Friday, October 9 1970

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Nine

Friday, October 9, 1970 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Nine


Elliott

ready

for

Against
The Wa/I
By RICHARD CORNFELD
THE PITTSBURGH Pirates came within a weekend series of
making a farce of the 1970 baseball season.
But Zeus was watching over baseball and made sure the
Cincinnati Reds blasted the Bucs in the National League pen-
nant playoff in three straight games.
The Pirates deserved to win the National League
pennant about as much as Denny McLain deserves this
year's Cy Young award, and yet it says something about the
baseball establishment that nobody would admit it.
Had Pittsburgh won the pennant we would have heard for
months about how the brilliant managing of Danny Murtaugh
had transformed the Pirates from a club with promise into a
winner.
This year, the Pirates won 88 games and finished first in
the East Division. Last year under Larry Shepherd they also
won 88 games, but they finished third.
For leading the Bucs to the same record they had in
'69, Murtaugh is the front runner for manager of the year
honors. Had the Pirates beaten the Reds, baseball's apolo-
gists might have named him manager of the century.
The apologists were saved from that, but one of these
years they won't be so blessed. Sometime, a pennant playoff may
last more than three games, making the winner less than a
clearcut champion. And maybe, if Zeus tires of helping the of-
ficials of a game who are uninterested in being helped, a team
like tTe Pittsburgh Pirates is going to become the champion.
Meanwhile, baseball comes to resemble what the great
American game should be - an effort at mediocrity. At one
time baseball fans knew that in the World Series, the New
York Yankees, the best the American League had to offer,
ould play the Brooklyn Dodgers, the greatest team in the
National League.
Now the only thing we can be sure of is that the
fall classic will include two fairly good teams - unless
disaster srikes. In recent years, the sporting world has
feted the Boston Celtics, who finished fourth in a seven
team division in the regular season, as world champions of
basketball, the Boston Bruins, who finished second in a
six team division, as world champions of hockey, and the
Kansas City Chiefs, who finished second in one of a half
dozen divisions, as world champions of football.
"The Kansas City Chiefs were a good team and they de-
served to be in~ the playoffs," apologists said. Nobody will deny
that the Chiefs were a good team.
But since when does merely being good qualify a team for
a championship? A championship game should be played be-
tween the greatest teams the sport has to offer.
The golden-mouthed parrot on television tells us that the
Chiefs are the best team in football, and the crowd loves it.
Of course, anyone with any sense knows that the announcer
doesn't know football from classical architecture, but nobody
cares.
Least of all the owners and officials of professional
sports who know that the playoffs, as artificial as they are,
are their big money times.
Baseball, to the surprise of nobody, has followed suit,
but with less than complete success. In one of the most
boring seasons in memory, attendance spurted upward.
But the two playoff series were played to much less than
full houses.
The World Series starts tomorrow, and, undoubtedly, the
ball parks will be packed and television ratings will be the big-
gest for any t.v. show this year.
But, as mentioned, baseball got lucky. The Cincinnati Reds
and the Baltimore Orioles are the best teams in their leagues
as proven by their play this season. The World Series has
always been the great event in sports. Its attraction has been
that of the two best teams in a head to head series with every-
thing at stake. What happens to baseball when that is not
the case?
What if they gave a World Series and nobody came?
Langer quits Eli ca e team;
NCAA suspension uncertain
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (NP)-Jackj basketball program is not sanc-
Langer, an obscure college basket- tioned by the NCAA, the summer
ball player who became the focal after his sophomore year.
figure in Yale University's chal- Yale had given Langer permis-
lenge of the National Collegiate sion to play in the Jewish Olym-
Athletic Association last year, l as pics and last year allowed him to
quit the basketball team. play on the varsity squad incurring
Langer said Wednesday he has a two year suspension from the
lost his motivation to play bas- NCAA. The penalty is one of the
ketball. most severe ever meted out by the
The senior played in the Mac- governing body of college athle-

cabiah Games in Tel Aviv, whose tics. I
The suspension means Yale

By TERRI FOUCHE
And thus, armed with
health (at least thet
wounded will dress), und
status, an occasionally ex
running game (who will7
the spark this week?), and
dy and almost impenetral
fense, the Wolverines ente
opening battle of this s
Big Ten wars as they mee
due.
The Wolverines made it t
practice this week witho
curring any major injuries
of the normal bumps and
to first and second strin
sonages. One of the former
bers of the taped and b
brigade, however, is nov
sidered ready to start.
Head coach Bo Schem
gave the go signal for de
back Bruce Elliott yesterda
practice. He said, "It's mos
that he will start. We also
to have him on the kicko
punt return teams."

Purdue
Y Elliott has been our for four3
relative weeks with a shoulder separation
walking he suffered in the last pre-season
efeated scrimmage.
xplosive Schembechler also added, "Bo
provide Rather (who replaced the injured
a stur- Elliott) has done an excellent
ble de- job for us. We plan to play him
r their some, too."
eason's Fred Grambau was another
et Pur- Wolverines who met with injury
dur i n g that final pre-season
g scrimmage. Grambau, a starter
through ilast season at defensive tackle,
'ut in- sustained a knee injury during the
outside scrimmage. At first it was hoped
bruises his injury was not serious and that
.g per- he would be out approximately
mem- three weeks. However, the knee
andaid has not responded as well as was
u con- originally hoped and is still in a
cast. Schembechler does not view
bechler this as encouraging, "It's not com-
fensive ing along and the chances of his
y after returning each week get worse.
t likely He's missed so much practice Il
expect don't know if he'll be able to get
ff and back into shape when the knee
does get better."

game
For the first time this year
Michigan will play on a field of
grass instead of the Tartan turf
of home or the Astroturf they
met in Washington. To prepare
for this rare circumstance (that
place in Columbus also is au nat-
urel), this week's workouts have
been held on grass. Schembechler
commented, "A week's all we need
on it. The playing surface is not
really a factor in whether we win
or lose."
Schembechler expects a strong
running and a short passing game
from Purdue. "They may have the
best offensive running backs we'll
meet all season."
He is also looking for his own
running game to assert ihself.
After yesterday's practice he was
still uncertain as to which run-
ning backs would make up his
starting offensive backfield. "We
hope to have the running game
begin early because we are Mtill a
little worried about our passing
game; but overall we're ready."

NEBRASKA-MISSOURI:

Bi Egt giants battle

By JERRY CLARKE,
The unbeaten but once tied!
Cornhuskers of Nebraska play host{
this weekend to the once beaten
Tigers of Missouri in a battle that;
will probably decide the Big Eight
championship. The two teams last
season shared the title, and both'
will be trying hard to win it out-'
right this time around.
Missouri has had somewhat of!
a lock in the contest in recent.
years. Although Nebraska holds an
edge in the overall series, the
Tigers have won the last three
games. This is one streak that
Husker coach Bob Devaney is es-
pecially anxious to see end, as he
wants his team to "get back on
the winning path."
He would seem to have the;
players to do just that this season,
many of them on the defensive
daily
sports
NIGHT EDITOR:}
ELLIOT LEGOW

and has taken up where he left
off with 231 yards and two touch-
downs.
But when it comes to catching
Tagge's passes, no one can match
the tandem of Guy Ingles and
Johnny Rodgers. Ingles, a senior,
caught 30 passes for three touch-
downs last season, and has already
matched that touchdown total on
his 13 receptions.
RODGERS, a sophomore, is the
Big Eight's most exciting new-
comer. He has averaged over 21
yards on each of his 13 receptions,
has rushed for 108 yards on only
16 carriers, and has returned punts
for a 14.6 yard average. His five
touchdowns lead the team.
Devaney considers the key to'
the game how well his team can
move the ball. The main obstacle
is the Missouri defense, which, in
Devaney's words, "year in and
year out plays as tough a defensive
game as any team in the country."
THE STRONGPOINT of the
Tiger defense is the line, led by
ends John Brown and Mike Ben-
net. In the three victories this sea-
son, opponents have found rough
going trying to run against Mis-
souri. Another strongpoint is at
linebacker, where Rocky Wallace,
an all-conference selection in
1968, returns. Wallace, like Ne-
braska's Orduna, missed last sea-
son due to injury.
Unfortunately for coach Dan
Devine and his players, the pass
defense has yet to demonstrate
any high level of competence. In
their one loss, at the hands of
Air Force, the Cadets' Bob Parker
and Ernie Jennings combined to
riddle the Tiger secondary.
The Missouri offense is extreme-
-

ly capable of putting points on the
scoreboard. They feature a strong
running game, led by the sensa-
tional Joe Moore, one of the lead-
ing rushers in the country.
Moore gained 1,312 yards last
year, and ranked third nationally.
He has already gained over 600
this season, and is a certain All-
America and high pick in the pro
draft. Besides his running, he con-
nected on a long touchdown pass
in the opener against Baylor.
Devaney expects this contest to
be as tough as the Huskers' earlier
game with Southern California, a
contest that ended in a 21-21 tie.

PETE NEWELL (82) stops Ari-
zona fullback Willie Lewis while
teammate Phil Seymour (91)
zeroes in for the kill. Newell,
a senior defensive tackle, re-
ceived the UPI midwest lineman
of the week award last week for
his play against Texas A&M.
Defensive end Seymour, also a
senior, came back this year

-Daily-Tom Gottlieb

,

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from a knee injury that kept
him out of action for almost all
of last season.

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LAST CHANCE'!
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
are the final days for our
EVEREST LP RECORD SALE
SINGLES '
OLLETT'Sr
M I C H IG AN BOOK STOR E
RECORD DEPARTMENT
STATE STREET AT NORTH UNIVERSITY

CURRENT CRISIS SERIES
THIS WEEK-OCTOBER 11, 1970, 7:30 P.M.
"Reconciliation: The Church and the Poor"
Speaker: TED KACHEL
Director, Office of Religious Affairs
At FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
X32 Washtenaw Ave. Curtis Room

14

SPONSORED BY ECUMENICAL CAMPUS CENTER

U

unit. Nebraska leads the Big Eight
in both rushing defense and total
defense so far this season, led by
Jerry Murtaugh, a top linebacker.
Murtaugh, who is being touted as
an All-America, has 30 solo tackles
and 22 assists in his four games
this year to lead the team in both
categories.
HE GETS a great deal of help
from 201 pound middle guard Ed
Periard, who is extremely quick
and has thrown opposing ball car-
riers for 39 yards in losses.
Nebraska's only defensive wor-
ries are in the secondary, but Jim
Anderson and Bill Kosch have
demonstrated ample talent in that
area, helping to hold opponents to
less than 12 completions and 1401
yards per game.
But it is the offense that really
shines for the Huskers.} The key to
their attack is quarterback Jerry
Tagge, a sharp passer and cool,
field general. Tagge has hit on 45
of 68 pass attempts for a comple-
tion percentage of over 66 pct.
To go with his quarterback,
Devaney has assembled an awe-
some arsenal of offensive weapon-
ry. Foremost among his running
backs is Joe Orduna, a fleet half-
back who missed all of last season:
due to injury. Thus far, Orduna
has 344 yards rushing, includingE
a spectacular 67 yard run for a
touchdown against Southern Cali-
fornia.
Despite his proven ability, Or -
duna still has to fight for his posi-
tion with Jeff Kinney. Kinney led1
Nebraska in rushing last season,

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NBA ow ners,
Splayers settle
NEW YORK (P)--The National
Basketball Association players and
owners agreed on basic terms of a
new agreement yesterday for in-
creases in minimum salary, play-
off pool and meal money.
Walter Kennedy, commissioner
of the NBA, and Lawrence Fleish-
er, counsel for the players' asso-
ciation, issued a joint statement
giving the basic terms of the new
agreement.
Minimum salary will be, $15,500,
effective in the 1970-71 season,
escalating to $17,500 beginning in
1972-73, the highest mandatory
minimum in pro sports.

cannot participate in any NCAA
national championships, receive
money for televised athletic events
or take part in post-season cham-
pionships.

:

"After agonizing about it sinceI

last spring,'' Langer said, "I de-
cided that with my present lack
of motivation for playing the game
I couldn't sacrifce the team's well-
being by playing."
University officials have yet to
hear from the NCAA on the status
of the suspension. Despite the fact
that Langer will no longer be a
member of the team, they feel 4
that the chances are slim that the
punishment will be rescinded.
"The suspension was imposed
because of the university's stand,"
said one official, "and it seems
rather unlikely that they will
change their minds about it."
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