Cardinals Investigated By FBI

[leopard88]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/sports/baseball/st-louis-cardinals-hack-astros-fbi.html?_r=0

Maybe this is why the Cardinals have been so successful recently.

[TheOldRoman]

They hack the right way.

[teddthebucfan]

I was going to make a Belichick joke, but then this picture surfaced and my work was done for me:

[2001mark]

St. Louis Cardinals hacked the Houston Astros?

The Onion thinks that's hilarious.

[Brass]

INB4 "Today, we are all..."

[Sport]

I'm going to wait until the FBI is finished with their investigation before I make any snap judgments.

Just kidding! This is incredible. Everybody loves a good hypocrite story. This is spygate on another level.

[STL FANATIC]

I won't go down the rabbit hole too much here, but just a few quick things.

Assuming this is true, the guys have to be fired, the Cardinals have to be fined money and probably draft picks as well. Can't really let something like this go unpunished regardless of the specifics.

That said, the NYT article was light on facts. (Which is a shame after putting out a monster of a headline.) But it sounds like a couple of disgruntled former Lunhow guys trying to get back at him a whole lot more than it sounds like the Cardinals, as an organization, trying to get trade secrets. After all, why leak them to the world if you were trying to gain a secret advantage?

Couple bitter morons staining a reputation. Unfortunate.

It could turn out to be bigger than that. And that would really suck. But that's not where the NYT article was heading.

Anyways, I'm sure the lack of current facts or the context of the above won't get in the way of another round of Cardinals hate. Those happen big when there's little to no reason for it. Now that there is a reason for some of it, I expect this to get out of control.

[2001mark]

I won't go down the rabbit hole too much here, but just a few quick things.

Assuming this is true, the guys have to be fired, the Cardinals have to be fined money and probably draft picks as well. Can't really let something like this go unpunished regardless of the specifics.

If it is true, they do have to be punished. Precedent is precedent. If MLB were to let this slide, the 21st century could be littered with tech cheats.

I would think the NFL, NBA, & NHL might even be watching for that very reason.

[STL FANATIC]

Absolutely agree. And the other side to this is the criminal side. That's where this is really a big deal.

Craig Calcaterra really nails it, I think. This most likely isn't the cheating scandal everyone will want it to be. But it could be a big criminal case.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/16/no-matter-how-big-the-alleged-cardinals-astros-hack-was-expect-the-feds-to-take-it-seriously/

[pmoehrin]

Bizarre is the only word I have for it right now. I've seen a lot of things, read a lot of things, but accusing another MLB team of industrial espionage is a new one for me.

What's so surprising to me is just how easy it was for the Cardinals to break in. High level hacking this was not. Someone was dumb enough to use the same password other people knew to store what should have been classified information. And somebody was even dumber to try to take the information and without even bothering to cover up their IP address.

It tells you a lot about how sophisticated MLB teams are when it comes to computer security, because a 12 year old could have done what the Cardinals did.

Right now I would be considering firing Luhnow just for being that dumb. Thank god all he does is handle a baseball team. Can you imagine if someone like that who may know their job duties inside out but is clueless when it comes to securing sensitive data worked for the government in a similar position? Oh wait.

[Sport]

This is a branch of sports cheating that I had never considered before. I wonder if other teams across sports have tried such a thing and gotten away with it.

[AnythingChicago]

Professional baseball in Missouri sure has built itself a sterling reputation in recent years.

[Sec19Row53]

That said, the NYT article was light on facts. (Which is a shame after putting out a monster of a headline.) But it sounds like a couple of disgruntled former Lunhow guys trying to get back at him a whole lot more than it sounds like the Cardinals, as an organization, trying to get trade secrets. After all, why leak them to the world if you were trying to gain a secret advantage?

Couple bitter morons staining a reputation. Unfortunate.

It could turn out to be bigger than that. And that would really suck. But that's not where the NYT article was heading.

For as much as I want to poke fun at "The Cardinal Way", I think this pretty much sums it up.

[pmoehrin]

This is a branch of sports cheating that I had never considered before. I wonder if other teams across sports have tried such a thing and gotten away with it.

I would think its almost a certainly.

All you would need is just a basic understanding of computer language, possibly some inside information like the Cardinals had and your good to go.

You don't need to be Edward Snowden or have advanced degree in computer sciences to hack a company. The head person of accounting at my company didn't even know you could copy down a formula in excel rather then typing every single one out until last year. What would make you think that anyone above them would be that much smarter when it came to computers? I don't think its that uncommon of a situation either.

The only reason most companies have never been hacked is because nobody has ever really tried to.

[NJTank]

Bill Belichick is taking pointers on the Cardinals way

[Cujo]

The Cardinal Way.

[2001mark]

haha look at those birds' eyes... 'who us?'

[OnWis97]

This is a branch of sports cheating that I had never considered before. I wonder if other teams across sports have tried such a thing and gotten away with it.

And that's why I am going to be very hesitant to go crazy and make "Cardinal Way" jokes...so I don't have too much egg on my face if my team (in whatever sport) gets caught. Seriously.

While I don't think we want to get too into this too early, this is the internet, so when in Rome...

This would dwarf anything the Patriots have ever done. It would dwarf almost any cheating scandal I can think of...pumping in crowd noise, spygate, doctoring baseballs, steroids, whatever.

And I agree with everyone who says (assuming it's all true and all) that punishment has to be precedent-setting and huge. Draft picks, fines, etc. for the team. And any individuals banned from MLB for life (of course, they'll probably be looking at jail time too).

[STL FANATIC]

Again, the hacking action in and of itself does not necessarily constitute cheating.

It would constitute something incredibly illegal. And in that sense it would be bigger than anything the Patriots have done.

But in terms of cheating and the competitive impact on the game, the difference is massive between a couple of disgruntled former Lunhow employees seeking vengeance on him by exposing his system to the world, and a more organized (or even unorganized) information gathering system to benefit the Cardinals strategies.

One is an illegal action. Another is an illegal action and cheating.

The NYT article led me towards the first possibility, but it certainly didn't rule out the other (or something in between). It's hard to label this as anything more than a federal crime committed by at least one person until we know more.

[Lights Out]

The Cardinals really are the Patriots of baseball! Nonstop dry-humping from the media, pompous fanbase, a general air of sanctimony around the whole franchise, and they cheat!