Michigan Cheated – How the Rest of the B1G Did Too

Photo: Sports Illustrated

The Big Ten has a cheating problem; but who doesn’t?

If I have to hear the name Connor Stalions one more time I’m going to go full Vincent van Gogh. Yes, the entire saga is hilarious. He’s a total dork who is obsessed with Michigan football to potentially unhealthy levels. Each day the evidence continues to pile up that he went all out to help Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff cheat.

My question is…who isn’t cheating?

If you’re involved in big money sports, with your and others jobs and livelihoods on the line, of course you’re going to gain whatever competitive edge you can get to win. Michigan definitely went overboard with it, but there’s a lot of glass houses throwing stones in this whole scenario.

So, how could each team in the B1G have maybe “bent the rules” to find any type of advantage they could?

Illinois – Brett Bielema showed Iowa recruits his tattoo to get them to de-commit from the Hawkeyes and come to Champaign.

Indiana – made empty promises to players in the transfer portal that if they came to Bloomington they’d automatically get a spot on Shark Tank.

Iowa – confirmed fair and balanced decision making on playing time; denounced nepotism in all its forms.

Maryland – claimed that there is more to the state than crab cakes and football.

Michigan State – forged documents into showing Sparty the Spartan has never taken PEDs.

Minnesota – assured us all that PJ Fleck definitely isn’t a cult leader.

Nebraska – wondered aloud why the other 132 D1 football coaches don’t wear very cool smocks.

Northwestern – continued to swear, under oath, that they are Chicago’s Big Ten team, despite four other conference team’s alumni being in the top 10 in Chicago’s population.

Ohio State – Ryan Day persisted in his vow that he doesn’t color his hair and beard.

Penn State – promised their fanbase that it’s totally normal for a giant cat to be completely naked other than wearing a tie.

Purdue – leaked text messages from Ryan Day asking Coach K about his hair care routine.

Rutgers – “would be a real shame if you didn’t let the Knights cover here…”

Wisconsin – shut down any investigations that they’re working in an underground lab on another batch of high-motored athletic freaks using a certain family’s genes.

It’s really that simple, everyone cheats. It’s a widespread misdemeanor that is prevalent in big time college sports. Anyone with a few minutes and access to Google could find out all of the above-mentioned elusiveness of NCAA bylaws.

Sunday State of Mind: November 28th-December 4th

Photo: Wallpaper Access

Folks, we did it again. Another week in the books and more sports than we could handle. Our latest SSM is here to review it all.

College football playoff, final four is set
Ohio State and Georgia, could we see an upset?
Other side of the bracket, Michigan vs. TCU
Sad we only have three more college games to go through

Potential Super Bowl preview, a game all wanted
Dolphins and 49ers, two teams deep bonded
It wasn’t meant to be, you see, game just fell quite short
Both QBs ended up the injury report

Jacob deGrom, your newest Texas Ranger
AL West hitters are about to be in danger
Big hit for the Mets, another big arm gone
Had so many off years, Mets fans want to stay on

Jose Alvarado! We don’t know him either
Thirty eight on Sunday, didn’t take a breather
Undrafted to bucket getter, a great sports story
Pelicans are basking in some rarely found glory

Sunday State of Mind: November 21st-November 27th

Photo: House Beautiful

The only thing better than the food during Thanksgiving week is the sports. Feast week in college basketball, rivalry week in college football, and more, all in this week’s Sunday State of Mind.

Feast week brings the upsets, in college basketball
Early in the season, and number one did fall
Friday night the Cyclones upset UNC
Iowa State resumé building early victory

After all these years, feeling like big brother
Recently there seems to be a bigger, better, other
Two years in a row now, and they’re feeling great
Two straight wins for Michigan over Ohio State

A rare win for the Raiders, and even better yet
Josh Jacobs set all the records that ever could be set
Over 300 yards between rushing and receiving
Every time he touched the ball, defenders he was leaving

A NBA homecoming, loving all around
Ben Simmons came back to play in his old stomping grounds
His favorite fans in Philly, I’m sure it felt so warm
He had a double double so at least he did perform

Sunday State of Mind: March 14th-March 20th

We made it, folks. Not just to another Sunday State of Mind, but to March Madness. We dedicate the latest edition of SSM to college basketball’s annual tournament.

Only place to start, the St. Peter’s Peacocks
Fifteen seed came to play, major rising stock
Beat second seed Kentucky, and then Murray State
A classic Cinderella, what makes March Madness great

A big name eleven seed making a little noise
Juwan Howard and Michigan, showing some Madness poise
A bad regular season, turning it on at the right time
Seems like only yesterday, the open hand slap crime

It happens every year, dreaded 12-5 upset
This time around Iowa and UConn won’t forget
New Mexico ended UConn, Richmond nipped the Hawks
That’s why when doing your bracket you just can’t go chalk

Hate it or love it, The Dukies still alive
Coach K beat Coach Izzo, the Blue Devils survive
This retirement tour does just not seem to end
With every win Coach K’s career extends

Sunday State of Mind: February 14th-February 20th

With our Super Bowl hangovers cured, it’s time to move along in the sports calendar. This week’s SSM reviews the week that was in sports.

Baseball’s continued locked out, two sides can not agree
Between the player’s union and owners from the MLB
Spring Training scheduled for last week, of course that’s a no go
Hopefully resolve comes soon so we can see The Show

NBA All-Star Weekend, they always do it right
Skills, three point, and dunk contest happened Saturday night
Cavs, KAT, and Obi, winners respectively
Team LeBron beat Team Durant tonight on TNT

College basketball fight! But not between the players
Michigan’s Juwan Howard was the slap conveyor
Wisconsin winning big, but called a late timeout
Pissed off the Wolverines and lead to the postgame coach bout

Sunday State of Mind: November 29th-December 5th

Photo: Wallup

Why isn’t the weekend five days, and the work week two days? Who knows, but we know this week’s SSM is now live.

Conference championship weekend in college football
Some teams show up, and others just fall
Utah, Bama, and Michigan were among the winners
The amount of football left keeps getting thinner and thinner

Our long national nightmare has ended, my friends
The Detroit Lions losing streak ends
A squeak out win over Minnesota
The Lions have now met their season win quota

Minshew mania, back and better than ever
Taking over Philly, Gardner’s new endeavor
A good start for him, but maybe hedge your bets
His first start and win was against the Jets

We’ve got a lockout in the MLB
Owners and players could not agree
On a new CBA, no baseball for now
Between the two sides, who will kowtow?

Best game of the season, in our opinion
OKC versus Memphis, and the Grizz went in
A record setting blowout, 73 point win
When you watch that game tape, where to even begin?

Sunday State of Mind: November 22nd-November 28th

Photo: Jattdisite

Holy smokes, what a week in sports. College football rivalry week, NFL, NBA, and a partridge in a pear tree. We look back fondly in this week’s SSM.

That matchup we simply call “The Game”
Wolverines & Buckeyes, emoji flame
Jim Harbaugh finally got him one
Against their rival, losing streak done

Big coaching splash at USC
The Trojans have hired Lincoln Riley
Away from the Sooners, Oklahoma no more
That team out west is never a bore

One more college note, LSU
Coach O’s last game, and they bid him adieu
A walk off win against Texas A&M
Farewell to Coach O, an absolute gem

Game of the week in the NFL
Packers and Rams, defenses shelled
Green Bay did enough to secure the win
Packers chilling at the top of the North again

Sunday State of Mind: October 25th-October 31st

A spooky, after dark edition of SSM this week. We take a scary hayrack ride through the week that was in the sports world.

Those scrappy bad guy Astros, just keep hangin’ ’round
The Braves could have been World Series champs, no king yet has been crowned
Atlanta still up 3-2, one more win on the way?
They’ll get a chance to become champs this coming Tuesday

The Jets have won a game! What a New Jersey dream
Even more impressive, they beat a first place team
Tough loss for the Bengals, hopefully a minor stop
In what would be a great season while rising to the top

Sticking in the AFC East, but opposite result
Dolphins lose their seventh straight, total football insult
The Bills bounce back for a win, after a Monday loss
Come playoff time, Bills Mafia will not be crossed

The NBA is in full swing, the sports world has no lulls
The Eastern Conference has been surprising: Knicks, Hornets, and Bulls
Out in the Western Conference, Clippers are 1-4
Hope it will get better, a start the Clips ignore

Got an in state battle, down in East Lansing
Sparty came out, beat big brother, totally did their thing
A tough loss for Michigan, but they’re still top 10
Another ranked opponent beating Jim Harbaugh again

A really tough two weeks for Iowa football
Number two two weeks ago, since then been all fall
After losing to Wisconsin, another unranked foe
Hawkeyes fall to number 19, there their playoff dreams go

Caleb Williams and the Sooners, rolled up Texas Tech
Six touchdowns through the air, Red Raiders saying “what the heck?”
Incredible start to a career, the young man is a battler
Continues to be special and play over Spencer Rattler

Sunday State of Mind: March 22nd-March 28th

Photo: Wall Up

The Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament is winding down. We saw some regression to the mean and some big dog’s continue to roll. We recap in this week’s SSM.

Loyola has fallen, no more Sister Jean
Oregon State was tough, looked plenty mean
The Ramblers played well, but OSU played great
The twelfth-seeded Beavers headed to the Elite Eight

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, this year’s Cinderella
Their parade was rained on by Arkansas, no umbrella
The Razorbacks locked up ORU like an old school jailer
Next up for Arkansas in the Elite Eight? One seed Baylor.

The top seeds keep rolling including Michigan
The Wolverines rolled FSU and won again
Juwan Howard has his boys posed for a deep run
It looks like Michigan is far from done

The third remaining one seed, Gonzaga Bulldogs
Remain clear-minded winners, no signs of fog
An 18 point win in the Sweet Sixteen
The Zags are 29-0, their perfect record’s still clean

Sunday State of Mind: March 8th-March 14th

Photo: Wallpaper Cave

A early St. Patrick’s Day celebration in this week’s SSM.

The bracket is set, worry no more
Gonzaga, Michigan, Illinois and Baylor
Are your number one seeds, cream of the crop
Top flight sports entertainment, who’ll end up on top?

After 20 years, Drew Brees has retired
An incredible career, but time has expired
A sure fire Hall of Famer, 15 years with the Saints
He’s given his all, no complaints

If you know about baseball, you know Spring Training
Can get a little weird, normalcy waning
This week we had a 22-pitch at bat
Luis Guillorme from the Mets, how about that?