Women's Basketball vs. Northern Michigan November 24, 2:00 p.m. P OR TS Michigan vs. Ohio St. Televised by CBS Saturday, 12 noon Crisler Arena 1V 11 l-. he Michigan Daily Friday, November 16,1984 Page 'M' Dreamer: Anderson hungry to cap lifetime fantasy with a Buckeye cr By MIKE MCGRAW It is not uncommon to find players on Michigan's football team who grew up dreaming of wearing the Maize and Blue and playing in Michigan Stadium. But as linebacker Tim Anderson was growing up, those dreams were so close he could touch them-and often did. Because Anderson did his dreaming from the front row of bleachers in the north end zone of Michigan Stadium where she spent many a Saturday afternoon in the 70's. "MY INITIAL motivation for coming here came when I was younger and my brothers and I idolized the Don Dufeks and Ron Simpkins that played for Michigan," said Anderson, who hails from Ann Arbor's northwest side. "We'd play football and pretend we were those guys." Anderson admits to missing only about five games in that 10-year span of Wolverine football. It was a weekly tradition for all the guys in his neigh- borhood to go to the games. And despite not having tickets, they always managed to get in. "When I was really young I would stand at the gate and people would feel sorry for me and give me tickets," said the 6-2, 218-pounder, who remembers all the old Ohio State games as well. "THOSE GAMES were hard to get in- to," he said. But there would be a lot of older guys in high school who would come to the game with wirecutters and cut holes in the fence." Once in the ballyard, Anderson and his buddies, which included former Wolverine safety Keith Bostic, would congregate in the first few rows behind the goalposts, a place unpopular with the students so there was always room. "The big thing when I was little, was to run on the field and avoid the police," said Anderson. "The big goal every game was to get on the field. then we would watch "Michigan Replay" the next day to see if you could see your- self." ANDERSON HAD intended all along to play football at Michigan, whether he received a scholarship or not. But when he began his senior season at Pioneer High School, he was being recruited heavily by Syracuse and schools in the Mid-America Conference. "I was getting other offers and wasn't sure I wanted to give my parents the burden of paying for my college," said the fifth-year senior. "But most schools I told right off that I wasn't interested." But the visions of playing college football clouded after the fifth game of the Pioneers' schedule that season, when Anderson's high school career ended with a severe knee injury. "I HAD ALREADY scheduled a visit to Iowa for the week after I got hurt," recalled Anderson. "Their coach called me up in the hospital and said to just get better and he'd get back to me but he never did. Then I got a letter in February saying due to the injury, they couldn't offer me a scholarship but in- vited me to walk on. I didn't like that." Later, though, Bo Schembechler asked him to walk across the street and onto the Wolverines and the 18-year plan of attending Michigan became of- ficial. Anderson spent his freshman year rehabilitating his knee, but he finally got his chance to get in a game against Notre Dame in 1981. I REMEMBER it was really sunny that day and I could see the sun reflec- ting off their gold helmets and the stands were full," Anderson said. "I was nervous, but was able to concen- trate on the game." Anderson's playing career really took off last season after Mike Boren went down with a knee injury. He started the last six games of 1983 and tied for fifth on the team in tackles. This year has been an even bigger one for number 57 as he is currently second on the team in stops with 81, trailing only fellow inside linebacker Mike Mallory. THE SCRIPT has evolved almost as though it was written by a grade school- sized Wolverine fan. But the five years of play have been far from living a dream for Anderson. "It hasn't been like a fantasy since I've been here," he said. "There's a lot of hard work and a lot of pressure on you to earn a job. That takes a lot of dream-like qualities out of it." However difficult it has been here for Anderson, it will be time for him to wake up soon. "To win the game we've got to stop (tailback Keith) Byars," said Ander- son. "We're going to have to swarm him to bring him down. He's probably the be The even loss1 Michi proba game "If highli havew and w bigger T r ushing est back in the country right now. task ahead of the Wolverines is greater when you consider that a to the Buckeyes would leave dgan with a 6-5 record and' bly without an invitation to a bowl we win this week, it would be the ght of my career," Anderson said. ve had a lot of injuries, people been down on us, So to come back win this week would be one of the st wins over Ohio State ever." Daily Photo by DAN HABIB Senior linebacker Tim Anderson zeroes in on Minnesota quarterback Brett Sadek in Michigan's 31-7 victory last Saturday. Anderson will be trying to fulfill his childhood dreams tomorrow by wreaking havoc in Ohio State's backfield. Harriers go for title By STEVE HERZ Perhaps Dorothy has been giving Michigan cross country coach Ron Warhurst and his team some lessons. After all, the team has been following the yellow brick road to success all season. It has led them to the NCAA finals this Monday in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University, where the top 21 cross country teams in America will face off. THE HEAVY favorite, Wisconsin, has been a thorn in Michigan's side all season. Although the Maize and Blue surprised the Badgers in the Big Ten finals, the boys from Madison asserted themselves in the NCAA districts with a convincing victory last weekend in Champaign. Speaking of Champaign, Illinois has been a constant threat, finishing higher than Michigan both times the teams met this year. There will be stiff competition from all areas of the nation. From the west, the top teams are Arizona, Brigham Young, and Utah. But Warhurst is not particularly con- cerned with these teams as they traditionally fair poorly in the finals. Said Warhurst, "Their times simply aren't that good." FROM THE south, Tennessee emerges as the real threat. The Volun- teers are the defending champions and they breezed through their regular season. Auburn should not be forgotten, racing in the same conference as Ten- nessee. From the east, Georgetown has had a shaky season but is always a threat in long distance races. I '2nrd nract -- ~ ~ K