2B — October 5, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN

My bubbie and sports

C

HERRY HILL, N.J. 
— Two Michigan 
shutouts bookended my 

grandmother’s life. Sylvia Cohen 
was born on 
Oct. 13, 1927, 
two days 
before Elton 
Wieman’s 
Wolverines 
shut out 
Wisconsin. 
She passed 
away Friday 
at the age of 
87, six days 
after the 
Wolverines defeated Brigham 
Young, 31-0.

She was never the biggest 

sports fan, a fact she readily 
admitted. But of all the people 
in the world, my grandmother 
(I call her Bubbie) might be 
the biggest reason I’m in the 
position to write this column 
every other week.

Bubbie could tell a story 

like nobody else. She could 
wax poetic for hours about 
being a child during the Great 
Depression, growing up in 
Brooklyn or summers in the 
Catskill Mountains. Sometimes, 
her stories even involved sports 
— she spent her entire life 
surrounded by sports lunatics.

In Brooklyn, everyone was 

crazy about the Dodgers before 
they moved to Los Angeles in 
1958. Bubbie always told me 
about how people called them 
“The Bums” because the players 
made little money. Times were 
different back then, she’d say.

Bubbie never attended a game 

at Ebbets Field, though, until 
after she met my grandfather. 
They went on a date to a game 
between the Dodgers and 
the Philadelphia Phillies, my 
grandfather’s favorite team. The 
date worked out well, I guess. 
They were married for 66 years.

My grandfather is an 

enormous sports fan, the most 

knowledgeable one I know. 
He remembers the first game 
he ever went to, when the 
Chicago White Sox defeated 
the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-3, 
at Shibe Park in Philadelphia 
on May 26, 1935. Jimmy Dykes, 
the White Sox third baseman, 
hit two home runs that day. My 
grandfather remembers the 
details of the game 80 years 
later.

He has held Eagles and Flyers 

season tickets for more than 40 
years, and he taught his sons 
— my father and my uncle — to 
love the same teams he did. That 
much was evident from their 
dinner conversations.

Bubbie cooked her family 

dinner nearly every night when 
my dad was growing up. She 
put the food on the table, and 
the conversation immediately 

turned to sports.

My dad, my uncle and my 

grandfather then went on and 
on about the latest happenings 
in Philadelphia sports. When 
they weren’t talking about 
Philadelphia sports, my uncle 
jokes, they talked about fellow 
Jews who played sports. Bubbie 
sat and listened through it all. 
Sports, however little she was 
interested, were a constant in 
her life.

One week, during what my 

dad believes was 1978, his cousin 
came to visit the family. The son 
of a Holocaust survivor from 
Germany, he had little interest 
in sports.

After a week filled with 

talking about baseball, listening 
to baseball on the radio and 
attending baseball games with 
Bubbie’s family, he was hooked. 

He spent all of his time in the 
aftermath of the visit walking 
around his home with a radio 
to his ear listening to baseball 
games.

Bubbie’s sister called her 

after the visit with one question: 
“What did you do to my son?”

When it came to the sports 

talk, my Bubbie always 
referenced a quote from her 
own mother, who came to live in 
the United States from Europe. 
After spending time with 
Bubbie’s family, she once said, “I 
know they’re speaking English, 
but I have no idea what they’re 
saying.”

Most of the time, neither 

did Bubbie. My dad and my 
grandfather have had a fantasy 
football team for 26 years, and 
every year from when I was 
three years old until I left for 

Ann Arbor, my Bubbie and I 
would come to the draft as 
guests. When I was young, 
we ate pizza together and 
talked while my dad and my 
grandfather made their picks. 
But as I got older and became 
more involved in the team, she 
always smiled and reminded me 
that she was there, “just in case 
we needed help.”

Sometimes, shockingly, we 

took caring about sports too 
far. Bubbie hosted many family 
dinners in my lifetime that 
devolved into shouting matches 
about the Eagles, Donovan 
McNabb and whether making it 
to the NFC Championship Game 
every year but never winning 
the goddamn Super Bowl was 
enough. She never batted an eye. 
I don’t know how she put up 
with it all.

Because games were always 

on in the house, Bubbie did 
know enough to pick a few 
favorite players. She loved the 
scrappy bad boys, the ones 
who gave it their all on the 
field but were prone to trouble 
off of it. She became a fan of 
Allen Iverson and Pete Rose in 
particular, two players who, 
to say the least, were quite 
interesting. She always said she 
found them exciting to watch.

It wasn’t until the last few 

years that Bubbie became a 
regular viewer of sports. She 
started to tune into the Phillies, 
putting down the books she 
loved to read to watch the 
games with my grandfather. 
Chase Utley became her favorite 
player, to the point that she 
was adamant the Phillies never 
should have traded him this 
summer. No matter how hard 
I tried to convince her that the 
Phillies needed to get younger, 
she would have none of it.

Luckily for me, Bubbie was 

the only Jewish grandmother in 
the world who was just as proud 
of her grandson who wanted to 
be a sports writer as she would 
have been had he wanted to be a 
doctor or a lawyer.

The day before she died, my 

sister — a freshman at Michigan 
— and I flew home from Ann 
Arbor. We went to the hospital 
to visit Bubbie one last time. In 
a way, it was a great day, time to 
spend a few last moments with 
someone we loved.

We told her about our lives at 

school and how everything was 
going. My sister showed Bubbie 
pictures of her friends hanging 
out in the Big House, all of them 
grinning and decked out in 
Michigan gear from head to toe.

It was the last time I saw 

Bubbie smile.

Cohen can be reached at 

maxac@umich.edu and on 

Twitter @MaxACohen.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Jim Harbaugh (left) was joined by his brother John (right) on the sidelines Saturday.

Hurricane 
Harbaugh

C

OLLEGE PARK — The 
official blew his whistle, 
and the Maryland play-

ers hurried indoors, heads low 
and spirits 
even lower.

Fans soon 

followed 
suit, leaving 
their snacks, 
ponchos and 
confidence 
behind to 
join the 
long lines 
of others 
desperate to 
evacuate the scene.

While they waited, questions 

of leadership turned to anger — 
hope had turned to despair.

Remaining in the wake were 

thousands of Michigan fans 
who clouded Byrd Stadium 
with maize and blue and joy. 
Below them were the players, 
still somewhat shocked at the 
damage they caused and can 
cause at their next stop.

And at the center of it all 

stood the eye of a storm that 
has an entire nation talking — 
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.

On a day when Hurricane 

Joaquin mercifully changed 
course and steered clear of 
Maryland, Harbaugh and his 
team made sure to leave behind 
a lasting impact of their own.

The destruction of the 

Terrapins was far from 
surprising: The Wolverines have 
outscored their opponents by 
a combined 122-14 in their last 
four games and outgained them 
by a staggering 1,023 yards in 
that span. But like all hurricanes, 
Hurricane Harbaugh is as 
unstoppable as it is predictable.

“We knew we had a challenge 

ahead of ourselves,” said 
Maryland running back Wes 
Brown. “They didn’t do anything 
special that we didn’t see on 
film. It was on us, we weren’t 
executing.”

Despite the strong forecasts, 

the storm was slow to start. 
In a sloppy but scoreless first 
quarter, it looked like 16-point 
underdog Maryland had taken 
the necessary precautions to 
keep everyone safe.

But it wasn’t enough, as a sea 

of white uniforms and winged 
helmets rose from the sideline 
and drowned out any hopes of an 
upset. The Wolverines suffocated 
the Terrapins, holding them to 35 
yards on 46 plays after their first 
two possessions.

By the time the third quarter 

rolled around, and backup 
quarterback Daxx Garman 
was sacked with all six of his 
blockers laying on the ground 
in front of him, it was too late to 
escape Harbaugh’s wrath — his 
team was too fast, too powerful 
and no longer on the horizon.

Yes, Hurricane Harbaugh is 

still picking up steam, and can 
become even more powerful. 
Fifth-year senior quarterback 
Jake Rudock continues to turn 
the ball over and miss big plays 
on offense, half a dozen players 
were limited in practice with 
injuries and, though the defense 
has allowed just 1.8 yards per 
play and 205 total yards in its 
last two games, slow starts on 
defense could doom Michigan in 
its upcoming two games against 
No. 17 Northwestern and No. 2 
Michigan State.

But the fact remains: Hurricane 

Harbaugh gathers momentum 
and strength with every team it 
obliterates, and looks as strong 
as any storm to originate in Ann 
Arbor has in years.

Experts will continue to 

debate just how far this team can 
go, what category it belongs in 
and how teams match up.

But on Saturday, it was 

stunningly clear: the damage left 
behind by Hurricane Harbaugh 
is not something to take lightly.

Shaw can be reached at 

zachshaw@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @_ZachShaw.

FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
Defense earns 
second shutout

By MAX BULTMAN

Daily Sports Editor

COLLEGE PARK — Michigan 

football coach Jim Harbaugh had 
to catch himself before he praised 
his defense too highly.

“A very high level,” Harbaugh 

said of his defense’s play on 
Saturday. “I reserve ‘highest.’ I 
think we can do better. … I think 
there’s still a higher level.”

For the second week in a row, 

the Wolverines’ defense was 
nearly impenetrable in a 28-0 
win over Maryland. Michigan 
allowed just 105 total yards, the 
same number it did in a 31-0 
pounding of then-No. 22 BYU last 
week.

The Wolverines have now put 

together back-to-back shutouts 
for the first time since 2000, 
when Michigan blanked Indiana 
and Michigan State.

Saturday was a performance 

worthy 
of 
that 
distinction. 

Maryland 
quarterback 
C.J. 

Rowe hardly had time to throw, 
completing just eight of 27 
passes on the day. He threw 
three interceptions before being 
pulled, bringing his season total 
to 12 through five games, and he 
was sacked four times behind an 
offensive line that was simply no 
match for the Wolverines.

Redshirt defensive tackle Matt 

Godin had 1.5 sacks, and redshirt 
sophomore 
defensive 
tackle 

Maurice Hurst added two tackles 
for loss, one of which was a sack, 
in an effort that was nothing 
short of dominant.

On one play near the end of 

the third quarter, redshirt junior 
defensive 
end 
Willie 
Henry 

plowed 
through 
his 
blocker 

and had a free shot at Rowe’s 
replacement, 
Daxx 
Garman. 

Henry outstretched his arms and 
wrapped up Garman, throwing 
him to the turf with ferocity. 
And it wasn’t just Henry who 
crushed his man on the play. 
Every member of the Terrapins’ 
offensive line ended up on the 
ground while Henry devoured 

their quarterback.

Maryland ended the game 

with 29 yards rushing, largely 
in part to the minus-23 yards its 
quarterbacks accumulated on the 
ground. But after the game, the 
Wolverines weren’t ready to pat 
themselves on the back.

“We had a couple plays where 

they got first downs,” Hurst said. 
“We’ve gotta look at that and 
correct it. They shouldn’t have 
anything.”

They 
nearly 
didn’t. 
The 

Terrapins earned just seven first 
downs the entire game, and they 
were a dreadful 1-for-18 on third 
down.

Meanwhile, every facet of the 

Michigan defense clicked. The 
pass defense, which entered the 
game allowing the fifth-fewest 
yards per game in the country at 
121.8, outdid itself again, allowing 
just 76.

Even 
fifth-year 
senior 

linebacker 
Desmond 
Morgan 

came away with an interception, 
adding two pass breakups to a 
dominant effort.

And while the big plays were 

impressive, there was still an 
aspect of the defense Harbaugh 
was more impressed with.

“The key to the game (was) 

when the offense made mistakes, 
our 
defense 
did 
not 
allow 

Maryland to capitalize on them,” 
Harbaugh said. “That was the 
difference.”

Michigan has now allowed just 

seven points in its last 15 quarters, 
dating back to its 28-0 win over 
Oregon State on Sept. 12. With 
Northwestern’s 
stout 
defense 

coming to Ann Arbor next week, 
fans could be in for some of the 
lowest-scoring football in recent 
memory.

If Harbaugh has anything to 

say about it, more history could 
be made.

“Now I want to know what’s 

three, when’s (the last time a 
Michigan team pitched three 
consecutive shutouts?)” Harbaugh 
wondered after the game. “I’ll 
have to look that one up.”

ZACH
SHAW

MAX
COHEN

COURTESY OF THE COHEN FAMILY

From Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to her home outside Philadelphia, sports were a constant in Sylvia Cohen’s life. Pictured: Sylvia and Max Cohen in 1995. 

