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/
If teams weren't expected to "steal" signs, then nobody would have to use signs at all.
This is such nonsense.
March 30th, 2024 at 10:46 AM ^
The fact is, and has always been, that signs and the theft and protection thereof are a big part of the meta game. Coaches and players think it's a fun added dimension.
March 30th, 2024 at 11:01 AM ^
I am just impressed that no team, at least to my knowledge, has tried to deliver signs in the form of interpretive dance vignettes, if you will, although sometimes baseball teams come close. Really, it would be more for the performance than what the signs mean at that point, and it would have the added advantage of keeping coaches limber throughout the game.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:54 PM ^
Then you could have Signgate 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Speaking of Signgate, has there ever been any evidence of an actual Michigan violation, other than Scalion being “more likely than not” on the sideline of the Central Michigan game?
I don't think there's been an NOA issued by the NCAA -- the one for CheeseburgerGate just came through, I think? As for the Big Ten, obviously Petitti got all the other schools together to decide what we did. Clown show.
Thank goodness it all worked out. Rod Moore intercepts to secure the OSU game. Blake and the OT TD against Alabama. The Don destroys Washington. National Champs.
If the Savannah Bananas get wind of this....they most certainly will.
An interpretive dance vignette!
This is not to defend or support the rule which Stalions violated "the spirit" of - but it specifically refers to advance scouting, not the in-game sign stealing bama is admitting to (actually bragging about).
But in keeping with the accusations against Michigan, these are unpaid GAs, not paid staff, which the rule is targeted at. Which is why Stalions violated the "spirit of sportsmanship" not the actual rule as written.
Is violating the spirit of sportsmanship an actionable offense? That phrase is definitely subject to interpretation.
I see no difference between Stalions organizing non-staff to help "steal" signals and Oates doing the same with unpaid staff (note that he says that the GAs are doing advance work for future teams). If one is a violation of the "spirit of sportsmanship" then both are. But the truth is that neither were and that's why the NCAA isn't investigating either case.
March 30th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
Huh?
The rule Michigan is accused of violating is sending people to games *in person* in advance to scout. No one is saying Alabama did this. This even assumes the rules for bball and football are the same.
If SEC does it, it's advance scouting and part of the game. If Michigan does it that's against the spirit of the game. #shrug.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:12 PM ^
This is the biggest scandal in the history of the SEC!
March 30th, 2024 at 12:26 PM ^
This is the biggest scandal in the history of SPORTS. FIFY
It's the biggest scandal IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Crédit Mobilier, Teapot Dome, and Watergate were mere child's play compared to this!
I think you mean Watergategate
March 30th, 2024 at 10:00 PM ^
J'Accuse!
Yes! Somewhere out there, Émile Zola is laughing ruefully because this is so much worse than the Dreyfus affair!
Ugh. The dreaded double post
+1 for Credit Mobilier reference 👍🏼
Gonna get some Crédit Mobilier stock...Crédit Mobilier stock.
Players are risking life and limb out there.
Has somebody informed Pete Thamel about this?
If you are worried about sign stealing, get better signs
Nothing to see here as "Harbaugh: name isn't attached (((rolls eyes)))
March 30th, 2024 at 10:22 AM ^
Tony Petitti just tried to give Jim Harbaugh another 3 game suspension until the other B1G AD’s and coaches told him it wasn’t Michigan.
March 30th, 2024 at 10:39 AM ^
Why let a detail like that prevent more punishment?
March 30th, 2024 at 11:42 AM ^
No way the other B1G ADs and coaches would be the ones to tell TP to roll up and back off an investigation of UM/Harbaugh
We're still waiting to hear back about those Harbaugh punishments carrying over to the NFL.
Interesting article, thanks for posting OP. Besides the silly hypothetical in which we hired Oats and this kind of stuff was held up with the Stallions nonsense as some evidence of Michigan's overall corruption and hypocrisy, I find this kind of deliberate and comprehensive sign stealing to be kind of interesting. Since "everybody" apparently does it, and it's legal as long as it doesn't involve electronics, why hasn't anyone designed a more covert system? Maybe they have but it's invisible to the average fan, which is the whole point?
Some other team got caught stealing signs. Color me surprised!
Opposing fans are always going to be butthurt when you're successful. If it's not one thing, they'll find something else to justify thier unhappiness. They're insane.
March 30th, 2024 at 10:13 AM ^
Especially when your primary rivals are the most spoiled fanbase in american sports
March 30th, 2024 at 10:39 AM ^
Which is all accelerated by the scourge of humanity that is social media.
When all "news" has to conform to an algorithm designed for addiction, plain-facts reporting doesn't even register.
Until it becomes consensus that humanity needs to build some self-governance around social media and its societal harm, this shit is gonna get worse.
It permeates every aspect of life now. Even people in my niche industry fight eachother on instagram over hot takes.
March 30th, 2024 at 11:50 AM ^
"Self-governance around social media...." hahaha.
Don't hold your breath.
The fact that porn, which is much more addictive and harmful is unregulated on the Internet should tell you just how unlikely it is that there will be any governance of SM.
unless you are in Texas.
All my exes live there.
Everyone's do...
So Nate Oats will now sit out 25% of the 2024-2025 regular season commissioned by Greg Sankey, as this is probably the worst scandal of all-time in intercollegiate athletics.
Cam Newton just heard about this, looked at Nate Oats, and shook his head in disgust.
"Player safety issue"
Suddenly I’m worried about player safety in the SEC.
/s
// ec
Someone call Pettiti. I’d like to hear his opinion on the biggest basketball scandal in SEC history.
Is Bruce Pearl and Auburn’s AD on the phone with Sankey right now demanding suspension of due process and immediate action and suspensions for Nate Oats? What about player safety?!?
WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE PLAYERS?!?
Well, it’s different in basketball. It’s also ok if Alabama does it.
March 30th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
Yup, and I'm sure much of their fanbase was all up in arms about Michigan's sign stealing, accusing us of cheating, etc. etc. But, when they do it, dead silence.
March 30th, 2024 at 10:02 AM ^
Huddle up and bama will be lost like last year's Easter egg.
March 30th, 2024 at 10:08 AM ^
Not rooting for it, but it would be sorta funny if as soon as Saban leaves bama becomes a basketball school for the next decade