InterlopingYooper

November 17th, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^

I’ll say it again today. Michigan has no insiders. This program is surrounded grifters who have no useful connections when push comes to shove. Almost everything they’ve tucked behind their paywalls has been misinformation they were fed by their “sources” or fan fiction they wrote when their digging came up empty.

Joined: 10/24/2017

MGoPoints: 2924

andrewgr

November 17th, 2023 at 2:04 PM ^

I lost a fair bit of respect for Sam when he went on his personal jihad against Ryan Day.  In the first place, it isn't particularly relevant where the information came from; he should be concerned with whether Michigan was breaking any rules, and if so, what the impact was and what the potential punishments might be.  But more importantly, there simply isn't direct evidence proving that Ryan Day had any part in this.  He told so many people, using highly emotional and inflammatory language, that Ryan Day personally hired a PI firm, suggested that the firm used illegal means to search Michigan's computers, and was orchestrating the release of information to make Michigan look bad, when there was never any proof for any of that.  It's now looking like most of that was completely delusional on his part, and that the initial report to the NCAA probably came from U.S. Integrity, a firm that the NCAA pays to look for anything related to gambling (point shaving, etc.).  As to why U.S. Integrity might have wanted to take a look: from the time Harbaugh was hired until the end of the Covid season, Michigan was about .470 Against the spread (ATS).  Since then, Michigan is around .740 ATS.  Hall of Fame level coaches can sustain maybe .530 or .540.  So while it's true that Michigan might have just made an absolutely monstrously huge jump in quality, and bookmakers haven't caught up yet and continue to set the lines too low, it's also possible that something fishy is going on, and that's what U.S. Integrity gets paid by the NCAA to look into.  Note that they may well have found zero evidence that anything related to gambling was going on-- we don't know one way or the other-- if they did find evidence of what could potentially be an against-the-rules operation that was helping Michigan, they certainly would have reported that.

To the extent that all this is just fans being depressingly (albeit predictably) tribal and yapping at each other on message boards, Sam's reporting doesn't matter.  But I genuinely believe that his position and reputation, along with his strident, aggrieved tone, could very well have led someone to take action against Day or his family.  The worst-case scenario would be some whacko with a gun, but a more reasonable scenario would be something like a hacker stealing the identify of some of his relatives, which is a crime with a sickening, painful, prolonged recovery process for the victim.  Sam was just one short step shy of standing on top of a horse-drawn wagon with a torch in one hand and a pitchfork in the other, yelling to the villagers that Ryan Day is a witch that has cursed the town, and that he needs to be burned at the stake in order for the drought to end.  

But up until this incident, I agree that he has been among the most accurate "Insiders" that I know of.  He always puts a pro-Michigan spin on things, but that's normal and expected of any fan site, and he seemed to have a good feel for where the line was between "spin" and "lying".

Joined: 11/15/2013

MGoPoints: 3059

BlueAggie

November 17th, 2023 at 2:32 PM ^

US Integrity was mentioned in the Petitti letter as someone that he consulted with early on about how to handle the information the NCAA gave him that Michigan might be cheating. Various message boards have been doing Q-Anon level analysis of the letter and have convinced themselves that USI is the original firm that did the investigation and that Pettiti put their name in to warn Michigan that if they didn't knock it off, their illegal gambling ring would be exposed for all to see.

Joined: 11/17/2008

MGoPoints: 3623

BlueAggie

November 17th, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^

Yes, absolutely. If you read the letter to get the context of the name drop, it's when Petitti is laying out the timeline of the Big Ten's involvement and why they felt like they had to take action. USI appears to have told them that the best way to avoid having a gambling scandal was to let it be known that the Big Ten warned MSU and that Michigan was under NCAA investigation.

That Pettiti's first thought was "how will information asymmetry affect gamblers" and not anything to do with player safety or competitive fairness is interesting, but probably not terribly relevant beyond providing more evidence that he's the wrong guy for the job.

Joined: 11/17/2008

MGoPoints: 3623

Robbie Moore

November 17th, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^

But I genuinely believe that his position and reputation, along with his strident, aggrieved tone, could very well have led someone to take action against Day or his family.  The worst-case scenario would be some whacko with a gun, but a more reasonable scenario would be something like a hacker stealing the identify of some of his relatives, which is a crime with a sickening, painful, prolonged recovery process for the victim.  Sam was just one short step shy of standing on top of a horse-drawn wagon with a torch in one hand and a pitchfork in the other, yelling to the villagers that Ryan Day is a witch that has cursed the town, and that he needs to be burned at the stake in order for the drought to end.  

Just a tad overwrought, eh Andrew? But I would have no problem if we reached a point where all parties agreed to tone it down. But fuck that if what we really achieve is unilateral disarmament. I'm done playing Charlie Brown to everyone else's Lucy. You want us to be civil? Then please advise East Lansing and Columbus that decency on our part requires reciprocity.

 

Joined: 12/01/2008

MGoPoints: 46092

SalvatoreQuattro

November 17th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^

Where is the proof that the NCAA hired this agency?( which oddly does what federal agencies are assigned to do.)

We still don’t know how they gained access to the hard drive nor how it is that OSU sites keep getting bits of information before anyone else. How is it that OSU insiders know what is happening with investigations pertaining to Michigan?

You are repeating without thought the narrative OSU has put out there. 
 

Ryan Day may or may not be connected to this firm,  but someone at OSU almost certainly is as we are seeing with these leaks.

Joined: 11/30/2010

MGoPoints: 78923

bronxblue

November 17th, 2023 at 1:59 PM ^

I do think a lot of Buckeye insiders are wrong on stuff (some of the conspiracy theories around Weiss and other coaches have been wildly off), but if there's someone at the NCAA feeding a couple of them info then insiders aren't going to know about that.  Hell, Thamel and co. knew about the suspension before the University apparently did.  That's not something an insider is going to have access to.

I agree that basically all the message boards are good for player-level info (e.g. injuries, vibes, etc.) but not much else.  

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171750

Blau

November 17th, 2023 at 1:45 PM ^

At this point, all I care about are the players and winning the games. I’m not saying everyone on the coaching staff and administration are bad people but I can’t get behind the adults who continue to bury their heads in the sand and then complain they have something in their eye.

These are very much self-inflicted wounds and if it ends up hurting the team, we’ll likely have our own mob to worry about.

Joined: 01/23/2014

MGoPoints: 35254

Swayze Howell Sheen

November 17th, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^

Wow, surprise, surprise, Bucknuts all over this.

Well, guess what Bucknuts: UM is going to play your team in about 8 days. And they're going to score and score and score until the game is done.

Joined: 10/05/2008

MGoPoints: 47106