Scoreboard- I Tracking 'M' teams NFL NHL Want to take a long road trip? Then go watch the mens FOOTBALL HOCKEY cross country team at the Eastern Michigan Open on N.Y. Jets 24, Chicago 2 Friday. Take the day off, head to Ypsi, and watch the@ NEW ENGLAND14 MONTREAL sixth-ranked Wolverines run. And buy a souvenir. ' TORONTO 2 (OT) Boston at Tuesday PHOENIX, nc. T Men's gymnastics holds rally in Diag to drum up support. n, Gymnasts promote team with half-hour athletic display By Stephanie Offen Daily Sports Wter ' " { F 7 'The Diag - a place for preachers, studying, people- watching and relaxation. But yesterday, the Diag was con- verted into a gym for the Michigan men's gymnastics team. f Yesterday at 2:30 p.m., in the middle of the Diag, the Wolverines performed pommel horse routines, handstands and other mat exercises in an attempt to heighten awareness of the sport. "This was a chance to put the guys in front of a crowd" Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "Since gymnastics is a 1 .. winter sport, we need to do things outside now before it gets too cold." X S< n' " And a crowd did form. Students stopped on their way to S 'or from class to watch the routines. " The Diag is the perfect place to do this because there are f z r .s:: f, { f so many people around," assistant coach Mike Burns said. "It also gives people something else to look at besides grass." The gymnasts really put on a show. All the gymnasts were given the chance to perform, and they all gathered around the apparati and took their turns to impress the crowd. Besides normal pommel horse routines, the crowd got to witness U.S. National Team member Justin Toman attempt to 4 7 t to pick up a team schedule card it his teeth while doing a y yheadstand - definitely more interesting than watching grass Ton grow grow ut after a while, the gymnasts got tired of the hand- stands and removed the handstand bars and used just the mats and the pommel horse. "We brought out the pommel horse, because we have a very strong pommel horse team, junior gymnast Ethan Johnson said. "Everyone on the team swings pommel horse." r aAlong with being picked up by Toman's teeth, copies of the schedule were also passed out to the crowd by the gym- nasts and coaches, who also talked to the students about the upcoming season. Spasven though things like this might have taken place in the past, this was the first time the Wolverines put on this kind of OUIS BROWN/Daily exhibition under Golder's reign. Junior Tim Dehr showed off his pommel horse technique In the Diag yesterday. The Michigan men s gymnastics team had a "Golder and I had been thinking about this since this half-hour workout session to try to build up support for the upcoming season. summer," Burns said. "We thought that this would be a per- "We are one of the lower- covered sports, and these exhibitions are trying to gA awareness for our sport." - Adam Hattersley Michigan gymnast feet weekend to do it because of hoticcoming, and it tuincd out to be a terrific day." With the sun shining and no clouds in the sky, Wolverines could not have picked a better day for the demW stration. But the coaches were definitely concerned for the gyfs- nasts' safety as they performed their routines on the ceient in the Diag. "We placed mats around everything to keep it safe," Golder said. "You just can't take any chances, especially since the season hasn't even started yet." But this exhibition did not take the place of the team's practice. The Wolverines are Alreaidy getting prepared for the upconing season. After the exhibition, the team headed back to Cliff Keen Arena to practice on the other equipment to wasn't present on the Diag. The Wolverines will begin their season Dec. 4 with another exhibition, the Maize and Blue intrasquad. The team will be broken up into two squads to compete against caci other.This will give Michigan yet another chance to draw spectators to their sport. The first competition for the Wolverines will take place in Chicago at the Windy City Invitational on Jan. 16. "We are one of the lower-covered sports, and these exhti- bitions are trying to get awareness for our sport, junior gym- nast Adam Hattersley said. "We are a really good team t season, who have a good chance at the Big Ten title and even the NCAA championship." Randle El gives Michigan defense a familiar, but still unsolved, mystery By Rick Freeman Daily Sports Writer Who says the Big Ten is a cure for insomnia? Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's past two games have teetered on the edge, where one mistake paves the way for a game and heart-breaking big play. "They don't allow you to get a lot of sleep" Carr said of his team's past two performances. And neither does preparing for the Big Ten's teflon team - Indiana. In his nightmares, should he ever get to sleep, Carr probably sees Indiana's freshman quarterback, Antwaan Randle El, slithering through his defense - the same defense that has sunk its teeth into sticky, between- the-tackles Big Ten running attacks since losing to two option attacks early in the season. Michigan hasn't practiced against the option since before the Syracuse game, linebacker James Hall said. And now, with midterms looming, it's time to stay up all night and cram. Like a calculus problem they just can't solve, the option has stumped the Wolverines, even when the defense has known who to study. This week, the slippery Randle El will be on all of the Wolverines' crib notes. "We need to come up with a game plan where we can keep Randle El deep in his own territory as much as we can," Carr said. What goes a long way toward that end is actually tackling the person car- rying the ball, something that hasn't always been elementary for the Wolverines this season. Despite their recent success, it might be tougher against someone who's as hard to hold on to as a water weenie. "Any time a defense over commits on him, that leaves the pitch and the option open," Carr said. Indiana's shiny new freshman might have Carr up nights, but Michigan's budding young star, Justin Fargas, will keep him awake, too. In the somnolent world of Michigan's ground game this season (two yards, a fumble and a splash of mud), Justin Fargas is like a jolt of double espresso. And the way he played Saturday night, he looked like he might have been in an Evanston coffee house before the game, His 31 carries were only part of his opening night. He played on both kick and punt coverage, too. His one kick return (yes, he did that, too) went for 28 yards, and Carr called it the biggest play of the game, since it set up the game's only touchdown. But even bigger might have been what Fargas didn't do - fumble. With a ball that was as slippery as, say, Randle El might turn out to be, Fargas never lost his grip. And at Michigan, that's almost as important as the 120 yards he gained. "What you saw there was one of the finest efforts by a true freshman since I've been in coaching." Carr said. If Fargas hangs on, both to the ball and the starting job he earned with his rain dance Saturday, Carr might find himself finally sleeping easier. MCCALL HANGS IT UP: Patrick McCall, originally brought to Michigan to play tailback and convert- ed to defensive back, is no longer part of the Wolverines. McCall will be transferring because of lack of playing time, Carr said. The Carson, Calif. native apparent- ly asked to be moved to defensive back early in the season. He recorded Michigan's first sack of the season against Notre Dame, but had seen little playing time since. WALKING WOUNDED: Linebacker Dhani Jones and tailback Anthony Thomas remain banged up from the Iowa game two weeks ago. Neither Jones nor Thomas made the trip to Northwestern this weekend. Both are listed as "day-to-day," Carr said. RAIN DANCE: Punter Jason Vinson split the Big Ten special teams player of the week award. The other recipient of the award this week was Illinois punter Steve Fitts, after the Fighting Illini were pummeled by No. 9 Wisconsin this weekend. Almos The Indiana football team for the past Lloyd Carr might be having nightmares about Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El. One thing that might help him rest easily is the recent play of Justin Fargas. IL Cmpany "Second City is brilliant!".cwTa finx h T-ime Magazine O~~YU e* '.hystericalty rolling th aisles." 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