Alabama accused of sign stealing
At least the UM "staffers" have not been accused of harrassing the referees and opposing team at the same time they were stealing signs.
Sign stealing is done by all in basketball, but best we didn't go with Nate Oats based solely on the BS we would hear from other teams.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/30/alabama-basketball-sign-stealing/
March 30th, 2024 at 10:33 AM ^
Well, no one actually is being accused of anything so much as the press observed the GAs perfectly legal activity and asked Oates about them who proudly boasted how great they are. And no one is complaining. But I do wonder if this "sign stealing" headline would have been the headline without Stalions.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:25 PM ^
IDK, this is breaking a rule. (The full paragraph is in another post of mine below.)
"...paper flowing from the stands to the huddle raised eyebrows among media members and prompted some confusion for event staffers, NCAA rules only prohibit electronic communications to the bench during games."
March 30th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
The words are explicitly saying it is not breaking a rule.
I do wonder about the GAs being seated where they have a better view and therefore can steal signs more effectively. My guess is that, had Connor Stallions been somewhere other than the sidelines during games, we would have read about how his prime sign-stealing location in the stands during games multiplied the egregiousness of the situation.
I try not to be bitter because F--- them, we won a national championship anyway, but hypocrisy tends to push my buttons.
I mean, people were outraged that Stalions was on the sideline next to Minter and Harbaugh because they thought the legal parts of his job were illegal because early on (and for some, to this day) people don't understand that sign stealing is legal.
But what Alabama readily acknowledges they did is legal and is different than what Stalions was accused of.
Buckeye fans are convinced that even after Stalions resigned, we stole their coaches headset communications, Harbaugh was coaching remotely and had someone communicating from the stands to the coordinators through Apple Watches. We are accused of "cheating" for the rest of the season and through the Championship game.
The past football season makes me wonder if more tinfoil is sold in Ohio than everywhere else.
They have completely lost their minds...
March 30th, 2024 at 11:03 AM ^
Some may not get access if recently read a Post article so here is key paragraph:
As such, the Alabama graduate assistants, forced into the overflow section, enjoyed an unobstructed view of North Carolina’s bench from across the court. Once Tar Heels Coach Hubert Davis signaled to his team, the Crimson Tide’s graduate assistants set about deciphering the call. When that was complete, often within a second or two, they loudly shouted out the play in unison — “Floppy,” “Rebel,” or “Double” — to notify Alabama’s defense.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:23 PM ^
That one is important but IMO, I thought the key paragraph was this one where it describes blatantly breaking an NCAA rule:
Meanwhile, the graduate assistants also painstakingly charted the game action. During timeouts, their notes were shuttled from their location in the fan section to Oats by player development coordinator Christian Pino. Though the unusual sight of paper flowing from the stands to the huddle raised eyebrows among media members and prompted some confusion for event staffers, NCAA rules only prohibit electronic communications to the bench during games.
My man, can you read?
I’m missing where it says a rule was broken.
So, the paper was flowing on an electronic-powered conveyor belt is what I'm seeing here. Makes the communications electronic.
March 30th, 2024 at 11:15 AM ^
Fire [Alabama AD].
March 30th, 2024 at 11:29 AM ^
I don't have this type of skill, but I hope there is someone out there who creates a combo email/ phone/ text/ Twitter/ alert bot that spams every mention of sign stealing in every possible sport to Tony Petitti, for the rest of his entire life.
March 30th, 2024 at 11:56 AM ^
I think cheerleaders have been in on it for several teams. I've been watching closely and I've just about cracked the code.
TIL that "cracked the code" is a euphemism for masturbation.
Don't mind me. I'm just cracking the code.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:03 PM ^
Cant be. Full stop.
Michigan is the only one to ever do it and it's the biggest scandal ever seen in sport.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:46 PM ^
I love how more and more of this bullshit comes out across sports….further cements how big of bitches Ohio state, and all the other big ten teams, really are
hold our natty while we chug this beer
actually hands off
March 30th, 2024 at 12:49 PM ^
Stealing signs is allowed. Sending your grandma to the game to take pictures is a crime.
Not even really "accused," there's no suggestion Alabama is doing anything wrong, it's just part of the story with the explanation that sign stealing is ubiquitous. Just incredible that they spun this into two months of hysterics for us. And absolutely impossible to believe the difference is that our stupidest staffer had his friend take grainy iphone video rather than that it was a hit job because a lot of people in CFB personally dislike Jim Harbaugh.
Nothing will happen to them
Amazing how little people care about sign stealing when there isn't a PI firm strategically leaking details for the media to release
Sankey will squash this and make sure nothing happens to Bama.
Sankey runs the SEC like a mafia don.
You think he’d ever let low level associates like Vanderbilt and Mizzou storm into his office and demand that action be taken against his Nick Saban and Kirby Smart underbosses? Sankey would throw Vanderbilt and Mizzou out of his office and tell them that if they ever utter another word about it again, their coaches, not Smart/Saban, will be the ones getting suspended.
Sankey protects his moneymakers, and anyone else who doesn’t add to the bottom line needs to just be thankful that they’re along for the ride. Pettiti, meanwhile, caves to bottom feeders and lets them run the show.
"Accused of" or "credited with"?
College Basketball Reddit had a post about this but mods deleted it within like half an hour.
Whoever hired the PI firm and strategically leaked our info played their hand very well. Nobody seems to care unless all the big sports reporters touch on it.
Agreed, it was brilliantly played to make sure that the drip, drip, drip was never-ending. All that said, it ultimately backfired by making a focused, close, determined team even more focused, more close and more determined. We'd have probably won it all anyway because we were simply the best team in college football, but this whole saga, though crappy for us fans, actually helped the team I believe.
It’s not “accused.” They did. And it’s just an aside here. Not some controversy.
Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
SPOILER ALERT: It's the aliens!
Nothing will happen. Alabama will just tell the NCAA go go fuck off!
Blah blah blah lip service about player safety yadda yadda yadda mumbling about integrity of sports grumble grumble *checks notes* not Michigan so no one cares
did I get everything?
It’s part of the game(s). Let’s stop with the foolishness. It was an attempt to derail an unbeatable team and it didn’t work. National Champs anyways. Let it die there. They’re using headsets now (which NOBODY wanted, because they ALL do it).