Wednesday, August 27, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
E Agcyi1nst
The Wall
Recruiting violations
caused Peloponnesian WTar
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The folowing, of course, is satire. Any re-
semblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any
resemblance to a certain swimming coach at a certain large university
in the State of Indiana is all the more fantastic a coincidence.)
By ROD ROBERTS
It has the likeness of a tall, lean, yet finely muscled youth.
The shoulders are broad. The massive chest gives evidence of
housing huge imaginary lungs. The thighs are like tree trunks.
while the wide back tapers to a slim waist. Made of bronze, it
looks deeply tanned, and the head shows traces of gold, as if
bleached by the sun.
The famed Spartans of ancient Greece built this magnifi-
cent figure to honor their young athletes who, during the Golden
Age of the civilization, returned from the Olympic Games with
the highest laurels in all of Greece. Today, it still reminds the
local inhabitants of an illustrious heritage.
The Olympic Games symbolized the Greek civilization at
its height. They represented the building of individual character
through athletic training and discipline, and a victory at the
Games was thought of as the greatest achievement capable of
any man. But it was inevitable that the fierce spirit of competi-
tion would invite the intervention of those with selfish, immoral
Interests.
Several city-states engaged in the practice of bribing strong
young men from neighboring villages to compet for them at the
Olympics. These raids usually amounted to the promise of gen-
erous rewards for the young athlete and his family.
THE PLACE FOR OLYMPIC training was usually the gym-
nasium, an institution of not only physical but also intellectual
education. Only in Athens, however, was intellect deemed the
more important. In nearly all of Greece, the local gymnasiums
became the training ground for future Olympians.
Sporadic "raids" by several enterprising city-states were not
uncommon, but those conducted by Sparta were by far the most
frequent. Many trainers of Greek athletes claimed that these
raids were the cause of the Spartan athletic superiority. Their
practices became so outrageous in preparation for the Olympics
In 432 B.C., that it caused what is recognized as the first con-
flict of the Peloponnesian War.
The most outrageous of the Spartan raids occurred in 434
B.C. that brought the celebrated Marcus of Pharlaus to the gym-
nasium in Sparta. At the young age of sixteen, he rivaled the
strength of Hercules as he competed In five events in the Olymp-
ics of 436 B.C. All Pharsalians expected that he would train at
the local gymnasium for the next Olympic competition, aid
true to form he announced such an intention.
BUT IN THE WINTER of 434 B.C. he suddenly reversed his
decision, and declared that he was going to Sparta. Frantic lo-
cal officials, who had no previous knowledge of the switch, tried
to dissuade the young Hercules from his plans, but to no avail.
Wild rumors spread as to why the young athlete had de-
cided to forego his training in Pharsalia, In favor of Sparta,
Some said the Spartans offered his family a comfortable pen-
sion for life. Others claimed that after the Games he was to
have a lucrative profession as a physician in Sparta. Still others
vowed that he was to have a different maiden every night.
Pharsalans appealed to the "Olympian Ethical Conven-
tion" to investigate the matter. But this convention was actually
powerless, and their superficial efforts provided no evidence of
treachery.
Overjoyed with the convention's dismissal of the charges,
the Spartans continued their raids. Within a year, they per-
suaded three of Greece's most famous athletes to come to Spar-
ta, even though they had all previousliy competed In the Olymp-
ics for their homelands.
ONE OF THESE THREE was the finest horseman in all of
Greece. Another was a barbarian from the northern city-state
of Thessaly, who was not only stronger than an ox, but meaner
than a mountain lion.
It was the third youth raided by the Spartans that was the
direct cause of the first conflict in the Peloponesian War. A
Corinthian by birth, this youth was not only a great athlete --
many said he was as strong as Marcus of Pharsalia at an earlier
age - but also a brilliant student. It was expected that the gift-
ed youth would attend the gymnasium at Athens, because he
was an Athenian by nature, valuing intellectual excellence above
all else. But the Spartans managed to bribe him to come and
train with them, making the Spartan athletes the greatest in
Greek history.
The small city-state of Corinth, however, was not about to
sit idly by and let such a prize leave her boundaries. The Co-
rinthian leaders passed an edict, forbidding any of its youths to
train in any other gymnasium besides the one in Corinth. Spar.-
ta, determined to secure the young athlete, sent a contingent
to the Corinthian capital, while Athens, equally determined not
to let Sparta capture the youth, sent a force to the same city.
What followed, when the two groups from rival cities met, is
what we now call the Battle of Corinth.
This battle set the spark for the Peloponnesian War, with
the end result being the destruction of the Greek civilization and
all it stood for.
leers
By ELLIOTT BERRY
Ann Arbor weather is predict-
able only in its fickleness. Rain
will fall in the face of the
Weather Bureau's promise of
sunshine. Snow can be expected
in May.
But most unexpected was the
play of the Wolverine icers. The
changes in their fortunes came
faster than those in the ele-
ments.
Take, for example, the two
game set against Minnesota at
the Colesium. Friday night saw
Michigan fall 6-3. In the clash
they managed to give up a goal
on a breakaway while enjoying
the man advantage. Paul Gams-
by hit the post on a penalty
shot, forwards were slow com-
ing back on defense and de-
fensemen tended to be caught
up ice.
But while the weather was
still cold, the Wolverines got hot
and blanked the Gophers, 5-0.
They were slow to start but
goalie Jim Keough spectacularly
stopped Minnesota, even robbing
several Gophers on breaks.
The second stanza, though,
saw an awesome display of Blue
power as Michigan slammed
home four tallies in just over
two minutes.
This series was a microcosm
of the entire season. Michigan
indeed was capable of excel-
lence one night and wretched-
ness the next. While they did
open play in the WCHA with
five victories, they managed to
squeeze three miserable losses
in between in non-league mat-
ches.
Season's end was a success,
though, as the icers put to-
gether six straight wins. North
Dakota, who rode into town on
top of the WCHA, faced a Wol-
verine squad of championship
calibre, and promptly lost both
contests to the inspired men in
blue.
In between these two streaks,
however, disaster struck as the
icers hit a terrible mid-season
slump, losing eight of ten out-
ings.
The long string of losses pro-
vided Renfrew with weeks of
attempt
to
steady
shaky
ourse
Picking up the slack when the
first line was quieted wa.s the
line of Doug Galbraith, Brian
Slack and the team's Most Im-
l roved Player Barney Pashak.
"A defense' is only as good as
the forwards coming back to
check," insists Renfrew as he
praised his unsung trio of Randy
Binnie, Don Deeks, and Doug
Glendinning as his "best check-
ing line."
Defensively the Wolverines
were an ever-hustling and im-
proving group. Captain Paul
Domm and Lars Hansen, voted
the team's "most valuable play-
ers," anchored the blue line
corps while veteran Phil Gross
and Tom Mara, the team's only
returning defenseman, w e r e
solid performers. "Only their
unhappy penchant for giving
aw ay the puck in their own end
hampered their overall effec-
tiveness," noted Renfrew.
"The high powered Wolverine
offense is left almost completely
intact from last season as only
} Galbraith and Binnie have
graduated. Two highly, touted
sophomores Bernie Gagnon of
( Montreal and Bucky Straub
from Ann Arbor, are expected
to step in to the two spots va-
cated by graduation while a host
of new sophomores and fresh-
men (who are now eligible to
compete) may fight the vet-
eran forwards for their jobs.
Despite having so many tal-
ented forwards, the outlook for
next season is not promising.
With the graduation of Keough,
Domm, Hansen, and Gross, Ren-
frew will have 'to start three
defensemen with virtually no
WCHA experience.
Junior Bill Busch, sophomore
Carl Bagnell, and freshman
Doug Hastings will vie for the
job of filling Keough's shoes
while Brian Skinner, Punch
Cartier, and Ken Pattenden
are among the front runners to
fill the vacancies on defense.
Seldom do hockey teams win
titles with little experience on
defense and in the goal, no mat-
ter how good the offense is.
But Renfrew is hoping his
icers will lost enough of their
similarity to the local metoro-
logical scene to sneak away with
the title.
-Daily-Andy Sacks
Miichigan's Irian Slack (8), Doug Galbraith (7) ond
Barney Pasha
frustration in which he juggled
lines frequently trying to come
up with a winning combination.
In retrospect Renfrew noted,
"We just didn't have anybody
like a Berenson or a Wakaba-
yashi who could make a rink-
long scoring dash and single-
handedly change the tide of a
game."
To make matters worse Jim
Keough, Michigan's All-Ameri-
can goaltender, experienced the
worst slump of his career and
the Wolverines sorely missed
the spectacular play in the nets
which had kept them in the
.ssifieds
running so many times before.
"Usually Keough's tremen-
dous play could rally the team
when we were going poorly,"
noted Renfrew, "but during the
slump we had nothing to ig-
nite us."
Returning from a road trip
in Minnesota for the series with
first place North Dakota, the
Wolverines finally put it all to-
gether as "the forwards put the
puck in the net, the defense
checked, and Keough really
cane on," explained Renfrew.
Unfortunately for the Wolver-
ines their comeback came about
battle in front of the
two weeks top late. In what
Renfrew calls "the turning point
of the season," Michigan Tech
scored a pair of goals late in
the third period to snatch the
game away and send the Wol-
verines home with their losing
string intact.
In spite of their erratic play
in WCHA competition, Michigan
sucessfully defended its Big Ten
crown with a sweep of their
series with Wisconsin on the
last weekend of the regular sea-
sol.
Leading one of the league's
most prolific offenses was Dave
v Minnesota net
Perrin. The speedy captain-elect
scored 28 goals in spite of his
poor mid-season play.
Perrin is the closest thing the
Wolverines have to that single
individual capable of reversing
the tide of a game, and it is no
coincidence that the Wolverines
came alive at the same time he
started putting the puck in the
net again.
Perrin's linemates, center Paul
Gamsby and/ right wing Merle
Falk turned in solid performan-
ces as sophomores and the line
was among the highest scoring
combinations in the league.
/
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