Michigan’s mens hockey team has been forced out of the NCAA hockey tournament because of recent positive Covid-19 tests within the program. The Wolverines were forced to withdraw from the NCAA Tournament just after noon Friday, receiving the “devastating” news hours before their scheduled game against 2019 national champion Minnesota Duluth. The decision was made by the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and the NCAA Medical Advisory Group. My heart goes out to the players, coaches, staff and parents who must feel devastated. So much work and sacrifice goes into making it to the NCAA tournament. Everyone is missing out on a lifetime of memories.
Last year at this time, I wrote about an Easter and Passover like no other. Unfortunately, here we are again. At least this time we have experience in how to handle a bad situation and make the most of it. I know we are going to do the best we can under the circumstances. We are looking forward to Easter with family a week from Sunday.
I continue to be amazed at the effort to prevent legitimate voters from voting. Instead of making it harder, why don’t we make it easier to vote. Let’s extend the time to vote from 13 to 86 hours over a period of Friday morning at 6 AM to Monday evening at 8PM Let’s expand absentee voting. Let’s use computer/smart phone voting. Lets focus on getting 80-90 percent of eligible voters voting. Let’s have the controls in place to make sure it is one vote one person. If we do that, the candidates can focus on winning by being the best candidate for the majoriity of people, whether it be national, state, or local elections.. It makes no sense to surpress voting if you want the winner to express the views of the majority of the people.
There must not have been a rush to make it happen because it took 204 years. The University of Michigan has finally named a building after a women. The Life Science Building will be known as Mary Sue Coleman Hall. President Emerita Coleman was also the first women president who served from 2002 to 2014. She was president for my last three years at the University. I was always impressed with her leadership skills, her intelligence and her demeanor. It is about time.
As a sport’s official I have been following closely the firing of NHL referee Ted Peel. Peel was caught on a microphone during Tuesday’s Red Wings-Predators game saying he “wanted” to call a penalty on the Nashville Predators. I understand how this happens but it cannot be allowed. When refereeing basketball, I cannot tell you how many times one of the coaches would yell at me and my partners when the fouls during a game were not even. Usually we didn’t notice because we were just calling the game and didn’t care until one team got to seven fouls, which then put them in the foul shooting penalty. When the fouls are uneven and it is brought to your attention, it is only human nature that you take notice. When this happened, I always asked myself do the fouls reflect how the game is being played. If so, we move on. If not, I asked myself and my partner, were we being biased toward one team. If not we moved on. We never talked about making up a call or making sure the next one was on one team over the other. I learned early on to never make-up a call because you missed a previous call. Ted Peel has officiated over 1,200 NHL games and nearly 100 playoff games. He has a reputation of being a very good official. It is ashame his career has ended this way. However, I do not see that the NHL leadership had another option. His integrity was slammed and he would never get it back.
Stay safe. Wear your mask properly. Social distance. Wash your hands regularly. Schedule your vaccine.
Quote of the Day: “I think this is my calling, to mentor young men. I was mentored and this is what I’m supposed to do — to give back.” Juwan Howard to his wife Jenine when Howard was first considering leaving his NBA coaching job for the head coaching position at Michigan.
Orchid of the Day: Mary Sue Coleman, President Emerita for being the first women to have a building named for her at the University of Michigan.
Onion of the Day: The Detroit Red Wings for allowing 4 goals in the first 8 minutes of the game against the Predators last night. I cannot comprehend how a professional sports team can be that ill prepared to compete at the start of a game.