Michigan Under Investigation For Sign Stealing

[selmaborntidefan]

 

[CB4]

And again we have the asymmetry of what is rapidly becoming Alabama "fan logic:"
a) other teams had our signals, that's cheating
b) even if we had theirs, we would have beaten them anyway

Ranks right alongisde:
a) I don't want to hear Colt/Ewers/Whomever got hurt
b) but our receivers were hurt

Which sounds amazingly like:
a) Auburn cheats
b) Alabama got put on probation for stuff everybody does even if it is cheating

And let's not forget:
a) that team didn't play as tough a schedule as an SEC team EXCEPT when
b) an SEC wins the championship, they don't play in the West

This sport resembles professional wrestling more and more every day.

I would have posted something just like this before Selma if I hadn’t developed carpal tunnel syndrome and writer’s block.

 

[rolltide7854]

It's a part of the game that used to be called gamesmanship, but now with the fragile, excuse-making society we live in, it's called cheating. I coach youth baseball from age 10U through 16U and I'll steal your signs as fast as you can take your next breath and will lay my head down very comfortably on my pillow at night.

When I coached my son's baseball team I used to call pitches for when my son pitched. He had 2 pitches, a fastball and a cut fastball. We were playing a team we needed to beat to make the playoffs. The positioned a dad so he could see my signals and relay them in to the batter by saying their name if it was a fastball. My son who is much smarter than me figured it out in the first inning. He came to the bench mad they were doing it. I told the catcher to keep doing what we were doing but for him to call whatever he wanted. A boy took fastball right down the middle for a called third strike. He slung his bat all mad and yelled it was supposed to be a cutter. LOL My son threw a no-hitter that night striking out 15 batters in 6 innings for the win.

 

[davefrat]

I think one may be able to trace the demise of modern college football to when this became a sideline thing (btw can you imagine the reaction that a Paul Bryant or Woody Hayes would have to this?):

 

[OakMtn4Bama]

We have had teams in the past where we could call out our play to the other team before the snap and there would still be little that they could do about it.

 

[bamaga]

Listening to the morning show on 92.9 in Atlanta, Rob Trimble made the comment that Clemson perfected sign stealing 3-4 years ago. brought back memories of the ‘defensive master piece‘ they pitched against Tua and the boys.
Herbie just made a good comment, CFB should go to electronic play calling between QB and coach. But that brings other problems.

 

[bamaga]

Michigan: Where Tom Brady learned to cheat.

You ain’t cheat’n ’, you ain’t try‘n

 

[carder24]

Seemed to be a bunch of nothing if they weren’t using technology someway, but on Fox they were just explaining that this might be over and above because mich staffed a former military? student that was a decoding specialist. Hairball said he didn’t know about it of course, but my guess is that will make it worse for them.

 

[Windsortide]

LOL are you kidding me. Get rid of the NCAA

 

[Tenntiderman]

Meeshegan cheating???? Off with theirs heads.

 

[allybama2009]

this is dumb, every team in every sport attempts to steal signs. rtr

 

[AlistarWills]

Story on ESPN indicates the staffer at UM had bought tix, in his name, across from the home team bench at 11 BIG10 schools. Had purchased tix on both sides of the stadium at OSU/PSU this past weekend but the seats weren’t filled. I imagine so since the guy got busted. Surveillance video shows someone filming the home team bench during the games.

 

[AlexanderFan]

From ESPN:

"The NCAA notified Michigan officials and the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday that it is investigating allegations that the Wolverines were stealing signs. According to a report from Yahoo, Michigan allegedly had people attending future opponents' games -- as well as those of potential College Football Playoff opponents -- to gather information about the teams' signals for offensive and defensive plays that are sent from the sideline. The NCAA's investigation also includes games prior to the 2022 season, sources told ESPN.

If the Wolverines sent people to games to steal signs, it would violate NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1, which states: "Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited." There aren't a lot of details available, including how much, if any, head coach Jim Harbaugh knew about the sign stealing; how many games someone associated with Michigan attended; how long the alleged sign-stealing system has been used; what staff members, if any, attended future opponents' games; and if electronic devices were used to record the signals."

If you can do this kind of "scouting" in person, couldn't you pretty much do it by watching the games on TV in real time or do it watching film?

Seems like a really stupid issue.

Sources: U-M staffer bought tickets at 11 schools

Suspended Michigan staffer Connor Stalions, who is at the center of the NCAA's sign-stealing probe, purchased tickets in his own name for more than 30 games over the past three years at 11 different Big Ten schools, multiple sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

Seems pretty detailed now.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

THE LIFE OF AN NCAA SCANDAL

1) Initial report says team is being investigated for something bad.
2) Partisans of the accused make a dozen statements along the lines of "this is nothing" while everyone who hates the team accused is shouting "off with their heads."
3) A little more information trickles out regarding the specifics, which are again dismissed as "ridiculous" by the accused.
4) A journalist without pedigree trying to make a name for him/herself pontificates self-righteously.
5) The accused school says they look forward to the chance to exonerate themselves.
6) A key detail comes out showing it's bad, over the line bad even.
7) The accused switches their defense from "this is ridiculous" after going through "we will be exonerated" phase to change the subject to "but everybody does it."
8) A new fact comes out that makes it obvious not everybody has gone this far. (WE ARE HERE!!)
9) The accused school starts isolating the guilty party to attempt to make it sound like it was a rogue booster or loose cannon who did this and - most important - they make sure the public knows the head coach had no idea this was going on or he would have prevented it.
10) The media finds out the head coach knew the whole thing was going on, the only point of contention being how much can be explicitly proven that he knew was going on.
11) Calls for the head of the head coach and testicles of everyone else involved go up like fireworks on the Fourth of July
12) The school pays off the guilty party to not sue, declares them persona non grata, and spends the rest of their time denying how bad the scandal is and isolating the coach from it. Sometimes this results in a lawsuit the school is trying to avoid all the dirty laundry to be aired.
13) The coach, depending on how many things he's been accused of or how bad it is, starts planning how he's going to leave his current job, whether by termination or "there's an NFL job for me out there."

 

[Crimson1967]

Story on ESPN indicates the staffer at UM had bought tix, in his name, across from the home team bench at 11 BIG10 schools. Had purchased tix on both sides of the stadium at OSU/PSU this past weekend but the seats weren’t filled. I imagine so since the guy got busted. Surveillance video shows someone filming the home team bench during the games.

How exactly does anyone know that one seat in a 100,000 seat stadium is empty?

 

[selmaborntidefan]

How exactly does anyone know that one seat in a 100,000 seat stadium is empty?

i'm going to assume that by the point that they saw that, they were monitoring him and knew who to look for.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I remember little league in Selma when we used to steal signals all of the time and nobody ever thought twice about it. The other team did the same. Sports is a cat and mouse game. You change your signals or better yet you change nothing see if they can stop you!

Also, coaches watch film (all the way down to HS at least) looking for "tells" or formations. Also, if you look at stance and even the knuckles of an offensive lineman you can usually tell whether it's a run or pass. Stealing signals. You still have to stop it!


Much ado about nothing! This generation is full of whiners.

Everyone remember when Coach Bryant sued the Saturday Evening Post for "fixing" a game? We knew which play was coming due to the direction of the QBs leg before the snap.

 

[AlexanderFan]

I think one may be able to trace the demise of modern college football to when this became a sideline thing (btw can you imagine the reaction that a Paul Bryant or Woody Hayes would have to this?):

View attachment 37568

Sign stealing is literally why this is even a thing.

I think teams with video of other teams playing not provided by the opposing team, or network television should be penalized.

There’s a city in the desert who might just be pushing this agenda ahead of khaki meatchicken games against the state teams.

 

[2003TIDE]

Well they aren't the only ones. I guess they are just the only ones with someone dumb enough to brag about it on Linkedin.

What college football coaches are saying about sign stealing - ESPN

BEFORE JAMIE GRANT entered the Florida House of Representatives, he was a former high school football player working on the equipment staff for the Auburn football team in the early 2000s. But his responsibilities extended beyond loading and unloading the bus.

He also assisted the coaches, helping run drills in practice. Somewhere along the way, a member of the staff approached him with an opportunity to be the third ball boy on the visiting side of the field during games.

Never mind that Grant didn't know a single thing about the job. The staff was more interested in his knowledge of the game as a former player. The other two ball boys would handle the grunt work. He just needed to act the part, steer clear of the referees and keep his eyes and ears open.

"I was going to hold two footballs and my only job was to try and pick up intel," he said.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I think one may be able to trace the demise of modern college football to when this became a sideline thing (btw can you imagine the reaction that a Paul Bryant or Woody Hayes would have to this?):

View attachment 37568

Wasn't Gus Malzahn one of the "pioneers" of this kind of nonsense?