Harbaugh (NTH) cheats too
ESPN reports here and on SportsCenter that the Ravens practiced too much. As a penalty, they'll lose some practice time.
John Harbaugh, when interviewed, accepted the punishment, saying that they want to run the team within the rules. This system seems to make a lot of sense to me. Too much practice? You are penalized some practice time. If the consequences were as natural in the NCAA, maybe it wouldn't take over a year for overblown allegations to be settled. Of course there are differences between the leagues, but maybe (and I'm not holding my breath) the NCAA could adopt a similarly rational system.
Remind me again - what is the proposed penalty for Michigan practicing too much?
My understanding of the situation is that when questions arose at Ravens camp, they consulted the video tape. It revealed that, indeed, errors had been made. The situation was reported and immediately addressed. In my limited knowledge of the relative importance of OTAs in the NFL, it seems fair.
It seems to me that in the NCAA things are much more opaque. Allowable limits on coaches, times, and activities seem nebulous. I think making things more straightforward and having softer penalties for infractions might lead to better following of the rules. Additionally, when rules are broken the result would be more of an appropriate sanction and less of a smear campaign with somewhat arbitrary penalties.
Maybe we could come up with a reasonable chart for infractions and their corresponding penalties. As the NCAA system currently runs, it seems that frequently committing and reporting many small infractions (tOSU) has an incredibly smaller effect than committing what seems to be a minor infraction. One receives little attention. The other gets an institution, its atlhetic program, some of its coaches and its compliance staff drug through the mud. This doesn't even take into account the effect of negative press coverage on potential recruits. Finally, there are some actual consequences from the NCAA.
This has become longwinded; my apologies. If you're asking what my proposal would be for Michigan's penalty, it would be reduced practice time. I think natural consequences make sense, and the closer we can get to creating them, the better. Pay your players? You lose scholarships. Communicate illegally with recruits? Lose visits. Practice too much? Lose practice time.
If you're asking what my proposal would be for Michigan's penalty, it would be reduced practice time.
My point is that reduced practice time IS the penalty for practicing too much.