Fredette's "Flu"; Tavernari's Apology

Maybe the comparisons got out of control.

In the days leading up to BYU’s Saturday game against New Mexico, stories and Internet postings compared Cougar guard Jimmer Fredette to former All-America Danny Ainge. It was fairly interesting stuff, right up until Fredette sat out almost all the second half against the Lobos, due to a stomach ailment.

Now some of the talk is whether Fredette is tough enough. I heard more than one Cougar fan in Provo questioning whether Fredette really needed to sit out.

I don’t know how sick he was, but I do know he had mononucleosis earlier this season. To say Fredette wasn’t tough enough is to discount the fact he could be suffering residual effects. That’s fairly serious stuff.

I know a little about tough guys. I was on the front row to watch Michael Jordan beat the Jazz in the playoffs, despite having a 102-degree fever. I saw Karl Malone play with an ankle knotted and swollen to twice the size of the other. I saw John Stockton try (the doctors wouldn’t let him play) to play with an eye damaged so badly, he could see two images of everything.

Football players play with all sorts of painful injuries.

But when someone has had an ailment like mono, I’m at least initially careful about questioning toughness.

Sometimes when you can’t go, you just can’t go.

***

I’m going to credit BYU’s Jonathan Tavernari for a classy move, following the loss to New Mexico, Saturday.

Tavernari and Lobo coach Steve Alford had words after the game, when the teams lined up to shake hands. Tavernari also had a small scuffle late in the game with New Mexico’s Darington Hobson, who had apparently thrown an elbow after a timeout was called. After Hobson’s elbow, Tavernari gave a slight nudge back. No punches were thrown.

Then came the exchange with Alford.

But after the game, Tavernari stood outside the Lobo locker room for a couple of minutes, accompanied by BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe. What appeared to be a possible ugly scene, actually turned into an apology. When Alford came out, Tavernari shook hands with Alford.

The point here is that Tavernari took the high road and initiated the make-up. Considering the ramifications of the game, and the emotions, that wasn’t an easy thing to do.