New UM Statement

The thing that strikes me is that we were told M had done a thorough internal investigation prior to re-starting talk of Harbaugh's extension.   This is starting to feel like that internal investigation wasn't terribly thorough...

It's Chinatown, Jack.

Is it selective enforcement based on rivals trying to get one over on us and damage the program? Absolutely. Has all enforcement in the history of college football been selective enforcement? 100%. The authorities in CFB have very little investigative powers or incentive to look especially hard, and most rule breaking schemes are run in a conspiratorial fashion. When teams get caught it's almost always because of bad luck or 'snitching' on the part of other teams who do the same or worse. It was like that in the 1940s, in the 1970s etc.

But there's also historically very little evidence that there's anything you can do about it. I'm not aware of any team winning over sporting regulatory bodies using the normal court system when it comes to applied punishments for conceded rule-breaking. It's also not exactly shocking that the public will never embrace the "well yes we broke the rules, but it wasn't that bad and besides everyone else is doing stuff, too" defense. It's a losing battle. It's not like other teams breaking the rules will say "Yeah compared to what we do, it's no big deal.", no, they'll act like they're as pure as the driven snow and condemn it in the strongest terms. Especially if they have something to gain from it - like OSU or the SEC powers.

The entire legal TRO play was just a rearguard maneuver. It was all about getting Harbaugh on the sidelines for those 60 minutes against Ohio State. But for that, timing was of utmost importance, and timing wasn't in our favor. And even if Michigan had succeeded in that, it wouldn't have changed the fact Michigan would have faced significant penalties at a later stage. The TRO filing wasn't about whether Michigan had committed a violation or not. And there had to be a question internally how much value those 60 minutes of Harbaugh had vs the long-term success of the program.

I wonder what Ed and cobra's opinions are on this one???

Isn't it 5:00 somewhere in the world right now?

The board is very emotional today and all over mostly nothing. 

Support the team and defend the school. Stop cracking. 

I don't know the reason for the sudden change.  My guess is Michigan received a clear signal that they weren't going to prevail in the trial and that the B10 threatened a very onerous penalty if Michigan continued with the lawsuit.

If Michigan is serious about leaving the B10, they would be wise to investigate it quietly and have it happen when it is in Michigan's best interest to leave.  

If you think the B10 if fucking with Michigan now, imagine what they would do if they knew we were leaving.

I believe the conduct by OSU and B10 will force Michigan to leave the conference or join a super conference but Michigan needs to do this at a date that is in Michigan's best interest.  ND's new TV contract will be a big data point that I think that will validate the independent route for B10 football.

This "statement" doesn't add much if anything. 

Process crime (cover up, obfuscation).  With every capitulation, the program seems to further reinforce that there IS something there.  Even if it ends up being a nothingburger.  I was really hoping for some show of fighting against the mob justice.  

The partridge thing seems to have caught Michigan off guard, especially when on the surface and from the outset it seemed there was total cooperation with the NCAA. 
 

Two things I think are going to be the biggest takeaways from this, and I’m not sure how Michigan or the rest of the conference membership outside of OSU will handle it:

-One, the precedent has been set now for hiring PIs and orchestrating PR hit jobs on upstarts and rivals. And it is a precedent because of how successful it was. I’d expect OSU to continue doing this from here on out. I don’t know if any other schools will engage in doing this, and I don’t know if it will spill over into other sports, but it seems to be on the table now and fair game for anyone. 
 

-Two, the b1g, regardless of what the infraction is or might be, has set the precedent that they will capitulate to the mob and use the “sportsmanship” argument to hamstring a program in-season at the behest of that mob. As above, I don’t know if this will be a common tactic going forward, or whether it will spill over into other sports. 
 

The Michigan fan in me wants OSU to get more than a taste of their own medicine and have the same thing done to them. But, I’m not sure any school would attempt it against them. It was a masterful job, considering what Michigan has gone through this past month, and especially considering it was for something that is common amongst all of CFB, even if the manner in which it was done seems to be in a very gray area of the NCAA rules. 

There's a non zero chance that after a cover up we are banned from post season play this season. Just prepare for it

Before investigations were complete how many people did Ohio State, Kansas, North Carolina, Miami fire?  

Everyone (except Michigan) knows the way to beat the NCAA is to litigate the hell out of them and tie them up in court for years. 

We roll over again over basically nothing.     

Im perfectly good with whatever happens.. The team I have waited decades to enjoy is playing at lest 2 more Saturdays  life is good. I can’t change the media reaction or not knowing what is happening with the coaching. So many real life problems drown out the importance of the other stuff