Stealing signs — the expression conveys the act of theft, which therefore makes it seem entirely inappropriate on the surface. Yet, we all know that stealing signs is a part of sports.
It shouldn’t ever be a point of discussion or the source of investigative activity, right?
Not according to Washington State coach Mike Leach (who’s done a bang-up job this season with the Cougars):
Mike Leach said Arizona State should be investigated for stealing signals https://t.co/JkdRjbfpsF pic.twitter.com/2SAdL3DDAv
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 3, 2015
The most hilarious thing about this drama is that in the Hurry-Up No-Huddle (HUNH) era of football, the idea of sending plays in with players — a product of substitutions made at a deliberate pace — has become a lot more old-fashioned. The practice might not be what one would call “antiquated” or “outdated,” but its centrality is certainly not what it used to be. The point, though, is that if coaches don’t want to risk signs being stolen, they have ways to work around the problem.
Yet, let’s acknowledge that coaches don’t want their offenses to huddle, so as to prevent defenses from being able to make substitutions. The value of being able to substitute pales in comparison to limiting a defense to the same set of players. The ability to wear down a defense increases the more an offense can run plays without substituting. Keeping in place the HUNH or a similar emphasis on tempo is something which matters a lot to many FBS coaches, so one can naturally understand the insistence on using signs from the sideline.
What should be done on the matter of stealing signs, something Arizona State coach Todd Graham acknowledges his team does? Nothing.
At least, nothing other than this: Disguise your signs more effectively.
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Isn’t this one of the most basic concepts in sports? If your opponent tips its hand in any way, indicating what it might do or where it might go or how it might approach a given situation, you should pounce on the opportunity to anticipate the action.
In tennis, a very deep knee bend on serve with the back curving in a slightly more pronounced way indicates that a big kick serve is coming, loaded with extra spin and almost surely in the half of the service box near the middle of the court, not the baseline. When a returner of serve notices these actions by the server, s/he should move to the middle of the court to set up an effective return. The returner might also take a few steps back, in order to create a better hitting angle for the high-bouncing kicker that’s about to arrive,
In baseball, like football, athletes and coaches have more than just a visual tell (something which indirectly communicates what is about to happen). They can read hand or other body signals, coded attempts by coaches or peripherally-involved players to convey instructions to the ones on the field.
What can be so hard about this? When a runner on second base sees the catcher put down a “two finger” sign and set up on the inside half of the plate before a pitch, that’s a sign for a curveball. Should he not give the hitter, his teammate, some sort of cue? In response to this, the catcher — knowing a two-finger sign generally indicates a curve — should have a dummy sign or some kind of maneuver in place to fool the runner at second base, or anyone else on the hitting team.
You merely had 24 hours to prepare for this game. Your job revolves around performing several tasks, and one of them is to make signs the opposition can’t decipher.
In football, teams and coaches don’t have single days; they have weeks.
What in the world is so outrageous about stealing signs? Oregon put up the white sheets seen in the cover photo for this piece. Other teams are free to do the same if they want to ensure the safety of their signals.
You might be reading this and thinking to yourself, “Okay, what’s exactly new here?”
Indeed — that’s precisely the point.
Outrage about stolen signs is outrage wasted and misplaced. Todd Graham isn’t doing anything unethical. He’s just trying to win a game. That he didn’t even beat Oregon last Thursday should have quieted this larger discussion. Yet, stolen signs continue to receive far more attention than they should.
In that sense, stolen signs are no different from pre-November polls or Heisman assessments.
Ah, good ol’ college football.
