The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Thursday, January 30, 2020 — 5A ‘Do I think aliens are real? No.’ The Daily sits down Cam York and Johnny Beecher to talk about hot dogs, Deflategate and Area 51 The Daily hockey beat used to run a video series during the 2011-12 season called “Quick Hits.” They were one-on-one interviews with players that covered everyday life and all of its funny moments. Now, it’s back in written format. For the first edition of the semester, The Daily’s Molly Shea and Bailey Johnson sat down with freshmen Cam York and Johnny Beecher to discuss conspiracy theories, Deflategate and if a hot dog is a sandwich. *** This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Molly: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Cam: No. Johnny: I wouldn’t say it is, no. Molly: Why not? It has meat and it has bread, and those are the two main components of a sandwich. Cam: Yeah, but there’s not two pieces of it. Johnny: Yeah that’s true, it’s only one piece of bread. Molly: But isn’t a sub a sandwich? And that’s one piece of bread. Johnny: A sub? Why would you call it a sub? Associate head coach Bill Muckalt walked through the office. Bill: Do you call it a grinder or a sub? Johnny: I call it a sub. Would you say a hot dog’s a sandwich? Bill: You know what, at Portillo’s it might be. I love Portillo’s. Have you been to Portillo’s? Molly: The chocolate cake shake is so good! Bill: Not only that, the Italian beef with the hot peppers. Ugh, it’s the best. I would call it a grinder, hero, it’s all subs. Johnny: I wouldn’t call a hot dog a sandwich. Cam: I wouldn’t either. Bailey: If the team was stranded on a deserted island, who would survive? Cam: I would say myself, to be honest. Johnny: What? You’d be one of the first to go, man. Bailey: Why do you think it’s you? Cam: I’m a good fisherman, I know how to fish. I can catch fish. Johnny: That is true, you could eat. Cam rubs his hands together like he’s going to start a fire. Cam: I know how to make a fire out of wood. Johnny: That’s a blatant lie. Cam: I’m not kidding. Johnny: I don’t know, I’d probably say (senior goaltender Hayden) Lavigne. He would just be good at the weird stuff and he would be able to do that stuff and survive somehow. Cam: Jeez, he has a family. Molly: If you were a superhero, what would be your power and your name? Cam: Probably to fly, and I would say Forny. Johnny: I don’t know. I’d say super strength or something like that, I don’t know what my name would be. Beech? Molly: Do you guys believe in aliens? Johnny: I think they’re out there somewhere. I feel like there’s gotta be another life form somewhere else in the universe, I don’t know. Cam: I don’t know. We would’ve had an interaction with them already. Molly: But what if the government’s covering it up? Cam *dead serious*: They wouldn’t do that to us. Bailey: Are there any conspiracy theories y’all believe in? Bill and program assistant Steve Shields entered the office from the smoothie room. Johnny: Hey Shieldsy, you got any conspiracy theories? Steve: I’ve got problems with conspiracy theories. Molly: Which one? Steve: All of ‘em. Molly: The moon landing? Steve: That is the biggest conspiracy I have problems with. Molly: That it was fake or that it was real? Steve: No, the fact that you’re even saying that. I’ve got problems with the moon landing, with flat earth people. Jay “The Beav” Flannelly, known acquaintance of Tom Brady, entered the room. Bill: What’s your favorite Deflategate conspiracy theory? The Beav: Uh, that it even existed. That’s the whole point. Steve: Cheating’s a part of the game. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. The Beav: Tom was never the target of that. I think we know who the target was. I don’t know, his coach? Steve *suddenly reappearing*: Area 51. Molly: You don’t think that’s real? Steve: Do I think that aliens are real? No. There is a place called Area 51, but there’s no UFOs there. Molly: But do UFOs in general exist? Steve: No. Molly: The universe is so big, there’s no way that they don’t. Steve: The universe is so big? Prove it. Molly: It’s constantly expanding. That’s physics. There are billions of galaxies. Steve: If there were intelligent life forms somewhere in the universe, they would secretly come to this small little planet in a spaceship that we could recognize as a spaceship? It doesn’t make sense. Yeah, in theory, 100 years ago, before you knew anything existed beyond our sun, yeah. Yeah there’s people from outer space. But if they’re coming here, they’re coming here to kill us. It’s like the movies. Assistant coach Kris Mayotte, who was standing next to Steve, chimed in. Kris: Area 51’s real, what’s at Area 51 is fabricated. Cam: Alright, let’s get this interview going. Kris: Where do you gotta go? Johnny: Eat dinner, homework. Cam: Hang out with my girlfriend. Jeez. The coaches trailed back to their half of the office, still arguing about aliens and Area 51. Bailey: Who has the worst hair on the team? Cam: Keto (freshman defenseman Keaton Pehrson). Johnny: I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus. It’s kinda mean. I’d say (sophomore defenseman Nick) Blankenburg right now. He’s got a greasy mullet. Cam: He does have a greasy mullet. We’ll both go with Blankenburg. Keto would be so pissed. Johnny: He’d be mad at that. Molly: When we did this with Keaton and Jack Summers, they said they wanted to be you, Cam. Which one of those two would you rather be? Johnny: Definitely Sums. Cam: Is neither an option? No, I’d be Sums. Molly: Why? Cam: He’s got good flow, he’s a pretty nice person. Bailey: Johnny, what about you? Johnny: Probably Luke Martin. He’s an absolute beauty. He’s one of the big boys with me, so I like that guy a lot. He’s funny. Fun to be around. If you’re him, you’re around him 24/7. Just having a good time. Bailey: Do either of y’all have any useless talents? Johnny: Useless talents? Not really, honestly. I don’t really do weird stuff. Cam: I definitely do, but I can’t think of any. Johnny: Do you like juggling? Cam: I can tie fishing knots really good. Johnny: That’s not useless, though. Cam: That’s true. Johnny: If we’re on the stranded island, you need it. BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sportds Editor MOLLY SHEA Daily Sports Writer ‘M’ faces bad matchup against ‘Cats Throughout the season, the Michigan women’s basketball team has been plagued by one issue: turnovers. Last Sunday, against Rutgers, it survived the first half unscathed, taking care of the ball and instead forcing the Scarlet Knights into turnovers. But as the teams came out of the locker room, Rutgers pressed — it needed to cut into the Wolverines’ 17 point lead as soon as possible. It couldn’t, but that wasn’t because Michigan broke through the press. In fact, the Wolverines continuously lost the ball, their turnover margin plummeting to a negative throughout the second half. The Scarlet Knights just couldn’t capitalize, missing uncontested layup after uncontested layup — shooting 34.8 percent in the fourth quarter. “Then towards the end they turned it up a little bit, and we had a couple turnovers,” sophomore forward Naz Hillmon said. “We’re gonna see our strengths and weaknesses in that and figure a couple more things out. With Kayla (Robbins) out, that’s another long person, tall person that could jump out of the gym, get those passes out of the air. But we’re gonna work on it.” In Michigan’s upcoming game against No. 23 Northwestern, the turnover battle will be key. The Wildcats are second in the Big Ten in steals — behind only No. 17 Maryland, which dismantled the Wolverines’ offense earlier in the season, forcing 22 turnovers. Northwestern also has a solid plus-6.7 turnover margin on the season while Michigan is in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten — barely squeaking out a positive ratio at plus-0.9. The turnovers for the Wolverines have been notoriously topsy-turvy, though they rarely have two bad games in a row. After their first game against the Terrapins, they capped their turnovers in the low teens, sustaining a successful portion of their season. Until the rematch. After struggling with turnovers in the last quarter against Rutgers, Michigan will need to continue its pattern of rebounding from large turnover games if it’s to compete Thursday. It’ll also look to continue dominating the glass, where its plus-7.5 rebounding margin is second best in the conference, while the Wildcats are one of three teams in the Big Ten with a negative margin at minus-0.4. Second chance points, as they usually are, will be vital for Michigan against one of the best defenses in the conference — Northwestern holds opponents to 54.9 points per game. But perhaps the biggest challenge for the Wolverines will come at the 3-point line. The Wildcats’ senior forward Abi Scheid stretches the floor and shoots at a team-leading .475 clip, and Michigan has struggled throughout the season to match the momentum booster of the three with its post play. “Most of the time going into the game (opponents have) had a poor shooting night before or multiple poor shooting nights, so we don’t really — I’m not saying we don’t defend the three — but we don’t exaggerate it as much as we should,” senior guard Akienreh Johnson said last week. “And then in the game when they start hitting them we don’t adjust. So we need to adjust getting out, taking away the shot and giving away the drive more the remainder of the game. Being able to adjust is something we have to consistently have to learn to do.” Northwestern, though, isn’t coming into the game cold from downtown — it shot 40 percent in its last game, and Michigan will come into the match laser focused on defending the 3-point arc. It won’t need to adjust. The Wolverines face a tall task Thursday when they visit the Wildcats, a team that has strengths that appear to perfectly match Michigan’s weaknesses. The Wolverines will need to play one of their best games of the season in order to come out with a win. Offseason fun helps build chemistry Last weekend, the Michigan softball team took on a new challenge. A challenge that had coach Carol Hutchins worrying whether she or a team member would end up in the emergency room with an axe sticking out of their leg. Fortunately, everyone came out of the axe-throwing excursion unscathed, and the team had crowned an axe champion: junior infielder Taylor Bump. This outing was part of the team’s offseason activities and one of the things the team got to do together that wasn’t directly softball-related. After practicing six days a week the entire offseason, Hutchins decided the team needed to do something fun to get away from the grind. The Wolverines had lunch together after practice, watched the men’s basketball game against Iowa and then she took them to the night’s main event. “We just had fun together,” Hutchins said. “We’ve got to enjoy being around each other. You know, we’re different. We’re all diverse. We don’t all agree about everything, but we’re a team and you’ve got to get along with your teammates. So, we try to create some of those moments.” Despite her fear that someone might put an axe through themself, Hutchins recognized the importance of taking time as a team off the field and what it means for the players. The Wolverines have gone on excursions in the past to find a relief from practice, laser tag being cited as a Hutchins favorite, but typically at the end of the season. In Hutchins’ 36 years of coaching, this is the first time they have done anything in the preseason. This is not to mention the team’s Cuba trip over fall break — also a first. The Wolverines went to the country and spent time with each other as well as with a Cuban softball team. They brought over toiletries, gave the team gloves and dumped out their backpacks at the end of the trip to give to the team. In December, the team had its annual Christmas party where it played a game of white elephant and requipped with gifts of new gloves. This, along with the new experiences provided by the Cuba trip and axe throwing, gave the players a chance to bond with each other. “I mean the most important thing, I think, is getting to know an individual teammate,” sophomore outfielder Lexie Blair said. “That’s what I feel like can build chemistry. … Us doing the team axe throwing, our Christmas parties, going to Cuba together. You kind of get to learn more about each other.” And the hope, for Hutchins, is that the chemistry translates to the field. Last year, Michigan started out its season 12-10 before coming home and straightening out to 33-3 down the stretch. The slow start could be attributed to a lot of things — competition, readiness, overall performance — but the importance of teamwork and cohesion was not lost on Blair. “Yeah, last year was a really slow start,” Blair said. “It’s just finding that chemistry within the team. Learning to mesh within each other, kind of finding a common ground and working together as one. That’s what you need to find for each team.” Connection. Cohesion. Chemistry. However it’s stated, it’s important to the success of a softball team. Outs are made as a team. Runs are made as a team. Wins and losses come as a team. Blair recognizes this, and so does Hutchins. After losing five senior starters the Wolverines will need to find unity on a relatively young team. And quickly — the season starts in just nine days. It is possible that a trip to Cuba, a Christmas party and an axe throwing competition could have done that for the Wolverines. The only hint will be on the players’ faces. “A team that’s happy together plays better together,” Hutchins said. “No question.” So when the team takes the field for the first time this season on Feb. 7 — watch for smiles. NICHOLAS STOLL Daily Sports Writer KENT SCHWARTZ Daily Sports Writer ALEC COHEN/Daily Freshman defenseman Cam York thinks he could last longer than any other Wolverine if he was stranded on an island. EMMA MATI/Daily Kim Barnes Arico will need her team to overcome turnover issues Thursday. I’ve got problems with ... flat earth people. The Italian beef with the hot peppers. Ugh, it’s the best. ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily The Michigan softball team increased its chemistry in the offseason with multiple team bonding activities. We need to adjust to getting out, taking away the shot.