New York Magazine (!?!): Suspending Harbaugh is Insane
Not much new info here, but the fact that it's making headlines in reputable non-sport publications will hopefully help color the public perception.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
IIRC, Chait's take was that it's possible that Russian intelligence has had a file on him since the 1980s. And they may have been grooming him and using him unknowingly to play to their advantage.
It's inaccurate to call it a "scam and a hoax". There was a multi-year investigation conducted by the former head of the FBI which included interviews with hundreds of witnesses and millions of documents. The investigation ultimately found that multiple individuals within his orbit/campaign had several interactions with figures in the Russian govt. (In fact, in the 448-page Mueller report, the long-time personal assistant actually sent a copy of his passport to authorities in Moscow in anticipation of a trip there.).
(Seriously, I'm not trying to be a jerk and I never post political stuff but I'll try to politely respond to it before it gets pulled down. I just think it's important that we all deal with facts as much possible - and not biased narratives. We've all learned how important that is this week.)
November 12th, 2023 at 1:05 PM ^
Carpetron, I gave you a thumbs up for a polite and well written response. But we will have to disagree.
November 12th, 2023 at 1:14 PM ^
Thumb's up right back at ya...
November 12th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
We need more biased articles like this by every alumnus in the media. Gotta fight with fire with fire.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
Good piece. I regret one missed opportunity, and disagree with one assertion:
The leading complaint is that the B1G didn't allow the investigation to take its course. He needed to punch that up. There may well be more to come out of this (Stalions shared his info with somebody on the staff, after all); we want to keep that argument uppermost.
I'm a Democrat, and voted for her, but the issue with Ms. Clinton's emails was the same as with Colin Powell's--the correspondence on official subjects that you conduct while a public official is a part of the official record, the historical record, and belongs to the public. Privatizing it is absolutely not on. Dems complained bitterly when it was revealed Powell had done it,* swallowed their whistles when Clinton was caught. As with Stalions, it would have been better to admit it was unacceptable and allay the fury, not insist that it meant nothing. There's really not much doubt in either Clinton or Powell's cases that they set up private servers and accounts for a reason.
I guess Chait feels that most of his readers will be sympathetic NYC-oriented liberals, but I'd have kept politics far from that piece.
*It helped to hide some of the lying that went into ginning up the Iraq invasion.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
"Everybody does it" is a truism that extends across our entire society, especially when you get into the upper echelons of power/politics/business/sports. You can't use it in defense of a crime, but it is absolutely true that everyone does do it to a certain degree. Some get caught, others get caught later, and I guess some never get caught, but we'll never know about those, will we?
November 12th, 2023 at 12:59 PM ^
Exactly! You can't use it to defend M from some punishment here, but you certainly can deploy it in the public arena. And we should! And point out the precedent Petiti has set--he'll need to suspend every coach every time some transgression is exposed--whether the coach had any connection or no. There may be some we can expose right away.
Under these circumstances, it's hard to see how he hasn't f'd up. Massively.
November 12th, 2023 at 1:05 PM ^
Every time some transgression is *alleged*
November 12th, 2023 at 12:42 PM ^
Love Chait when he’s writing about Michigan. Mixed bag when he’s not.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:43 PM ^
I generally prefer praise or support from unbiased authors. It has more credibility that way.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:44 PM ^
He makes some decent points but...
#3 on his list needs to be changed to "the NFL understands the risks and has implemented a low-cost helmet microphone system which Michigan has suggested the B1G and NCAA implement, yet they refuse to consider this obvious fix to their concerns of player safety".
Add a #4 while it is even debatable if sending an unpaid friend to use a phone to film the sidelines qualifies as an NCAA rule infraction, or whether it would provide any benefit over the "All-22" video footage teams already get of their opponents, the marginal advantage of advanced scouting is so negligible that the NCAA has been considering removing the rule altogether.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^
Nice article. Unfortunately, it’s written well above a third grade reading level so it’s not likely to make much of an impact on Dear Chad and Little Tony.
November 12th, 2023 at 1:11 PM ^
I went to school with Chait and remember when he was trying to be Dave Barry instead of Michael Kinsley. IIRC, he wrote a piece about two students' attempt to create a mascot by dressing up as "Willy the Wolverine" at games.
November 12th, 2023 at 1:51 PM ^
He must’ve been a master debater like Tuck cuz he makes a strong argument.
November 12th, 2023 at 3:02 PM ^
Hard hitting journalism
November 12th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Awesome find! And an article that sums it all up extremely well.
Also, loved this line:
"The ignorance in this passage is so stunning that I have difficulty understanding how this man [Pettiti] has managed to be employed in a sports field."