2B — Monday, April 9, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
For the love of the game or for all the wrong reasons
W
elp, let’s just say
it hasn’t been an
easy week to be a
Michigan fan.
If you remember what I’m
talking
about, I’m
sorry for
bringing it
up again.
I know
that your
professors
did enough
of that all
week. I’ve
never heard
so many annoyed groans in
my life.
If you don’t remember the
past week that well, I can
honestly relate. Whether it’s
the fact that April showers
this year have consisted of
both snow and rain or that I
turned 21 a week ago and took
on the Ann Arbor bar scene,
my sense of time has been
pretty off lately.
In any case, we need to
talk about it. Not about the
National Championship and
Frozen Four themselves,
because I know some people
who have been covering the
teams all year and did a better
job of that than I could.
But what I do want to talk
about is the different types of
sports fans I saw on the day
of the National Championship
game.
Classes were still in session
last Monday, but you wouldn’t
know it based on the turnout
I witnessed throughout the
day. To be fair, I missed my
first class as well. But mind
you, it was the night after my
aforementioned 21st.
I woke up at 10 a.m. in a
groggy fog and thought the
day’s festivities had just
begun, only to find out that I
was already late to the party.
The lines at popular gameday
locations such as Good Time
Charley’s and Buffalo Wild
Wings had started forming as
early as 8 a.m., according to
my Snapchat. Tip off wasn’t
until after 9 p.m.
As I headed to my 11:30
a.m. work shift in the MLB,
I expected the usual hustle
and bustle
of students
rushing
between
classes. Instead,
Ann Arbor
looked like a
ghost town.
At work, I
overheard a
conversation
at the copy
machine
between some of the
international lecturers in
the Romance Languages and
Literatures Department.
They were asking each other
about the unusual number of
absences that morning. They
didn’t seem to know what the
big deal was.
The first class I attended
was up on North Campus at
1:30 p.m. Any of the buses
that go there tend to be pretty
crowded,
to the point
where people
are essentially
standing on top
of each other.
But I had no
trouble finding
a seat that day.
My acting
class is pretty
small as is, with
just 18 students.
Even though we were
rehearsing our final scenes
to be filmed the next week,
we just barely hit double-
digit attendees. Fortunately,
none of the absentees were
scheduled to go that day.
We have to turn off our
cell phones in that class
because they interfere with
the equipment, which was a
relief because I had already
spent too much time watching
my friends’
Snapchat
stories and
trying to
convince myself
that I could
take the whole
day off.
My next
class was at 4
p.m, by which
point even
Scorekeepers’
Bar and Grille and Rick’s
American Cafe — the popular
nighttime destinations — had
opened early so people could
start their watch parties. If
they had already pregamed
through the afternoon, those
people might not make it to
tipoff.
When my class ended at
5:30 p.m., I thought about
heading to one of the bars
myself to join in on the
action and
atmosphere. But
I didn’t.
The tables
would have
been long gone
by that point,
and I had no
intention of
standing up for
the duration of
the game. The
ridiculously
long lines would have been
gone too, but I had no desire
to watch the game surrounded
by drunk people who didn’t
know the difference between
a point guard and a 3-pointer.
In all honesty, I watched
the game alone in my
apartment, and I’m not
embarrassed to admit it.
Before you start laughing, let
me explain.
I didn’t take the day off or
go out to a bar because I knew
the temptation would be too
strong. If Michigan won it all,
I wanted to remember it. I’m
probably not supposed to say
that, but as a second-semester
senior who could have had a
national championship as a
birthday present, objectivity
is hard to come by. I’m
graduating in three weeks, let
me have this.
If you did go out all day
because you wanted to absorb
the moment with your friends
and follow along closely with
your fellow Wolverines, then
you would have been doing it
for the love of the game. And
you’re in the right.
But if you did it because you
wanted to drink for the hell of
it and have an excuse to party
on a Monday, then you would
have been doing it for all the
wrong reasons. And you’re
really missing out.
The people in the latter
category would have been
the ones I heard yelling
angrily in the streets — I live
a block away from Skeeps
— or stumbling out of bars
on South U sobbing — as my
friends later told me — after
the game. The people in the
former category would have
surely been disappointed but
to a lesser degree, because
they would have known that
Villanova was always the
better team.
Call me a purist or
pretentious, there is probably
truth to both. But the point is
that championship games only
come around so often. When
they do, you should really be a
part of the former.
Ashame can be reached at
ashabete@umich.edu or on
Twitter @betelhem_ashame.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan students could have taken in the Wolverines’ national championship game in two ways. Get drunk for the hell of it, or pay attention and enjoy.
BETELHEM
ASHAME
They didn’t
seem to know
what the big
deal was.
I’m graduating
in three weeks,
let me have
this.
‘M’ finishes second at Big Ten Championships
As Jacob Moore prepared
for his final tumbling pass, the
crowd at Crisler Center cheered
for him to stick the landing of the
triple twist. He landed with his
feet glued to the floor, just as he’s
done multiple times this season.
The
judges
rewarded
the
freshman’s clean floor routine
with a score of 14.700 — the
highest score of the night on the
event — in the team competition
of
the
men’s
gymnastics
Big
Ten
Championships,
where
No.
5
Michigan
finished
in
second
place
with a score of
408.600,
just
over five points
behind
No.
8
Illinois’ score of
413.900.
The
Wolverines
opened
the competition on floor, with
Moore, redshirt junior Marty
Strech and junior Emyre Cole
executing their routines well to
earn scores in the 14s. All three
qualified for Saturday’s event
final, and the scores for the team
competition allowed Michigan to
get out to a strong start.
“Strong scores, pretty good
landings for almost everybody,”
said Michigan coach Kurt Golder
of the first event. “A good start
to the meet, good event for us to
start on.”
Moore led off on pommel
horse with a low-scoring routine,
requiring his teammates to step
up and hit clean routines to get
the team back in the hunt for a
Big Ten title. Sophomore Mack
Lasker answered the bell with
a score of 14.000, tied for his
second-best mark of the season.
The
Wolverines
built
on
the
pommel
horse
momentum
and
earned
a
competition-
high 68.700 on
rings, with each
gymnast scoring
into
the
13s
and
freshman
Cameron
Bock
scoring 14.050, just .05 below his
best mark of the season.
Senior Dmitri Belanovski was
up first on rings and capped a
well-executed routine with a
stuck dismount to score 13.850.
Three of his four teammates also
stuck their dismounts, earning
Belanovski, Bock and junior Ryan
Dunning spots in the individual
event final.
“We had our highest stick
percentage on rings since I’ve
been
at
Michigan
tonight,”
Golder said. “You eliminate some
deductions, you get some bonus
points. It’s just steady, keep
plugging away, and usually you
get better.”
Vault has been a strong event
for Michigan all season, and
that trend continued Friday.
Freshman Nick Guy and Moore
both stuck their vaults, and Cole
took just a small step on his own
vault landing.
Junior Anthony
McCallum
returned to the
vault lineup for
the
first
time
since suffering an
injury in January
and
landed
his
Tsukahara double
pike on his feet for
the first time all
season to earn the
second-highest
score of the day on the event.
“It was nerve-wracking, it
actually was a little bit more
nerve-wracking than I wanted
it to be,” McCallum said. “Last
night I was like, ‘Okay, it doesn’t
matter if I fall,’ just to give myself
a little bit of margin for error, but
once I got up there I was like,
‘Wow, I really wanna land this
because I wanna help the team.’
… Once I landed it, I was just
excited to have that over with.”
The Wolverines headed into
the fifth event, parallel bars,
with the best score among teams
that had already taken their bye.
Belanovski led off with a clean
routine, but trouble ensued when
junior Uche Eke stepped up to
the bars.
Eke struggled early in his
routine before falling on his
dismount, notching a score of
only 11.300. Cole, McCallum
and Bock all hit clean routines
with McCallum
securing
a
spot
in
the
event
final,
but the scores
left
Michigan
in need of a
season-best
performance
on high bar to
secure the win.
A
week
after
earning
their best score of the season,
inconsistency crept in for the
Wolverines. Redshirt junior Alec
Krystek stuck his dismount and
earned a score of 13.250 in the
leadoff spot, followed by another
clean routine from Strech.
Belanovski started well, but he
slipped going to a handstand and
nearly fell, which caused him to
receive a large deduction and
score 12.550. Then Eke missed
the bar on his difficult Kovacs
release
and
fell,
effectively
ending Michigan’s chance at a
win.
“We’ve already changed the
routines,” Golder said. “I think
maybe in (Belanovski’s) case he
was trying to be too perfect, he
put it right in the handstand and
it went the wrong way. Uche just
happened to miss the release, the
rest of it was okay, and when you
do that skill, you know, it’s a D
because it’s high risk. D-value,
you run a little higher risk, and
sometimes you miss it.”
Inconsistency on parallel bars
and high bar has been an issue
for the Wolverines all season,
and Friday night, it cost them a
Big Ten title.
In two weeks, it could cost
them a chance at a national title.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan men’s gymnastics team struggled down the stretch to finish in second place at Big Ten Championships.
“A good start to
the meet, good
event to start
on.”
“We had our
highest stick
percentage on
rings.”
Michigan falls short
at NCAA Regionals
It was a moment of triumph amid
heartbreak.
Brianna Brown was up on the
uneven bars. It was the Michigan
women’s gymnastics team’s last
routine of the night — and of its
season. But for the senior, it wasn’t
over yet.
Her lines were crisp and clean,
her releases high, her handstands
straight. And she stuck her double
layout dismount with precision.
She scored a 9.95, enough to put her
on the podium as the uneven bars
champion. But for the rest of the
team, it was too little, too late.
Entering
Saturday’s
NCAA
Regional,
the
seventh-ranked
Wolverines were heavily favored to
earn one of the two available NCAA
Championships berths. But heavily
favored doesn’t mean a thing if you
can’t capitalize, and uncharacteristic
errors from Michigan left it with a
score of 196.350 to finish in fourth
— behind No. 6 Alabama, No. 18
Georgia and No. 23 Illinois.
“It’s extremely upsetting,” Brown
said. “ … We wanted nothing more
than to be out there with our team
in prelims and Super Six. It’s not
something you really expect to
happen.”
Right off the bat, there were signs
of trouble. On the balance beam —
generally the Wolverines’ strongest
event — all six gymnasts hit their
routines. But there was a bobble
on a flight series here and a messy
dismount there. It would become a
theme.
On the floor exercise, senior
Lauren Marinez over-rotated her
double pike and sat it down. It
wasn’t a fatal mistake in isolation
— teams, after all, can drop one
score. But it eliminated Michigan’s
margin for error. A short landing
here and a stumble back there, and
the Wolverines found themselves
counting a 9.625. Even junior Emma
McLean — the team’s most dynamic
floor worker — didn’t have her best
routine, garnering a 9.85.
By the time the vault rolled
around, it was clear that Michigan
would need to put up big scores on its
final two events to pull off a top-two
finish. But the Wolverines’ lineup
was depleted by the absence of junior
Olivia Karas due to a torn Achilles,
and a bruised heel forced McLean
to water down her difficulty. When
freshman Syd Townsend — the
only remaining gymnast to vault a
difficult Yurchenko 1.5 — couldn’t
hold onto her landing, it was clear
that it wasn’t Michigan’s night.
Bent legs here and a piked-down
landing there, and all of a sudden, the
Wolverines needed to average a 9.9
— an almost impossible proposition
— to even finish in second.
Before the uneven bars, Michigan
had a bye. It was a chance for the
Wolverines to clear their heads.
They had to perform knowing
their chances of making the NCAA
Championships were all but over.
“We basically just said, ‘We know
what we have to do,’” Brown said.
“‘We just have to go out there and do
what we practiced. And if we do that,
we’ll be fine.’”
Before going up, Brown cleared
her head. She thought about her
weekend plans. She thought about
her sister’s volleyball tournament.
She thought about everything but
her bar routine, and she went out
there and hit. It was one high note in
a meet full of sour ones.
Brown’s
performance
was
enough for a third-place finish in
the all-around in addition to the
bars title. That placement qualified
her for NCAA Championships as an
individual. But without the rest of
her team, the victory felt hollow.
“We came in here thinking we
were the team to beat, and yes, we
probably were the team to beat,”
Brown said. “But that’s just not how
it worked out.”
It wasn’t a dramatic collapse.
Rather, it was a bobble here and a
misstep there. It was little things
that added up to become big things.
It was a bad night at the worst
possible time.
“I’m incredibly heartbroken for
these young women,” said Michigan
coach Bev Plocki in a statement. “...
They deserved more and we didn’t
get it done today. It hurts, but I am
very proud of these women for all
they have accomplished.”
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer