In 2024, the Gopher football team had one open-to-public practice on its fall schedule. That practice came and went Saturday night, along with an annual diaper drive, one of many reoccurring charity events that PJ Fleck holds in very high regard.

That weekend feeling!

Speaking of weekends, we have an open practice at 6:30 pm on Saturday, Aug. 3 at Huntington Bank Stadium.

This is also our annual diaper drive and oar collection! We will donate all diapers to the Diaper Bank of Minnesota and we will display your… pic.twitter.com/9rSfZ0oOH0

— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) August 2, 2024

In fact, my educated opinion says that this open-to-public practice only happened because of the annual diaper drive. Fans come to the fall diaper drive, so they can watch open practice. Without the practice, there is no formidable diaper drive.

Minnesota Gophers open-to-public practices are rare occurrence these days

Why are these open practices becoming less and less frequent? (Of note: The spring game was cancelled back in April, too.) We don’t know for sure… but again, the puzzle pieces aren’t that difficult to put together.

In all likelihood, PJ’s paranoia stems from the Michigan cheating scandal. According to the allegations, Michigan Wolverines former assistant, Connor Stalions (along with multiple other co-conspirators), was illegally filming the sidelines of football opponents, in an effort to steal their plays.

So much for the “nobody knew what Stalions was up to” narrative. https://t.co/W5pPseg6wP pic.twitter.com/QlJyNuDb2j

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 4, 2024

The Big Ten’s original statement (from October, 2023) said there were two teams who brought the Michigan sideline spying concerns to the attention of conference officials. As we wrote back then, there’s a pretty decent chance one of those teams was Minnesota.

Related: Minnesota Gophers May Have Stumbled Upon Another Stud Running Back

How do we know that is why PJ Fleck is paranoid about holding open-to-public practices? We don’t. But what if I told you that both fans and media members who attended Saturday’s open practice were not allowed to record anything, or even have their phones out? Because that’s what happened.

Gophers were spying on fans during practice, to avoid being spied on

The Gophers were very serious about enforcing their no-recording policy, too. According to Ryan Burns (247Sports), there were members of the Minnesota football staff whose only job that evening was to scan the fan bleachers (with binoculars) for anyone who might be recording something.

I’d also tell you that Minnesota had a staff member tonight with some binoculars looking up into the stands to make sure no one was sitting there recording. Thanks, Connor Stalions. 

Ryan Burns – 247Sports

That was during the Gophers ONE open-to-public practice this year. And again, that is expected to be the only such practice this fall.

Related: Koi Perich is Trying to Make Up for Late Start with Gophers

We may never know for sure whether or not the Minnesota Gophers were one of the teams that Michigan was caught spying on, or if Fleck & Co were one of the two teams that turned the Wolverines in, originally. But one thing is for sure, Fleck is clearly acting as if it happened to them.

Did Baker Mayfield steal Vikings defensive signals?

But was there another reason for the Vikings 20-17 loss? Well, Bucs running back Rashad White seems to think so. This week, White told Buccaneers Radio Network that Mayfield knew all of the Minnesota’s defensive signals by halftime of week 1.

“I just remember Bake came in the locker room, literally at halftime, he said, ‘I got it. We got all these signals,’” White said of Mayfield. “We’re in there talking as an offense and he’s like, ‘I know all these signals. If they do this, they’re going into Cover-2. If they do this, they’re going into Cover-3. Every time I alert this and they do this signal, they’re dropping back to this.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ … I was just listening to him and we were listening to him and we just kind of understood.”

Rashaad White – Buccaneers Radio Network (via JoeBucsFan.com)

Lots to unpack here…

There are a lot of questions that run through my head, when reading this quote. The first is, ‘wow… did Baker Mayfield steal Vikings defensive signals last weekend’? To that, the answer seems to be, no. Baker was asked about White’s interview during player press conferences on Wednesday.

Baker pointed to the mental chess game of every NFL game and, after praising Vikings’ defensive coordinator Brian Flores, talked about how some defenses give away certain tendencies more than others.

When pressed on the situation, Mayfield seemed to confirm that there was no cheating involved in the knowledge he had gained during Sunday’s contest with the Vikings with a witty reference to his MLB loyalties, saying “I’m a Texas Rangers fan, not a Houston Astros fan”.

Baker Mayfield talks about picking up the Vikings’ signals, I tell him the government may try to pull him into a van one day to offer him a job working in intelligence, and he turns it into a dig at the Houston Astros 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/MkVKjk5M00

— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) September 13, 2023

So if Mayfield didn’t cheat, what happened and what does it mean about the Minnesota Vikings defense? Well, there are a few things that need unpacked, to answer these questions. For example, Tampa Bay head coach, Todd Bowles was asked about what White told the team’s radio network and he called it, “exaggerated”.

Todd Bowles suggested that Baker Mayfield picking up on Vikings defensive signals a little “exaggerated.”

— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) September 13, 2023

What does this mean for Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings defense?

What does that mean exactly? First, it’s possible Baker was exaggerating what he knew about the Vikings defense, when talking to teammates and coaches in the away team locker room at US Bank Stadium. He may have had an idea of what Flores was trying to do on defense and/or what signals the Vikings were using to check into certain defensive looks, both before and after the ball was snapped.

While the Bucs did play better in the 2nd half, doubling the Vikings’ time of possession, they were far from prolific, putting up a total of 147 yards in the final two quarters. If Baker did know what the Vikings were doing on every play of the 2nd half, he sure wasn’t able to attack it like one would hope.

In the same thought process, it’s also possible Bowles was talking about Rashaad White’s account from Mayfield’s halftime epiphany was exaggerated, when he spoke on the radio. Either way, this entire situation is a bad look for the Vikings defense and their new coordinator, Brian Flores.

Flores’ defensive reputation is built around smoke screens. How many rushers are coming and where are the mystery rushers coming from? If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense knew the answer to those questions, pre-snap during the second half, that’s a problem.

Clean up possible tells before Thursday Night Football

With that being said, the Vikings cannot go back in time and disguise their defense better vs the Bucs. In that sense, I am happy Rashaad White said what he did in that interview. Now, Flores & Co. can take that information and apply it to their contest on Thursday night vs the Philadelphia Eagles.

Related: Minnesota Vikings vs Eagles: Preview, Predictions and Keys to Victory

If they believe there was any way Baker Mayfield did read their pre-snap defensive checks/signals last weekend, they can now fix those tells so Jalen Hurts can’t do the same thing.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

“Our opinion is that this didn’t impact the game.” – Jim Crane

“I didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.” – Jim Crane 55 seconds later pic.twitter.com/MnpPeeTUPL

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) February 13, 2020

“So then what are you guys apologizing for?”
“We’re apologizing because we broke the rules.”

Astros owner Jim Crane and @MarlyRiveraESPN went back and forth during the team’s news conference. pic.twitter.com/2hdR1sFGcd

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 13, 2020

Jim Crane sounds tone deaf. Jose Altuve and Alex Bergman spoke for less than a minute and a half combined. Dusty Baker, who has been Astros manager for two weeks, sounded the most sincere. What a mess.

— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) February 13, 2020

Here’s video of the Houston Astros Apology, in case you missed it earlier: pic.twitter.com/v5eqJRenbg

— OrdioMongo (@OrdioMongo) February 13, 2020

I don’t know whether to yell at all of these Astros players, coaches and owner… or if I should just laugh and pretend like none of it gets to me. If it weren’t for having to answer some VERY uncomfortable questions, I’d say everyone still involved with this team thinks this whole controversy is a big joke.

It’s absolutely disgusting… but glorious at the same time.

How about Astros Owner, Jim Crane? This guy looks completely composed on the outside but nothing coming out of his mouth makes any sense. First, he says he didn’t think anything they did impacted the game… but then backtracks quickly (if you can’t listen to the video above):

“Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game. We had a good team. We won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that.”

Jim Crane – Houston Astros Owner

I didn’t say it didn’t impact the game. Basically, as the commissioner said, he’s not going to go backwards. It’s hard to determine how it impacted the game or if it impacted the game, and that’s how we’re going to leave it.

Jim Crane – Houston Astros Owner

Actually sir… you did just say that.

via GIPHY

Jim Crane actually said that he, the owner, doesn’t think he deserve to be held accountable… Then, when pressed on whether the players deserve to take any blame, Jim said, “

“It could have been stopped and it wasn’t stopped… Our players should not be punished. … These are a great group of guys who did not receive proper guidance from their leaders.”

Jim Crane – Houston Astros Owner

In other words, he’s blaming already fired AJ Hinch (manager) and Jeff Luhnow (GM), and saying they were the only authority figures who could have taken charge and stopped the cheating from taking place… but remember, that accountability definitely doesn’t travel up the authority ladder all the way to him.

Crane said that the buzzers never happened, either. How does he know? Well, because the players promised him they didn’t do any cheating with buzzers…

It’s relieving to know we can stop worrying about those damn buzzers, now that the INCREDIBLY TRUSTWORTHY Houston Astros players told their owner they are innocent of that specific crime.

Because this organization is so 1st class, we got to hear from Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve again, to address this entire scandal, but they didn’t take questions…

Why should they? They are innocent and shouldn’t be held accountable, remember? Maybe when they do eventually answer questions, one teammate can tap a coffee cup so they know what question is coming?

Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman really hit their statements right out of the park again too, just like the first time they addressed this scandal a couple of weeks ago….

Bravo.

Anybody want to start their day with a fake apology by Alex Bregman? (Video from @MarlyRiveraESPN) pic.twitter.com/sH2xNmtGs0

— Joe Randazzo (Bronx Pinstripes crew) (@deflategator) February 13, 2020

Jose Altuve apology pic.twitter.com/iq624uF11Q

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 13, 2020

The guy who reportedly showed the most remorse, was Dusty Baker, who was just hired and had nothing to do with this scandal.

Carlos Correa was a little bit better but he tried to tamp down all of the blame that is now being shifted to former teammate Carlos Beltran, who is now taking the most heat as the orchestrator of this whole sign-stealing scheme.

Correa stood up for Carlos Beltran, who was fired as manager of the Mets before he could even manage a game because of his role on the 2017 Astros. In the MLB report, Beltran was pointed at as someone who led the sign-stealing. Correa refuted any report that Beltran intimidated the younger players to illegally steal signs.

“He was the nicest guy that we could ever have,” Correa said. “He was the best teammate we’ve ever had. Beltran was obviously a leader of the clubhouse but we all had a say in everything that we were doing in there. Whatever he said and whatever we were doing, we had the chance to stop it as a team. Everybody. Everybody had the chance to say something and we didn’t. So, whoever the anonymous source is that’s saying we felt intimidated or we were too young to say something: That is just straight up (B.S.).”

Carlos Correa – (via Texas Sports Nation)

2017 World Series MVP, George Springer also “apologized”…. FOX 7 out of Austin did a great job of combining all of the video and made it available to embed so I have done that here:

I’m sure more will drop on this scandal, as time goes on but we are still yet to hear what kind of cheating the Boston Red Sox have done, so stay tuned.

At the end of the day, the MLB is going to have to address HOW this happened and fix it… which I will do for them later today.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

On Sept. 22, 2016, an intern in the Houston Astros organization showed general manager Jeff Luhnow a PowerPoint presentation that featured the latest creation by the team’s high-tech front office: an Excel-based application programmed with an algorithm that could decode the opposing catchers’ signs. It was called “Codebreaker.”

Wall Street Journal – Jared Diamond

The start to this Wall Street Journal article was so good I figured I would use it to start my blog too… Sometimes you can’t top what is already perfect and Jared Diamond’s first paragraph in the latest update to this Astros cheating scandal is exactly that…. perfect

“An algorithm that would decode the opposing catchers’ signs. It was called “Codebreaker”.”

Alright… let’s stop the tape right there. When this meeting took place in 2016, this whole sign stealing controversy should have ended. Jeff Luhnow should have told intern Derek Vigoa that you can’t steal signs LIKE THAT in baseball, especially at the major league level.

It’s just…. wrong.

But of course, that’s not what happened. That intern would climb the ladder of the Houston Astros organization, eventually landing the title he holds now, “senior manager for team operations”.

The Astros would win the World Series in 2017 using the sign stealing algorithm that Derek Vigoa introduced to Jeff Luhnow that day in 2016 when he was just an intern, and the rest is history.

Apparently Jeff Luhnow is denying everything… what a weasley little asshole. Imagine everyone else admitting to what is happening, except you. That’s a sad look.

Other Astros employees told MLB’s investigators that they believed Luhnow knew about Codebreaker, but they provided no definitive proof. Matt Hogan, now the Astros’ manager of pro scouting analysis, told investigators there was no effort to hide the use of Codebreaker in front of Luhnow when he visited the video room. In fact, he told them, “it would have been something to show we were working and get validation of our work.” Luhnow denied seeing evidence of sign-stealing during those visits.

Wall Street Journal – Jared Diamond

Of course he knew what was happening! Everyone knew what was happening… I just can’t believe it took this long for it to get out.

Apparently the players were the ones who took everything to another level with the trash cans and the replay monitor that is right inside of the dugout… that monitor needs to go. Go to still images like the NFL…

Players shouldn’t be allowed to go freely between the dugout and locker room anymore either. You don’t see players in other sports walking freely between the locker rooms and the bench while play is happening.

Baseball players can tough it out for the entire game, in the dugout OR bullpen. They get paid enough.

What this really exposes at the end of the day, is a conclusion we were already pretty sure of. The Houston Astros organization is rotten from top to bottom.

It’s time to hit the eject button, punt, and start over on that franchise. Let’s be real… before 2016, they were a franchise the MLB didn’t need anyway.

Then, reinstate Pete Rose and apologize to him for how badly you wronged him. What the Astros did is astronomically worse and received punishment not even equivalent to a “slap on the wrist”.

Meanwhile, Pete Rose is withering away in an old-folks home somewhere, being forgotten by the young people whose parents never got to watch him play. He’s becoming nothing more than folklore attached to the top of all the paper record books.

And that’s even more wrong than what the Astros did in 2017-2018.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan