10 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 24, 1994 Lacrosse looks ahead to weekend tourney Wolverines seek top seed for defense of conference championship By ELISA SNEED DAILY SPORTS WRITER This weekend, the Michigan men's lacrosse team travels to Bloomington for the Big Ten East- ern Division Tournament. But it's not really a tournament at all. "When you think of a tournament, you think of people winning, and coming out with trophies," Michigan coach Bob DiGiovanni said. "That's not what this is." DiGiovanni said the team prefers to think of this weekend as the Eastern Division playoffs. The Wolverines will get the opportunity to scout and play against other members of the Eastern Division - Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois. That is crucial because seedings for the Big Ten Championships, held in mid-April, are determined by a team's won-loss record against the other teams in its division. Since travel and scheduling can pose some dif- ficulties, "tournaments" such as this are set up so schools can play against the teams they haven't scheduled during the rest of the season. Because of this, some teams have scheduled three games this weekend, but Michigan will only play against Purdue and Indiana. Although Indiana has not posed much of a threat to the Wolverines for several years, Purdue has perennially been a strong opponent. While the Wolverines have been winning the Big Ten club title the past four years, Purdue has presented a major challenge, finishing second or third in the conference. "Purdue will be a strong team," DiGiovanni said. "They've always got a strong team, but I'm hoping we can go undefeated (in the Big Ten). Some of our biggest challenges are behind us." The most difficult challenges were the games against Ohio State -a varsity team which dealt the Wolverines their only loss - and the Detroit city league team Michigan played earlier this season. While the competition is no longer the largest threat to the Wolverines, injuries still are. "On defense, we're three-deep in every posi- tion," DiGiovanni said. "But we've got people hurt from before our spring trip and from the trip. We're short on middies and attack." The Wolverines started the season with seven attackmen and are now down to four. They will also lose some players returning home for Pass- over. DiGiovanni saidthegames won't beeasy with- out a full roster because although the team still has several strong defensemen, the middies are a key to stopping opponents from scoring. "If the middies get tired, the other team gets through and you get people waiting down there for easy goals," he said. "It's not going to be a cakewalk, but I expect we'll do well." Archer hears new stadium DETROIT (AP) -Mayor Dennis Archer and top Detroit Tigers offi- cials met into the wee hours yesterday and came out smiling but not reveal- ing whether Archer will support pro- posals for a new ballpark. 'They were able to answer all my questions, and I raised all the ques- tions that I indicated I would raise when I met with the Tiger Stadium Fan Club," Archer said after the meet- ing. Archer said he would announce at tomorrow'sCity Council meeting whether he believes the Tigers should get a new stadium orwhethertheoldone-builtin 1912--should stay inuse. "We're very optimistic," Tigers vice president Atanas Ilitch said. "We're going to give them some time to give it some thought." The late-night briefing was given by seven Tigers representatives, in- cluding a stadium architect and urban planner. Team owner Mike Ilitch did not attend. Along with a hard pitch, the mayor got detailed drawings and maps of the stadium Ilitch wants to build near the Fox Theatre, which he also owns. Archer said a key factor in his decision will be how Ilitch intends to redevelop the neighborhood around the proposed ballpark. proposal from "The stadium is not the issue. The issue is the whole area around the stadium and what will be best for the city of Detroit," he said before the meeting began. The five-hour meeting broke up around 2 a.m. yesterday. The hastily-r called conference came after the Ti-4 gers issued a news release suggestingt Ilitch would consider moving the team out of Detroit if he doesn't get a new i stadium. Ilitch has said he will spend $175 million for a new stadium, but would c need another $200 million from state and local governments to complete i the project.t Tigers brass In Lansing, state Sen. John Kelly (D-Grosse Pointe Woods) said he will introduce related legislation to help Michigan communities economically. That, he said, would pit many Michi- gan communities - and their state representatives - against Ilitch and encourage the preservation of both cities and Tiger Stadium. Kelly, a long-time critic of build- ing a new stadium with public funds for the Tigers, said his legislation would offer two-year, interest-free construction loans. He said he wants to take $400 million to help communities rebuild their downtown areas. JOE WESTRATE/Daily The hij h-nOWered WolverinefaeIndiana and Pwrhip th+ wpmknrin The-h'"b"nowered Wnltvvprc fp lni3n 101,vr111010e11 a I rAlUUUI l I Y.lb V .FlI.IU. y ,.... _ ,., . :. THE SPORTING VIEWS Magic deserves shot at coaching in the pros By BRENT McINTOSH DAILY SPORTS WRITER respect you so they will do the things you tell them to." A lage chunk of the remaining fourth is hav*''h ..LeL1UjhtLI.)n n Ag'&- vich1%. 1411(4111111ina fhi1H 1 g1Cmn c.Ad on to eaU a Magic is back, and he certainly should be. team through an 82-game campaign, and still be ready to take on the world's Randy Pfund's tenure as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers ended best basketball teams in theplayoffs. Magic hasproven hisdedication timeand Tuesday with his firing, and the franchise immediately put the reins in the again. Take his shooting: never a great long-range gunner, he spent endless hands of Magic Johnson, a former Laker and cultural icon. The job belongs to hours in the gym making himself an outside threat. no one more than Magic, and I'll tell you why. Even before he could shoot the three, though, he was the best player in I don't care about the situation. It's never pretty to see a coach fired as the history. Forget Wilt the Stilt, the Big 0, Dr. J, or Air Jordan. Magic was a god season winds down, but basketball is a business now. on the court. He did things under pressure that nobody else could imagine. I don't care about his lack of coaching experience. Magic is a veritable hoops He earned three MVP awards, won five NBA titles and had more assists than deity; former guards know the game, and Magic's the best guard of all time. anyone in league history. He took a pay cut to bring another player onto the Laker I don't care about his HIV status. Let me rephrase that: I don't think it's a roster, Most impressively, he has dealt gracefully with the threat of death. factor. Let me rephrase again: It's not a factor. But I'm not writing to debate who the best player is; mine is only one man's I don't care about his somewhat-botched attempts at broadcasting and opinion. franchise-ownership. Coaching has nothing to do with those things. Coaching I'm writing to say that Magic has paid his dues to the Lakers, to the NBA is about savvy under pressure, knowledge of the game, and intangibles. Magic and to the game of basketball - nobody debates that he revitalized a league had a virtual monopoly on those qualities for over a decade, that had fallen into disfavor with the public - and now he is being rewarded. Still disagree? Ask Kurt Rambis, a former teammate of Johnson's; At the very least, he deserves the chance tocoach, and he's being given that. "He knows the game," Rambis said. "The players on the team respect him. Now we get to-see whether the greatest paiayerof all time can duplicate his feats Nowadays, that's three-fourths of the battle in the NBA, getting the playersto in the coaching ranks. I, for one, hope he does. He deserves it. i y 3 l t ' f Magic Johnson was hired yesterday to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson led the Lakers to five NBA championships as a player. 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If you let it dangle, you can catch the attention of a mugger and make yourself a target. Fourth, always have your keys in your hand ready to open your door (whether it's your car, house, etc). If you search or fumble for your keys at the door, you're providing the criminal with an opportunity to get the "upper hand." Fifth, carry the pepper spray that "shoots' like a mini fire extinguisher or torch (long as 20 feet - wide as 5 feet). The average pepper spray is only *I Mugger Stopper fact, many police officers frequently say that the best crime deterrent is loud noise. The Mugger Stopper is only I