University of Michigan calls blog report of Manny Harris fight inaccurate
In his most recent blog post, Ann Arbor sports writer John U. Bacon suggested a fight led to  Manny Harris' one-game suspension last week, but University of Michigan officials disagree.
"Manny Harris mistakenly thought one of his teammates had taken a cheap shot at him during practice. Harris started a fight," Bacon wrote in a column about John Beilein and Red Berenson putting values before victories. Since then, Bacon has posted a comment below noting that U-M basketball officials told him after the column came out that the incident was not a fight. Bacon said his point about the importance of placing values before victories stands regardless of the nature of the incident.
Michigan sports information director Tom Wywrot called Bacon's account of the events leading to Harris' suspension "inaccurate" Friday night. He declined to discuss the suspension or the incident, which Michigan described as an "unsportsmanlike act," further.
You can find Bacon's complete column here.
Comments
bill
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 1:16 p.m.
I'm a Spartan all they way,but I hate to see what happened at State.I also don't like what happens at UM with spoiled kids and their tempers. Maybe if the players in the NBA and NFL who act stupid would have had coaches like Beilein in college who jerked them by the collar to correct their playground attitudes we would all be better off. Of course I'm from the "old school" where we thought that getting a education free and playing a sport was a great deal. Also one strike and you were out. Maybe we should go back to that
John U. Bacon
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 11:54 a.m.
After my column came out Friday morning, UM basketball officials told me the unsportsmanlike act was not a fight, as my sources stated, though the officials did not say what it was. In our conversations via email, phone and in person, I offered to print a correction if necessary. They initially declined. When questioned last night by Mr. Rothstein, they again said the unsportsmanlike act was not a fight, though they did not specify what it was. In any case, the point of my column holds: John Beilein has repeatedly placed values before victories, a rare and admirable principle, and his players are the better for it. -John U. Bacon
braggslaw
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 11:35 a.m.
If the rumors on the fight are true,(and I will not post them). Manny could be in big trouble.
Bob
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 10:16 a.m.
Thanks for the gossip. A2.com Sports = TMZ?
Flyfish
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 9:08 a.m.
Many good points... Reminds me of this old saying: "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." "Rough and tumble dudes"...funny
KeepingItReal
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 6:18 a.m.
Stunhsif: You obviously don't watch any sports other than football and basketball. I think I know what your bias is.
Sean T.
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 4 a.m.
Stunhsif.... Actually Soccer and Hockey players fight all the time! On ESPN sometime back, they showed a female Soccer player pulling hair, punching and kicking several opponents in a game. Violence is made by violent people, it doesn't matter what sport it is. 2sweetblue, I definitely get your point and it's oh so true!
Mick52
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 12:49 a.m.
Why was this article published? Headlined as more info, but upon reading it, turns out the Ath Dept says its unreliable. Is it true or not? Verify the facts or don't print the story. Its odd we have no good information on what happened yet. I imagine it had to be worse than a fight. Hell, basketball players fight all the time. Unless he slugged the coach I can't imagine why he was suspended for a game. I wish you guys who write for AA.com had some journalism in ya. Get out there, develop some sources and report the good stuff. Read All The King's Men, Woodward and Bernstein. Funny side story here: When I worked at UMPD we had to help out the USSS with a detail when Pres Ford came to a symposium. Woodward was there. After it ended I found myself right next to him, urinal to urinal. I wanted to tell him he put me in journalism but the circumstances didn't quite connect with a hand shake. Professional journalism is dying, probably dead already. Today they rely on being handed info, not going out and getting it. The MI FOIA is greatly responsible for journalism's demise, but reporters don't appear to stand up anymore get out and make friends. Maybe go to practice now and then and see for yourself what happens who's there, maybe develop a source or two?
Mick52
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 : 12:37 a.m.
Why was this article published. Headlined as more info, but upon reading it, the Ath Dept says its unreliable. Its odd we have no good information on what happened. I imagine it had to be worse than a fight. Hell, basketball player fight all the time. I wish you guys who write for AA.com had some journalism in ya. Get out there, develop some sources and report the good stuff. Professional journalism is dying, probably dead already. Today they rely on being handed info, not going out and getting it. The MI FOIA is greatly responsible for journalism demise, but reporters don't appear to stand up anymore.
Flyfish
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 : 11:03 p.m.
Football when played well is a violent game and unfortunately players often have trouble turning off this aggressive mentality off the field. The MSU incident is an embarrassment to all of us who are MSU fans and alums. A similar incident happened to FSU before a bowl game a few years back and 20 some players were suspended. It is amazing that things of this nature do not happen more often to more teams. On a more positive note, I think both coach Beilein and coach Dantonio are class acts who are doing the best they can with the players they've been given (recruited) to work with. "Misdemeanor U" is just mean-spirited. But for the grace of God goes U of M and every other big time football program recruiting the type of players needed to win at this level.
stunhsif
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 : 8:46 p.m.
Let the basketball player's "actions" speak for themselves. Do we see this kind of bad behavior in: soccer,baseball,track&field,cross country,hockey,lacrosse,gymnastics,swimming or other sports. Perhaps football is the only other sport where we see this kind of poor sportsmanship and simply "bad conduct" on the athlete's par, why is that?
2sweetblue
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 : 7:18 p.m.
The difference between us and State is their program is one of the best Tater. Izzo graduates his player and they always are playing in final fours I wish Michigan could be half as good as State because right now we are an embarrassment!!
frank
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 : 6:31 p.m.
You can take the balla' out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the balla'
2sweetblue
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 : 4:20 p.m.
I didn't think we had thuggish players at Michigan!