The hammer has dropped, and in the end, it wasn’t much. We’ll get to that.
The Sound of Silence
Monday night, a band of storms passed through in the early evening. The power started flickering just before 7 PM, dropping and coming back half a dozen times before finally conking out for good.
OGE originally estimated restoration around 10:30. We were still in the dark and quiet by 10:45, so I fired up the generator to keep the fridge and freezer running. It was still over 80° at that point, and OGE no longer had an estimate.
Power came back about 45 minutes later, just as I was getting ready for bed. It felt like it took me longer to disconnect the generator and turn off the lights we’d forgotten were on than it did to set the generator up.
But in those hours before I fired up that beast, I realized just how much stuff we have in the house that lights up or makes noise. The fridge and freezer hum off and on. The HVAC isn’t loud, but you know it’s running. The thermostat is one of those smart panel things, about 5×7, and it throws a fair amount of light. There’s an LED on the water heater control panel. I’ve got a minisplit in the sunroom and a pedestal fan to help circulate the air. There’s a ceiling fan, too.
The clocks on the stove and microwave. The control screen on the air fryer. The cable modem and the router and the cellphone booster all have lots of blinky lights. There’s a power indicator on the TV, on the Wii, and on one other console we’ve got under the TV. The clock on my dresser. The power indicator on my CPAP. A “find-me” light on the dimmer switch for the bathroom lights. The security light out by the driveway.
The only lights on the property were the solar landscaping lights along the driveway.
It was stunningly quiet and dark.
I enjoyed the break, honestly. I wonder about doing it more often.
It’s Hammer Time
It feels like Signgate has been going on a lot more than two years.
The most annoying thing about Friday’s announcement is that it may not be over. Michigan has indicated they’re going to appeal the decision.
To refresh your memory: Michigan was accused of improperly stealing the signals and signs of their football opponents. Yes, there’s a proper way to develop this knowledge. Teams are allowed to review video from sources like All 22. I think they’re allowed to record the opposing team during their own game and try to decipher signals. Like, I think Michigan can record aO$U’s bench during their game each November. They’re not allowed to send people to Buckeye games and record those, though.
As John U. Bacon supposedly said, according to a Redditor, “You can scout in person and you can scout electronically, but you can’t scout in person electronically.”
Do I think Stalions and Harbaugh and Robinson and Moore and everyone else broke the rules? In the end, yes, I do.
Do I think they intended to break the rules? No, I don’t. I think they intended to exploit loopholes that they felt other teams were also exploiting. I think they knew they’d crossed the line, though. And as has been said many times before, the coverup is usually worse than the crime. I don’t think the fines would have been as bad as they are if everyone involved had fessed up in the beginning.
The Athletic has a good piece on the potential and actual penalties. Other sportswriters weigh in on the ruling at The Athletic, Wolverine Wire, and The Free Press.
Does this tarnish the Natty and the undefeated 23-24 season? Not much, in my eyes. Did Michigan have information about what plays their opponents were going to run? Almost certainly. Did their opponents have information about what plays Michigan was going to run? Also, almost certainly.
Even if both teams knew exactly what offensive and defensive formations the other teams were going to use, what blocks they were going to make, and what direction the play was going to go, both the offense and defense still had to execute their assignments perfectly. They can’t slip or stumble. They have to read the pass and get their arms up to block it. The cornerbacks have to be perfectly in position to knock a pass down.
I think the end result is that people got to see the sausage being made, and as is the usual result, didn’t like what they learned. I suspect the NCAA will work on clarifying its scouting rules, but it’ll take forever, and the result won’t really accomplish much.
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