8 — Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Harbaugh comments on California NLI law
Jim Harbaugh was asked an
open-ended question Monday, as
reporters searched for his thoughts
on the California bill that was
passed last week allowing players
to profit off their name, image and
likeness.
As the hot-button topic of the
college sports landscape, it’s more
than a reasonable question to ask of
the highest-paid figure in the state
of Michigan.
Harbaugh used the chance
to expound upon — even flesh
out — his own thoughts about
amateurism,
pay-for-play
and
potential reform options.
“My feeling would be that
college football is an amateur
status,” Harbaugh said, before
detailing
several
hypothetical
options to alter the system. “I think
the fair thing to do would be, not
to restrict players to have to stay in
college for three years. They could
be drafted after their freshman
year, they could be drafted after
their sophomore year, they can be
drafted after their junior year, their
senior year. I would also make a
rule that if they weren’t drafted,
they could return.
“And they could also be very
productive, if somebody were
to leave after their freshman or
sophomore or junior year and they
hadn’t finished their degree, they’d
have the ability within a certain
timespan to come back and finish
their degree. That would be what I
would suggest or propose.”
After being pressed with a
follow-up, Harbaugh said that he
would, indeed, consider proposing
that to the NCAA. That potential
system would model that of college
basketball, which is also rife with
criticism at the moment.
Still, though Harbaugh’s long-
winded
answers
opened
new
avenues worth exploring, he hardly
touched on the central thematic
tension:
compensation.
Asked
in a more direct manner about
payment, he offered a different
potential reform.
“I
wouldn’t
be
against
(payment),”
Harbaugh
said.
“There could be a system that, like
the scholarship, it’s really worth
upwards of $100,000 or more,
when you factor in room, board,
food, travel, the many things. And
that’s per scholarship, 85 players.
You could have a system that cuts
all scholarships in half — instead
of 85 scholarships, there’s 42
scholarships. Forty-two players
would play the scholarship plus
the $100,000. If you did that across
all sports, the budget could stay
the same. It could be financially
feasible. Kind of think the other
way would be better. There’s
amateur and there’s pro, and there’s
no restriction for someone to take
their shot at playing football.”
Harbaugh’s off-the-cuff musings
are relatively representative of the
national conversation writ large;
one in which, while the rumblings
continue to grow, the concrete
ideas of amending — or abolishing
— amateurism remain in the
introductory phase.
Players, of course, will have
their say in the matter as well.
Asked throughout the week about
the California bill, most Michigan
players largely deflected answers.
They pointed out that any reform
would have no impact on their
careers, and as such, they hadn’t
invested too deeply in the outcomes.
Without push from athletes,
though, there could be no such
major reform. Many, specifically
more
experienced
players,
understand their role in that — if
still stopping short of being the
harbingers of change.
“It’s really something that I’ve
never
really
actually
thought
hard about,” said senior left tackle
Jon Runyan. “But I think that
basketball, and how they have it
set up, where you can declare for
the draft, go through the whole
process, as long as you don’t sign an
agent, and you can make a decision
to come back to school … seems
something that I guess is pretty
reasonable.”
In college basketball, players
must remain in school for one year
prior to entering the draft, and
can declare any year thereafter.
The rule to which Runyan is
referring, which permits player
to enter their names in the NBA
draft and participate in workouts
before determining whether to
leave or return to school, has
been met with near-unanimous
approval from players. It does bring
about difficulties for coaches in
formalizing rosters in advance of
the season, and has had a marked
impact on the transfer market as
a result. Players, in that scenario,
moved the needle.
Players
like
Runyan
will
undoubtedly have a say in the
future of the sport. But it remains
Harbaugh’s opinion which wields
the most power.
His presence drives hundreds
of millions in revenue each year.
His salary exceeds $8 million
annually. Throughout his career,
his traditionalist reputation has
frequently been misplaced — he is,
in many respects, a player’s coach.
Harbaugh’s openness to reform,
if still vague, serves as an example
of the rising tides readying to flood
the landscape. Coaches, it seems,
should prepare themselves or be
washed away.
“If you’re a tennis player and
you’d like to be a professional
tennis player at 17, you can be
a professional tennis player at
17,” Harbaugh said. “To give the
opportunity to somebody to be a
professional football player when
they’re 19, 20, 21. It’s not a long time.
But the window to be a professional
football player, if somebody’s good
enough to do that, and then return
and finish their degree probably
would be appreciated and not taken
for granted, and looked at for the
value that it is — it’s hundreds of
thousands of dollars for a college
education these days, plus room
and board, books and tuition.”
H
ave you ever looked
down on the the rink
at Yost Ice Arena,
watching the Michigan hockey
team skate from red line to red
line and wondered, “Maybe I’m
faster than one of the guys on
the team?”
Well, the short answer is
no.
Odds are, you cannot skate
faster than a Division I hockey
player.
And I’ll
give you
a hint,
the long
answer is
also no,
and I tried
with more
embarrass-
ing insight
and head-
shaking
perfor-
mances.
On Sunday night,
immediately after the
exhibition game against
Windsor, the Wolverines
hosted a “Skate With the
Wolverines” event. It’s pretty
self-explanatory, but in case
you’re as slow on the uptake as
I was on the ice, players met
with fans in the rink to take
pictures and sign autographs.
Except for me. I didn’t wait
in line to ask for pictures or
autographs. I made my way to
the unsuspecting players, ask-
ing for just one thing — speed.
***
To give you some context on
how fast the players were in
our race, I’ll tell you about my
skating ability first, for a point
of comparison.
I’m going to be honest and
say straight up, I’m an average
skater — and I work at an ice
rink.
In Memphis, Tenn., though,
where I’m from, there were no
nearby ice rinks. Before 2011,
when a local suburb built an
ice house about an hour away,
the closest rink was a two-
hour drive to Mississippi.
So my first time ice skating
was December of my fresh-
man year at Michigan, during
a public skate session of Yost.
I went on a weekly basis my
sophomore and junior year and
got pretty decent.
And to give you an even bet-
ter read, I went back out to
Yost Monday to time myself in
peak
con-
ditions
— no breakfast, no lunch and
no sleep. Averaged on three
attempts, here were my times:
From blue line to blue line:
3.38 seconds.
From the tip of the face-off
circle to the far blue line: 4.70
seconds.
A full lap around the rink: a
mere 21.07 seconds.
The fastest lap time with a
standing start in the NHL is
Connor McDavid’s 13.31 sec-
onds. I guess you can say I’m
pretty elite.
***
The people behind the skate
rental booth pointed to the
hallway at the entrance of the
arena.
“We left all the skates over
there,” they said, in spite of my
pleas that I couldn’t find them.
I had dropped off my pair of
CCM skates at the booth before
the game, and anticipating that
the players would be preoccu-
pied with the fans until the
end, I waited until
the last
five minutes
of the open skate before
making my way down.
But I couldn’t find my
skates.
By the time the workers
found them, there was only one
minute running on the over-
head clock — indicating the
time left for the event. I threw
on my skates and made my way
to the ice.
Out of breath and out of
time, I start circling around
looking for the perfect prey.
I stopped in front of goalten-
der Jack Leavy and looked up.
My fellow Daily hockey writers
were camped at the top of the
press box on floor five and had
been peering over the ledge to
watch me.
“Him?” I mouthed to them,
pointing in his direction.
One of them shook their
head. Smart. He’s 6-foot-5;
those strides would be lethal.
I then shifted my attention
to senior goaltender Hayden
Lavigne. Again, I pointed and
looked up quizzically.
Two of them crossed their
arms to make an ‘X’. Smart.
He’s 6-foot-3; still too tall for
comfort.
Then my
eyes
laid on
Strauss
Mann.
Three thumbs
up from my co-
writers carried me to
the front of the line where I
challenged him to a race.
“Hey, yo listen,” I explained
to him. “I lost a bet with my
editors, and so now I have to
ask one of y’all to race me and
write a story on it. You cool
with that?”
That was a lie, by the way.
But he looked at me confusing-
ly before seeing the credential
I pointed to. He then nodded in
understanding before smiling.
“Wow, so you ask the goal-
ie?” he retorted. “Alright, give
me a moment.”
He finished up taking pic-
tures before skating to the blue
line.
“Alright, let’s do blue line to
blue line,” Mann said, pointing
end to end.
I guess he
wasn’t
ready
for that
full
ice lap.
People
often tell
me I can be
intimidating
on open ice.
And it probably
didn’t help that
while Mann
was getting
ready, I kept
telling to
Alex, the
Daily pho-
tographer
next to
me, that
I was
the
great-
est
of all
time.
But we
lined up on the blue line and
readied ourselves. And then we
raced.
Stride for stride, I honestly
held my own. To be fair, Mann
had to race after a game, in full
pads and maybe (definitely)
didn’t put full effort, but I’ll
take a win.
We crossed mid-ice at the
same rate, but it’s the second
half where I always make my
mark. With four strides, I
pushed my way past Mann to
beat him by centimeters. He
leaned forward and stretched
out his hand, but to no avail.
I was a winner.
Curling around the ice
with me, he
stretched out
his hand,
again, this
time for a
fist bump.
“I’m tired
from the game,”
Mann said.
I let him leave with
his dignity, of course. Feel-
ing a little bit more confident
in myself, I spotted my next
victim. Jake Slaker was leaning
against the opposing bench. I
looked up again for affirma-
tion and was met with vicious
nodding.
“Hey Jake, how are you feel-
ing about a race?” I asked.
“Sure thing, just let me tie
my skates,” Slaker said.
He skated to the side and
bent over to tie his skates.
“Am I letting you win?” Slak-
er said, smiling.
“Nah, go all out,” I said. “All
out.”
“Like should I give you a
head start and then beat you,
or should…?” Slaker said.
“All out.”
At first, we had decided on
a full lap, with different start
points, but after realizing how
it would turn out, we both
agreed to a blue-line-to-blue-
line race — for me. Slaker
would start from the top of the
faceoff circle, a maybe-20 foot
handicap.
“Let me know when to go,”
Slaker said after the two of us
lined up.
“Alright. 3, 2, 1,” I said. “
Go.”
It took him 3.36 seconds to
beat me. He closed half the gap
by the time we crossed mid-ice,
and in the last few strides, he
passed me, curling around with
a smile.
“That all you need?” he
asked.
Yeah, he had answered my
question.
Le can be reached at tntle@
umich.edu or on Twitter at @tientrle.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh believes in a separation of amateur and professional athletics on the subject of compensation.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Writer
‘M’ keeps high energy
In its second game in 26 hours,
the
Michigan
women’s
field
hockey team put up eight straight
goals and shut out Michigan State
in a dominating fashion.
The
complete
game
was
made impressive by the quick
turnaround from its game a day
prior. Michigan had only a day
to rest, gameplan and prepare
for Michigan State after its 1-0
victory over Appalachian State on
Saturday.
The team game-planned for
the back-to-back matches to be
ready for the Spartans the next
day. Though the score was close
Saturday, Pankratz stuck to the
plan and kept rotating players to
keep their legs fresh. It was part of
her game design — everybody had
to be balanced and rested for their
important matchup the day after.
The Wolverines proved this
strategy worked. There was zero
hint of fatigue in Sunday’s outing.
In fact, the opposite rang true, with
the team buzzing with energy.
The ninth-ranked Wolverines
(8-3 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) routed
the 24th-ranked Spartans (5-6
Overall, 0-4 Big Ten), 8-0. The win
included a hat trick by sophomore
midfielder Sofia Southam and
the first career goal for freshman
midfielder Nina Apoola.
Perhaps the most impressive
thing about the match was the
amount
of
energy
Michigan
brought from beginning to end.
The
Wolverines
dominated
possession
by
out-hustling
Michigan
State,
resulting
in
multiple offensive opportunities
and out-shooting their opponents,
35-1.
Michigan consistently swarmed
the Michigan State offense,rarely
giving them an opportunity to
control the ball. The Wolverine
defense challenged the Spartans
almost immediately every time
they received the ball.
“Every game we have to come
out with the same energy, and just
really go from the start,” Apoola
said. “Then we can get more goals
and get more wins.”
Beginning games with high
energy
continues
to
be
an
important mission for Michigan.
The Wolverines feel confident in
their ability to win as long as they
play hard for the full 60 minutes.
“We call it ‘60 in 60,’ ” said coach
Marcia Pankratz. “We’re always
striving to do that.”
This philosophy — giving full
effort the entire match — led to
the relentless attack deep into the
match, with the final goal coming
with just 21 seconds remaining in
the fourth quarter.
The
strong
finish
in
the
energy-filled match is a good sign
for Michigan and its ability to
compete deeper into the season
when back-to-back games become
more common — including in the
Big Ten Tournament.
The Wolverines, fourth in the
conference, have shown their
ability to stay fresh between games
— an asset that will prove useful
down the stretch.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz helped her team recover from a short turnaround.
NICHOLAS STOLL
For The Daily
TIEN
LE