Shadowed

 Jim Harbaugh is safe in Los Angeles now, but his ghost continues to hang out in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Connor Stalions Spygate scandal that got him suspended for half the 2023 season continues to darken the horizon for the Michigan football program, and now it's Sherrone Moore who has to deal with whatever storm it presages.

In case you missed it, the NCAAs are not letting this thing go, and Moore is up to his neck in it. The other day a draft of the NCAA's notice of allegations (NOA) got out on ESPN, and Moore was one of seven members of the UM program accused of violating NCAA rules in the Stalions affair.

Specifically, Moore could face a show-cause penalty and suspension because the NCAA says he deleted a 52-text thread with Stalions on the day the news broke about the latter's illegal scouting scheme. Not exactly a good look if you're trying to claim your hands were clean in the whole deal.

Michigan, of course, went on to win the national title, and would have with or without all the shady stuff. This gave Harbaugh the perfect escape hatch, and he used it posthaste, teleporting back to the NFL.

Where he continues to Sgt. Schultz the entire Stalions affair -- as in: I know nothing, NOOOOTH-ing.

"Today, I do not apologize," the new head coach of the Chargers told local media the other day. "I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So, it's back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind."

Which is just the sort of bizarre thing you'd expect an oddball like Harbaugh to say. And which apparently also applies to his denials, which he attacks not only with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, but also a lack of credulity unknown to mankind.

Here, after all, is the rough translation of what he said and continues to say, rendered in the appropriate idiom: Hey, I didn't know nothin' 'bout no "Connor Stalions," whoever he is. It was all them other guys. They was the ones who dreamed up the scheme, see. I never knew about any of it even though I was with those mugs pretty much 24/7. Heck, when this "Connor Stalions" appeared on the sidelines at my elbow and started whisperin' the other team's plays in my ear, I just thought it was part of some Make-A-Wish deal or somethin'.

Okey-dokey, Smokey. 

Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, the shadow lingers, as another season beckons for the defending national champs. Not that Harbaugh has to worry himself about that.

I mean, it's always sunny in L.A., right?