Championships, famous quotes mark Daily career

But sportswriters, like athletes, get lucky. In fact, they get lucky a lot more often than the people they write about. And the best stroke of luck for a sportswriter is a great quote.

What qualifies as a great quote? Very simple criteria: honesty and emotion.

Writers, as well as readers, always dream of athlete being just grossly honest enough to reveal what's behind their uniform number that the writer does not need to use a lexicon of lavish lingo to bring that emotion to life. The athlete already did the dirty work.

I've gotten lucky like this way too many times in the past four years as a sportswriter for the Daily. So many athletes have made my job easier that if you asked me to pick the best quote, I couldn't; there are too many instances that almost made me ask the athlete if he wanted those words on the record.

There was Bowling Green hockey coach Buddy Powers. After his first-place Falcons were destroyed by Michigan in their home rink, Powers was asked by a Bowling Green student reporter, "Coach, how are you feeling?"

To which Powers replied: "Shitty. How 'bout you?"

Honesty cannot be expressed more brutally than that.

Alan Goldenbach The Bronx Bomber

There was Michigan captain Matt Herr's poke at his school's football team after the Wolverines' improbable hockey national championship a few weeks ago.

"At least we don't have to share this one with Nebraska," Herr said.

Nor do the Wolverines have to share the attention of President Clinton when they go to the White House.

There was the kid from the State News football team (which The Michigan Daily destroyed, 35-14), who said during the rout, "Nobody knows how to do anything around here," a testimony to the intellectual makeup of that city we fondly refer to as East Lansing.

There was Charles Woodson. In fact, there was Charles Woodson on many occasions. Woodson proved several times that his talent on the gridiron is rivaled only by that of his mouth. He said how he was "insulted" that Michigan State ran the same play at him twice. He routinely touted himself as the best player in the country without giving a moment's thought to how rare it is for an athlete to do so.

Woodson's shining moment behind the microphone, however, came after Michigan's defeat of Ohio State this year, when he offered his opinion of what became of his super-hyped battle with Buckeyes wideout David Boston.

"I was like a father chastising his kid for running off his mouth to the wrong people."

It was the closest Woodson ever came to saying, "Who's your daddy?" It was the only time Woodson's ballyhooed chatter, or any part of his talent for that matter, failed to reach its potential.

But more than making my job as a sportswriter easier, I've had one heck of a time at this University covering my peers. And the benefit of covering athletes who are your peers is that they feel the same way you do.

Beneath their incredible athleticism, we all share the most important link to these athletes that we celebrate so majestically - we're all Michigan men and women.

I was lucky enough to be here for four national championships - 1995 men's swimming, 1996 and 1998 ice hockey, and 1997 football. (Actually, if you count the National Invitation Tournament as a national title, it would be five.)

Considering that prior to those championships, Michigan had won only one national title in the major sports in the previous 31 years, I feel luckier than any of the thousands of past, present and future Wolverines.

Those championships made for the microcosm of my time here in Ann Arbor, for they yielded quotes that I couldn't choose more perfectly to describe the past four years.

There was Bill Muckalt, after Michigan broke its NCAA Tournament jinx and ridded itself of the so-called ghosts in 1996. My press credential prevented me from showing my jubilation when Brendan Morrison's overtime shot hit the back of the net in Cincinnati instead of the goal post. Thankfully, Muckalt was there to put it into words for me.

"I'm so glad I came (to Michigan)," said a tearful Muckalt. "I'm so proud to be a part of this program, with these guys, with this coach. It's just so special."

I, too, am so glad to have had the privilege to come to school here and be a part of this academic, athletic and social tradition that is Michigan. It has been more than special. It has been perfect.

But nobody portrayed this perfection quite like Brian Griese in his description of winning the Rose Bowl.

Nothing captured my feelings for this town, this University, and its wonderful students quite like the way Griese illustrated a Rose Bowl victory and a national championship.

"I will cherish this game, this university, for the rest of my life," he said. "You have opportunities in life, and those who stand out are the ones who take advantage of those opportunities. It's just sweet for us to capitalize on an opportunity to make history."

I took advantage of the opportunity Michigan offered me four years ago on a hunch. I can't believe it, but in hindsight, it was a difficult choice for this Bronx boy to head west at the time.

As a result, I have had the four greatest years anyone could hope for. Thank you Michigan, thank you Daily, thank you Rotvig, and thank you readers.

Championships are well worth the cost of out-of-state tuition.

- This is Alan Goldenbach's final column. He can be reached over e-mail at agold@umich.edu.

04-20-98