Above all, Saturday in Ann Arbor missed the people
18 — Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILE PHOTO/Daily
On what would have been the Wolverines' home opener, Michigan Stadium sat empty, as did many of the traditionally lively tailgating spots.
-
wo-hundred-
eighty-nine days
ago, when 110,000
fans filed out of
Michigan Stadium,
sadness
glued to
their faces
after yet
another
loss to
Ohio State,
they had a
date
circled on
their
calendars:
September 12, 2020.
That was the date when
many of those 110,000 would
come back to the corner of
Main and Stadium, ready to
do it all over again. They
would come from fraternity
tailgates and house parties,
brunch buffets and golf
course cookouts, but their
final destination would be
the same: the home of this
great tradition that’s
spanned 137 consecutive falls
in Ann Arbor.
It’s one of those traditions
that’s marked less by what
happens on the field than off
it. It’s the sights and sounds,
not the wins and losses, that
bring those 110,000 coming
back year after year.
Instead, on Saturday
afternoon, the sight was
emptiness and the sound was
silence.
The Wolverines were still
there, practicing inside
Michigan Stadium for a
season that may never come.
This week, there are
murmurs that it might, but
such rumors have come and
gone with remarkable
consistency since the Big
Ten canceled football on
Aug. 11.
So for now, all we have on
these typically-hallowed fall
Saturdays are closed-door
practices. And yet, somehow,
that’s the most normal part.
The first strange thing on
Saturday morning was that I
woke up to my alarm.
Normally, in my house across
the street from East Quad,
such an accessory would be
superfluous, so long as I
wanted to wake up after 6
a.m.
On this Saturday, though,
silence was the defining
feature. It enveloped the air
on Hill Street, where
thousands of would-be
tailgaters took advantage of
the opportunity to sleep in.
A handful of frat houses
picked up the remains of
illicit parties from the night
before, but for the most part,
there was little sign of life.
Where sheets would typical-
ly hang from house windows
and porches, taunting poor
Ball State with creative
messages, there was only
one. “Rush club lax,” it read.
Behind it, a maize-and-blue
Michigan flag sat inside,
unused until further notice.
Unused, too, were the steps
to Revelli Hall, where the
drum line typically
performs, entertaining
thousands as they walk to
the stadium. Across the
street, Elbel Field was fully
populated by soccer players
and frisbee throwers. On
Saturday, they were the only
people I saw, save for a
family of three that stopped
at the stadium gates to snap
a picture, reveling in their
own sadness. But even the
populated locales are a
strange sight. Typically,
Elbel Field would be closed
to everyone but marching
band families — no one’s
playing soccer on a football
Saturday.
It’s strange what you notice
without the crowds.
Next to the railroad tracks
along Hoover Street, where
that one tailgate with the
big-screen TVs sets up on
fall Saturdays, there’s a
parking lot and a white brick
warehouse. In dozens of
walks down this street when
football beckoned, I never
noticed either. The ware-
house is an electrical supply
store, according to Google.
Next door, a sign says the
Physical Properties Building
sits. Before this weekend, it
would have been ‘the
building where t-shirt
vendors set up’ if you had
asked me.
At the end of Keech Avenue,
Michigan Stadium is still
there, but in concept only. It
is, to everyone except
players and team personnel,
indefinitely inaccessible.
There’s a peeling sign
outside the northwest
entrance that lists prohibited
items. This year, it can be
updated to include fans,
even if football returns.
Their absence allows for
some new discoveries at the
stadium, too. The student
section entrance, apparently,
is called Alumni Plaza —
dedicated in 2001. All four
corners of the stadium have
their own plazas — Wolver-
ine, Champions and Varsity,
if you’re curious.
The most important discov-
ery, though, was everything
that we missed. We missed
the debates over who should
start at quarterback and if
Jim Harbaugh should lose
his job if Michigan can’t beat
Ohio State. We missed the
smell of spilled Natty Light
and burgers on the grill. But
most of all, we missed our
friends and family and the
memories we would have
made together.
Because at the center of it
all, Saturday afternoon in
Ann Arbor missed the
people.
_____________________________
Mackie can be reached at
tmackie@umich.edu or on
Twitter @theo_mackie.
‘Underrated’ Brad Hawkins stepping
into leadership role in secondary
A look into political contributions
from athletic department figures
Brad Hawkins is one of the
most experienced players on
Michigan’s defense. A senior
two-year starter who’s missed
just three games since 2017,
Hawkins is one of the biggest
sources of continuity on a team
facing so much upheaval.
In the spring, defensive coordi-
nator Don Brown mentioned
Hawkins among a select group
of players he considered the
leaders on the defense. Now
that the Wolverines are back in
Ann Arbor and have resumed
practice, Hawkins has been
able to fully step into that role.
“Becoming a leader on this
defense, it means a lot to me,”
Hawkins said on a Zoom call
Friday. “I know I’m going to
play a big role in the secondary
and the defense period, just
being a senior and being a
leader and playing a lot and
knowing what’s going on. That
room has helped me a lot,
growing as a person and as a
man.”
But though Hawkins’ talent
and
experience
isn’t
in
question, COVID-19 and the
postponement of the Big Ten
football season have left his
status in flux. Like teammate
Kwity Paye, Hawkins hasn’t
yet made a formal decision on
whether to play if a season is
held this school year. Though
Hawkins acknowledged that
things could change quickly,
he expressed a desire to play
another season with Michigan.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I
want to come back, I want
to play another year here at
the university,” he said. “Of
course, there’s a lot of things
that can change. But I want to
come back and play with these
guys, and hopefully I get that
opportunity.”
One area where Hawkins’
leadership is key is with the
development of sophomore
safety Daxton Hill.
Hill showed promise last year,
primarily as a backup safety and
nickel corner as well as a gunner
on special teams. He started
three games at the end of the
year when Hawkins went down
with an undisclosed injury.
“That was a big loss to us at the
end of the year,” Brown said
May 22. “And it took Daxton
Hill, who’s an excellent player,
and put him into a role that,
he had to change his role and
obviously that was a very good
experience for Daxton, but
the overall play of our defense
obviously
gets
impacted
because you lose a player of
Brad Hawkins’ stature.”
Now, instead of backing up
Hawkins, Hill will likely start
alongside him if there is a
season. That means the two of
them will work together more
than ever.
Hawkins acknowledged Hill’s
contributions at the end of
last season and expressed
confidence in their abilities as a
unit.
“(Hill) got a lot bigger, a
lot stronger, a lot smarter,”
Hawkins said. “He’s definitely a
guy to watch out for, of course.
... He’s grown every single day.
He’s looking real good. Both of
us do a real good job of commu-
nicating with each other. I feel
like we both cover really well.
There’s versatility back there.
Free safety, rover, it doesn’t
really matter with both of us.
Having him back there helps
me a lot. With his athleticism
and his smarts and his speed, it
definitely helps a lot.”
Beyond COVID-19, uncertainty
over the season and a new part-
ner at safety, Hawkins is also
working with a new position
coach in Bob Shoop, whose hire
was announced in January after
Chris Partridge left for Ole Miss.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Safety Brad Hawkins is becoming a leader on Michigan's defense.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
As Election Day inches closer,
the push to get people to vote
intensifies
every
day.
But
behind the scenes and well
before Nov. 3, individuals from
all walks of life assert their
political stance in another way:
donations.
Any individual can donate an
amount of their choosing up to
a government-mandated limit
either directly to campaigns,
to PACs or to Super PACs. This
is an individual’s right as a U.S.
citizen, so, the University of
Michigan does not infringe on
that ability, and neither does
the athletic department.
Many
athletics
personnel
donate to political campaigns,
and information about their
individual donations including
amount, donation recipient,
name of individual donor and
employer are available on the
Federal Election Commission
website.
“Harbaugh”
is
the
name
that immediately jumps off
the webpage. The donations
coming from Jack, a former
Michigan assistant coach, and
Jacqueline “Jackie” Harbaugh
— Jim and John’s parents
— fill up all but one of the
search results under the name.
The only other was a $7.00
contribution to ActBlue from
James Harbaugh Jr.
Jack and Jackie’s donations
weren’t of the same vein as
James’. The two donated totals
of $450 to Donald J. Trump
for President Inc., $400 to the
Donald Trump Make America
Great Again Committee, $350
to the Republican National
Committee and $300 to John
James for Senate over the past
16 months.
Michigan football coach Jim
Harbaugh hasn’t donated, per
the FEC, but his entire team
registered to vote last week.
As for current athletic person-
nel
giving
contributions,
Michigan swim and dive coach
Mike Bottom has donated on
15 separate occasions within
the past year to Donald Trump
and WinRed, a republican
PAC. Overall, Bottom gave
$1,375 across the same 15
donations, giving $75 each
time to Donald J. Trump for
President Inc. and $100 for
each donation to a PAC or
organization that supported
him.
In smaller amounts, Michigan
men’s gymnastics assistant
coach Jordan Gaarenstroom
gave $20 to WinRed last
December,
and
Michigan
cheerleading coach Pam St.
John gave $53.50 across six
donations to ActBlue.
The
athletic
department
declined comment for this
story.
Past these few, the FEC
website produced nothing
discernable
about
other
athletic department persons’
donations,
including
no
results found for either Jim
Harbaugh or men’s basketball
coach Juwan Howard. This
doesn’t confirm either of
them — or any Michigan
athletic
department
staff
— hasn’t donated, just that
results do not come up under
their name. They could be
donating in other ways not
identifiable by the individual
contribution database, such
as donating under the name
of an LLC or alias, especially
considering the wide-spread
recent activism and sufficient
wealth Michigan coaches and
staff have available to them.
But with just over a month left,
a few last minute donations
could pop up, giving even
greater
insight
into
the
political actions of people in
Michigan athletics.
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
Read more online at michigandail
y.com
THEO
MACKIE
T
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