The Wolverine

September 2020

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1279712

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 24 of 51

SEPTEMBER 2020 THE WOLVERINE 25 frustrating for me, as a former athlete, to feel like something this big is to- tally out of their control. I feel there has been a total lack of leadership from the conference in the way they went about this announcement. I don't necessar- ily think it was the wrong call. It just could have been handled a lot better." Chengelis: "I was not surprised. I was getting calls from some pretty well-connected people a week earlier, saying this was happening. Then over the weekend I was talking to sources saying this was happening. "Even as people like [ESPN football analyst] Kirk Herbstreit were tweeting, 'Hang on, they're not canceling, it's go- ing to be delayed,' they would say, no, this is happening. "So I'm not surprised, but honestly, it's a gut punch. You knew it was prob- ably going to happen, but the reality is it's really sobering. Everyone saw what happened to the spring sports, but football is football. It's a bigger blow to so many people. "The general reaction I'm hearing from different people is anger and dis- appointment. That pretty much sums it up. There are a lot of people who don't want to talk about it right now, people who are involved and part of the team. I certainly respect that. "It's been surreal." Karsch: "I understand the why. I don't understand the why now? We keep waiting to hear if things are going to get better. We keep waiting to hear if there might be better treatment, or see if numbers are going to go down, and all the things that would make it a lot more comfortable for everybody involved. "My reaction to the reaction is, I can't believe how outraged some people are that have nothing to do with it, nation- ally. Media members and people from other areas of the country mocking the Big Ten. "If the SEC and the ACC go ahead and play, and they have an outbreak, and student-athletes get sick and have long-term health problems and some even die, then did the Big Ten make the wrong decision? We don't know what's going to happen with this. No- body knows. "I can't believe the decision is being judged now. Could they have waited a couple more weeks? Maybe. But we aren't going to know for months whether this was the right decision or the wrong decision. "Let's also wait and see if those other conferences actually play. If I were a betting man, I'd bet against it." Sang: "My initial reaction would be one of understanding, and not so much surprise. Obviously, it was re- ally sad news. We cover a sport for a living. The last thing you want to see is for it to go away. "But given the way things were trending, given what we'd heard from officials and administrators, it seems like it was heading this way. I understood where they came from and I guess I was expecting the deci- sion, but it didn't make it any less difficult to hear the news. "The reaction from players, parents, those who were involved, that is also something I understand. There's a lot of disappointment, a lot of frustra- tion, anger. These people have been preparing the past few months, in the middle of a pandemic, for what they thought was going to be a season. "The schedule was released last week, and people had been sacrific- ing their health to prepare for a po- tential football season. To see it taken away, there are obviously going to be some hard feelings there. "I do think those emotions are justi- fied, especially when it's their liveli- hood being threatened. Everything they're working for has been post- poned. I think it will take some time for those involved to work through it. It's difficult news all around." The Wolverine: Did they pull the plug too soon, given Michi- gan's strong testing results from its COVID-19 protocols? Bastock: "For me, what's been hard to reconcile is that when they did the schedule release, they purposely built in four or five weeks to give them- selves a cushion. They said we could start the season as late as Sept. 26. So part of me is like, why didn't they just kick the can down the road to three weeks from now? "They just didn't want to be in that position to have to go through all this again, three weeks from now. But I think, why did you go through all the trouble to release the schedule and to have that cushion in there if you were just going to say, six days later, 'Oh, never mind. We're not going to do it at all. It's no longer viable.' "I understand the frustration, be- cause I don't fully understand what changed in that six-day time period. Until they essentially show their work for what went into that decision, I don't think anybody is going to un- derstand it, quite honestly." Chengelis: "You could argue that, but I do think this was always going to be the decision they made. The issue I have is that [commissioner] Kevin Warren and the Big Ten came out with a football schedule, and then a few days later, they're saying, 'Okay, no pads. Helmets only.' "And then boom, this happens. I just felt like, why are you giving anybody false hope with a 10-game compos- ite schedule, and why are you letting these guys start preseason camp and then pull the rug out from under them? I thought that was really unreasonable. "Could they have delayed? Sure. You could have waited until late Sep- tember. I remember I was polled with college football writers in Lexington in April, and I said then I thought there would be a conference-only schedule starting in mid-October. I still think that was a little too late, but they could have waited. "The presidents of the universities are probably looking at data and say- ing not much is going to change. Do it now. "I think the Big Ten wanted to be first. That was important. They worked in conjunction with the Pac-12. That was not surprising, to see the Pac-12 come out right behind the Big Ten. Angelique S. Chengelis, U-M football beat writer for The Detroit News "Honestly, [no fall football is] a gut punch. You knew it was probably going to hap- pen, but the reality is it's really sobering. Everyone saw what happened to the spring sports, but football is football. It's a bigger blow to so many people."

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Wolverine - September 2020