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 Accelerate your academic progress as a guest student in summer classes at Lawrence Technological University! A rchitectural Arteninern Lawrence Tech offers educational opportunities for -Audionboneeringengyboth traditional students and working adults, and a sines angieernte gy curriculum that emphasizes theory and practice - Chemical Biology Chemistry a rigorous, well-rounded education that's valued by Civil Engineering Computer Engineering industry leaders. Choose from traditional, hybrid (partly CosrcinComputer Science onsite and partly online), and fully online courses. Electrical Engineering 5i dp ry 0I ),a dfly 0|D CO r 5' Engineering Technology English and Communkation Arts Choose a convenient location near you E Southfield - Lansing . Traverse City - Petoskey 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. 0i Waive your application fee at www.itu.edu/applyfree .awrence Tech offers over 100 undergraduate, master's, and doctoralprogramsin Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. AMERKtA'S tEST UINIVERSITIES .S. News & World Report' -y0 7, PEST COLLEGES in the Midwest, Reiew'ae FOLLOW MICHIGAN DAILY SPORTS ON TWITTER: Lawrence Tec . Passible is everything. Lawrence Technological University Office of Admissions 210t00 West Ten Mile toad Southfield, MI 48075-1058 800.225.5588 admissions@ltu.edu I(www.Itu.edu 0 @MICHDAILYSPORTS 0