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ByCLYOe
." Cltfzen'__
Forget the other tbree-on-thr
toumamen thi ummer because
the G M er it all.
This year th plump littl fellow
wearing Reebo neakers and a top
hat tums 20 and with a total of 58
tournament cites nationwide, it
promises to be both competi tive and
fun for all ages.
"It's a really good time, "Sam Pal
more of Kalamazoo aid. "I've
played in several tournaments and
tbe excitement just grows and grows
... 1 norm ly p in the Rochester
aIXI Port Huron Mackers, but thi
yearI'mlooking forward to traveling
to some new cit ."
The tournament actually began in
the driveway at the house of Scott
McNeal. He lived in Lowell, Michi
gan at the time, am the tournament
with it' driveway concept and all,
Well, as I sit 'and pick my brain 1
begin to think of how much this time
of the year ends chills through my
body because 1) Spri ng is in full
swing. 2) Tbc NBA Playoffs have
go tten unde ay and 3) Basebal 1
cason has started.
ow wi th anything else you have
to take the good with the bad. Right
now it is unusually cold for this time
of the year and the Pistons a� notice
ably missing from the playoffs. Now
,tbe good i , of course, our beloved
Tigers ... better known as the Bash
Boys or the first-place misters.
, Since the Mike Illitch era began,
Tiger Stadium has bad some interest
ing changes and the biggest so far
this eason has been the number of
games the Tigers have won.
Tigers manager Sparky Anderson
aid earlier thi year that you can't
really judge a team until tbey have
had at least 40 games under their belt.
Well Sparky the Tigers are reach
i ng that mark and they are still in fi rs t
place. How are they doing it?
REMEMBER, this is the 'same
team that the so-called experts
P icked to finish in the basement of
the American League East and after
tbe last few seasons, even the faithful
fans began to have their doubts. Es
pecially after the Tigers fai led to sign
or even make a legitimate bid for an
all- tar type pitcher.
I am sure that many fans would
have rather Illijch spend hi money
making the Tigers contenders in
stead 0 trying to upgrade the sta
dium at this point. If the Tigers are
wimi ,attendance is going to in
creme. Plain aM simple.
One would think that the Tigers
would be a pitcher's dream team be-
of the enonnous number of
rum they sane. Yet no one came
knocking and the Tigers didn't really
go power shopping.
That' not a knock against the
current pitching taff or new guy on
the block, David Wells or Mike
Moore. I j t think that there is no
reason that we couldn't have fol
lowedToronto' lead and igned just
one of Blue Jay pitchers.
Well, there is no need to dwell on
the negatives so let' swi tch to the
po itive.
In my humble opinion the t
thing that th Tigers have done so far
this year has been the igningofKirk
Gibson.
GI
HIP ex-
"
grew into the monster which ted
over 156,000 players I t year and
raj ed tho and of dollars for local
chariti .
"1 think tbat I m probably an old
pro at playing in these tournaments,"
aid Troy Simmo of Roch ter
Hill . "It' great to play in a touma
ment that is so well organized ... and
it's always fun to go up against play
ers from different areas."
The G Macker Tournament,
which this year w named the offi
cial three-on- three tournament of the
Basketball Hall of Fame, comes to
various towns and cities and literally
t es over the tree . The tourna
ment now calls i home Belding
which is just nortbeast of Grand Rap
ids. The M r will' ade Ypsi
lanti this weekend.
Can you imagine the downtown
area of your city being blocked off
am hundreds of basketball hoop be-
perience and clubhouse motivation
should get the bulk of the credit for
the Ti ers recent succ . And, of
course, the pitching taff bas stepped
up and they are really holding their
own.
The pitching staff has improved
and you can't begin to measure the
positives of having Gibby in the
clubhouse, but that won't guarantee
a trip to the World Series.
There are other factors that could
get credit for the Tigers staying in
first place and that is the other teams
in the east. New York just isn't the
team that we thought it would be am
neither is Boston. Also; the Blue Jay
are no \V here near las t year's pace
and all of these factors ale closely
related to injuries.
In addition to that, there are not
many teams that can match the fire
power that the Tigers have. If. they
don't do anything else this season,
the Tigers are going to core nms.
Tbatdoesn't mean that tbe Tige
are ready for prime time just yet, but
they will definitely malcesome noise.
Now just think if we can continue
the eason basically injury free and
our pi tching bolds.;
I'm probably always going to be
a Tiger fan but I'm just like the next
guy. Wby didn't we pick up any 0
the Blue Jav 'pi hers?
Whites are
drawn to Black
colleges
tlanta, GA-More whit
are choosing to become mi
norities at the nations 107 his
torically Black eolleg . One
eight of the studen -33,953
out of 268 591-are White.
Some say an article in the
ew York Times, are drawn
by the cultural aoo intellectual
experience of going to a Black
hool. Yet mo t are attracted
to particular cour es and
lower tuitions. '
------_.
hind the t e b line. Po ion
chang after scored kets .
About 30 percent of the teams
participating in the Macker Tourna
ment receive some type 0 an award.
The first-place team reeeiv one
ponsor trophy and four individual
trophies. Second-place finishers re
ceive the ame, while third-place
teams get only a ponsor trophy.
The Toilet Bowl champs receive
one ponsor trophy and fourT- birts.
The tourney also bands out four
individual plaques for a sportsman
ship award for each division as well.
So if you want the opportunity to
be the main attraction and actually
have people come to see you play ...
experience the Mac cr. It is a must
for basketball lovers. .
Team entry fee i $75. For infor
mation call 1-8lO-876-HOOP.
i t up for two ys? Well, this i
the concept of " erville" am it
eems to be weeping the country.
Thi is how it wor .
Teams are compuer-m clled
into divisions according to age,
height and experience with mo t di
visions having 16-20 teams compet
ing.
Each team is guaranteed mini
mum oftbreescbeduled games. The
Macker . double.-elimination tour
nament wi th a consol ion Jo ers'
bracket for the losers of their filst two
gam . In ker terms this brae et
i referred 10 the Toilet BoWl.
1layers call their own fouls and
violations; however, each court has a
monitor called a Gus Buster to over
see di pu aoo control the game.
A tandard field-goal is worth on
point and there i a 2-point hot in all
divi ions for b ke made from be-
By TUREKA TURK
HBO wants to bring tWo boxing
stars together before theirshine fades
away. Prepared for a $30 million
fight, HBO wants Riddick Bowe am
Lennox Lewis, the two reigning
heavyweight champions, to come to-
gether as early as �p mber.
"I'm being practical: aid presi
<!\. T't of Time Warner Sports, HBO'
parent company, Seth Abraham. "U
either champion bas another lacklus
ter performance after this, it will af
fect th eventual fight between
them." ,
The wi rmer of the May 22 fight
between Bowe and 36-year-old Jesse
Ferguson will be the deciding factor
in the Bowe-Lewis fight.
• Abraham poke with Rock ew
man, Bowe's manager, about unify
ing the three world titles, according
to a recent article in The New York
Times. Lewis holds the World Box
ing Council ti ue while Bowe has
both th World Boxing Association
and the International Boxing Federa
tion titles.
HDO IS PREPARED for a sur
prised defeat of Bowe by Ferguson.
Abraham met also wi th one of Fer
guson's managers, Seth Braunstein,
HBO owns the domestic televi
sion rights to Bowe's next four
fights, a deal made after Bowe' de.
feat over Evander Holyfield.
Newman said, be was prepared k>
work on a deal with HBO and that be
just might call Lewis's manager,
Frank Maloney.
The pub lie is already starting to
become immune to the gli mmer of
Bowe aIX1 Lewis after both of their
latestspatJdess defea . Lewis' first
defense match was awarded by de.
faul t after Bowe refused to meet Le
wis in a mandatory defense 0 tbe
W.B.C. title.
Bowe's last fight was aon round
knockout of Michael Dokes.
ALTHOUGH DO (33-0,28
by knoc out)' expected to defeat
Ferguson, a enior citizen by com
parison (19-9), it is no doubt that
Ferguson has entered the boxing_
cene beca e of two 24-year-otd
former prep school cl rna
who dream w to becom fight
managers.
Greg Cohen and Seth Braunstein
met at. the Pingry School in ew
Jersey, Seth the son of a financial
consultant, Greg th son of a doctor.
After .an ownership hake-up,
both boys were out of their job as
assistants to boxer Ray Mercer,
whom Cohen's cousin managed.
"I didn't have a fight for more
than a year. I said, 'Can't nobody get
me a fight?'" Ferguson recalled.
Both boys, at th age of 21, took on
Ferguson, who has wor ed steadily
inee.