|
|
 |
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Henson's football legacy is incomplete
I'm feeling fatherly toward Drew Henson. Like my own children, when I gave him advice, he ignored it. In case you haven't heard, Henson ditched the Michigan football team. He came out of the closet by shedding his shoulder pads for good and declaring the love that dare not speak its name in the Wolverines locker room. Henson wants to compete every day, he says, and that's one thing that football can never give him. (Although once athletic directors hear that players want to play more games, the dollar signs will begin dancing in their heads. Here comes the 30-game season.) Henson signed a six-year, $17 million contract with the New York Yankees and left Ann Arbor immediately for spring training (what some guys won't do to get out of spring practice). His abrupt departure after participating in only two workouts with the Wolverines makes it appear as if he is treating Michigan as harshly as Northwestern did last fall. The Wolverines went from being a likely favorite in the Big Ten to a team that now must replace four offensive linemen plus its three most potent weapons from a year ago -- tailback Anthony Thomas, as durable and dependable as a Volvo for four seasons; wide receiver David Terrell; and Henson. The fact is, Henson had every intention of playing football for Michigan. He told me so in a conversation on March 15, when he discussed leading a club that had lost so many players and said how much he understood what he would have to do. At that moment, of course, Henson was a member of the Cincinnati Reds organization. He fully believed that he would be able to play baseball and football this year, as he had done the last three. Sure, he had decided that baseball was his passion, as he has said numerous times over the last few days. Yes, he wanted to go back to the Yankees, who had drafted him out of Brighton (Mich.) High four years ago before dealing him to the Reds last summer. But his actions and statements during our talk tells me that even if he did know about the Yankees' efforts to reacquire him, he still planned to play for Michigan this fall. I have a hard time believing that Henson could be so Machiavellian that he would publicly profess to want to lead the Wolverines and focus on spring practice, all the while orchestrating the March 20 trade to the Yankees that had him give up football in the middle of said spring practice. If Henson did all that, he doesn't belong with the Yankees. He should be a character on The West Wing. Henson's agent, Casey Close, swore to me that he and his client were taken by surprise, first by the trade to the Yankees, then by the team's financial aggressiveness in getting Henson to forego football. Henson says he proved to himself that he was a good quarterback, which means he viewed his career with Rose Bowl-colored glasses. I think all Henson proved is that he was on the verge of being an outstanding quarterback. Given that he backed up Tom Brady for two years and missed the first 3 1/2 games last season with a broken foot, Henson had a lot more potential than he did production. That's what the 2001 season held for him, the chance to prove what he could do. Instead, he likely will play third base for the Yankees' Class AAA farm team, which is -- yuk, yuk - in Columbus, Ohio. Henson proved last fall he could produce in the city, having led Michigan to a one-sided defeat of Ohio State. Now it will be sophomore John Navarre's turn to direct the Wolverines. Navarre lettered in baseball, basketball and golf at Cudahy (Wis.) High. So far, no one in the Bo Schembechler Building on campus has told Navarre that those sports are played at Michigan. They're not taking any chances. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers college football for the magazine and is a frequent contributor to CNNSI.com.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
