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. / Join oinThe Daily CIRCULATION DEPT. Come in any afternoon and ask for J.B. 420 Maynard Alcet at IJIRICH'S Book Store Where the GIRLS are Daily C1( mean MONEY for you USE THEM! / Call 764-0557 9:3012:30 ' 5 '? 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