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 ._..