0 Page 22 - The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition - Thursday, September 7, 1989 Richard Eisen Where's the dotted line? With these salaries, I'll sign To hell with trying to get a Bachelor of Arts degree. Gimme a ball, a stick, a bat, some athletic ability or something like that. With the way sports salaries are rising, someone with my rebounding prowess could probably. make over a million a year. Before you know it, former Piston and freak of nature Chuck Nevitt will be making a pot of gold. Quarterback Rusty Hilger, who couldn't even make the pathetic Lions roster, should be staring a million dollar contract right in the face. Who knows? Maybe Ed Kranepool could be lured out of retirement by the New York Mets with a multi-year contract. And huge signing bonuses. What do you think? In a world where a lummox like Atlanta Hawks pinerider/center Jon Koncak can make more money than Larry Bird, anything can happen. Sports salaries have escalated to insane, dizzying heights and there seems no way to stop the process. Awesome athletes are making two to four mill- ion dollars a year while mediocre ones are garnering million dollar wages. Even more insane are the ages of these millionaire athletes. For instance, at the ripe age of 23, Dallas Cowboy rookie Troy Aikman just walked out of UCLA into a six-year 11.037 million dollar contract. How many Michigan seniors are going to graduate into a two million per year job? How many would be happy with practically any job? And there's no bitterness involved. As a matter of fact, if Aikman can make over two million a year, then more power to him. The beef here is that even though the owners pay the salaries, the people who eventually pay are the fans. The fact that ticket prices have soared with salaries is no coincidence. Concessions prices have gone through the roof, as well. Nowadays, eating a few dogs and swigging some drinks at the game requires liquidating all assets and hocking the house. Sell the kids, honey. I want some nachos. To add insult to injury, some athletes receiving these wealthy contracts don't even deserve it. Koncak, the eighth or ninth man on the Hawks 12-man depth chart, will be making over two million dollars this upcoming season. For some inexplicable reason, the Pistons signed the free-agent Koncak, who last year received $750,000 as a backup, to a one year offer sheet for $2.5 million. Even weirder, the Hawks then counteroffered and signed the reserve to an astronomical six year, $13.1 million contract. Guess no one will be signing Koncak to any more offer sheets. Guess his sterling '88 stats of 4.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game was cause enough for the outrageous raise. In other words, a man usually in charge of pouring the Gatorade for the team will eventually cause Hawks fans to fork over some more cash. The Denver Nuggets did their Pistons imitation this off-season when they signed Portland point guard Terry Porter to an insane offer sheet. Although Porter is a solid player, he's surely not worth the $2.2 million a year that Portland will pay him. NBA owners seem to have been sniffing the same stuff this winter. Porter's making more cash than All-Star point guards Isiah Thomas, Mark Jackson and John Stockton. Wonder how much they'll get when their contracts run out? Basketball isn't the only sport that's spiraling out of control. When the Mets' acquired Frank Viola, it gave the Mets' pitching staff a larger yearly salary than the entire Chicago White Sox. Just as crazy, the Mets also awarded Howard Johnson a multi-million dollar contract during what may be only a career year. Who knows? With the way the Mets are doling out the cash, maybe Kranepool might come back. And maybe that'll push them past the Cubs. Nah. BROWN Brown finished as a Wolverine; inexperience plagues backup quarterbacks Continued from Page 1 just the right guy to lead this team." Players seemed surprised at the loss of Brown. "A lot of times these situations are exaggerated, but this time it wasn't an exaggeration," said running back Leroy Hoard who himself has had academic problems. "It's hard to think about, and I'm worried about how he's handling it. I was surprised though that he won't be able to play." Brown guided the Wolverines to victories over Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio State last season before leading Michigan to a 22-7 Rose Bowl victory over USC. He completed over 57 percent of his passes, good enough to lead the conference in passing efficiency. Brown rebounded from a poor showing as a starter in 1987 when he threw a school record 16 interceptions, to go 105 consecutive attempts without throwing an interception last season. He broke his throwing hail! in spring drills this year, after missing the start of fall drills last year with academic problems. Blue Banter -With defensive tackle Warde Manuel out for the season, Chris Hutchinson and Mike Evans are running neck-and-neck for the starting berth. Joe Cocozzo appears to have the inside track to start at right guard, while the center position remains up for grabs between Matt Elliott and Steve Everitt. "Both guys are doing a good job in there," Schembechler said. - Starting offensive tackle Greg Skrepanek weighed in at a svelte 340 pounds. The athletic department does not have scales which go that high, Associated Press Top 25 r -.41 - .4 . ,; ,' tf 4r 1 .4 '., i tl * F 1 4 ;"4 Demetrius Brown won't heave the long bomb anymore at Michigan Stadium. Last month, Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler announced that Brown was ineligible and would not be on the team. so they took Skrepanek over to the Moving and Storage Company for weigh in. The added weight is nothing new to Skrepanek, who said, "I've always been big. I'm used to big body parts." - Starting fullback Jarrod Bunch "will emerge," according to Schembechler. "Bunch is going to exert himself this year. He's going to emerge... People don't understand this Bunch is 241 pounds and he runs as fast as Leroy Hoard." - Injury update: Safety Dave Ritter (broken right hand), linebackers J.J. Grant (shoulder), Erick Anderson (ankle), Marc Spencer (knee), and Alex Marshall (bruised kidney), and tailback Allen Jefferson (leg). - Schembechler on next week's match up between Number One and Number Two: "It doesn't mean a whole lot." Schembechler on Notre Dame's showing in the Kickoff Classic: "I thought they looked formidable." - With the Fighting Irish's 33-13 victory over Virginia, Notre Dame leaped past the Wolverines to claim the top spot in this week's Associated Press poll. SIr I Cal74-355 THE MICHIGAN.DAILY I PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (clip and save) III IIII Come see us for your clothing and alteration needs Vah an's 311 E. Liberty 622-7888 Mon-Sat 9-5:30 Fri. 9-8:30 Parking available in our driveway HALL MOVING Quality Moving Since 1973 994-0144 PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MID-MICHIGAN "We're here when you need us." 3100 Professional Dr. Ann Arbor - 973-0710 T BOZaSHOPPE " Package Shipping " Shipping Envelopes and Containers " Moving Boxes North Campus Plaza 1747 Plymouth Rd. - 668-6455 Karate-do -"Kung-fu - Aikido 201 North Fourth Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan Near Campus 994-3620 Philosophic Art / Practical Self-defense INQUIRY Continued from Page 20 livered to Schembechler's office on July 12. The letter called for Mid- daugh to be given a "full and com- plete hearing prior to any action by the university." Middaugh met for nearly eight hours earlier this spring with Big Ten investigator John Park and ath- letic department trouble-shooter Jeff Long, who has conducted the Uni- versity's investigation. During that meeting, Middaugh answered questions and supplied the investigators with personal and business records. Middaugh was placed under a gag order by Schembechler until the close of the investigation. The gag order forbade Middaugh from dis- cussing the investigation with cur- rent or former players, employees in the athletic department, or members of the media. However, Gandelot argued against such an order in his letter to Schem- bechler. I, ,' " CUSTOM CLOTHING , r Ii " DESIGN 111 " ALTERATIONS " SPECIALTY SEWING ou can have what you want! (M 995-5378 M-F 10-6 IH I[A IIH1I ' IPLA ED t r c t c i i "Allegations based on upon re- ports of what an individual,,often.- unnamed, said to an investigator are clearly hearsay.' "For Bud not to have the oppor- g tunity to speak to those who may be 1 accusing him of wrongdoing makes d it impossible for him to prepare a 4 response." Michigan, which has never had an athletic program punished for k rules violations, was first notified of the Big Ten investigation last sum- e mer. The investigation was started fol- lowing complaints from coaches in . the Big Ten and the Mid-American conference, along with major league scouts. Middaugh has been Michigan's baseball coach for ten seasons. Dur- ing that span, his teams have com- piled a record of 465-146-1, which makes him the second winningest coach in Wolverine history. His teams have won six conference championships in addition to mak- ing four appearances in the College World Series. ..Y4 nd's More Oo la la this sis boom ba] 1 IA:. Store after store for every student body: Jeans, skirts, jackets, sneaks, baggy slacks, sweaters; even calculators, notebooks, backpacks, and records. - All in more price ranges than you can shake a pom-pom at. Everybody yell, "Oo la la!" Watch for Arborlan i