4 Baseball vs. Bowling Green Today, 3 p.m. Ray Fisher Stadium SPORTS Softball vs. Wayne State Tomorrow, 3 p.m. Varsity Diamond The Michigan Daily Mike Gill Where is the sacred game going? Wade Boggs and Margo's sex life, Steve Garvey breeding like a triple crown winner, and Pete Rose putting his legendary career in jeopardy. Baseball has its problems. Added to those is the story developing right here about Bud Middaugh and his Michigan baseball team. It hits hard, real hard, like one of those suction cup arrows which lands right in the middle of one's forehead. This is Michigan, son. Who hasn't heard that line before? These things aren't supposed to happen at Michigan. Michigan and Northwestern are the only Big Ten schools that have never had an athletic team sanctioned by the conference or the NCAA. But now, a huge cloud of dust sprawls around the program as the Big Ten investigates 28 instances of alleged improprieties in recruiting and other practices. There are plenty of questions being asked and as many rumors surrounding the purported activities as there are kernels on a cob of corn. The facts have yet to be defined - yet something must be happening if Middaugh's fellow colleagues from Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, and Illinois have asked the Big Ten to investigate. Middaugh has enjoyed quite a successful stay at Michigan. This season he will be attempting to capture his seventh Big Ten title in ten years as coach. The numbers are of legendary proportion. Yet, now, if these allegations become fact, you just want to say: "Who the hell cares?" Tuesday, March 28, 1989 Page 10 A Sports problems can hit home at Michigan If the program is dragged into the ground due to possible illegal misdoing involving recruiting, it black-eyes an awful lot of people. It doesn't just stop at the head coach, or any other misdoer of action. It affects every single player who has ever walked through the Michigan baseball program. They are suspected of wrongdoing, if not immediately convicted, just by association. Jim Abbott, Chris Sabo, Barry Larkin to name of few, will have to dust off their uniform. It also affects you, whether or not you are a sports fan, or supporter of Michigan athletics. While the University may be well-known for its strong pursuit of academic excellence, you don't see that every Saturday afternoon on television. Many people form their image of a school by their sports teams. Former Athletic Director Don Canham and current AD and football coach Bo Schembechler have built the athletic program to signify one of extreme honesty. You don't embarrass the program. Notice that Bill Frieder no longer resides in Ann Arbor. Middaugh is in hot water to say the least, pending the outcome of the investigation. He definitely needs to answer to his players. They deserve better. A coach sets the example. More takes place in a locker room than mapping out x's and o's, or how to lay down the perfect suicide squeeze. Each team is told: "You represent Michigan athletics. Represent them well." When a player is in public they have extreme consciousness of this fact. Well, Middaugh also represents 'M' athletics. And you have to wonder if he deserves to be. Steve Blonder RI-a~ T~ 2 I Yes, real basketball __ fans exist in Michigan cplunuw runuclao F For Saturday's game against Virginia, Rupp Arena was jammed with Michigan supporters. Everywhere you turned, be it outside the arena before the game, or inside Rupp's corridors, maize and blue was the norm. The crowd did not resemble the likes of any home crowd for a Michigan basketball game this season. This crowd actually cheered, hooted, and hollered in support of the Wolverines, who looked like they could have beaten Virginia blindfolded. My question is simple - Why do fans have to drive 325 miles to a town better known for horses than Wolverines to get excited over a basketball game? Tickets for the weekend cost $18 a game, as opposed to the home price of $10. All season long, Crisler Arena crowds could best be compared to the inhabitants of a county morgue, and not followers of a top five basketball program. For half the games, the crowds couldn't even make it to Crisler on time. When the fans did show up, the only times they displayed emotion was when ex-coach Bill Frieder was announced, and that response was not exactly positive. The loudest home crowd of the season was against Iowa, when most students were off enjoying spring break. But this weekend was different. Many hundreds of students made the trip to Lexington, and the result was obvious. Students didn't sit on their hands and wait to be invited to cheer like they do at home, nor did they show up after the 1:58 starting time. The Michigan fans at the game, most of whom were students, began congregating in the streets and local drinking establishments around Rupp at 8:30 a.m. It was like the game was being played in Ann Arbor, and not some foreign state. Students didn't care where they were sitting, people were just glad to get in and watch Michigan handle the Cavaliers. Virginia fans didn't even get excited when their cheerleaders tried to get a "Go Virginia" chant going. It was like the two schools' fans had switched roles. But why don't the fans make a ruckus at home? Many students say the lack of a clearly defined student section is the cause. Frieder agreed, even going so far at one press conference to suggest, "making the old folks go sit at the top," and replacing the blue section with benches which students could fill on a first come, first serve basis. But there wasn't a clearly defined student section in Lexington, and most students were sitting in the nose-bleed section of the balcony. Michigan's weak home schedule doesn't justify the lack of response either. This year, one of the other Final Four teams, and three other NCAA tournament teams, none of whom were eliminated in the first round, visited Crisler. But judging by the reaction of the home folk, the visitors might as well have been Northwestern every game. Michigan fans have now shown that they understand a home court is supposed to be an advantage. Or else they are suggesting Michigan reschedule its home basketball games in Kentucky. ALL YOU CAN EAT ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA SPAGHETTI Tuesday& DINNER WednesdaySunda $3.75 $4.50 6-9 5-9 CORNER OF STATE AND HILL 994-4040 Tickets 1Bball 4 _a The LSA Student Government Speaker Series Presents: Sponsored by The Maduigan Student Ammbiy Dr. Arthur Schlesi nger Former Advisor to President John F. Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize Winner Wednesday, March 29 8:00 pm - Power Center A damThe Schef's Specialty There they were, clustered together in front of the ticket office on State Street, between Yost Ice Arena and the Athletic Department, like starving children waiting in a bread line. Michigan basketball fans waiting for their meal ticket to Seattle's Final Four. The line began to form after Saturday's win over Virginia. The line grew and grew and then some. But despite the size of the group, and the stakes being so high, there were no security guards stationed. There were no sawhorses to make sure people stayed in a line. There was nothing to help control the potential mess. Isn't this Michigan? A school that supposedly can afford anything. The least they could have done was buy turnomatic machine from a bakery, where each student would take a number and be served accordingly. Someone should have informed the athletic department that eleven people were killed in Cincinnati during 1978 in a mad rush for Who concert tickets? So when one door to the building opened at 7 a.m. Monday morning, it isn't hard to imagine what happened. Students all crammed into the room, as if only two or three would be lucky enough to get tickets. People who didn't even sleep out for tickets snuck in the side door. People towards the back of the line cropped up and powered their way into the office. All while an older man sat at the door and futilely urged students to relax, that their would be tickets for everyone. It did not matter. The room filled. The temperature rose. Elbows flew. It would have been more Athletic deparment bungled ticket sales comfortable to have been Salman Rushdie in a room full of Iranians. And pity the person who had to stand in front of the guy who had been waiting all night and hadn't seen an ounce of Aquafresh in hours. An equivalent: the University saying, "OK, CRISP is Wednesday morning. No scheduled times necessary. No ropes needed to keep students in line. Just come on down. You'll all get classes." Can you imagine? Students would be throwing each other to the ground like Sumo wrestlers to get the classes they wanted. This was no different; upper and lower level seats in the Kingdome were at stake. Shame on the athletic department. They say the situation will be handled differently next time. They said the same thing last week after a ticket war for the regional finals not nearly as bloody as yesterday's. Look what happened. And while we are at it, let's not forget the students that waited on line solely to sell their tickets to scalpers who could care less if Michigan wins the tournament. If Bo found out who you were, he'd send his offensive linemen after you. After all, Michigan is allotted 2,000 tickets. With those seats, it is the job of Michigan fans to make as much noise as possible. Certainly the fans were instrumental in Lexington this past weekend. Ask any of the players. Now when they take the floor this weekend, there'll be less fans who have their faces painted. There won't be as much maize and blue. And the new fans won't know the words to the Victors either. Look who choked this year. A terrible way to start a wonderful week. '-M' looks* to down Falcons BY DAVID HYMAN The Michigan baseball team (12- 4) looks to continue its seven-game winning streak today at 3 p.m., when Bowling Green comes into Ray Fisher Stadium. Finishing their last week of play before the Big Ten season, the Wolverines are preparing for Saturday's conference opener against Northwestern. Righthander Jason Pfaff (0-1) will take the mound for the Wolverines today. He is a newcomer and is looking to break into the starting rotation that currently includes lefty Ross Powell and righthanders Mike Grimes, Tim Lata and Jeff Tanderys. "If they throw well, I'll get them out early and if they're not (throwing well), I'll let them throw a little longer," Michigan coach Bud Middaugh said referring to Pfaff, Kirt Ojala and Russell Brock. Ojala and Brock are expected to start in tomorrow's twinbill against Western Michigan and are also looking to break into the rotation with some solid pitching this week. The Falcons are 8-2 after having gone 6-2 on their spring trip, earning coach Ed Platzer his 200th career win. Kelly Hochman has a .361 average and is looking to increase his hitting streak to seven games and nine in the last 11. Scott Schoemer leads the Falcons in batting at .424 and has 9 RBIs. 4 Admission is Free Take a long hard look into your future... On March 30th and 31st in the Michigan Union, the interfraternity council will sponsor it's fifth annual COMPUFAIR. This computer trade show is designed to bring to the Ann Arbor community, the opportunity to investigate the latest computer hardware and software. If you are contemplating a purchase in the near future, for components or an entire system, you owe it to yourself to get the best possible products from the finest in computer manufacturing. COMPUFAIR 1989 Read NCAA Coverage From -IEli NE7W EUI 14