reboard- Ehrl r sTracking 'M' teams RAGUE CINCINNATI 6, SEATTLE 5, Check out the Michigan volleyball team this weekend. mASEBALL St. Louis 3 Tampa Bay 2 The Wolverines open play tomorrow at the All Sport ATIONAL :IA LEAGUE OU1STON3 Cleveland AT HICAO 4E MIwaukee 2TORONTO 3Challenge, held through Saturday at Cliff Keen Arena. itburgh 2 San Francisco at NEW YORK 7h Details, page 14. ONTREAL 3 SAN DIEGO, inc. Boston 5 Satita 2 DETROIT 8 T Yo 6, AMERICAN LEAGUE Chicgo A 1HILADELPHIA 2 Baltimore s TEAS B y Oakland 2 ansas City'sa Mgttembdr et9r toss spurns 'Niners to remain Mi1chigan's; athletic dire;ctor By Jim Rose Daily Sports Editor Tom Goss, it appears, is here to stay. Goss confirmed yesterday that he declined an offer to become the pres- Ant of the National Football gue's San Francisco 49ers, one of the most successful franchises in the league for the past two decades. Goss opted instead to remain Michigan's athletic director, a position he's held for just more than one year. Reports surfaced yesterday that Goss had engaged in negotiations with the 49ers throughout the year, before deciding in March to remain at the University. "It really. kind of ticked me off when I read that," Goss said yes- terday. "It's not < an issue." Goss said that he Goss "thought about it for maybe a minute," but felt he had a commit- ment to honor to the University and its students. Goss also disputed reports that he turned down a salary of around S1 million. He did confirm that the offer was substantial, hut would rot ilabo- rate on the amount. ye said only that the reported numhei of S1 million "was wrong," and that the actual number was not anywhere tiear the million-dollar mark. Goss recently reccived a raise from the University, increasing his salary to $275,000. Last year, the athletic director made 5220,000. Goss, however, asserted that he did not use the offer from the 49ers as leverage to improve his standing in his current contract. He also disputed the contention 1ha iT negotiated extensively with he 49Grs. Goss said, on the contrar, ta he was initially surprised by the oiler. '"i wis out of the clear blue," he G d Edward DeBartolo Jr., fiormecrly the sole owner of the San Irauciso franchise, were acquait- iaices when Goss lived in the (aliforta Hay tarea. Since taking on his current position as the Uivsioty 's athletic director, Goss has mosed to the Ann Arbor area. [Dcl:artolo was forced to relin- quuish his ownership of the 49ers last ycar whIen he was implicated in ille- gal business actisities in Louisiana. At the tinmc, DeBartolo turned own- ership of the club over to his sister, Denise DefLartoo-York. But in the ensuing months, the situation has continued to get more and more bizarre. DeBartolo has since been cleared of any wrongdoing in the Louisiana situation, but he and his sister are currently locked in a power struggle regarding the team's permanent own- ership. In the meantime, Larry Thrailkill, who had been a staff member within the 49ers' organization, was named the club's interim president. Goss' first year has been decided- ly high-profile. He took over in the midst of an investigation into the men's basketball program, which ultimately resulted in the discovery of three minor NCAA rules infrac- tions. Goss fired Steve Fisher, then ended a national search for his suc- cessor by naming interim coach Brian Ellerbe the permanent coach. In recent weeks, Goss and University President Lee Bollinger penned an opinion article proposing major changes to men's college bas- ketball, which was published in the New York Times. It's a bird, it's a plane... Class is out for field hockey freshmen uestions surround Saturday's football game between Michigan and Syracuse. Is ichigan done for the season? Can the Michigan defense stop scrambling quarterback Donovan McNabb? Will Drew Henson get to pick apart a prevent defense on a meaningless drive once again? help with h ol f these questions, I say. There is only SNARAT ane question I RJU want answered usile I'm in Sharat ichigan in the Dark iium on turday: Is there a new Superfan? :,For the benefit of the first-year Otnts among us, Superfan is the Iofficial mascot of Michigan. 11, he was the unofficial mascot .who knows if there is going to be "nbther. Former superfan Jeff Holtzhausen used to be clad in a full getup of 91chigan paraphernalia - includ- m=a cape with an "M" on it, a shirt with an "M" on it and glasses with an M" on each side. He even ate blue "M&Ms" during halftime. He eOheers, danced and showed his Michigan pride at every sporting ivent possible. My question: Is there anyone brave/stupid/daring enough to pull his off again? Well, to this end, I decided to do a ittle investigative journalism nyself, trying to get a scoop on this >b-so-important question. Ser much searching at various um eating establish- nents, and interacting with the lientele within, I have found out hat drunk people are hard to talk to. But after a few hours of standing a front of Pinball Pete's, hanging ut with some guy with a dog, I inally found someone who could elp me. A source within the University - actually, he sleeps under the gate- <5VI By B.J. Luria Daily Sporns Writer Although today is just the third day of classes for most Michigan freshmen, eight Wolverines have already been in school for more than a week. But these first-year students are not learning about chemistry and history; they are being taught lessons in field hockey. Today, the Michigan field hockey team hosts Southwest Missouri State at Ocker Field at 4 p.m., as the Wolverines (2-1) continue the non-conference por- tion of their schedule. Although the subject matter may be difficult for the freshmen, the young Wolverines have an exceptional profes- sor - coach Marcia Pankratz. Last sea- son, in just her second year at the helm for Michigan, Pankratz led the Wolverines to the Big Ten champi- onship, while garnering Big Ten coach of the year honors. This year, Pankratz's abilities as a coach will be tested, as the Wolverines try to replace a plethora of talented play- ers who graduated from last year's squad. Julie Flachs, who was last sea- son's Big Ten offensive player of the year, will especially be missed. Her 29 goals were almost half of the team's See YOUTH, Page 17A Recent School of Public Health graduate Jeff Holtzhausen, more commonly known as Superfan, Is gone. Who will take his place? Big Mac? Darth Vader? Captain Kirk? Are humans illogical? The answer may surprise you! LINGUISTICS 212: INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMBOLIC ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE - and yet MSA credit too! - Lecture: Monday!/ Wednesday, 2:30-4 Discussion: Friday, 9; 11; 12 way arch at night and hands out coupon books by day - told me that the "powers-that-be" are active- ly searching for a new "Superfan," a new person to lead Michigan's fans from the stands. And now that Michigan football has become bigger than life, what with the two gigantic Jumbotron monitors at the stadium and a nationwide radio contract, the administration is also taking control of spectator participation. Here is the-short list of prospec- tive candidates from my source: Candidate No. 1: Gheorghe Muresan. Current occupation: cen- ter, Washington Wizards. Notable accomplishments: None, really. Muresan is considered an ideal candidate for the pure and simple fact that he is 7-foot-7 and can be seen from anywhere in the stadium. He is considered a project, and needs some refining, since his only cheer is, "Aaaaargh!" Which, rough- ly translated, means, "aaargh!" - Okay, so it's not a really creative cheer, but after a few Kinesiology classes he would be able to articu- late even the simplest cheer, like "Argh" or "Go Blue!" and may eventually evolve into "For the love of God, don't try to kick field goals - even if it's 4th and 17! Just go for it, Lloyd!" Needless to say, Big Gheorghe is low on the list of consideration. Candidate No. 2: William Shatner Current occupation: Captain Kirk/science fiction writer/overac- ter. Notable accomplishments: Captained USS Starship Enterprisc. If he can guide a space ship, then his leadership can direct just about anything - even Michigan fans after Donovan McNabb runs for his fourth touchdown Saturday. But the crucial thing Shatner Candidate No. 3: Mark McGwire. Current occupation: destroyer of records and small, white, horsehide- wound projectiles. Notable accom- plishments: Broke Roger Maris' sin- gle-season home run record, has 17- inch fiorearms. T'Is is an easy choice, because whenever he does anything - be it blasting home runs, taking batting See RAJU, Page 17A brings to the table is his slow, methodical delivery. Definitely a parallel to the Michigan offensT. "Go ... Mich .. igan . Who isn't .. Drew Henson .,. starting if he is the most talented quar terback?" Mchigan FREE 1-8XX numbers! C/ Calls to the number billed at 9.9$ /min. Get your parents to get one of these and save them money too! America's Co-opallows you to start at great low rates and then go even lower Just think, no monthly service fee, call any tine you want and the possibiliy oT lnwer- ins your rates even mone byerererring some friends and family to the Co-op, Amerca's Co-opalso has 8.94 LD, 8.52¢ in- state, a 14.94 calling cad and a yrgam that pinessly ratses mvney non your organization. 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