The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 20, 1998 - 17 "TV stars welcome gymnasts By Vaughn R. Klug Daily Sports Writer LOS ANGELES - Actor John Lithgow, star of NBC's hit comedy "Third Rock from the Sun," appeared at Friday's women's gym- nastics Super 6. Lithgow appeared before a crowd of 3,000-plus and delivered an introduction in tune with the tour- nament's "The Stars Come Out" heme. Despite his time constraints, Lithgow makes an effort to follow the Bruins and keep in contact with their head coach, Valorie Kondos. "I have known the UCLA coach for some time and she asked me to give the introduction," Lithgow said. Lithgow watched from the stands, like everyone else, and enjoyed Pauley Pavilion's talent exhibition. Jaleel White, star of the ABC sit- com "Family Matters," also made an appearance on Saturday. White, refraining from using the "whiny voice he assumed as Steve Urkel, sported a "South Park" T- shirt and echoed Lithgow's remarks. GYM DOGS UNLEASHED: Regardless of whether Georgia was struggling with a 9.2, or icing the national championship with a per- feet 10, the Gym dog fans were on their feet and roaring. Georgia repaid its fans, who made one of the longest road trips of all teams competing, with a title - as well as a bit of credit. "We would not be able to do such an enthusiastic job without the fans," Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan said. "It is always nice to travel with the big Georgia family." Georgia's unparalleled NCAA fan base stemmed from home sup- port Michigan can only dream about. "We sell out meets all the time with over 9,000 fans," Georgia alumnus Kurk Smith said. "Gymnastics are the second ighest attended sports on campus behind football." SEE THE SUPER 6: If more than sus- pense about the weekend's results lures you to watch women's gymnas- tics, the brilliant performances of the Super 6 will air on network television. On Sunday, May 2, an edited ver- sion of the Super 6 will air at 2 p.m on CBS. LM CA L ALAN GOLDENBACH The Bronx Bomber MARAGRET MYERS/Daily With eyes on the prize, Georgia's Kim Arnold vaults to a 9.925 this weekend. The Super 6 finals did not include Michigan, though, as the Wolverines had to watch from the sidelines after falling to qualify. Georgia es all Gym dogs roll tochaposi By Nita Srivastava Daily Sports Writer LOS ANGELES - A perfect ending for a perfect season - for Georgia, not Michigan. Georgia junior Karin Lichey vaulted her top-ranked Gym dogs to their 17th victory in a row and the NCAA women's gymnastics title with a perfect 10 on Friday night at UCLA's Pauiey Pwvilion. It was the fourth title for Georgia in school history and the I th time that the national championship was won by the top seed. Georgia finshed with 197.725 points. "Tonight, when we win, we'll be ready to sing, because we'll be wearing that big fat ring!" Georgia freshman Suzanne Sears recited after the meet from a poem she had written before the competition. Competing in the Super 6 - the final round of competi- tion - were Alabama, Arizona State, Florida, Utah and host UCLA. But Georgia's unity proved too much to overcome. The Gym dogs pulled together all season and finished undefeated. Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan said that although this is not the most talented gymnastics team that Georgia has had, it is unparalleled in team unity. "We did it and I mean we did it," Yoculan said. "This is a team effort - it's been a player's team. They have managed themselves. This was a team on a mission." Georgia senior Kim Arnold took the individual crown for the Gym dogs, with a 39.625 in the all-around competition. Finishing just behind the' Gym dogs were the two other Southeastern Conference teams - Florida, which scored 196.350, and Alabama, which finished with 196.300 points. "In the SEC, we go head-to-head so often, it brings out the best in us," Florida coach Judi Markell said. "It shows that we are a good, strong conference." After the first three rotations, Georgia and Florida stood in first and second place with Alabama trailing in fourth place by a 0.25-point margin. Georgia kept its lead throughout the entire meet, and fin- ished on the vault. "Vault is their strongest event and it's also the event with the least amount of pressure," Michigan sophomore Sarah Cain said. The vault could have been the key factor in Georgia's vic- tory. That combined with Lichey's stick of her vault - a stick with perfect form. Georgia was not the only school to have luck with scoring perfection. UCLA's senior Stella Umeh had perfect scores in two events. She captured a 10 on the floor exercise, a career high she said she has been working long to achieve, and a 9.9 on the vault, the highest possible score for that particular vault. "It felt really good to finally achieve a 10 on floor," Umeh said. "But when it was over, I realized it and had to focus on what we had ahead of us." UCLA sophomore Heidi Moneymaker followed in the footsteps of her teammate, also scoring a perfect 9.9 on the vault. UCLA, the defending national champion, finished fifth in the competition. The Bruins' fault in the finals lay in their shaky start on the balance beam, the same thing that plagued Michigan in the preliminaries on Thursday. Last year, UCLA's best event was the balance beam. The Bruins were looking forward to starting on it, but luck was not with them on Friday. "I know it sounds odd being the defending national chai- pions and finishing fifth," Umeh said. "But, we really had a lot of fun tonight. We go in to do our best. And we have achieved our goal after the meet if we have done that." Florida junior Susan Hines also scored a 10 in the vault for the second time in the week. Hines was the 1997 NCAA vault champion, as well. "It is exciting, but I set out to be a team player and that is what is important," Hines said. qua) r O froshork Daily career ou can tell a great sportswriter from the rest by the writer's ability to make the personalities of the athletes, whose talents we so admire, come to life on the printed page. The great ones can spot an athlete's quirks, nuances or superstitions from the press box, and if they can't locate them, the writer is smart enough to dig deep and find it. A great sports- writer is about as rare as a great athlete. But sportswriters, like athletes, get lucky. In fact, they get lucky a lot more often than the people they write about. And the best stroke of luck for a sportswriter is a great quote. What qualifies as a great quote? Very simple criteria: honesty and emo- tion. Writers, as well as readers, always dream of athlete being just grossly honest enough to reveal what's behind their uniform number that the writer does not need to use a lexicon of lavish lingo to bring that emotion to life. The athlete already did the dirty work. I've gotten lucky like this way too many times in the past four years as a sportswriter for the Daily. So many athletes have made my job easier that if you asked me to pick the best quote, I couldn't; there are too many instances that almost made me ask the athlete if he wanted those words on the record. There was Bowling Green hockey coach Buddy Powers. After his first- place Falcons were destroyed by Michigan in their home rink, Powers was asked by a Bowling Green student reporter, "Coach, how are you feeling?" To which Powers replied: "Shitty. How 'bout you?" Honesty cannot be expressed more brutally than that. There was Michigan captain Matt Herr's poke at his school's football team after the Wolverines' improbable hockey national championship a few weeks ago. "At least we don't have to share this one with Nebraska," Herr said. Nor do the Wolverines have to share the attention of President Clinton when they go to the White House. There was the kid from the State News football team (which The Michigan Daily destroyed, 35-14), who said during the rout, "Nobody knows how to do anything around here," a testimony to the intellectual makeup of that city we fondly refer to as Fast Lansing. There was Charles Woodson. In fact, there was Charles Woodson on many occasions. Woodson proved several times that his talent on the grid- iron is rivaled only by that of his mouth. He said how he was "insulted" that Michigan State ran the same play at him twice. He routinely touted himself as the best player in the country without giving a moment's thought to how rare it is for an athlete to do so. Woodson's shining moment behind the microphone, however, came after Michigan's defeat of Ohio State this year, when he offered his opinion of what became of his super-hyped battle with Buckeyes wideout David Boston. "I was like a father chastising his kid for running off his mouth to the wrong people." It was the closest Woodson ever came to saying, "Who's your daddy?" It was the only time Woodson's ballyhooed chatter, or any part of his talent for that matter, failed to reach its potential. But more than making my job as a sportswriter easier, I've had one heck of a time at this University covering my peers. And the benefit of covering athletes who are your peers is that they feel the same way you do. Beneath their incredible athleticism, we all share the most important link to these athletes that we celebrate so majestically - we're all Michigan men and women. 1 was lucky enough to be here for four national championships - 1995 men's swimming, 1996 and 1998 ice hockey, and 1997 football. (Actually, if you count the National Invitation Tournament as a national title, it would be five.) Considering that prior to those championships, Michigan had won only one national title in the major sports in the previous 31 years, I feel luckier than any of the thousands of past, present and future Wolverines. Those championships made for the microcosm of my time here in Ann Arbor, for they yielded quotes that I couldn't choose more perfectly to describe the past four years. There was Bill Muckalt, after Michigan broke its NCAA Tournament jinx and ridded itself of the so-called ghosts in 1996. My press credential pre- vented me from showing my jubilation when Brendan Morrison's overtime shot hit the back of the net in Cincinnati instead of the goal post. Thankfully, Muckalt was there to put it into words for me. "I'm so glad I came (to Michigan)," said a tearful Muckalt. "I'm so proud to be a part of this program, with these guys, with this coach. It's ju' so special." I, too, am so glad to have had the privilege to come to school here and be a part of this academic, athletic and social tradition that is Michigan. It has been more than special. It has been perfect. But nobody portrayed this perfection quite like Brian Griese in his description of winning the Rose Bowl. Nothing captured my feelings for this town, this University, and its won- derful students quite like the way Griese illustrated a Rose Bowl victory and a national championship. "I will cherish this game, this university, for the rest of my life," he said. "You have opportunities in life, and those who stand out are the ones who take advantage of those opportunities. It's just sweet for us to capitalize on an opportunity to make history." I took advantage of the opportunity Michigan offered me four years ago on a hunch. I can't believe it, but in hindsight, it was a difficult choice for this Bronx boy to head west at the time. As a result, I have had the four greatest years anyone could hope for. Thank you Michigan, thank you Daily, thank you Rotvig, and thank you readers. Championships are well worth the cost of out-of-state tuition. - This is Alan Goldenbach vfinal column. He can be reached over e-mail at agold@umich.edu. From doubter to believer - its been one hell ofa ride for a true Wolverine our years ago this Sept. 24, I walked toward Michigan Stadium for just the second time ever, having no idea what the future of that autumn afternoon would hold. In hindsight, it is a day neither I, nor anyone else involved, will ever forget. reserved excitement, but that's about all. Michigan had already won its first two games of the season, including an upset of Notre Dame on Remy Hamilton's last- second field shirts, hats - I had never seen so many block Ms in my life. With music blaring from the fraternity houses and fans chanting "Let's go Blue," this wasn't just a city-wide pregame party. This was a phenomenon. And to me - this was overboard. craning their necks to find a line of sight into the end zone. The ball came spiraling down toward the back of the end zone and was tipped once, twice, and then disappeared. Suddenly, the unthinkable - an ecstatic roar from the lone Colorado section in the stadium, which hap- was the impact that moment would have on my future as a Michigan fan. The Wolverines would go on to lose four games that season, and in each of the next two seasons as well. With one of the nation's most difficult schedules looming, the out- lnnkL fo~r this nact seasoj'n wsuleke 22 that I first understood why Michigan fans become just that. It was a football Saturday in Ann Arbor, similar to the one on Sept. 24, 1994, and all the rest in between. Michigan was to play its most hated rival, Ohio State, but this time with a trip to the Rose Bawrl and a shot at the national