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March 19, 2012 - Image 10

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The Michigan Daily, 2012-03-19

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2B - March 19, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Denard Robinson: Just one of the guys

It was early February and
Mike Szymusiak crammed
into the right side of the
bleachers where he had always
cheered on the Michigan bas-
ketball team.
The junior
engineering
student had e:
sat there so
the scrubs
sitting at
the end of
the Indiana
Hoosiers' TIM
bench could ROHAN
hear his jeers.
This was his
arena, his school, and they were
trespassing.
So when Szymusiak and other
nearby Maize Ragers heard
two Indiana fans clapping and
yelling as Michigan shot free
throws, something had to be
done.
It was Denard Robinson who
walked over to the Hoosier
fans, stepped in between them,
crossed his arms and looked at
each of them without saying a
word.
"He just sat there, looked at
them. 'Yeah, what's your move
now, guys?' " Szymusiak said.
"And they just went beet-red,
getting mocked by the Big Ten
Player of the Year. We saw that
and we just went nuts."
Robinson and his top wide
receiver, Roy Roundtree, made it
to five basketball games this sea-
son and reminded the Michigan
community of more innocent
times, when boys gave girls their
varsity jackets, when the start-
ing quarterback could sit with
his classmates, singing the fight
song without getting mobbed,
when kids could be kids.
Trying to spot Robinson's
signature dreadlocks at a Michi-
gan sporting event has become
its own version of "Where's
Waldo," because the quarter-
back has made ita goal to attend
as many events as possible. He's

tation of its own as he played
basketball at Trotwood-Madison
High School and on the A.A.U.
circuit. Robinson had played
for one year at Deerfield Beach
High School, living mostly
off his quick first step, before
coaches told him he had a future
in football.
By the time Michigan played
then-No. 6 Ohio State on Feb.
18, Robinson and Roundtree
had been accepted as full-blown
Maize Ragers and they were
recruitingtheir teammates.
With the hype building around
the rivalry game, Roundtree
tweeted at Szymusiak with the
idea of painting their chests for
the game.
Robinson was supposed to be
a part of it too, but he was late.
Roundtree had met Szymusiak
more than an hour before the
game to transform into the 'O' in
"Beat Ohio."
"Roy was ready to rock before
that Buckeye game," Szymusiak
said. "And that was a real sur-
real experience, painting a chest
of our starting wideout."
Kevin Koger, Kenny Demens,
Blake Countess, J.B. Fitzgerald
and J.T. Floyd sat in Szymusiak's
section, and Burke outdueled
Aaron Craft and Crisler Arena
rocked as Michigan won, 56-51.
"Just seeing them being nor-
mal college kids - we always
talk about that, how refresh-
ing that is," Szymusiak said.
"Denard's everywhere.
He's kind of his own entity.
If you say Denard, everyone's
going to know who you're talk-
ing about.
"I'd like to see them back. I'd
like to see them bring more of
the team. Maybe (Brady) Hoke
will show up and we'll paint
Brady's chest."
- Rohan thinks it's nearly
impossible not to dance to "I
Can't Turn You Loose." He can
be reached at trohan@umich.
edu or on Twitter: @TimRohan.

Michigan wide receiver Roy Roundtree (left) and quarterback Denard Robinson (right) celebrate the Wolverines' victory over Michigan State in late January

a friend of the other athletes, but
it was bigger than his clique.
"I did it to show school spirit,"
Robinson said. "I want to be that
guy that everybody knows that
it's just me. I'm just me.
"I'm just one of the fans. One
of the students. One of the guys."
Roundtree felt the same way
when Robinson asked him if he
wanted to sneak into the Maize
Rage and watch the rest of
Michigan's Jan.11 game against
Northwestern. At halftime, the
Michigan football team had
been honored for its Sugar Bowl
win, and Robinson saw how
good a time Szymusiak and his

friends were having.
"You could tell they just want-
ed to be normal college kids for
a little bit," Szymusiak said. "We
weren't going to say no. I don't
think any of the ushers were
going to say no, either."
Sitting just in front of Robin-
son and Roundtree, Szymusiak
met the two and made sure the
rookies knew their place. They'd
have to wear maize shirts, next
time. They'd have to make noise.
And they'd have to jump around
like everyone else.
"Just because you're Shoelace
doesn't mean you don't have to
be loud like the rest of us," Szy-

musiak said.
Michigan beat Northwestern
in overtime and Robinson and
Roundtree cheered wildly and
Szymusiak said, "Hey, we'll see
you next week," but thought,
"Oh, they'll never come back."
But there they were a week
later, when Michigan played
then-No. 9 Michigan State and
won. Most of the students let the
two of them be, but a few were
starstruck. Szymusiak became
a makeshift bodyguard, having
Robinson and Roundtree stand
near the middle of his section
while he turned away distrac-
tions. Robinson was too nice to

say no to his fans.
Often, Szymusiak would step
in: "No, just get lost right now.
Let them watch the game. Let
them be a kid, for once."
But Szymusiak wouldn't allow
them not to wear maize. He gave
them more grief and by the next
game Robinson and Roundtree
had gone to the MDen and
bought maize shirts because
they had not owned any.
They picked up the cheers,
coordinated their dancing for
the "Blues Brothers" song, and
went wild for Trey Burke cross-
overs. Roundtree's jump shot
had 3-point range and a repu-

For Michigan, a loss in the
CCHA final was a good thing

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Game Art

DETROIT -
Senior captain Luke Glen-
deningstepped to the
podium after the Michigan
hockey team failed to come back
in the CCHA Championship
game, falling
to Western
Michigan,
3-2.
His lips
were tight,
and his face
was drawn.
Glendening
sat down, the EVERETT
weight of the COOK
loss visible on
his slumped
shoulders. During the press con-
ference, he told the press that the
Broncos had knocked his Wol-
verines out of the CCHA Tourna-
ment two years in a row and that
he had lost three championship
games in the last four years.
Glendening was really, really
upset he had lost another.
Sunday afternoon, Michigan
learned that it will be playing
Cornell in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament in Green
Bay, Wisc. During interviews
with senior goaltender Shawn
Hunwick, the normally-serious
Glendening poked his head in
and out of the room, smiling and
cracking jokes, talking about the
challenges of postseason hockey.
The visible transition from
frustration over the Broncos
to being excited about the next
game took less than 15 hours.
For obvious reasons, that's
encouraging for Michigan.
And that's why losing the
CCHA championship was - wait
for it - actually a good thing for
the Wolverines. Gasp!

Hear me out: not including
shootouts, Michigan lost three
games in 2012 coming into the
CCHA Tournament - that's
out of 14 games over the span of
three months. Championship
teams lose three games in three
months, and championship teams
get a few lucky bounces here and
there.
Friday night was a perfect
example of those bounces, and a
perfect example of a game that
good teams find a way to win.
Michigan came back to beat
Bowling Green in double over-
time on Friday, a comeback kick-
started by a shot that shouldn't
have been close to going in. Soph-
omore defenseman Jon Merrill
put Michigan on the board after
being in a 2-0 hole with a weak,
knucklingshot that wobbled like
a football thrown by a drunken
St. Patrick's Day reveler. Bowling
Green goalie Andrew Hammond
had 55 saves that night, but he
didn't see Merrill's dead duck
until it was in the net.
"Let's face it: We are not that
good," said Michigan coach Red
Berenson. "We are not any better
than anyone else, but we are not
any worse than anyone else. We
are right there, whether it is a
bounce of the puck or a goal post
or a little bit of luck."
Michigan was in the hole
again on Saturday, partially
because of fatigue after Friday's
game, and partially because
Western Michigan is playing
some of the best hockey in the
country right now.
This time, they weren't able to
come out of that hole, and that's
the positive of the weekend, as
backward as that sounds.
Glendening may have been all

smiles on Sunday, but he's not
goingto forget about Saturday's
loss the day before any time soon.
"It's never fun to lose, but I
guesswe don't want to have that
feeling of defeat again," he said.
"This is the third championship
game I have lost, and I definitely
don't want to go through that
again."
Glendening and the Wolver-
ines won't be thinking about
Western Michigan against Cor-
nell, but they will be thinking
about what it felt like to lose the
Mason Cup. That taste of defeat,
the one they felt just three times
in three months, isn't going to
disappear. Winning the Mason
Cup would have been a nice
finishing point for the regular
season, but it wouldn't have pre-
pared Michigan for the NCAA
Tournament the same way West-
ern Michigan did.
The Broncos taught Michigan
that it is not invincible, and that
it needs more than just lucky
bounces to beat a good team
this late in the season. Michigan
learned that playing from behind
against a team with a red-hot
goalie is a lot harder than play-
ing with a lead against a red-hot
goalie, and you can bet the first
period against the Big Red is
goingto have a lot more spark
than the first periods this week-
end.
The Mason Cup would have
been nice for the trophy case, but
in the long run, losing that game
was the bestthing that could
have happened to this team.
- Cook can't wait to try some
cheese in Green Bay. He can be
reached at evcook@umich.edu
or on Twitter @everettcook.

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