57 PM ^
How you call holding and pass interference can definitely change the course of a game.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:15 PM ^
I don't think we should assume either Pettiti or the game day officials are sufficiently competent to make this happen.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:44 PM ^
The teams are NOT evenly matched. Michigan is waaaay better than both of those teams.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
How about he suspend Jim for the first two games of next season... that way Michigan can challenge it and it will all be settled well in advance of next season.
Or he can back the truck up and say, "the NCAA didn't find any evidence of Coach Harbaugh's involvement or knowledge of Mr. Stalion's sign stealing chicanery so there will be no action taken at this time. If Michgian is found to employ another loose cannon who goes to the lengths that their wild Stalion did, there will be consequences."
November 8th, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^
this is the prudent move; hope he is prudent
November 8th, 2023 at 4:24 PM ^
Because the second game next year is Texas.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:09 PM ^
Fuck you Pepussy. We're ready to throw.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:13 PM ^
Can we recycle the caption "comedian, masturbator" for the B1G Commissioner's photo?
November 8th, 2023 at 6:19 PM ^
Remove "comedian" and it probably works.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:18 PM ^
I must take this opportunity to say it's a dang shame that I have to go to Ohio for Waffle House. It is the premier 24/7 roadside dining destination. In certain locales, it comes with free boxing/wrestling matches and other entertainment.
I'm am only slightly /s about this. I do like Waffle House. I don't like that Ohio has them and we do not. But I don't want the "extra' entertainment that they throw in for free.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:24 PM ^
Waffle House is like a public restroom that serves breakfast.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:53 PM ^
I'd rather go to a coney island, here in cali we have neither.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:59 PM ^
They have them in Indy I think. There must be an untold story why the franchise has never made it to Michigan. I like my hashbrowns: scattered, smothered, and covered.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:19 PM ^
Ya think!?!?
November 8th, 2023 at 4:19 PM ^
Michigan to Petitti...
November 8th, 2023 at 4:22 PM ^
Leggo my eggo
November 8th, 2023 at 4:20 PM ^
i love waffles
November 8th, 2023 at 4:21 PM ^
He really got himself in a pickle, didn’t he?
November 8th, 2023 at 4:25 PM ^
chicken and waffles with a pickle.... hmmmm
November 8th, 2023 at 4:21 PM ^
What's clear is Pettiti has paid too much attention to the mob to release a statement nationally about respecting due process to kill this story.
Because he has not he has opened Pandora's box of shit kicking and mudslinging and things are getting uglier because he's a money guy not a LEADER.
November 8th, 2023 at 6:22 PM ^
It is time for Pettiti to man up and become an actual leader.
He needs to get all of the Big Ten ADs on a call and say the following:
"Gentleman, this fucking shit stops NOW. You are making us all look like fools. You are all doing this gamesmanship stuff, so there will be no more tattling to me or the media while you are guilty of the same thing. We are not doing gratuitous take downs of individual member programs on my watch. If you thought you pulled the wool over my eyes earlier, that does not work anymore. Sit down and shut up.
If you want to vote me out the next time my contract is up, do what you need to do. But I am not going to be your puppet for petty grievances my entire term."
November 8th, 2023 at 4:21 PM ^
He's not a wartime commissioner.
The amount of garbage that will come out on OSU - the B1G's chosen flagship program over the past 2 decades - will be mind blowing and non-stop drip, drip. With Williams and Connolly and I'm sure the best PR firm $ can buy, Petitti is about to set the B1G on fire if he goes after Harbaugh.
November 8th, 2023 at 4:22 PM ^
Leggo My Eggo!!!
