2B — January 19, 2016
SportsTuesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SPORTSTUESDAY COLUMN

Fan provides sendoffs to remember

T

he physical act of going on
the road, generally, creates
little fanfare for Michigan

teams. Sure, the football team’s
fans frequently fill opposing
stadiums, but the team departs
Schembechler Hall the day before
games with a police escort devoid
of much of the rah-rah “Go Blue”
fandom exhibited in Michigan
Stadium. The men’s basketball
team doesn’t have a fan presence,
either, as it departs the William
Davidson Player Development
Center for road trips.

The Michigan women’s

basketball team, however, has a
very different experience. It has
Chuck Raab.

To call Raab — a recently

retired special needs teacher who
lives in Ann Arbor — a Michigan
fan would be an understatement.
He is the most diehard of the
diehards, a guy who bleeds so blue
a smurf would be impressed.

He grew up watching Red

Berenson and Cazzie Russell
play for Michigan, and at times
over the years, he has been a
fixture at different Michigan
sporting events, from football to
women’s rowing. But now, Raab
puts most of his time and energy
into supporting the women’s
basketball team.

For most, supporting any

athletic team is a part-time hobby,
reserved for watching games
and keeping up to date with
news involving the team. Raab’s
support goes well beyond that.

He stood on Stadium

Boulevard on Saturday, right by
the Player Development Center,
Crisler Center and Michigan
Stadium as the team began to load
its bus to the airport for its game
against Penn State.

He was armed with a large

Michigan flag and a sign that
read, “Michigan Wolverines never
stop.” When the bus prepared to
leave the parking lot, Raab placed
the handle of his flag in a cone
sitting nearby. He grabbed his

sign as the bus passed by, jumping
up and down to show the players
and coaches. Then, as the bus
headed down Stadium toward the
Big House, Raab dropped his sign
and snatched the flag.

He sprinted alongside the bus

until it was completely out of sight.
He yelled words of encouragement
the entire time. He does the same
thing every time the Wolverines go
on the road.

“I want to support the team as

it’s leaving for an away game just
to show them that we the fans
support them wherever they’re
playing, wherever they’re going,”
Raab said.

His support and steadfast

encouragement don’t go
unacknowledged by the team.
The players and coaching staff
waved to Raab as he executed

his sendoff, and many of the
players give him high-fives as
he screams and hollers when
they run onto the court for home
games. At games, Raab is a ball
of enthusiasm,
using his front-
row seat as a
way to be close
to the action
and constantly
yell words of
support.

If Raab’s

excitement
about Michigan
women’s
basketball
seems unusual, it’s because it is.

Historically, the program

hasn’t enjoyed a great deal of
success. The Wolverines have
never reached the Sweet 16 in the

NCAA Tournament, and black
curtains rope off the upper-level
seats for home games. The team
has drawn more than 3,000 fans
to a home game only once this

season, despite
an 11-6 record
in a year when
rebuilding
was the sole
expectation.

Those

facts do not
dampen Raab’s
enthusiasm.
He has long
been a fan
of Michigan

women’s basketball, but his
current level of devotion began in
2003 with the arrival of former
coach Cheryl Burnett.

Raab remembers Burnett

pleading with the team’s fans
to be more passionate about the
team. He took it as a call to action.

He decided he would support

the team in every way he possibly
could. He bought a season-ticket
courtside seat that he holds to
this day, decked himself out in
Michigan clothing and started
making signs to hold at games.
He’d show up when the team
went on road trips, too, cheering
them on the entire way.

He hasn’t looked back, 13

years later. His repertoire of
signs is constantly changing
and growing. He showed up to
Thursday’s home game against
Maryland with nine handwritten
signs, all giving his favorite team
messages of encouragement.
He even shows up sometimes
when the team gets back to Ann

Arbor after road games, like
he did Sunday night after the
Wolverines downed Penn State
in State College.

Raab sees a program on the

rise, one led by what he believes
is the best coaching staff in the
country. If the team is working
so hard, Raab believes, then the
fans should be working hard to
support them.

“I want to help create this kind

of atmosphere around the court
to give our women — which they
richly deserve — the best home-
court advantage in the country,”
Raab said.

Raab hardly ever misses a game

or seeing the team off for a road
trip, estimating that he misses
seeing the team bus depart once
a season, but only if he has a very
important conflict.

He was slowed down by a

battle with stage IV Hodgkin’s
lymphoma for a couple of years
after 2011, and then again with
a more recent melanoma scare.
He was disappointed, even in
the midst of extremely serious
health problems, that he couldn’t
support the team the way he
wanted to.

“It’s my passion,” Raab said. “I

just want to do whatever I can to
support the team. It’s not about …
it’s nothing about me. It’s about
the team, the team, the team. I’m
just trying to support the team,
the team, the team.”

For now, Raab may very well

be the team’s most passionate fan.
But if someone surpasses him one
day, it seems like Raab wouldn’t
mind. He might even prefer it.

“Every year, I just dream about

the day when we can fill this
whole arena up and everybody
(can) be that passionate and give
us that home-court advantage,”
Raab said before Thursday’s
game. “That is my main goal.”

Cohen can be reached at

maxac@umich.edu and on

Twitter @MaxACohen.

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Chuck Raab has been a Michigan women’s basketball superfan since around 2003, sending the team off from Crisler Center when it leaves for road trips.

“We the fans
support them

wherever

they’re playing.”

‘M’ holds on at Penn State

Wolverines hit free
throws down the
stretch, rebound

from Thursday loss

By LELAND MITCHINSON

Daily Sports Writer

Though the Michigan women’s

basketball team seemed to be
in control for most of its game
against
Penn
State
(1-5

Big
Ten,

6-11 overall) on Sunday, it took
everything the Wolverines had
to hold on for a 91-87 victory on
the road.

Composure from the free-

throw line and the team’s ability
to get the ball into the hands
of sophomore guard Katelynn
Flaherty, who was 9-for-10 from
the stripe on the night, kept
Michigan (3-3, 11-6) a step ahead

in its first win in State College
since 2001.

Despite allowing Penn State

to close the gap, Michigan
turned in a strong defensive
performance in the first half,
limiting the Nittany Lions to
just 37-percent shooting from
the floor. The Wolverines turned
it up a notch to begin the third
quarter, stretching their lead to
15 at one point, in large part due
to the fact that Penn State had
no answer for Thome in the post
and in transition.

Freshman
center
Hallie

Thome finished the contest with
18 points, five rebounds and four
blocks, though she fouled out
with 2:03 left in the game.

Fouls were a problem for

both teams as junior guard
Siera Thompson joined Thome
in fouling out, committing her
fifth in the last minute of the
game, and the Nittany Lions also
had three players reach the foul
limit.

Flaherty found her groove

in the second half to make up
for it, leading the Wolverines in
scoring with 23 points for the
game, which included 4-for-5
shooting from 3-point range.

Penn
State
made
it

uncomfortable
for
Michigan

late, going on a 7-0 run with
four minutes left in the fourth.
The Nittany Lions continued to
claw their way back, cutting the
Michigan lead all the way down
to five with only a minute left.
The charge was led by guard
Teniya Page, who finished the
game with 31 points, though the
Wolverines were able to avoid a
big collapse on the road, relying
on late free throws to shut Penn
State’s window of opportunity.

“I thought Penn State did a

tremendous job of fighting and
fighting and battling back,” said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. “Every time we got up 10
or 12 points they would make
another run.”

“We’ve lost three games that

have come down to this and we

didn’t make our free throws
down the stretch, so tonight it
was great to see.”

After the game began with

a nearly two minute scoreless
streak
by
both
teams,
the

Wolverines found their stride,
benefitting from strong first-
quarter performances by Thome
and Thompson, who combined
for 15 points on the way to a 23-14
lead for Michigan.

Leading by nine to start the

second quarter, the Wolverines
turned
to
their
bench
as

starters Thome, Thompson and
Flaherty each picked up two
personal fouls.

The foul trouble, along with 13

turnovers, allowed the Nittany
Lions to cut their deficit to four
at the half.

“Our
turnovers
were
so

unforced at times,” Barnes Arico
said. “They were in transition
when we had numbers and we
had opportunities … so that
will be something that we’ll
definitely emphasize.”

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico’s team pulled out a close victory over Penn State on Sunday, led by sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty’s 23 points.

MICHIGAN
PENN STATE

91
87

WOMEN’S TENNIS
Michigan rolls in
first tournament

By ORION SANG

Daily Sports Writer

The No. 14 Michigan women’s

tennis
team
struggled
with

injuries during the fall season,
with
many
lineup
regulars

unable to play.

But
this
weekend,
with

everyone healthy and back in
the mix, the Wolverines showed
little sign of rust, competing in
their first tournament since the
end of the fall season as they
hosted No. 23 Georgia Tech,
North Florida and Tennessee for
the Michigan Invitational at the
Varsity Tennis Center.

Led by strong performances

from sophomore Alex Najarian
and freshmen Brienne Minor
and Kate Fahey, Michigan was
able to win the majority of both
its singles and doubles matches
over the weekend.

Both Najarian and Minor won

all three of their singles matches,
while Fahey won each of her
doubles matches.

“We got a lot of quality, tough

matches,” Bernstein said. “They
were put in a lot of difficult
situations — you saw a lot of
tiebreakers today and big points.
Overall, I think it was the
perfect weekend to get us ready
for next weekend.”

Friday, the Wolverines got

off to a sluggish start in doubles
play, dropping three out of four
matches against the Yellow
Jackets,
but
Bernstein
was

unconcerned with her team’s
slow start.

“With
the
new
doubles

(rules),
everything
happens

pretty quick, so we just need to
be ready,” Bernstein said. “We
had new teams — a couple of the
kids in doubles hadn’t played in
the fall. After that first round, I
had a feeling that we would be
OK and that we’d settle down. I
think as the weekend went on,
the doubles definitely picked up.”

Michigan proved Bernstein

right
by
improving
from

their inauspicious start to the
tournament.
The
Wolverines

swept Tennessee in three doubles
matches before later winning all
seven singles matches against
North Florida to close out the
first day.

Michigan
continued
its

success from the previous day
on Saturday, winning three of
four doubles matches against
the Volunteers and all three
of its doubles matches against
the Ospreys. The Wolverines
continued
the
momentum

forward, winning five of their
eight singles matches against
Georgia Tech.

The last day, though, proved

to be the toughest competition
for the Wolverines in singles
play, as they split eight matches
with Tennessee.

Minor was broken several

times in the first set of her
match against Sadie Hammond
at the third singles position, but
came back to win the first-set
tiebreaker. She went on to win
the second set, 6-3, to finish off
her perfect performance over
the weekend.

“I thought I did well in singles

and doubles overall,” Minor said.
“I’m feeling pretty good going
into season.”

Both Fahey and Najarian

were in similarly tough matches,
as Fahey dropped a highly
contested first set en route to
a 5-7, 1-6 loss. Najarian, on the
other hand, battled her way to a
7-6, 7-5 victory.

Bernstein was pleased with

the mental toughness her team
showed.

“You don’t always feel your

best or play your best,” Bernstein
said. “But you have to figure out
a way to compete, and I think we
did a good job of that.”

The Wolverines will look to

continue their hot start next
week at the ITA Kick-Off.

“I
definitely
think
(this

weekend)
gave
us
some

momentum,” Minor said. “I
thought our whole team has been
playing well, even though some
of us lost. I think we’re all ready
for the season.”