The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 24, 1984 - Page 9
THE SPORTING VIEWS
Super Bowl hype...
...leaves you feeling 'Skinned
By ROB POLLARD
FTER TWOWEEKS of being bombarded with
a constant stream of pigskin propaganda and
superfluous statistics, Super Bowl viewers
reached a familiar conclusion: the game wasn't
worth one-loth f the hype that was given to it.
A supposedly even matchup was a rout by half-
time. As far as Super Sunday goes this was no
novelty. A large majority of the 18 Super Bowls
have been one-sided. This one generated as
much excitement as waiting for baggage in an
airport. Wait a second, I have roommates who
surf on the bag gage conveyor belt while waiting
for luggage. Tis Super Bowl was duller than
waiting for luggage.
So the question is, why does the Super Bowl
command the ridiculous amount of publicity it
receives, on television, radio and newspaper?
At the conclusion of the contest I sat glaring at
the tube with my incandescent eyes. I had sur-
vived, two hours of pre-game features and four
hours of extremely dull football and I was begin-
ning to ponder the possibility of Brent
Musberger's parents being mannequins.
Brent wasn't around for the first Super Bowl
between Green Bay and Kansas City. Neither
were a lot of other folks-the game wasn't a
sellout. But then again, in 1966 there were other
things to do. The Beatles were cranking out
albums-as many as four and five a year-and
gasoline was cheap, allowing a (since extinct)
species called Sunday drivers to thrive.
Throughout the late '60s and into the '70s the
game became more prominent and even more
boring. During this period an organization
prospered whose purpose was to supress the ex-
citement generated by the Super Bowl. They
called themselves the Minnesota Vikings.
Led by a quarterback who passed his way onto
"That's Incredible,". the Vikings were deter-
mined to get the league to lower the price of
Super Bowl tickets by proving each year that the
ame could be worse than the last time they par-
icipated. It seems these guys got their opponen-
ts to play them during Arctic monsoons on sheets
of ice. But the league had the last laugh by
making them build a domed stadium that put
them on parity with the rest of the league.
But even the Vikings could't reduce the game's
snowballing popularity. By the mid-'70s the
game was an event with as much media
coverage asthe presidential election.
In the two weeks prior to the game newspapers
are flooded with "super" stories, and television
and radio sports reports always lead with in-
nocuous Super Bowl scoops. Then on Super Sun-
day we're hit with a two-hour, pre-game show.
What ever happened to Mutual of Omaha's Wild
Kingdom?
In the '80s the game has been taken over by the
television networks. It's moved closer to prime
time in order to command astronomical adver-
tisement fees. The Super Bowl is no longer the
NFL's championship game. It is an event which
is now in the hands of the media, most notably
the TV networks. The Super Bowl is similar to
your first X-rated movie. It's an event that you
anticipate greatly but seldom enjoy.
The bottom line is that people subscribe to this
excess of Super Bowl hype because they have
nothing better to do. Gasoline is no longer cheap,
and somehow Quiet Riot just doesn't replace the
Beatles.
SPORTS OF THE DAILY:
Grapplers stew Purdue; MSU next
SCOTT MCKINLAY
The Michigan wrestling team made it
four straight victories Sunday by
defeating Purdue at Crisler Arena, 32- .
11. The win brings Michigan's record to
5-5, while Purdue drops to 7-7.
Before the meet, Michigan head
coach Dale Bahr expected a difficult
battle.
"PURDUE HAS four or five very
strong wrestlers and they are one of ths
stronger teams in the conference," he
said. But the match started with a for-
feit against Michigan's William Waters
(118) and didn't get any easier for the
Boilermakers.
Joe MacFarland pinned Rod Robin-
son in the first .period .of the 126-
pounders and the Wolverines were on
their way to an impressive victory.
"I caught him on a tilt," MacFarland
said. ."He's only a freshman so 1 figured
I'd get it over with."
.IN THE THIRD match-up,
Michigan's Mike DerGarabedian and
Don Stokly wrestled to 4-4 draw. Pur-
due's Darren Grimwood beat Bill
Goodill (142), 4-3, in a hard fought and
very physical match. Then Brian Flack
(150) lost a decision to Boilermaker
Frank Patacsil and it looked as if Pur-
due was going to make a run at, the
Wolverines. But Michigan's Steve
Richards (158) beat Dave Lilovich and
the Wolverines never looked back.
Michigan's Kevin Hill (167) pinned Jeff
Seeger 3:52 into their match and sealed
Purdue's doom.
Bob Picchiotti (177) squeezed past
Wolverine Bill Elbin, 6-5, but by then it
was to late. Kurt Trost (190) helped
cushion the Wolverine lead by beating
Kurt Angell, 7-4. Rob Rechsteiner
(HWT) then pinned a sloppy Dave
Cravens to make the final score 32-11.
Bahr was happy with his team's most
recent victory. "We wrestled much bet-
ter today than yesterday (Sat. against
Illinois), he said. "I was pleased with
our performance. Steve Richards just.
} did a heck of a job beating their kid. He
was 22-6. It was much easier then I ex-
pected. We won big and the few we lost.
were very close." ,
THE NEXT ACTION for the
Wolverines is tonight, as they host
Michigan State at 7:30 p.m. in Crisler
Arena. MSU is ranked 11th in the nation
and also beat Purdue by the score of 32-
11.
"The team has been getting ready for
State for awhile, and our mental
preparedness, as a team, is up. It
should be a close match," MacFarland
said.
Bahr echoed the same sentiments,
saying, "Their top four or five
wrestlers are outstanding, but they've
got some big holes. It should be ex-
citing."
Badgers edge Tankers
According to coach Peter Lindsay, "a
;couple of touchouts" were all that stood
in the way last Friday of a second vic-
tory for the women' s swim team.
Several Maize and Blue tankers were
edged at the finish by Wisconsin swim-
mers, resulting in a 78-62 loss. The
Wolverines' record now stands at 1-4.
"THEY (THE BADGERS) were well-
prepared," said the first-year mentor.
"Not that we weren't. I think basically
we swam as good as we have all year."
Turning in outstanding performances
AP top Twenty
were Sue Cahill, who took first place in
the 400-meter individual medley, and
diver Mary Fischbach, who captured
the top spots in the one-meter board and
three-meter springboard events.
Kay Lundy earned a first-place finish
with a 10:22.5 in the 1000
freestyle-third best in the Big Ten.
The sophomore tanker almost collected
UPI Top Twenty
another first in the 500 freestyle, being
beaten at the wire by :05.03. Jane
Esselstyn won the 100 backstroke.
-JOE BOWER
AP Photo
At least this chief supporter of the Washington Redskins had something to cheer
about-that is, before the game started. For millions of viewers, however, the
Super Bowl was once again a disappointment as the L.A. Raiders scalped the
'Skins, 38-9.
- - m m - - Clip and save $1.00 m
1. N. Carolina (60).......
2. DePaul............
3. Kentucky.:............
4. Georgetown..........
5. Maryland............
6. Nevada-Las Vegas ..
7. Houston...............
8. Texas-El Paso.........
9. Illinois...............
10. Louisiana St........
11. Oklahoma...........
12. Tulsa.............
13. Memphis St.......... .
14. Louisville...........
15. UCLA ..............
16. Arkansas .......... .
17. Wake Forest.........
18. Georgia ...............
19. Virginia............
20. Syracuse............
14-0
14-0
14-2
15-2
13-2
16-1
16-3
15-1
13-2
11-3
15-2
16-1
12-3
11-4
11-3
15-2
12-3
12-3
12-2
12-3
1,200
1,130
1,053
989
915
855
844
770
723
450
431
415
376
373
367
323
245
194'
135
124
1. North Carolina (40) (14-0)
2. DePaul (14-0)
3. Kentucky (1) (14-2)
4. Georgetown (15-2)
5. Maryland (13-2)
6. Houston (16-3)
7. Illinois (13-2)
8. Texas-El Paso (16-1)
9. Nevada-Las Vegas (16-1)
10. Louisville (11-4)
11. Arkansas (15-2)
12 Oklahoma (15-2)
13. Tulsa (16-1)
14. Louisiana State (11-3)
15. Memphis. State (12-3)
16. UCLA (11-3)
17. Wake Forest (12-3)
18. Georgia (12-3)
19. Washington (13-3)
20. Oregon State (9-4)
614
566
482
441
379
312
299
289
285
149
129
124
118
105
96
61
56
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