SPORTS Page 8 Tuesday, February 3, 1981 The Michigan Daily FROSH SHOTPUTTER AIMS FOR TOP Uniqu By JOE CHAPELLE Shot-put specialist John Nielson, who has set his sights on the 1984 Olympics, has no. qualms about borrowing from a celebrated predecessor. The freshman Wolverine makes use of an unorthodox discus spin technique used by the unof- ficial world record-holder Brian 01- field. The Oldfield technique might just be Nielson's key to achieving his lofty goals. Many track experts would con- sider the 220-pound shot-putter as too small. Michigan track coach Jack Harvey, however, does not believe that Nielson suffers from a relative lack of size. "Many people look at him and say that he is not very big, but I think that he has a lot of potential. He has qualities that make up for his lack of size. He has strength and determination and is very quick and explosive." Though "small," Nielson certainly e technique for Nielson has potential. At the Michigan Relays meet, he heaved the shot 57-9112, a fine effort for a freshman. Although Nielson's natural speed and be a certain individual to use it," said Harvey. "It's not the type of form you can take and install with everybody." The discus spin style is harder to con- trol than the conventional style. "It requires more coordination because the shot-putter must control his rotational force as well as horizontal force," said Harvey. "The people that use it well do increase the speed on the shot." The advantages of the technique can out- weight the disadvantages, as Olfield's world record in the 1972 Olympics demonstrated. "It (the Olfield style) was difficult for me when I first started," said Nelson. "The first time I threw with it, however, it really increased my distan- ce, and I decided that this was for me." In recent years the discus spin style has become a much more widespread phenomenon. "At almost every meet, you will see at least two or three people using the spin," said Harvey. Coming to compete at Michigan was a big change for Nielson. "The amount of competition is the big difference," said Nielson, a graduate of Seaforth District High School in Seaforth, On- tario. "I am competing against more people now," said Nielson. "At the local meets (in Ontario), there would be only eight throwers and,bat2provincial meets, there would be 25 throwers. Here there are more than 30 throwers at every meet," Nielson added. Nielson is confident of his success this season. "I should do well in the Big Ten," he said. "I am expecting to im- prove a bit more this year." "This is the first time that I've com- peted in indoor track," he continued. "It is not my favorite time of the year." Nielson, a physical education and biology major,' has one goal which he shares with many other collegeshot- putters. "I want to reach the 1984 Olympics," he said. "If I go there, I want to make it into the finals." -P Top Twenty Nielson ... lots of potential strength tend to offset his relative lack of size, Nielson's use of Olfield's discus spin technique could be his springboard to success. The Olfield style is radically dif- ferent from the conventional glide style used by most college shot-putters. The discus spin style allows the shot-putter to get much more speed on the shot which adds to distance. The Olfield technique, however, does have its disadvantages. "You have to 1. Virginia (35) ..........18-0 2. Oregon St. (26) ........17-0 3. DePaul ...............18-1 4. Louisiana St. (1) ......19-1 5. Arizona St.............15-2 6. Kentucky .............15-3 7. Utah ..................18-1 8. Wake Forest ..........17-2 9. Notre Dame..........14-3 10. Tennessee ............15-3 11. North Carolina ........16-4 12. UCLA ............12-4 13. Maryland..........15-4 14. MICHIGAN........14-3 15. Iowa .............13-4 16. Brigham Young.....15-4 17. Indiana...........13-7 18. Illinois............13-4 19. Wichita St.........16-2 20. South Alabama.......17-3 Big Ten Standings Conference W L Indiana......6 2 MICHIGAN ........ 5 3 Illinois ............. 5 3 Iowa .............5 3 Ohio State.........5 3 Minnesota.........4 4 Purdue ............ 4 4 Michigan State.....3 5 Wisconsin.........2 6 Northwestern......1 7 1,212 1,202 1,095 1,076 944 830 812 806 770 657 627 526 433 388 282 257 192 162 121 114 f CEDAR-POINT AMUSEMENT PARK, Sandusky, Ohio, will hold on-campus interviews for sum- ' mer employment: Date: Wednesday, February 11 Time: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. * Place: Placement Office -Over 3,400 positions available for a wide variety of jobs. *. Dormitory or apartment style housing available. Contact the Placement Office for information and appointment. Spend a summer in one of the finest resorts in the North. ' CEDAR POINT.m Overall W L 13 ~7 14 3 13 4 13 4 10 7 12 5 11 6 9 8 8 8 7 10 THE SPORTING VIEWS In O'Brien 's NBA circus, show business comes first By SCOTT M. LEWIS 'Basketball is the favorite sport among Americans below the age of 35. The potential for our sport goes right off toward the sunset.' -NBA Commissioner Lawrence O'Brien, February 26, 1979 Unfortunately for Lawrence O'Brien and the league he governs, the sun already has begun to set on the world of professional basketball. In its stead one can find a huge, dark cloud of uncertainty. The NBA All-Star game, played Sunday in Richfield, Ohio, did little to recapture the support of fans who abandoned the NBA and now swear sole allegiance to the college level of competition. The carnival-like atmosphere, the whining cheerleaders, and a spastic San Diego Chicken tended to con- firm one's belief that professional basketball has indeed reached the point of despair. A once-proud and great game has, in a few short years, degenerated into a sideshow for the ridiculous. SIMPLY STATED, the NBA has become a joke. Few people, however, are laughing, especially the 23 owners, many of whom are likely to absorb heavy financial losses. For instance, Cleveland Cavaliers' owner Ted Stepein, who hosted Sunday's extravaganza, is expected to lose close to $2.5 million this season. He has hinted that, should the attendance picture not brighten in the near future, the Cavaliers might fold. The Cleveland team is not the only struggling NBA franchise. Not by any means. The Denver Nuggets reportedly will suffer a loss this season in ex- cess of $1 million, as will the New Jersey Nets, Indiana Pacers and-not sur- prisingly-the Detroit Pistons. When franchises in such well-established markets as Detroit, Cleveland, and Denver are strangled by a financial bind, it can mean only one thing for the NBA: the league. in its present form, is in deep trouble. Why has fate soured on professional basketball, once hailed "The Sport of The Seventies"? Or is the league itself, and not fate, to blame? During the first half of the past decade, attendance at NBA games increased an average of 4 percent per year. Television ratings, too, began to soar, precipitating an intense bidding war between CBS and ABC for the rights to bring Dr. J., Hondo, The Big E, and later Magic into America's liing rooms. The optimism of the mid-seventies has long since disappeared. The arrival last year of Earvin Johnson and Larry Bird, jointly called "the savior" in some NBA circles, served only to increase appeal and hype ratings for a single season. This year, with Johnson sidelined with a knee injury and Bird and his Boston Celtic teammates on national television display almost every week, public interest has receded to pre-1970 levels. THE TASK OF rekindling interest-and restoring respectability-falls in- to the hands of O'Brien and his staff. The problems are numerous, and in some cases, virtually unsolvable. But the NBA, which celebrated its 35th an- niversary last weekend; can and should attempt to eliminate them. Its very future may be at stake. The first step the commissioner might take is a simple one-curtail the ex- tracurricular "show biz" activities taking place on the court. Certinly, it can be argued that the Chicken, Crazy George (the dribbling wizard), the Classy Chassis and Teddy's Bears (the Cavs' cheerleaders) provide great family fun, and fun is what sports should be all about. But a basketball game is an athletic event which produces excitement, drama, and yes, FUN, on its own merits. College basketball games, whether they feature teams from the Big Ten, ACC, or MAC, are enjoyable to at- tend-not because of the dancing Chicken, Dancing Harry, or dancing cheerleaders, but because of the high level of emotion present most of the time. Hereinlies another problem: emotion and intensity. A lack of intensity. should not be confused with an absence of discipline; the latter refers to a style of play, while the former describes an inability (or unwillingness) to perform at 100 percent. NBA teams hopscotch across the continent from October through early April, often playing three games in as many nights, each in a different sec- tion of the country. Given the unbearable travel burden, one cannot. reasonably ask an individual to operate at full throttle for 48 minutes each night. It's physically impossible. Once the regular season schedule grinds to a halt (just as the baseball season begins), teams are granted one day- to rest and prepare for the playoffs, which last for another month and a half. Under the revised playoff system, 12 teams qualify for post-season play, a far cry better than the NHL setup (16 of 22 teams make the hockey playoffs) but still too generous in ad- mitting inferior ballclubs. While many of the fans refuse to fork over their money until the playoffs, a significant number of players probably adhere to a parallel philosophy-conserve your energy until the games really count. It is more than coincidence that the quality of NBA play improves dramatically-and the intensity factor becomes important-once the playoffs get under way. How to eliminate the intensity problem? Last week O'Brien publicly rejec- ted the most apparent solution: shorten the season. In announcing his decision to begin the 1981-82 season in November (so as to avoid conflicting with the World Series), the commissioner said he had not given serious con- sideration to shortening the regular season. Whatever course of action O'Brien takes in the crucial years ahead, it is hoped that he steers the league in the direction of dignity, quality, and class. The NBA traveling circus-along with its troupe of courtside comics-have no place in professional sports. 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