Former Detroit Red Wings star Darren McCarty on Monday pleaded with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to lift the state’s ban on winter contact sports such as football, basketball, wrestling, hockey and competitive cheer in the name of mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
McCarty was in attendance for a “Let them play” rally at the Michigan Capitol over the weekend.
“Please Governor, go to the science. Go to the science or give us an explanation. We’ve done everything you’ve ever wanted us to do. Please let them play. I love you. I look forward to seeing you back and playing,” McCarty reportedly urged Whitmer at the rally.
McCarty told FNC’s “Fox & Friends” that the people of Michigan are not even getting answers on why sports remain halted. He stressed there is a lot “at stake” if children continue to go without sports.
“The bottom line is — why, governor? Can we have an answer, please?” McCarty said. “We’re not even to the point where — we just want a conversation, and I think that what Detroit and we’re all about … is about the community and about Michigan and about the people. They’ve done the work. I asked the question before I even went there to the people that I respect, and we’re not getting an answer. So, if I show up and can bring some awareness to it so that they can get an answer to that we can move on, that’s what I’m for.”
He added, “At the end of the line what brings me into this is the mental health issue. And there’s an 18-year-old senior, Brennan Dethloff, who took his life in Mona Shores. He was a senior. And I understand — I’ve lived mental health — so, it’s about the communication. And in Michigan, starting from … the head of the athletic association all the way down to the people in charge, isn’t it saying something in the governor’s saying, well, you guys have done this for so long. The administration, the teachers and everybody knows what’s at stake. So, why not just give us an answer? Please!”
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