‘The Simpsons’ makes fun of Harbaugh, Michigan’s scandals
Zac Al-Khateeb
“The Simpsons” has never been afraid to poke fun at trending topics, and the long-running Fox TV program proved that again on Sunday when its latest episode took aim at cheating scandals U.S. sports.
Among the controversies included in Sunday’s episode — titled, “Do the Wrong Thing” — was Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football’s numerous scandals this season. The episode centers on Homer and Bart cheating in myriad sports such as cornhole, disc golf and “facehand slapping championships.” Lisa also is accepted into the prestigious University of Springfield Camp (USC) after Marge doctored her scholarship application, mirroring the scholarship scandal in which USC was a central figure.
And, although he was mentioned only briefly, Harbaugh was featured at the end of the episode when Bart decides to take on a teaching role for “Intro to Cheating 101” at the “Jim Harbaugh Center for Competitive Imbalance.”
“Students, look to your left. Look to your right,” Bart says. “Those are the people that you’ll be cheating off of.”
Of course, Harbaugh has been at the center of two off-field controversies this season. The first saw him suspended for the first three games of the season for reportedly misleading NCAA investigators about his role in recruiting during the 2020 COVID-19 dead period. That has caused the organization to level a Level I charge against him.
More recently, Harbaugh’s football team has been mired in a sign-stealing scandal that resulted in the football coach’s suspension for the last three regular-season games (though he returned to coach against Iowa in the Big Ten championship game). Harbaugh faced his second suspension of the season not from the NCAA, but the Big Ten, for violating the conference’s sportsmanship guidelines.
Though Harbaugh wasn’t directly implied to have participated in the cheating, former staffer Connor Stalions is alleged to have orchestrated a wide-reaching sign-stealing scandal in which numerous people attended opposing teams’ games and electronically recorded their signs, committing numerous NCAA infractions in the process.
Of course, Harbaugh and Michigan weren’t the only sports entities “The Simpsons” made fun of in the episode. The show also made fun of USC and its involement in the scholarship scandal; the Houston Astros; New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick; and cyclist Lance Armstrong. Using some help from Dan Patrick, the program also made fun of a current sports climate that includes LIV Golf and “face-slapping championships.”
Either way, it appears Harbaugh and Michigan’s scandals are prevalent enough that they have transcended college football. That is unlikely to change, regardless of how the Wolverines’ 2023 season ends.