The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 2, 1986-tPage 9
Thunder and Lightning key Badger
D'
By ROB HERNANDEZ
The Wisconsin Daily Cardinal
MADISON - When the 80,000
fans seated in Camp Randall
Stadium for Saturday night's
nationally-televised game
between Michigan and
Wisconsin hear the sounds of
Thunder or see flashes of
Lightning, it may not necessarily
be coming from the sky.
Although it has rained in the
Madison area for the last month
and such aerial activity is
becoming commonplace, the
forecast for Saturday night's
game calls for clear skies and
cool temperatures.
WHEN the the game begins,
the Thunder and Lighting fans
Can expect to see will be in the
form of Badger outside
linebackers Rick "Thunder"
Graf and Tim "Lightning'
Jordan.
At 6-5, 242-pounds and 6-3, 220-
pounds respectively, Graf and
Jordan threaten opposing
quarterbacks every week. How-
ever, Graf and Jordan will be the
first to tell you that they aren't the
type to purposely inflict pain on
the quarterback, even when that
quarterback is a tempting prey
like Michigan's Jim Harbaugh.
"Week-in and week-out, I treat
the quarterback the same," Graf
sisted. "I just want to get my job
done. You don't have to sack the
guy . Just putting pressure on the
quarterback can be as effective."
SO WHEN Harbaugh and the
Wolverines roll into Madison
Saturday night, that will be
exactly what Thunder and
Lightning and the Badger
defense will seek to do.
"He's a good back, a nifty back
and he moves around pretty
good," Jordan said of Harbaugh.
"He's shown us he's a good
player. We're just going to have to
get after him and do what we do
best."
The Madison natives have
contained quarterbacks ever
since their high schoo 1 days.
"WE WENT to different high
schools, but we knew each other
around our sophomore year,"
Jordan recalled. "When we came
here, we just got to know each
other even better."
Soon after Graf and Jordan
came to Wisconsin, Madison
sportswiter Mike Lucas labeled
them "Thunder and Lightning."
"When we both started our
freshman year, everybody was
trying to make up a name for us,"
Graf said. "Mike Lucas started
Thunder and Lightning and
everybody sort of picked up on it."
REGULARS on the Badger
defense since then, Graf and
Jordan have registered 43 tackles
for losses (good for -243 yards)
during their three-plus years at
Wisconsin. So when one or the
other is out of the lineup - both
have suffered injuries the last two
years - their absence is felt.
In 1985, Graf's season ended
six games into the year when he
injured his knee against
Northwestern. Wisconsin, 3-2
entering that contest, lost to the
Wildcats 17-14 and went 2-3 after
that.
This year, Jordan injured his
knee during preseason drills and
had to sit out the first two games of
the year. Wisconsin has been
unable to get untracked since.
Thunder and Lightning were
reunited two weeks ago in the
Badger's 17-7 loss at Nevada-Las
Vegas. After suffering their
second consecutive loss, 21-12 last
week at home against Wyoming,
Graf and Jordan are ready to
reverse that trend against
Michigan. Still, they know that
task won't be easy against the
fourth-ranked Wolverines.
"You can only prepare for
Michigan one way and that's to
get ready," Graf said, "because Bo
Schembechler is going to have his
players ready to play Wisconsin
no matter what our record is."
/MIA
Graf and Jordan
... can 'M' weather their storm?
THE SPORTING VIEWS
By ADAM OCHLIS
I know it's not basketball season. However, los
in the shuffle of baseball and football are a coup]
of NBA trades that have me wondering just ho,
stupid a front office can be.
In case you didn't hear, former Michigan star
Tim McCormick was traded Monday along wit
Danny Vranes from Seattle to Philadelphia fc
Clemon Johnson and a future No. 1 draft pick. Th
next day, Seattle acquired Piston John Long is
exchange for two second-round picks.
While neither you nor I give two iotas about th
Sonics, the ineptitude of their management boggle
the mind.
This is a team that failed to make the playoff
last year, quite an accomplishment nowadays, y<
they are rebuilding their franchise by trading fc
age.
McCormick, who turned pro after his junic
season at Michigan, has played well in his thr
years out of college. If anything, be has justifies
his selection as a No. 1 draft pick. In fact,'Seatt
dealt away Jack Sikma, their center and be:
player, in another bonehead move to MilwaukE
during the winter, to make room for McCormick.
Vranes, on the other hand, has not performe
like the first-rounder he was the same year. He i
however, a good little player who can play defem
and bury a jumper on occasion.
And who in the hell is Clemon Johnson? Besid(
being a seven-footer who could never shoot and h:
trouble rebounding against players half his siz
the man is over-the-hill. In his mid-30s, Johnson
washed up. Useless. His only good attribute is thz
he adds another player to the league with the la
name Johnson.
True, Seattle received a first-round pick, but it
annually one of the lowest in the draft.
Making a bad trade is all part of the busines
F
ront office moves...
.. halt success
Every team makes them. But what gets me is that
they followed that deal with another bad one the
very next day.
John Long is not a terrible player, but he too, is
facing a career crisis. When he was young he
could light up the arena with his jump shot.
But 30 years old does not constitute young
anymore - not in the NBA. Last year he rotted
away on the Piston bench and if Seattle had waited
until training camp was in full tilt, they could
have had him at a cheaper price.
What was Seattle thinking about? I don't know,
but to make sure they'd throw their franchise back
even further, they signed Maurice Lucas off
waivers Tuesday. Lucas proved to Las Angeles
that his best years were 10 years ago in Portland.
Perhaps Seattle management learned the tricks
of the trade from Jimmy Devallano, the Red
Wings General Manager.
While not as severe as some of his other
mistakes, Devallano's recent blunder epitomizes
his inability to run a front office.
Last Sunday, the Wings played an exhibition
game against Toronto at Yost Ice Arena. In what
was unofficially dubbed as "Ted Spears' return to
Ann Arbor," the 4-4 tie had everything the 4,000-
plus fans could want - except Ted Spears.
The Ann Arbor native and University of
Michigan product had been sent to the minors the
week before the game.
Did Devallano and the Wings forget that Spears
was supposed here to attract fans? Are the Red
Wings so talented that they had to send him down a
week early? Are many of the people running pro
sports organizations mindless and incompetent
and making' a farce of sports management?
I don't know about the first two, but the answer to
the third is an emphatic YES!
MSU cited for ticket violations
EAST LANSING (AP) -
Righteen Michigan State
University football players have
been stripped of some of their free
game passes because they violated
NCAA rules, Athletic Director
Doug Weaver said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Michigan Athletic
Director Don Canham refused to
discuss his review of free pass
practices, while Eastern
Michigan and Western
Michigan officials said they
found no violations of the
complimentary ticket rule.
FOOTBALL PLAYERS
receive four tickets per game. The
National Collegiate Athletic
Association lets players give those
tickets to relatives, family
members and fellow students but
bars them from selling or giving
the passes to anyone else.
The university voluntarily
informed the NCAA of the
infractions. Under NCAA
guidelines, the players won't lose
any eligibility but will lose one
ticket -per infraction. Weaver
would not say how many
violations were found.
Officials at Nebraska, Iowa,
Tennessee, Auburn, Vanderbilt,
Alabama and Florida also have
disclosed that some of their
players violated the ticket rule.
STEVE MALLONEE of the
NCAA's legislative services
division said he didn't know how
many other schools had violated
the free ticket policy.
"Last Friday was the deadline
for schools to turn themselves in,"
he said. "If we were to find any
violations that weren't disclosed,
we'd turn the matter over to
enforcement."
"PYTHON"PISI
ABOUT
EXWRESTLE
ER LITE
; .;:. ;;> .,iii//!ss ._..