EDITORIAL: Fight during women's basketball game a black eye for school, athletics department
The fight during the women's basketball game Wednesday between Central Michigan and Ohio University at McGuirk Arena was embarrassing for everyone involved but was worsened by a poor response from the university's athletics department.
Following CMU's 67-53 win against the Bobcats, highlighted by a first-half fight that resulted in the ejection of two players, players did not speak to the media, and head coach Sue Guevara would not speak about the incident.
Instead, the department issued a four-sentence statement from the university and Athletics Director Dave Heeke touting sportsmanship and accountability before closing: "The incident will be reviewed by the department and by the conference office. Until that process is done and we clearly understand what occurred, it would be premature to comment any further."
It was clear sportsmanship was thrown out the window during those few minutes, so why not spend a few minutes after the game taking accountability for it? Every one of the 543 listed people in attendance saw what happened. Thousands more that evening on YouTube did, too (and still are).
Officials should have immediately said players involved in the fight would be suspended.
Instead, athletics waited to comment until after the Mid-American Conference had handed down a two-game suspension to CMU freshman guards Crystal Bradford and Jessica Green and freshman forward Jas’Mine Bracey, along with OU junior forward Porsha Harris.
Punches were thrown, benches cleared and, while most tried to stop the melee from worsening, others tried to get involved. Let's call it what it was: a schoolyard fight on a basketball court. And for what reason? Bracey and Harris may be the only ones to know.
So why not come forward right away and take accountability for the situation? Instead, the athletics department tried sweeping it under the rug by diminishing the incident and not directly addressing it. To this day, no mention of the fight, ejections or suspensions have been made on cmuchippewas.com.
A passionate, unfiltered reaction from Guevara after the game could have gone a long way in taking responsibility for her players' actions. Letting Crystal Bradford and Jessica Green speak on the team's behalf, apologizing for what transpired on the court, would have been the adult thing to do.
It wasn't until 36 hours later, after suspensions were handed down by the MAC, Guevara and her players — reading off a prepared statement apologizing to the school, fans and community — were allowed to discuss the situation.
CMU should not have waited until it was punished to apologize or admit something wrong happened on the court Wednesday night. Enforcing self-imposed suspensions immediately would have been the responsible way to handle the situation.
The punches thrown and reactions caused hits to not only players but to the reputation of this university and, even more so, the reputation of CMU's athletics department.
