SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1966
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE SEVEN
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8,1986 TIlE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE SEVEN
a I.-- -- T- , I
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Pride, Power Clash as Wolverines Due
lMSU
A Football Game ...
The game is today. THE game is today
YOU'LL have to excuse that. It usually takes me the better part
of five and a third seconds to get fully fired up for it. But that's only
because I tend to be slow at cortisone mobilization.
It's Michigan vs. Michigan State, and step right up. It's Snob
State against Moo U., the Blue taking on the Green. It's a one-of-
a-kind sort of thing, a rivalry in the true sense of the word only
since World War II. Yet the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy
has become one of the nation's three recognized super-duels.
And no one within three miles of a good Wolverine fan any-
where in the country even knows about the other two.
THE game is something else. It's a sudden surge of popularity for
blue and gold clothes on the Diag and in the Fishbowl. It's the appear-
ance of rah-rah on a less-than-scintillating campus, chucking home-
work and night labs for a non-celluloid pep rally. It's painting Sparty
Blue ... and Ann Arbor grass Green.
It's your dullest prof finally breaking stride, giving your writing
hand some time to recover, to get in his funny about "the Harvard of
Horticulture to the North," inadvertently dubbing the famous Spar-
tan Fund (a high powered sink fund for football players and players-
to-be, which the NCAA found time to take issue with) "The Trough,"
and getting a laugh from everybody in the first three rows of Audi-
torium A.
What is it? What is this annual fit of insanity which grips two
campuses and changes 70,000 people whose normal indifference could
not even be characterized as more than mild, into militant activists
whose advocacy of "violence" is on a scale without parallel? How can
they take sides to defend the honor of school and not care to commit
themselves over the "honor of a nation" or of a people? What does
Pasadena's Rose Bowl have that the Mekong River's Rice Bowl lacks?
Well, for one thing, it makes more sense.
V Absurd, you say. Sports are not a life or death thing, you say.
It is trivia, you-say. It's irrelevant. It's . .. whatever.
"Trivia," you say.
But I admit that I am naive. And I might as well put it this way.
Man has been struggling for all these years-struggling against na-
The
Margin or Eror
Gil Samberg
ture, against his rivals, against himself-and what has he to show for
it?
Sure, in those millennia past, everything that the individual did
had some life or death significance. The game they played then was
"Survival." It was tough and it was for keeps.
Well how far have we really come? The whole idea of beating
nature-of protecting against the weather, of accumulating surplus
food, of getting by the- neighborhood carnivore-was to reach the era
where man wouldn't have to slug it out every step of the way to keep
breathing. He wanted to get to the point where he could indulge him-
self in things . . ."other" things. Where the "trivia"-and isn't art
and literature and higher communication a sort of trivia in the the
same sense-would be, could be, the big things in life.
Today man plays many games, quite complex games. Very few
of the "non-trivial" ones are not games of survival, and more,
games where the object isn't to "destroy" the next guy physically
or mentally. Sports make up a part of the few.
Football is violent, all right. And the bodies fly out there. But the
object of this game is to get by your opponent, not to stomp him into
the ground. The object of concern is a ball, not a bayonet. And, if I've
a choice, I'd rather fire up for the Michigan State game than for the
Battle of the Week.
What I'm trying to say is that, if anything, sports should really be
more relevant to today than the "non-trivia" that we so quickly and
profoundly proclaim to be the subjects of greatest concern. In truth,
they are fifty years out of date. Sports-the grandchild of abundance,
direct offspring of leisure-is for today and tomorrow.
Oh, the world is a cold, cold place, Martha. And there aren't many
lands like ours. But for the first time we have the tools to make it so.
#. We have the knowledge and the technique to allow our kind to enjoy
nobility. For if America and the West have become Man's vanguard in
progressing to a greater era, they certainly are not detached from
those behind them.
How simple it all seems. Or maybe, how simple I seem.
Just as, when you know where your next meal is coming from,
you can see a fourth-and-three situation as a crisis, I want to be
able to be more concerned today about the fate of the Blue than
the future of my country.
Isn't that our real goal-to take our biggest pride in how we
make our peace? To be able to say that there are only "trivial"
games left. And sports--football-is one of them.
Let's make the fight for dear old Michigan the big one of the
year for every player and spectator. And let a loss be the biggest
heartbreak. Stand up and cheer like hell for the Blue now, and
maybe someday they'll realize how important it is . . . and so
will you.
Trivia, you say.
More like an ideal, I think. Man should have been able to take
his "trivia" more seriously long ago.
A Long Tradition .. .
... And a Meaning
BUMP: "HATE STATE"
Sipp
Phillips
Hanna
Dayton
Bailey
Hribal
Clancy
Vidmer
Detwiler
Ward
Fisher
LE
LT
LG
C
RG
RT
RE
QB
LH
RH
FB
By JIM TINDALL
Associate Sports Editor
Special To The Daily
EAST LANSING -It's all been
chewed over and spit up 58 times.
This is the granddaddy of them
all . .. biggest of the year . . . not
just a rivalry . . . not just another
sellout . . . not just another trophy
. not just a Big Ten opener-.
not just anything you can think
of. It is Michigan versus Michigan
State, and that has a meaning all
of its own.
Every year it rolls around in
October, and every year it~s the
same.
'M' and 13
The bookies have made the
Spartans 13-point favorites, but
that will mean less than nothing
on the field.
Certainly, Michigan State is a
formidable ballclub, but Illinois
proved last week that the Spartans
can be slowed up and maybe even
tripped up. North Carolina con-
clusively proved that Michigan can
be beaten.
The Spar'tan strength so far this
year has been a brutal defense that
is, at least on paper, performing
better than last year. Going into
today's game Bubba Smith and his
playground pals have given up .98
yards per running play. That is
defense.
Weakness in Secondary
However, things aren't quite so
Rosy behind them-while the line
has been holding runners to 30
per cent less than they gainer last
year, the secondary has been al-
lowing 50 per cent more passing
yardage. This, hopefully, is the
Unwashed Heel of the Spartans.
fense in practice this week the
same way that we do every week."
Translation: Michigan might
have a few new plays and/or
strategies under their white jer-
seys for the occasion. Michigan
will have to resort to the air to
win, while using draws, delays, and
traps to keep the smashing Spar-
tans honest. Some of those new
plays or patterns will most likely
involve Jim Detwiler who is get-
ting his starting slot back again
for the first time since Last year's
MSU game. "Jim is fit and ready."
From Michigan State's Duffy
Daugherty: "In a big game like
this, you don't win by being un-
orthodox. You win by better e ecu
tion. Michigan knows what kind of
plays we run Jones on, and they
know when we run Apisa. These
things are basic. You can't change
these plays overnight - you need
blocking angles to start with, and
the ones that we have now are
sound, or they wouldn't hav got-
ten us where we are today."
(That's number one in the coun-
try for the uninitiated.)
How does this translate? Watch
for Apisa and Jones to slam off
tackle most of the day while Gene
Washington runs threatening pat-
terns downfield.
Duffy Says
Commenting on Michigan's de-
fense Daugherty pronounced: "Up
front they have some boys that
are physically real strong." Two
of those guys, Dick Williamson
and Dave Porter, have been the
concern of Michigan coach Dennis
Fitzgerald for much of the week in
an effort to ready them for the
gargantuan task they have in
stopping fast and powerful run-
ning attack that has been clipping
off an even five yards per crack.
Williamson and Porter, as well
as the rest of the defensive align-
ment, has been scrutinizing the
Illini defensive tactics that held
State's superrunners, Jones and
Apisa, to an amazing 23 and 16
yards respectively last weekend.
Can't Stop Jack
As for the Michigan passing of-
ly made his presence felt last year
in Michigan Stadium and is likely
to repeat as a problem today.'
Thornhill put on a tremendous
t show at Illinois last week, and was
named the UPI lineman of the
week.
Duh!
Thornhill's philosophy of the
game is quoted in the Michigan
States News as follows: "Hitting
is the best part of the game," said
Thornhill. "It's fun, and I think
football is a fun game. It's not all
DUFFY: 'MASH MICH." fun, but without it, I think foot-
DUFFY:"MASHball is boring. . .. I decided to try
fense, Daugherty explains, I linebacker (after being switched'
really is impossible to completely from fullback) and found out that
stop someone like Jack Clancy. We I really enjoyed hitting. I know,
know that he is going to catch I'mplaying the right position
some passes against us, we just now." . . (Dwight) Lee said, "I
hope that we can contain himhte to scrimmagetigaidhi
better than some other teams have he hits hard every time, and he's
Michigan has a nice blend of pass- in on every tackle."
ing and running too, which will While Duffy is apparently satis-
keep us from ganging up on them fied with his smaller version of last
in the backfield." year's defense (averaging 208 in-
The guys in green shirts that stead of 245) he is not so jovial
will be wandering around in the about his attack. The MSU mentor
Michigan backfield as well as the claims that the Spartans stopped
Spartan secondary will be George themselves on too many occasions
Webster and Charlie Thornhill. last week with incomplete passes
Webster, ace "roverback," certain- and penalties.
"The threat of the pass is just
as important as the pass itself,"
Duffy said on the phone yester-
day. "Raye has carried the ball
34 times, and most of those have
actually started out as pass pat-
terns, but if he sees an opening,
he goes for it. When that call goes
in the air, about five things can
happen to it, and only one of them
is good. I like passes, just like any-
one else, but only when they are
complete."
Among those suffering from the
emphasis on the ground attack is
flashy end Washington who has
only been able tonpick off six
passes in three games, and who is
yet to have one of those "big"
days; however, the ones he has
caught have been long flips as
evidenced by his average yardage
of 35.1 per reception.
So that's what you look for. At
least that is what you look for on
paper. What really does happen in
a few hours will only be what has
happened 58 times before-Mich-
igan versus Michigan State. That
has a meaning all of its own.
SPORTS NIGHT EDITOR:
RICK STERN
Blue
Versus
Green
r---
FB
RH
LH
QB
RE
RT
RG
C
LG
LT
Apisa
Jones
Lee
Raye
Washington
Przybycki
Techlin
Smith
Conti
West
LE Brenner So what do you look for in to-
day's game?
From the Michigan sideline:
The W eather: Offensive backfield coach Bank
Fonde said yesterday, "What do
Warm and clear in East Lans- you want me to do, give you our
ing today, with a high of about 80 scouting report on Michigan State
and southwest winds at 12 miles an so they'll read it and know what
hour. we're going to do? (pause) We
emphasized all parts of our of-
Nicholson M/C Sales
224 S. First St.
Hours: 9 to 9 Monday thru Friday
and 9 to 6 Saturday
i_' i
A Year Ago Today..,.
MSU'S ALL-AMERICA HALFBACK CANDIDATE Clinton Jones is brought down by Michigan tack-
lers George Knapp (53) and Terry Salmi (89) in the fourth quarter of last year's Michigan Stadium
battle. The Spartans, with Jones bulling his way for a key touchdown, stomped the Wolverines 24-7
but Michigan is looking to even the score this afternoon.
ME ..ii
I
I
YES! Tickets will be sold
at the door from 11 A.M.
for the U of M-MSU
TELECAST
I
RUMMAGE SALE
books, clothes, furniture
for the
Children's Community School
SATURDAY, October 8, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.-
SUNDAY, October 9,noorn-6 p.m.
206-8 N. Fourth Ave.
University of Michigan Bands
Presents
The Third Arnual
BAND-O-RAMA
Featuring the Symphony,
Concert, Marching, and Jazz Bands
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