Men's Basketball
vs. Ohio State
Tomorrow, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Crisler Arena
SPORTS
Wrestling
vs. Illinois
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Varsity Arena
The Michigan Daily,
Women gymnasts
beam to first place
Wednesday, January 17, 1990
Page 11
/ .Michigan's fans can
__r learn from Illini faithful
by Sarah Osburn
Daily Sports Writer
"The balance beam a lot of the
time will win a meet or lose a meet,
and we scored a 45.6 on balance
beam which is very good," Michigan
coach Beverly Fry said after the
women's gymnastics team's victory
at Western Michigan on Sunday.
The Wolverines recorded the top
three beam scores of the meet with a
9.30, a 9.50, and Debbie Geiger's
9.55. Michigan's solid performance
on the beam gave it an edge in the
overall competition, where it placed
first with 179.35 points. Northern
Illinois placed second with 178.05,
and Central Michigan and Western
Michigan tied for third with 177.9
points.
kiGeiger also scored the second
highest individual all-around score
with a 36.4 and Jennifer Hescott
finished third with a 35.6. "Bars is
still a little bit weak, but bars is
always the last event to come
around," Fry added. "I don't know if
that is because of the strength
involved or if it's just mental. But
our bars score did go up a whole
point from the intrasquad, but they
are still a whole point from where
they should be."
Despite a few breaks - like falls
from the beam and bars, and floor
routines with less than full tumbling
difficulty - Fry did find the fact that
the team could score 179.35
encouraging. But she emphasized
there is still much room for
improvement.
The Wolverines also won the
meet without help from their top all-
around gymnast, Christine Furlong,
who will be out at least another two
weeks due to injury.
"I'm looking forward to having a
really good season with Michigan
and I think that we are going to
surprise a lot of people," Fry
commented. "I think that the kids are
fired up now that they know what
they are capable of doing. We have
to go up against some tough teams
and I'm not saying that our win/loss
record is going to be all in the win
column, but we have a very good
chance of bettering our standing in
the Big Ten. And I think that we
have a decent shot at making it to
regionals."
I
by Steven Cohen
Daily Sports Writer
CHAMPAIGN- Dear Orange Crush:
Welcome back to school Fighting Illini fans. I hope everyone had a
great break and is ready to start the new semester.
Tonight is probably the most crucial game in the Big 10 we will face all
year. The Michigan Wolverines are a tough ball club with several key
players back from last year. However, the Illini will not be denied a
victory tonight because they are back home amongst 242 of the rowdiest
fans in the country. We, as Orange Crush, must be intimidating tonight,
we have to rally the Illini if they ever -get in trouble and become a
dominating factor in the game. So get your vocal chords ready!!......
In Lou We Trust
Barry Beaupr
-A memo distributed on Illinois' courtside seats Monday night.
The aforementioned Orange Crush, an offshoot of the Illini Pride, an or-
ganization active in Illini athletics, didn't intimidate the Wolverines into
their eleventh straight loss at Assembly Hall or inspire the Fighting Illini
into their 15th straight home Big Ten victory and 29th straight overall
conquest.
But they did have a great time trying.
A visit to any of the other Big Ten arenas provides a sharp contrast to
Crisler Arena. But though I was long aware that other schools' supporters
are invariably more vocal and active, it didn't really affect me until I
actually attended another Big Ten game.
Michigan's more ardent fans have often been heard praising the fans at
Duke, Indiana, and Illinois, among others.
But rather than view their claims as merely their desire for people to
have more fun at the games, I looked at it from another viewpoint.
The cynical one.
"Okay," I would think to myself, "so Michigan's fans aren't the-loudest
in the world. I am not a big fan of blind conformity anyway. Look at
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and other schools with supporters who bleed
their school colors. Their schools are now on probation."
Monday night's game assured me, that if done right, avid fan support is
indeed a very healthy thing.
Though providing your team with an advantage is certainly an
admirable goal, a major purpose of big-time college athletics is to
entertain.
A student who attends a sporting event should not be expected to be a
cheering soldier for his school. He or she attends to enjoy the event as
well. So to belittle Michigan's supporters because they don't inspire the
Wolverines enough and aren't that loud, is somewhat improper and
misdirects the attention.
The fans at Illinois, Indiana, and Duke, are loud and active because the
atmosphere makes it easy for them to do so. All of these schools receive
the support of the school's athletic department and the arena.
The athletic department at Michigan is making great strides to improve
the atmosphere at basketball games. For the first time ever, a student
section came complimented with the Michigan band which is situated next
to the student section and has never sounded better.
plethora of winter
* TM activities slated
by Eric Berkman
illy Sports Writer
Weekend athletes will have the
opportunity to work off some
holiday fat as the winter intramural
sports season moves into full swing
this month.
Open division ice hockey began
Monday night at Yost arena. Games
are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday nights
between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Michael Jordan wanna-be's can
hit the courts as basketball
competition begins Friday, January
19. Divisions represented include
fraternities, sororities, independents,
residence halls, 5'9"-and-under,
women, and co-rec. The majority of
the competition will occur at the IM
building.
A variety of water sports are
available as well this term.
Fraternity inner tube water polo
begins Sunday, January 21 at the IM
pool. Additionally, residence hall and
all-campus swimming and diving
tournaments will be held on
Tuesday, January 30 in the Canham
Natatorium at 6:45 p.m. The
fraternity competition will take place
in the Canham Natatorium at the
same time on January 31.
Michigan center Terry Mills helped the Wolverines snap a 10-game
losing streak at Illinois' Assembly Hall with 18 points and 10 rebounds in
the Wolverine, 74-70, defeat in Champaign Monday evening.
The new $750,000 scoreboard with graphics, and monitors at
concession stands has also helped improve the environment.
But in many other areas, the surroundings differ from most Big Ten
schools. For one, Michigan fields about half as many cheerleaders as other
schools, and several other schools feature a dancing troupe regularly.
On Monday a magician, Chief Illiniwek, and his dancers dressed as the
Blues Brothers and performed at halftime.
Michigan's athletic department should consider which direction it
wishes to take in order to improve crowd support. It has proved itself
willing to make changes thus far. Now it has to decide whether more
changes are desirable, let alone feasible.
At hoop-crazy Indiana, students must submit to a lottery for tickets and
then may attend only four Big Ten games. At least at Michigan, every
student who wishes to purchase season tickets can.
Though the top-notch caliber of Michigan's basketball team is
entertainment enough for many fans, the fans who desire more excitement
should not be expected to bear the burden of entertaining themselves.
New
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