Member for

14 years 4 months
Points
169.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
Literally all along, this…

Literally all along, this entire time, the last four decades or whatever it's been ... the best solution is, was, and will always be the Plus One model.  Play the bowl games regularly, when they're over, pick the two best teams and play one more game.  That's it.

That's what the change should have been.  Twenty-plus years ago.  This year would be perfect for that.

Starting next year, M/Ohio is never ever again going to have the meaning it's had since 1969, and for no real purpose, other than getting in bed with the SEC.  

Most people are going to hate the 12 team playoff.  Ole Miss at Penn State as a playoff game?  No one wants to see that.  

There is simply no way to perfect this.  There never was.  

Lunatics.

Lunatics.

Zero fucks given at whatever…

Zero fucks given at whatever Paul Finebaum thinks.

Danger level — 4/10.  Just…

Danger level — 4/10.  Just win.

It's always Morning in Ann…

It's always Morning in Ann Arbor.

Pretty heartbreaking story. …

Pretty heartbreaking story.  George Atkinson and both his twins ... tough to take.

Probably too early for this…

Probably too early for this year -- NCAA rules call for a 90-day response period after notice and that's supposedly inviolate -- so we should be good for this postseason.

I don't think the cover-up is sanctionable by the B1G, and it doesn't go directly to on-field sportsmanship anyway.  Can't see the B1G trying to slip in some additional bullshit at this late hour.

As to the future, it's actually the second cover-up -- the lie(s) in Burgergate and now this.  Non-cooperation in both investigations.  (Assuming the Yahoo report is accurate.) 

Not the greatest posture to be in, to say the least.

We should all be prepared.

Beat Ohio.

(Downvote away!!!)

The University should have…

The University should have known all this stuff before either the B1G or the NCAA.

Anyone in this space will tell you that it's always way better to cooperate fully with your regulators, be it NCAA, DOJ, SEC, whatever.  Never, ever, ever allow your employees to lie or destroy evidence.

At the first whiff of misconduct, M should have demanded that everyone retain records, hired prominent outside counsel, and done its own investigation and then self-reported and/or self-imposed as need be.

This was poorly handled at the University level in virtually every imaginable dimension.

Beat Ohio.

The NCAA is the entity doing…

The NCAA is the entity doing the digging, not the B1G.

Here's what likely happened…

Here's what likely happened in the litigation.

The two sides sat down and talked about the evidence over the last few days, Michigan heard the B1G/NCAA side, Michigan decided to throw in the towel.

Most likely there are going…

Most likely there are going to be a lot of other shoes to drop.  That's where this is headed.

Most likely, there was no…

Most likely, there was no settlement and instead the University simply voluntarily withdrew its complaint.

On the other thread, I was…

On the other thread, I was accused of being removed and not bleeding maize and blue and criticizing and trying to stand above people who do.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  

The only difference is that I separate out the various factions of maize and blue.  The university is bigger than one single temporary football coach.  I bleed maize and blue for that bigger institution and that bigger institution, not a single temporary football coach, is where I lodge my concern.

The university as a whole is a phenomenal institution, much bigger than any coach or any particular sports program in any year.  Though passions are running high now for obvious reasons, a lot of people, including the proprietors of this blog, agree with this perspective

For reasons having little to…

For reasons having little to do with football, the legal case was never a good one.  If there had been a TRO granted last Friday, it would have been dissolved in this hearing.  

In terms of the clean up, let's fix things going forward, someone (I think Henson) tweeted that the TRO had been granted late last Friday night.  That was flat-out 100% untrue and could not have been true.  

What's still unclear and I'm not going to research because in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal, is whether Harbaugh voluntarily dismissed his individual breach of contract claim.  If we remember, there were two lawsuits filed, one by the BOR and Harbaugh together; the other Harbaugh individually.

It's unclear whether the…

It's unclear whether the case was settled.  Voluntary dismissals can be done without settlement.

Without opining on whether…

Without opining on whether he was or not, he could have been paid for expenses off book and therefore there would be no expense reports.  

Really doesn't prove anything.

At the very least, the…

At the very least, the coordinators made use of Stallions's work, during the games.  So it's "receipt of stolen property" at a bare minimum.  The NCAA already has all of his work and is now at the point of seeing which coaches knew what, when.  

How much "help" they provided is a different question.  That piece is probably oversold.

Massive blowback is to be expected.  We'd be "blowing back" big time if this was Bama or Ohio or Little Brother.

Everyone is on alert now and changed their signals, so if we smoke Ohio in two weeks they have no basis whatsoever to complain.

Why do you?

For me, the answer is that I'm a grad of the school, a big fan of the football team (and several of the school's other teams), and the writers are pretty good (even when, as now, playing a little too much to the masses).

Why do you?

Are you talking about…

Are you talking about commentators on other message boards, or actually serious people?  Because I haven't seen anyone serious calling our players cheaters.

When you set out to steal other teams' signs in this way, and get caught red-handed, blowback from avid college football fans is inevitable. Sometimes the blowback will be scattershot. 

 It's the nature of the beast.  Heat, kitchen, et cetera.

There would be no reason at…

There would be no reason at all to hold it.

Just helping him out.  Given…

Just helping him out.  Given his previous record, he could use it.

And all for free, too!

Most likely, but it depends…

Most likely, but it depends on the rules the judge puts on the proceeding.  She may not even hear from witnesses at all.

In which case, he better…

In which case, he better tell the truth or he'll be guilty of a crime.  

His record in telling the truth to investigator and attorney types, to date, is a bit ... spotty.  To say the least.

Plus he doesn't really have much if anything to add to the legal B1G vs. UM case.  I doubt he testifies under oath.  From a lawyer's perspective, he's the ultimate loose cannon.

The "massive dossier theory"…

The "massive dossier" theory was the perfect example of the kind of thing an internet mob in full dudgeon comes up with.  

This place was better when it wasn't a mob.

In terms of the substance, I rooted for the team hard on Saturday -- as I've done for a helluva lot of consecutive Saturdays -- but this idea that they and the school have been somehow "victimized" doesn't really stand up to any kind of rational thinking.  

To some of us, it's an off-putting pose.  Just sayin'.

Just play the football games.

I said the B1G followed…

I said the B1G followed their bylaws appropriately because (1) they did all the procedural things -- notice, etc. -- the by-laws say they have to do to impose the sanction; and (2) the Commissioner is in fact empowered to act as he did. 

One thing everyone should keep in mind in this is that a lot of the arguments -- the signals didn't help, everyone else does it -- aren't really that relevant to the legal case.  What matters WAY more to the legal case is process, procedure, Commissioner authority.

To put it in simplistic terms, the B1G Commissioner has the authority to make stupid decisions -- under the sportsmanship policy and likely elsewhere.  "This was a really stupid decision" really doesn't do much for us legally.

As written, the B1G sportsmanship policy give the Commissioner a LOT of authority.  There's something to be said for a rewrite.

Neither of those are legally…

Neither of those are legally cognizable harms.  Sorry.  They simply aren't.

I'm not saying they aren't actual intangible "harms."  They are.  I'm sure Jim Harbaugh will suffer emotionally if he can't coach the team.  But they're similar to our fanbase suffering emotional distress when the refs gave JT Barrett a "first down" in the 2016 Ohio game.  Our distress doesn't translate to us being able to go into court and sue the B1G or the refs.

As to Harbaugh, if he's…

As to Harbaugh, if he's getting paid, he isn't harmed at all.  If he has a bonus clause in his contract for making/winning the playoff and he says me not coaching cost me the chance at these bonuses, the B1G could write a check to him and he'd be whole.

The players competing without their head coach doesn't even represent damage or harm.  They did it for three games already this season.  How were they harmed?

Not uncommon for a case this…

Not uncommon for a case this complicated where the other side has been given notice and the case for the TRO isn't really that great.

Any expectation that this case would be dropped on a judge at 6 pm on a Friday and ruled on favorably shortly after that was unrealistic.  She has to hear the parties, digest the filings and oral arguments, and write up a multiple page ruling.

That said, she still might grant the order.  There's still time.

OK -- the university and…

OK -- the university and Harbaugh have the strongest legal case I've ever seen in multiple decades of lawyering.  The suspension was a travesty in multiple dimensions and any judge who reviewed it would grant a TRO and permanent injunction almost immediately.  Any judge who didn't would be clearly corrupt.

Better? 

If the judge had issued a…

If the judge had issued a ruling denying the motion, we would have heard about that already, too.

She hasn't ruled yet.

If the judge had issued the…

If the judge had issued the order already, Harbaugh or the school would have told the press.  That's a certainty.

If the B1G was given notice -- and they very likely would have been, since the moving parties know their lawyers and their lawyers are readily available -- the judge would have had to have heard from both sides and then has to weigh their filings and arguments and make a decision -- and then usually put her reasoning in writing -- and that isn't the type of thing that can be done in an hour at 3AM when you literally just got the case.

She's probably still considering the matter and could issue an order this morning. 

The TRO case is by no means a slam dunk.  It could be lost.  The letter and the timeline shows that the B1G followed its bylaws appropriately, and the case for "irreparable harm" is still questionable.  The filing tries to put weight on the "once in a lifetime opportunity" these games represent, but the problem with that is that the players and fans and community aren't being deprived of their ability to play the games at all.  I highly doubt the delta between "playing the games with a coordinator having to coach" and "playing the games with a head coach" is going to be cognizable in any serious sense to a court of law.  Adding to that is that the team played three games without the head coach two mere months ago.

If I had to bet in Vegas, I'd say TRO granted, with a very short window for a full hearing to continue it -- sometime next week.  I'd say less than 50/50 Harbaugh is on the sidelines for Ohio.

Those things did happen. 

Those things did happen. 

Very disappointed in my…

Very disappointed in my school telling the conference (and then the world) that it hadn't seen the evidence when it had seen it in detail several weeks prior.

After trying to prevent the Conference from getting it from the NCAA -- essentially stonewalling the Conference's investigation.

Very disappointing.

Judges will be available…

Judges will be available today and tomorrow for emergency filings, which a TRO is.

A suspension for tomorrow…

A suspension for tomorrow while the plane is sitting on the tarmac would be ... odd.  Not a good look.

Yeah, that one's unlikely to…

Yeah, that one's unlikely to work.  B1G Sportsmanship Policy, Section 10.1.1:

"An institution is responsible for, and therefore, may be held accountable for, the actions of its employees, coaches, student-athletes, band, spirit squads, mascot(s), general student body, and any other individual or group of individuals over whom or which it maintains some level of authority. In addition, any member of the above groups may be held individually accountable if found to have committed an offensive action as contemplated by this policy."

It's an objectively negative…

It's an objectively negative situation.  So if you're a call them as you see them type, it's going to come off as negative.

The letter makes some potentially solid legal arguments -- positive.

The letter does not really defend against the core factual allegations -- that Stallions stole signs in the way alleged and that they were used in-game -- "negative," kind of, but doesn't matter for the legal case, which is going to turn around mostly procedure.

It absolutely, positively isn't a "we're being falsely accused" letter in any way.  It is a "please put all this in the proper context" letter and does a good job of that.

This is the reality of where we are.  Some good, some bad,  Some interesting legal issues if that's your thing.

Solid letter.  Concedes by…

Solid letter.  Concedes by implication the fact that the coaching staff used Stallions's work in-game  -- making it less solid on the facts.  (If they didn't use Stallions's work in-game, they would have attached affidavits from the coaching staff saying that.)

I don't get it -- they've…

I don't get it -- they've conspired to agree not to permit sign stealing ... and that's somehow an antitrust violation?  How?

They've also conspired to agree that you have to go 10 yards in four downs to get another series of downs and that the games should run for four 15-minute quarters.  Also antitrust violation?

I don't think that covers…

I don't think that covers the sportsmanship policy, though.  The sportsmanship policy actually gives the B1G commissioner very wide berth and expressly says he doesn't even have to do an investigation prior to taking disciplinary action.  (Which also means that if he doesn't have to do an investigation, that pretty much means definitionally he doesn't have to wait for the NCAA to investigate.)

The sportsmanship policy, 2022-23:

10.3 Procedural Elements 10.3.1 Commissioner’s Discretion, Timeliness, and Due Process.

The Commissioner has the discretion to pursue, or choose not to pursue, an investigation as to whether an offensive action has occurred.

Michigan does have one…

Michigan does have one potentially promising legal argument, which is this, in broad outline.

All the schools in the B1G are also members of the NCAA.  Meaning all the schools are governed by the same two sets of bylaws.  Therefore, the two bylaws should be read together as the real governing documents of the league and the games.  You can't and shouldn't read either standing alone, but only together.  The games aren't governed only by the B1G bylaws, but instead by the B1G bylaws, the NCAA bylaws, and the NCAA rulebook as an integrated, indivisible whole.

The B1G bylaws have a sportsmanship clause that isn't really defined.  The NCAA has a very detailed rulebook, much of which involves sportsmanship.  Therefore, the B1G sportsmanship clause should be read so as to incorporate the NCAA's detailed sportsmanship rules and the B1G commissioners power in a case that is covered by the NCAA's detailed sportsmanship rules should be limited to enforcing only violations of those rules.

He would still have the residual power to act alone in clear cases of sportsmanship violations not covered by the NCAA competition rulebook, such as, for example, a team poisoning another team's training table food two days before they play.  But where the issue directly involves the competition on the field, the B1G commissioner can't be allowed to ignore the NCAA on-field sportsmanship rules to which all his member schools are also a party.

That's not a great argument, but it's also not a terrible one.  I'd certainly make it if I was the school.

One interesting legal angle…

One interesting legal angle is whether both the school and Harbaugh institute litigation against the B1G.  Since the school can be punished for Harbaugh's acts and how they govern and respond to findings or allegations of misconduct can impact NCAA and other penalties down the road, the school and Harbaugh do have somewhat divergent legal interests (which is why, among other reasons, they have separate lawyers and why Harbaugh submitted his own response to the B1G on top of the school's.  And why in the NCAA case, the school on its own accord suspended Harbaugh -- it did that in its own self-interest.)

There have actually been a…

There have actually been a lot of sports cases revolving around eligibility of players and coaches, where schools and players have gone to court to get a TRO against an NCAA finding of ineligibility.  I'd venture that in the last 40 years there have been over 100. 

Google "Dave Wilson, quarterback, eligibility cases, Illinois."  43 years ago.

I don't have anything …

I don't have anything "invested" in anything. 

I do have experience in this area and do call them like I see them.

If you want to snarl at the B1G and Ohio in this matter, no objections here.  It's just not the perspective I come from.  (I actually enjoy snarling at Ohio, too -- we all do.)

It's going to be a tough legal case for us.  The way these sports cases often go is that we'll get a local friendly judge to issue a temporary restraining order but then the B1G will appeal and it will be overturned.  Or we won't be able to convert the TRO to a preliminary injunction. 

Typically, litigation can…

Typically, litigation can involve hypothetical situations to try to prove important points and that also won't be good for us.

What would we be saying if on the eve of the Michigan game, Ohio poisoned the food at the training table and 75% of the Michigan team couldn't play.  (Let's assume the facts are that Ohio is caught dead to rights.)

Would we be saying the B1G couldn't act in that instance and had to wait for the NCAA to investigate?

 

There's not going to be…

There's not going to be anything legally to any argument about the NCAA.  The NCAA is a parallel association that's also empowered to act.  Nothing in the B1G's governance structure or the governance structure of the sport implies in any way that a conference has to wait for the NCAA, or that the NCAA can't act if a conference has acted.

If the only penalty is a…

If the only penalty is a Harbaugh suspension, the biggest obstacle to getting an injunction would be proving that the suspension of a team's head coach will result in the necessary irreparable harm.

It's tough to even prove damages in that situation -- Michigan famously won the NCAA basketball tournament after firing its head coach on tourney's eve -- but let's just say you could prove with cosmic certainty that it reduced the team's chances of winning the suspended games by 25%.  And that as a result, Michigan's chances of getting the CFP payoff and all the other things it had gotten by winning the rest of its games were also reduced by 25%. 

You could then just multiply the possible money gained from winning out by the 25% and come up with a dollar figure -- let's call it $1 million. 

Legally, if the alleged harm can be compensated by money damages, there's no legal basis for an injunction, either.  Hard to see how a check from the B1G couldn't serve as compensation for any damages, along these lines.  Same for any intangible "brand damage" that may be asserted.

Teams play games without head coaches all the time.  Where's the irreparable harm?  Where's the damages?  Can't the damages be compensated for by money?

Those are the main obstacles.

Right, but the play sheet to…

Right, but the play sheet to Purdue in late 2022 by definition can't have helped formulate Harbaugh's state of mind in 2021 or most of 2022 about the accuracy of getting signals from game film, as the letter claims.

How could Harbaugh have believed in 2021 or September/October/November 2022 that you can get 100% accurate signals from game film based on a play sheet for a game that wasn't played until December 2022?  (Assuming he even got it in December 2022 -- also not in the record.)

That's not the record.

That's not the record.

The other significant…

The other significant problem with the play sheet argument is that the play sheet wasn't given to  Purdue until very late in the 2022 season, so it couldn't have formed the basis of Harbaugh in 2021 and most of 2022 believing that it was really easy to steal accurate signals from game film.