Mick McCabe: What's left of Michigan's high school sports season is doomed

Reality hit the Michigan High School Athletic Association on Thursday morning like a slap to the face.

That is when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that the coronavirus pandemic was forcing the state to close all  K-12 school buildings for the rest of the school year.

Without access to school buildings, it will be impossible to continue any of the winter sports tournaments that were suspended four weeks ago.

Then there are the spring sports, which normally would be well underway by now. But there is nothing normal these days.

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It doesn’t appear spring sports will begin at all this year, much less make it to the state finals.

The MHSAA will announce its intentions Friday, but it is difficult to fathom the MHSAA forging on.

MHSAA executive director Mark Uyl could have closed the books quickly on the remaining tournaments and spring sports on March 14 when Whitmer initially closed schools.

That would have been the easy thing. The NCAA tournament already had been canceled and play had stopped in the NBA and NHL.

People might not have liked it, but few would have blamed the MHSAA.

But Uyl didn’t want to give in so easily. He knows how much winning a state championship means to high schoolers and he hoped the MHSAA could complete the unfinished state tournaments, even if no spectators would be allowed at the venues.

It made sense to try because swimming and hockey were only a couple of days from finishing their championships.

But now with more than 10,000 coronavirus cases in Michigan, and at least 417 deaths, it has become obvious that the chances of schools resuming classes by the middle of May are remote.

The girls basketball state tournament had just over a week to go. The boys basketball tournament had about two weeks remaining.

Instead, for the first time since 1943, there will be no boys basketball state championships.

The MHSAA could have thrown in the towel again Thursday, but Uyl and his staff wanted one more shot at trying to figure a way to make things happen.

A few weeks ago, Uyl was willing to go into June to finish the winter sports championships and into July to allow spring sports to have some semblance of a regular season and tournaments.

Those things are still possible, but as the coronavirus cases continue to mount, cancellation seems inevitable.

And if you think things can’t get any worse, try thinking a bit into the future. We may soon have to begin worrying if fall sports, such as football, are in danger of being delayed ... or worse.

This is new territory for all of us, especially the MHSAA. It's a helpless feeling as the MHSAA watches possible school days dwindle away with nothing it can do to stop it.

Then there are the athletes who grew up with dreams of winning a state championship.

For the rest of their lives, they will believe something was missing from their high school experience.

There are plenty of teams around the state that began March thinking they had a legitimate chance to win a title.

But the one I keep coming back to is the Iron Mountain boys basketball team.

A year ago, this Upper Peninsula team had the Division 3 state championship all but won until two incomprehensible calls in the final minute of the title game robbed the team.

Heading into this year's district final, the Mountaineers were 21-1 and convinced they were going to win the championship this time.

And now? There will be no opportunity to right that wrong.

“That’s probably the toughest part of it all,” said junior Foster Wonders, who averaged 27 points a game this season. “But this is kind of what I thought it was going to come to.”

Next season, Wonders will be the only returning starter; his teammates from the last two seasons will all be gone, as will the best chance for winning that elusive title, apparently.

“It’s going to be interesting next year,” Wonders said. “We’re going to have really work some guys into different roles now.”

At least next year, he will have a state tournament to aim for.

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1