THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SATURDAY. APRIL 2, 1966
THE MICHIGAN DAILY SATURDAY, APRIL 2,1966
insights and insults
CHUCK VETZNER
A Fan Scrambles
To Defend Scrabble
Gymnasts
Is scrabble really dead? Or have you just lost faith in scrabble
and scrabblers?
Among my acquaintances there are several clever tacticians,
and even a few strategists, I suppose. In order to bolster your
failing faith, I offer their techniques for your consideration.
The most exciting strategy, of course, is the sinking defense
which refuses to be tempted out ex'cept when it is necessary for
the defender to block a big shot. The defensive player always
plays back into the center, making multiple words by filling in
the holes between other words. He ventures out only to stop his
opponent from making a big play-and then he plays the shortest
and most complex word possible. This strategy requires, as you
can see, the most serious and unfailing discipline if it is to be
used successfully. It only works in a two-man game, of course.
Admittedly less exciting than the defensive game is the free
offensive game; particularly the fast break. I gather that your
complaint is registered primarily in. response to the widespread
use of this unsophisticated power-strategy, and I sympathize with
you. Even the fast break can be interesting, however, if it is pat-
terned and planned. One of the best plans is. the fifty-point bomb
plan, which ends in i-n-g. The strategy is simply to collect an
i-n-g, and refuse to disturb those three letters until you can play
them In a seven-letter word. There are enough four-letter words
in English that one can be certain of finding one in almost any
but the most unlucky of four-letter draws to the i-n-g..
More exciting to play for-or against-than the suffix-bomb
plan is the Q-bomb strategy. Q-bombing is to ordinary scrabble
what a nuclear-capable IRA would be to plain war. The strategy
is to collect seven of the eight letters in the word "Quixotic,"
including the Q, the X, and the C. The word must be placed so
as to hit two triple-word-score boxes-i.e., it must run from
corner to middle or from middle to corner of an outside row of
squares. One of the other players, of course, must play the one
letter you don't have in the proper place along the edge-and
then it's simple. Q-bombs score between 275 and 365 points when
properly executed. (I have. seen Q-bombing tried only once, and
at the end of that game I had not yet scored-although I did hold
five of the proper letters, including the Q and the X.)
I trust, sir, that you may find encouragement in these few
remarks. Perhaps it's not time to change the rules yet-at least,
not until we have tested the players to their limits.
Come, scrabble is not dead-and Chuck Vetzner should be
his prophet.
Sincerely yours,
BERT G. HORNBACK
Assistant Prof. English
P.S. Maximum score for "Vetzner" is 140.
Dear Prof. Hornback:
Thanks for the P.S. I. always knew the screwy letters in my last
name were good for something. But if you think I'm going to be the
saviou'r of a stupid game, you're wrong.
Your strategic genious qualifies you for the job. In fact you ought
to organize your own intercollegiate team. After all, the Ivy League
dominates tiddlewinks, and California is an LSD power, so why
shouldn't the Wolverines extend their athletic sphere of influence.
When the basketball team moves into the new University Events
Building, you might even convince Fritz Crisler to loan you Yost Field
House. But you'll see that scrabble is a dying sport when you try
getting 8,000 fans to yell "Let's Go Quixotic." How good can a game
be when it doesn't have enough Z's to spell Cazzie?
JOIN THE DAILY
SPORTS STAFF
Special To The Daily
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -_
Michigan's gymnastic team fin-
ished fifth in the NCAA cham-
pionships yesterday in a marathon
meet among the best competitors
from across the nation. But the
Wolverines did advance four men
into today's competition for in-
dividual titles.
Southern Illinois captured the
team crown with 187.2 points to
keep its string of first-place fin-
ishes for the 1966 season intact.
The Salukis, led by all-around
performer Frank Schmitz, cli-
maxed a near-utopian season
which has included an unbeaten
dual season record and a Mideast
regional championship with yes-
terday's national trophy.
Behind Southern Illinois were
California with 185.1 points, Mich-
igan State with 184.75, Iowa State
with 184.5, Michigan with 183.35,
defending champ Pen State with
181.4 and a list of six more teams.
The 12 teams participating in
the meet qualified for the finals
by winning one of three top places
in the four national regionals.
Butterflies
The Wolverines, who took third
in the Mideast regional after win-
ning their sixth consecutive Big
Ten title, were hurt yesterday by
the many factors that make up a
national meet. "We were compet-
ing against the best. It's a diffi-
cult thing to become adjusted to
right away.. and since it was the
* s
biggest meet of their careers for
many of our gymnasts, some of
them did suffer from the pres
sure," explained Coach Newt Lo-
ken.
Wayne Miller, who perhaps is
one Wolverine more accustomed
to bigtime competition as evi-
denced by his OAU title, was one
of Michigan's individual qualifiers
with a third place on the trampo-
line. "Wayne was only five-hun-
dreths of a point behind the first
place finisher's with his 9.4-point
performance," noted Loken. "The
scores overall were noticeably
lower than during the regular sea-
son."
Dan Millman of California who
placedsecond last year inrthe
NCAA's tied with Dale Hart of
Southern Illinois for first with a
9.45. The defending titlist,
Schmitz, actually scored higher
than anyone with his 9.5-point
effort, but his regional disqualifi-
cation on the tramp has ruled him
Fifth
ineligible to compete.in today"s
finals.
Schmiitz's points, however, did
go on the Salukis' team total yes-
terday and helped them to the
victory.
Fullers and Blanton
Michigan's other three qualifiers
were the Fuller twins-Chip and
Phip, and senior Rich Blanton.
Chip copped a sixth in vaulting
with his 9.2 score; Phip took fifth
in floor exercise with a 9.15; and
Blanton grabbed a fifth on the
rings with 9.25. All four Wolver-
ine finalists will be among 56
gymnasts vying for individual
NCAA titles today.
The top eight performers in
each of the seven events qualify
in
for today's finals if they were
also among the top ten finishers
in their respective regionals. This
includes gymnasts from teams
which did not qualify regionally,
but who qualified themselves as
individuals. The national titles
will be determined by adding yes-
terday's and today's scores.
"The pressure on our boys was
especially evident on the rings and
on the parallel bars. We had slip-
ups in our routines which cost
us points. Competition on the high
bar, though, was probably the
toughest we faced all year because
many sschools emphasize this
event," cited Loken. "Considering
the caliber of the performers withl
the top teams so evenly matched,
there were many misses through-
out the meet-by us and by the
other teams,
"The Michigan seniors finished
on a high note with Blanton qual-
ifying for the finals and Ned
Duke finishing second for the team
on the rings. J(hn Cashman also
did a fine job on the high bar,"
added Loken.
Among the surprise performanc-
es of the day was Spartan Ed
Gunney's first-place on the rings.
Teammate Jim Curzi took the first
step forward in defense of his
NCAA title on the parallel bars
with a 9.6 for first, but Rusty
Rock of San Fernando edged him
out for the top place in the high
bar-where he also is defending
NCAA's
Celtics Stop Royals
I
soo.o.,d
BOSTON M)-The Boston Cel-
tics stormed into the champion-
ship round of the National Bas-
ketball Association's Eastern Di-
vision playoffs last night with a
112-103 victory over the Cincin-
nati Royals in the deciding game
of their semifinal series.
The Celtics, who trailed 2-1
after the first three games of the
best-of-five series, capped their
comeback in ending a home court
playoff before a packed crowd of
'Ue
13,909 at the Boston Garden.
The shooting of Sam Jones and
John Havlicek, who hit for 23
points, offest the markmanship of
the Royals' Oscar Robertson, who
captured game honors with -37
points. Jerry Lucas was held to
17 by Boston.
The Celtics had a 49-39 advan-
tage in field goals, but cashed only
14 of 26 free throws, while the
Royals were 25-33 in charity shots.
SCORES
EXH 1B1TION BASEBALL
Minnesota 10, Cincinnati 6
St. Louis 7, Detroit 6
Boston 7, Atlanta 1
Cleveland 13, San Francisco 3
California 5, Chicago (N) 0
Kansas City 4, Houston 0
New York (N) 4, Chicago (A) 1
Pittsburgh 7, New York (A) 3
Philadelphia 7, Baltimore 5
NBA PLAYOFFS
Eastern Division
Boston 112, Cincinnati 103
THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
AND
THE COLLEGE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION
ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
The ?firstJinnual
Book-of-the-Month Club
Writing 'Tellows hip
Program
The program will consist of four-
teen fellowships of $3000 each to be
awarded to seniors during the aca-
demic year 1966-67, which coincides
with the fortieth anniversary of the
Book-of-the-Month Club.
For complete details, see a member of
your English Department or write to:
DR. DONALD SEARS, DIRECTOR
BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
WRITING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
c/o COLLEGE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001
Original music
composed and conducted
by RALPH CARMICHAEL
4
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APRIL 2
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APRIL 3
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