It's officially 2024, and before you know it, the Houston Astros will be reporting to Florida for Spring Training and preparing for the upcoming season.

The club came just one game short of going to the World Series for the third consecutive year. You would think that the Astros' sustained excellence (7-straight ALCS appearances, 2 championships) would have the sign-stealing scandal firmly in the rearview mirror.

Especially with a new sign-stealing scandal to talk about with the University of Michigan football team. But that's clearly not the case. The Astros are still taking shots from broadcaster Al Michaels, and even on television (The Simpsons) just a couple of weeks ago.

What's even more alarming is the fact that Michigan was punished for behavior that sounds very similar to what the Astros were punished for doing. But the big difference is, nobody is talking about it or seems to care.

Michigan is currently in the news cycle as they prepare to play in the National Championship game, and it's like nothing happened. During their semi-final win over Alabama, the broadcast team didn't spend the huge portions of the game discussing coach Jim Harbaugh and the cheating Wolverines.

Shows like First Take and Undisputed aren't doing daily topics about Michigan cheating. And yet, every time the Astros are in the playoffs, 2017 gets brought up over and over again. Which is wild because Michigan was punished for sign-stealing just THIS season, and it hardly gets talked about.

But with the Astros, they can't stop talking about a scandal that happened almost SEVEN years ago! So why the hypocrisy? Is it because Michigan hasn't won anything yet? Would they get more heat if they had won the championship and the public didn't find out about the sign-stealing until after the fact?

Perhaps it's the way the Astros handled the blowback. Jim Harbaugh denied any knowledge of sign-stealing, he served a short suspension and the investigation was closed. No big deal. Yet Jose Altuve, who didn't even benefit from the sign-stealing, is one of the most hated athletes in pro sports. There are even conspiracy theories about buzzers that people still believe to this day. When the Astros win a playoff series, people say it's because they're still cheating.

But when's the last time you heard broadcasters talking about the Yankees and Red Sox cheating? It's like the Apple Watch scandal and MLB's letter to the Yankees never existed. So why the double standard with the Astros?

Be sure to watch the video above as we discuss the disproportional hate for Houston, and if the organization has regrets about confessing to the accusations.

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