-------------- -----� - ---- 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 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.