Page Twelve THE SUMMER DAILY Tuesday, May 15, 1971 Page twelve THE SUMMER DAILY Tuesday, May 15, 1973 Riggs 'T IS NOT often that sport tran- scends the dimensions of the playing field. But when social values or political ideas inter- vene the sporting event is ob- scured. There have been more exam- ples of this phenomena in re- cent years, centering aro-nd such issues as youth vs. age, black vs. white, liberal vs. conservative. But neverrbefore have we, the viewing public, witnessed a di- rect confrontation of the sexes .that is until last Sunday when Bobby Riggs met Margaret Court on the tennis Court. Before continuing it should be noted that just because Riggs defeated Court, which he did with apparent ease, he is not neces- sarily the superior player. One battle does not a war make. OBVIOUSLY COURT did not play her normal game. Tinder normal circumstances (minus won the battle, but... T Rmentin -chuck bloom the hoopla), she probably could have beaten Riggs, since as Riggs himself admits "she is blt- ter than I am in all phases of the game. Sunday's showdown was held under "normal circumstanc- es." The pre-game publicity had the battle of the seves as the -focal point. Court was represent- ing all the women of the world when all she really wanted wa to represent the women tennis professionals. And, with Riggs playing the role of the male su- premist to the hilt, the game a;- sumed epic porportions. Also Court was simply not pre- 'HIP YANKS, 8-( pared for Riggs and it became painfully obvious early in the match. Following the old "let your opponent win the game for you", Riggs played a cautions-, ly defensive game that befud- dled Court, causing the Austral- ian to misplay badly. The secret of Rigg's control was his ex- cellent consistent shot placement. That way he let Court do all the work and she responded by re- peatedly slamming the ball into the net. AND WHEN Riggs charged the net. Court was out of position to counter. In the hour it took Rigs to win, Court played aboat five minutes of her own style, a style that has dominated the world of women's professional tennis. The rest of the time, she played right into Riggs' nand, adopting his fifth-grade. style. Even though - Court was burd- ened by the pressure, R i g g s himself had a lot of pressure with which to contend. What a blow it would have been to the male of the species had he lost! What an insult to men's tennis! And maybe even more important, Riggs had put up his own money for the staging of the match. So he had a lot to lose, not to mention his own ego. BUT THE 55-year-old - former Wimbledon champion, noted more for his moxie and chutzpath than a powerful serve, responded so well and played so brilliantly (moving far better than anyone expected) that even his sternest critics and Court's admirers must show a grudging respect for the game he played. As Howard Co- sell said yesterday, "He left his mouth home, and brought his racquet to play" It is not a chauvinistic state- ment to say that men's tennis is better than women's. No way could a Margaret Court, Bilie Jean King, or Chris Evert stand a chance against the likes of Stan Smith, Rod Laver, or Ar- thur Ashe and I believe every- one knows that. But women's tennis has brought new interest to the game and has provided the needed exposure to move tennis from the country club courts to the living rooms of millions of television watchers. For that they deserve all the money they can get. The Riggs-Court match was such a novelty event that, in the end, the battle of the sexes was not such a big battle at all. It wasn't a triumph for male su- premacy nor a blow to women's lib. It was a. good day for tennis and a great day for sports. Tigers win Sports of The Daily I In memoriam Last Saturday Art Pollard, 46, died in a flaming crash while attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Death in sports is always tragic, as was the case with Pollard, but because of his profession it was not a shock. Auto racing' is appealing because of the danger, something all drivers must live with. Pollard was not a great driver but a nice human being and that in itself makes his untimely passing a tragedy. Pollard will be buried later in the week in McMinnville, Ore. Trade market Lots of trading in the world of sports . . . in football, the Minnesota Vikings announced yesterday that linebacker Lonnie Warwick and quarterback Bob Lee had played out their options and signed with Atlanta. In return, the Vikings received quarter- back Bob Berry and Atlanta's first round draft choice for next year . . . in hockey, Chicago traded goalie Gary Smith and forward Jerry Korab to Vancouver for defenseman-center Dale Tallon .. . . The Detroit Red Wings swapped defensemen by shuffling Serge Lajeunesse to Philadelphia for Rick Foley - and in baseball, the Tigers let go of catcher Gene Lamont to Atlanta for catcher Bob "Hiya" Didier . . . and Kansas City sold catcher Jerry May to New York as a replacement for in. jured backstop Jerry Grote. Meeting of the clan MINNEAPOLIS - Football redshirting, long overdue, may be approved formally today by the Big Ten at the spring busi- ness meeting. Redshirting was tentatively approved last March by a faculty representative group in Chicago but got bogged down in red tape. The plan calls for varsity football competition over a five-year period; something the conference coaches for many years have pleaded for but until now have been denied. Michigan notes Upcoming action for Michigan teams this week end include a pair of Big Ten championship meets. The outside track title will be decided at Minnesota while Michigan should easily take the ' tennis crown in Madison. The baseball team will need some help from Illinois and Purdue in their quest for the baseball -. crown while the batsmen meet Wisconsin and Northwestern at home. On tab... . . . the Michigan batsmen, only one game out of first in the torrid Big Ten race host the Broncos of Western Michigan for two today at Ray L. Fisher Stadium starting at 1 p.m. . .. Pete Helt (3-4) and Chuck Rogers (3-2) will be hurling for the Wolverines . and on Channel Two, you can see a battle of baseball giants (?) beginning at 7:30 p.m., when the Tigers visit New York to play the Yankees. From wire service Reports NEW YORK-Joe Colman, the only Tiger pitcher winning with a n consistency, blanked the Yankees on six hits as Detroit wrapped out 12 hits winning 8-0 last night. The Tigers got the ball rolling early, scoring four times in the second inning. Frank "The Big Man" Howard reached first on a pop fly single that fell in front of secondbaseman Horace Clarke. Mickey Stanley beat out a bunt and Ike Brown followed with a single to score Howard. Loser Fritz Peterson, 3-5, then hit Duke Sims on the arm to laad the sacks for rookie Dick Sharon, playing in place of ailing Al Kaline. Sharon hit a grounder up the middle that eluded Gene Michael to score two more Ben- gals. Little E d d i e Brinkman brought in the fourth with a single. .Detroit, whose winning streak stands at one, added singletons in the fifth and sixth on RBI singles by Bill Freehan and Sims. They scored twice more in the eighth off reliever Mike Kekich. Coleman, 7-2, was in command all the way fanning eight and passing four. Bosox squeek BOSTON - Designated hitter Orlando Cepeda singled home rookie Mario Guerrero with the lone run of the game in the 11th inning last night as the Boston Red Sox edged the Baltimore Orioles 1-0. Guerrero beat out a grounder behind second base to open the 11th off Bob Reynolds, 1-2. Carl Yastrzemski sacrificed Guerrero to second, then Cepeda singled to center to drive him in. Royals flushed "KANSAS CITY - Pinch-hitter ,Tom McCraw singled home Jim Sfencer in the 10th inning, lift- ing the California Angels to a 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. last night. With two out, Spencer singled, Rudy Meoli singled him to third and McCraw, batting for Jeff Torborg, singled to left for the winning run. Kansas City's John Mayberry drove in his 33rd run of the sea- son when he singled home Steve Hovley with two out in the third AP Phosto DETROIT ROOKIE DICK SHARON (27) is dead on arrival at third in last night's 8-0 blitzing of New York by the Tigers. Sharon improved later in the game with two rbi's and his first m7jor league hit, a double. Summer Daily . NMajor League Standings AMERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE East East W . "Pet. GB W L Pet. GB Milwaukee 14 15 .412 - Chicago 2. 13 .606 - Boston 14 15 .482 - New York 17 14 .548 2 Dietroit 15 17 .4118 1 Montreal 04 154. 8n 4 Cleveland 15 1 '451 1'Pittsburgh 12 15 .444 Baltimore 14 17 .452 1 Philadelphia 12 19 .381 7 -New York 14 17 .452 1 St. Louis 8 23 .258 11 West west Chicago 11 0 .892 -- San, Francisco 2~5 52 .676 - Kansas City 20 13 .606 1 Houston 22 13 .628 2 Catifornia 16 13 .551 31/Clnneinnati Oakland 17 15 .5314 Los Anteles 19 05 .559144'/ Minnesota 12 155A44 61 Atlanta 13 19 .406 414 Tesas11557' s 3428 . San Diego 12 22 .353 1114 Yesterday's Results Yesterday's Results Tesas 2, Minnesota 6, Ast; 2nd, inc. Montreal 3, P'ittsburgh 2 BDetrot 0, New York 0 . Philadelphia 10, St. Louis 5 ' Boston 15, Baltimore 0, 11 iBnn. At. Calltoenla 3, KanssaA City 2, 50 tlanta 7, Houston 1 Cleveiandia, ,ilaukee 1 San Francisco at San Diego, inc. Chsirago at Oakland, i. New York at Chicago( post. . Today's Games Today's Games Detroit (Lolich 2-4) at New York Philadelphia (Christensen 1-3) at (Kline 2-4). St. Louis ("wise 3-2). Baltimore (Palmer 2-2) at Boston New York (Kosman 5-0) at Chi- (Tiant 4-3). eago (Hooton 4-2). Minuesota (Blyleven 2-6) at Texas Montreal (M Anally 2-1) at Pitts- (Stanhsouse 0-3). buegh (Blass 1-2), Caliornia (Ryan 4-3) at Kansas Los Angeles (Osteen 3-2) at Cin- City (Dal Canton 2-1). cinnati (Gulltt 3-2). Cleveland (Bosman 2-5) at Milwau- Atlanta (Gentry 4-2) at Houston kee (Belt 4-3) (Wilson 3-3). Chicago (Bahnsen 5-2) at Oak- San Francisco (Bryant 4-3) at Sae land .(Blue 3-1). - Diego (Caldwell 1-4).