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We’ve all seen countless “Florida Man” stories.
You know, the ones where a man in Florida, usually whilst inebriated, does something so completely bizarre and dangerous that you can’t help but to laugh.
But what about a “Michigan Man“.
A Michigan Man, as coined by former Michigan Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler is a University of Michigan graduate who typically believes he is of higher intelligence and moral character than the rest of society, while rarely actually delivering on said attributes.
In the midst of the ongoing sign-stealing scandal involving the Wolverines’ football team, one Michigan Man in the university’s law department has taken things to extreme to try to defend his beloved university.
Meet University of Michigan law professor Daniel Crane.
Crane is arguing in the Yale Journal of Regulation that NCAA bylaws prohibiting advanced scouting not only shouldn’t exist, but that they violate antitrust law.
“But the ‘cheating’ question goes to the core of the antitrust issue. As already mentioned, there apparently isn’t any rule about gathering intelligence on an opponent’s signs. If a school can do that by reading lips from a TV screen, more power to them,” Crane write. “The relevant rule isn’t about the integrity of the game like 11 men on the field or ineligible receivers. According to MLive, the rule was adopted in 1994 “as a cost-cutting measure designed to promote equity for programs that couldn’t afford to send scouts to other games.” In other words, if Michigan has cheated, it has cheated on a financial rule rather than one concerning the game itself.”
Crane makes a point to state that while he works for the university, he does not represent it. But his argument is in line with mental gymnastics the university has already demonstrated to try show its innocence.
Hopefully he at least warmed up before stretching that far.