13
Thursday, August 13, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
Kevin Warren talks about ‘uncertainties’ that led to Big Ten decision
Big Ten commissioner Kevin
Warren had a lot to say about the
postponement of sports in the
conference this fall — unfortunately a
lot of it translates to ‘We don’t know.’
“This is a holistic decision,”
Warren said in an interview with
the Big Ten Network. “There are just
too many uncertainties now to go
forward and have fall sports in the
Big Ten.”
Which essentially just echoed
what he said in the statement put out
by the Big Ten today:
“The mental and physical health
and welfare of our student-athletes
has been at the center of every decision
we have made regarding the ability to
proceed forward. As time progressed
and after hours of discussion with
our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging
Infectious Diseases and the Big
Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it
became abundantly clear that there
was too much uncertainty regarding
potential medical risks to allow our
student-athletes to compete this fall.”
Essentially, the Big Ten, along
with its presidents and chancellors,
don’t know what the consequences
of holding fall athletics will be, and
that makes them worried enough to
vote the season down. When asked
whether the vote was unanimous,
Warren demurred.
“Our schools, we don’t always
agree.” Warren said. “... But I think
people understand, and I take that
from a passion standpoint, that we
will be together in the Big Ten. So
I just think it’s important to make
that very clear. I would rather not
have a detailed discussion about your
question of whether the vote was
unanimous or was it not unanimous.”
Translation for this one: it was
not unanimous. And it’s pretty well
known who at least one of the non-
unanimous voters are. Nebraska
said, in a statement today backed
by its system president Ted Carter,
chancellor Ronnie Green, athletic
director Bill Moos and head football
coach Scott Frost:
“We are very disappointed in the
decision by the Big Ten conference
to postpone the fall football season,
as we have been and continue to be
ready to play,” the joint statement
read.
Michigan
president
Mark
Schlissel confirmed with a statement
on Tuesday that he voted in favor of
postponement despite football coach
Jim Harbaugh advocating playing in
the fall.
After tip-toeing ever-so gracefully
around the question surrounding
unanimous
voting,
Warren
reaffirmed that the season being
postponed had to deal with many
factors surrounding the spread of the
virus, not just one.
Directly
addressed
was
myocarditis, the heart affliction
that seems to be worrying medical
professionals as a possible effect of
COVID-19, but Warren said the new
concern over it was not a primary
reason for the vote, rather just added
to the many concerns and of course
“uncertainties.”
Despite all this lack of certainty
by the commissioner and conference
alike, Warren put on a face to assure
the audience of one final thing about
the Big Ten before the end of his
interview:
“We will continue to be absolutely
dominant, not just academically but
athletically.”
NICHOLAS STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Ethan Sears: The stories we’ll miss without a fall season
There’s this moment I can’t get out
of my head. I haven’t been able to for
five months — not since mid-March,
when COVID-19 shut down college
sports.
It’s
Duncan
Robinson,
and
he’s standing in
the far corner,
poised
behind
the
3-point
line. There’s a
little over two
minutes left and
Michigan, in a
packed
maize
and blue Staples
Center, is close — so close — to the
Final Four. From where I’m sitting,
up in the auxiliary press box, up near
the ceiling, you can see Robinson’s
defender leave him, the ball come to
him and then float towards the net.
All those fans down there in maize
and blue, they lose their collective
minds. Robinson turns to the bench
and yells. The game is all but over, and
that weird, improbable run is going
to go for another week on the sport’s
biggest stage.
In that singular moment back in
March of 2018, it feels like the whole
world is coalescing around Michigan
basketball and every character on that
team, Duncan Robinson chief among
them.
That singular moment, it’s why we
love sports.
Robinson’s story has been told again
and again. You’ve almost certainly
heard it before, but as a quick reminder
we’ll rehash it here. Robinson started
his college career playing Division
III ball at Williams College. He
transferred to Michigan and, after
sitting a year, worked his way into
the rotation as a 3-point specialist.
In his senior year, he struggled and
got replaced by Isaiah Livers, then
a freshman, in Michigan’s starting
lineup. He came off the bench the
rest of the year, found a key role on a
team that went to the Final Four, and it
seemed likely that the story would end
there. Out of college, he signed a two-
way contract with the Miami Heat
and seemed consigned to basketball
purgatory. Then he started hitting
threes for them, too and now he’s in
the NBA bubble, playing a key role on a
playoff team. When his contract is up,
he’s going to make a ton of money.
That’s cool as hell.
I’m not telling you this because
you didn’t already know — this is
probably the 100th time you’ve heard
Robinson’s story. I’m talking about
this now for the same reason I can’t get
that snapshot out of my head:
When I think about why it’s a shame
the Big Ten postponed fall sports, I
think about Duncan Robinson.
Hold on a minute. Don’t laugh.
I know Duncan Robinson plays a
winter sport. I understand there’s
better reasons to have sports or not,
there’s more at play here than one
guy’s human interest story. Playing
sports right now might not be the
smartest thing. Having students back
on campus — especially if, like a lot of
schools, your coronavirus mitigation
plan amounts to a shoulder shrug and
an eye roll — might not end well.
The Big Ten’s decision puts moral
and public health obligations over
financial gains and, all told, it’s the
right call. The U.S. has done a terrible
job at fighting the coronavirus. We’re
reaping what we sowed, but that
doesn’t mean we can’t lament it. So
let’s get back to Duncan Robinson and
all the other stories that make sports
worth watching.
Remember when Jordan Poole hit
the shot? If you’re this far into this
story, you probably remember where
you were sitting and who you were
with. I’ll never forget talking with
Duncan Robinson after Jordan Poole
hit the shot.
Robinson had fouled out of the
game. He thought it’d be his last
college game, thought he’d been
partially responsible for a crushing
loss. The look on his face, the tone
in his voice when he spoke in the
locker room. That was something to
remember.
“I don’t think I’ve ever cried tears
of joy,” Robinson said that night. “But
I was damn close.”
Forget, for a minute, about the
fact that Robinson is now an NBA
player with an NBA career and all the
amenities that come with it. Because
right then, he was a college kid and the
best thing he’d ever been involved in
had just gotten improbably extended
for another week.
Now think about all the athletes
at Michigan (and elsewhere), all with
their own stories and hours of work
and breakthroughs to get to where
they are, and what they all must
have been on Tuesday when the
announcement came down.
Think about Nick Blankenburg,
a junior defenseman on the hockey
team who plays every game for his
grandfather, and Nick Granowicz, his
teammate, who’s playing for his mom.
Think about Mohammed Zakyi and
Omar Farouk Osman, who started
their soccer careers playing with paper
bags and folded clothes, and now likely
won’t have their senior years. Think
about Paige Jones and all the people
in New Bremen, Ohio watching her
play volleyball for Michigan. Think
about Maddie Nolan working her
way back from a microfracture to play
basketball for Michigan.
Think about what they’re feeling
now, after their fall seasons got
canceled. Those that play in the winter
can’t be feeling good about their
chances of having a season either.
The Big Ten made the right
decision. But as long as we can
acknowledge that, let’s also take a
minute to appreciate all the stories,
all the players, all the games and
everything else we won’t get to have
this year, because it’s all improbable,
and at any moment it could all be over.
Now, more than ever.
Sears can be reached at searseth@
umich.edu or on Twitter @ethan_sears.
ETHAN
SEARS
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Kevin Warren shared his thoughts on BTN following the postponement of fall sports.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Without fall sports, the stories that make us love sports will dry up.