Tuesday, January 2, 2000- 1ine mcngan uauy - i
=SPORTS BRIEFS-
.Hockey team to
distribute shirts
for "Maize Out"
The Michigan basketball crowd is
usually the one trying to mimic the
crazy atmosphere at Yost Ice Arena
- not the other way around.
But on Saturday night the crazies
f Yost will take a page from the
Maize Rage and the Winnipeg
Jets/Phoenix Coyotes of the National
Hockey League. Tom Brooks,
Michigan Director of Marketing has
confirmed that 2,500 "Maize Out"
shirts will be given out on a first-
come first-served basis for this
Saturday's game against Ohio State.
Shirts will be handed out at the
South State Street student entrance,
and all students are encouraged to
*ome to the game early and already
dressed in maize attire.
The Wolverine icers will follow
suit, donning their maize sweaters.
The term "Maize Out" comes from
the fans of the Winnipeg Jets, now
the Phoenix Coyotes, who received
the name "White Out" after filling
their entire arena with fans dressed
in white during playoff games.
Brooks also confirmed that there
are still tickets available for the
Wolverines' March 4 game against
Bowling Green, during the student
spring break.
With the exception of standing-
room only, all other games are sold
out for the rest of the season.
By Chris Grandstaff
Daily Sports Writer
Paterno inks five-
year extension
with Penn State
Ftom staff and wire reports
Joe Paterno signed a five-year
contract extension Monday, and the
73-year-old Penn State coach said
he has every intention of staying
hrough 2004.
"I enjoy coaching and would
like to continue as long as my health
will permit," Paterno said in a state-
ment. "I look forward to fulfilling
this contract and, deep down, to
going even longer because I'm excit-
ed by all of the positive things that
are happening at Penn State."
The university would not release
the terms of the contract. The exten-
sion should quiet ongoing specula-
*0n about his retirement. Many con-
sidered his 1999 team a last, best
shot at a third national title. But he
said after Penn State's appearance in
the Alamo Bowl that he is staying.
r"I have absolutely no plans to
retire," he said. "I am going to
coach until I feel I can't do a good
job." As recently as 1998, he had
said he would coach "at least four
ore years." Penn State's 24-0 vic-
ry over Texas A&M in the Alamo
Bowl was his 20th in the postseason
- the Division I record.
He has 317 victories at Penn
State, six short of the Division I
record set by Bear Bryant. He could
break the record as early as Oct. 21
against Illinois. Paterno is entering
his 51st year on Penn State's staff,
his 35th as head coach.
Jansas forward
suspended for
drunk driving
Kansas forward Lester Earl was
indefinitely suspended from the bas-
ketball team Monday after his arrest
for drunken driving.
Earl also was charged with driving
with a suspended license this weekend
after he was stopped for speeding
early Sunday, said Bill Long, police
chief of Eudora, east of Lawrence.
Long said Earl failed a breathalyz-
er test and was jailed. Earl was
released on bond and was back in
school on Monday.
"I regret this happened," Earl said.
"My bad decisions have put a negative
light on our program and again, I
*gret that."
Earl will not participate in games
nor travel with the team until the sus-
pension is lifted.
s I am saddened and upset by this
situation," Kansas coach Roy
Williams said. "Our entire team
understands this is a serious matter
and we will deal with it in what we
feel is the appropriate manner."
Earl, whose transfer from
#ouisiana State in 1997 caused hard
feelings between the two schools, was
arrested in August for missing a court
date on earlier charges of speeding
and driving with a suspended license.
His career at Kansas has been
clouded by the transfer, which came
Red Simmons, still 'Michigan's ageless wonder'
By Ryan C. Moloney
Daily Sports Writer
The rock music unabashedly shook the bow-
els of Cliff Keen Arena so loudly Friday night
that those walking by the building in the freez-
ing cold cast an inquiring eye through the
doors.
The Michigan wrestling team's Joe DeGain
and Northwestern's Matt Hueber paced around
the mat, fire in their eyes as blood-thirsty fans
cast their choicest barbs into the gladiator pit
towards an oblivious Hueber.
"Ladies and gentlemen," meet announcer
Matt Stout bellowed. "Please welcome the old-
est living Michigan coach - celebrating his
90th birthday, Red Simmons!"
The fans applauded respectfully as a gentle-
man whose age is nearly as immortal as his
legend, stood up without the slightest bit of
hesitation or strain and acknowledged the
temporarily muzzled crazies with a gallant
wave.
How appropriate. Simmons was always the
sensible buoy in an often triumphant and tur-
bulent sea of Michigan athletics.
He sat down on the hard, uncomfortable
bleacher and remained there for the rest of the
meet - sitting bolt upright, watching the
action as intently as in his coaching days.
Heck, the memory of himself out there on
the mat isn't too far away.
"I wrestled myself in 1929," Simmons said.
"Coach (Joe) McFarland has really got these
guys in great shape."
Indeed, Simmons is 90 in fact only. He is
Michigan's ageless wonder - as svelte as men
half his age, with only a hint of gray in his thin
red hair.
In speaking with him, a full retrospect of
each of his 90 years does not seem absurd but
rather a real possibility.
"I get up at 6:30 every morning and work out
with these guys," Simmons said, glancing
towards the Michigan wrestlers. "I still com-
pete in the Senior Olympics.
"I am in the 85-90 age bracket, so showing
up is practically a victory."
The legacy of Ken "Red" Simmons is alive
today in the successful inclusion of women's
sports into the Michigan athletic community.
In 1960, Simmons started "the
Michigammes," an Ann Arbor-based track club
exclusively for women. In 1976, Simmons'
efforts for equality came to fruition when he
was hired as the first head coach of women's
track and field. He held that position until his
retirement five years later.
Unlike the leading advocates in two of col-
lege sports' staple issues - Title IX and TV
revenue - Simmons has been around since the
time of dirt tracks and wooden backboards. As
college sports have grown, so has the length of
Simmons' analysis and belief.
"I pushed for Title IX for a while," Simmons
said. "All the women needed was a chance -
the same opportunities and facilities."
Even if it meant a slightly different approach
to coaching.
"When I took the head coaching job for
women's track I asked that my wife come along
on all the trips - I didn't want to deal with 18
year-old girls by myself.
"They took to calling her Mrs. coach."
But hasn't the increasingly sprawling land-
scape of college sports been a detriment?
Not necessarily.
"The concentration on sports is much more
intense - it's reached a point where lots of
events are scheduled based on television.
"But people don't realize the expense
involved with running these facilities. A build-
ing like this, with (Canham Natatorium)
attached probably costs at least $850,000 a
year to run. Plus, Title IX takes a lot of money.
"In this day and age, it's a necessity."
The old coach reached into his pocket, "let
me show you something," he said.
And there, in Simmons' right palm, was a
treasure almost as valuable as his memories.
"M WOLVERINES," it read on the front of a
10K gold metal. A ferocious Wolverine
crouched on top of the 'M', showing its fangs.
Simmons turned it over to reveal an inscrip-
tion: "1929, first place - 440 yard dash."-
"I carry this around with me," he said. "It's
good luck. You see, I wasn't supposed to win
this race - the guy ahead of me tripped."
And with that, he walked away. Still the
modest gentleman, still the standard by which
all other Michigan coaches are measured.
Syracuse proves its worth with
big victory over Connecticut
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -
Syracuse answered another question
with its most impressive victory in a
so-far perfect season.
The fourth-ranked Orangemen
remained the nation's only unbeaten
team with an 88-74 victory over No. 6
Connecticut last night as six players
scored in double figures.
It seemed no matter what Syracuse
did this season, there was a question
about how good the Orangemen really
were.
Syracuse's first 10 games were all at
home and the competition wasn't too
steep. Then the Orangemen (16-0, 6-0
Big East) went on the road for three
straight games and won all three.
Connecticut (13-4, 2-3) was the first
ranked team for Syracuse and the
Orangemen responded with an
emphatic win.
"That's about as well as we've
played this season and we're getting
better," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim
said after the Orangemen matched the
1917-18 team for the best start in
school history. "We did a good job
defensively and a good job on the
boards. We played well."
The game also added to the ques-
tions facing Connecticut, which has
lost three of its last six and has now
doubled its loss total from last season's
national championship run.
"To put it bluntly, they punked us,"
Connecticut guard Khalid El-Amin
said. "They got up on us, got in our
face. We didn't bring our intensity
tonight and that's not characteristic of
this team. We're 2-3 in the league and
can't afford to drop any more games."
Ryan Blackwell had 18 points and
12 rebounds for Syracuse, which fin-
ished with a 47-31 rebound advantage,
while Etan Thomas had 15 points and
I I rebounds.
Jason Hart had 14 points and eight
assists for the Orangemen, Tony Bland
had 12 points and Damone Brown and
DeShaun Williams added 10 each.
"This is a great accomplishment,"
said Preston Shumpert who had six
points for the Orangemen. "We
proved that we're a great team. A lot of
people have been riding us, the sched-
ule, whatever. Tonight we showed that
we can play with anybody and beat
anybody. They can't say nothing now."
Jake Voskuhl had 19 points for
Connecticut, while Kevin Freeman had
14 and El-Amin nine, six in the first
half as he was held below 10 points for
just the third time this season.
"They were able to cut the head off
the dragon with us a little bit with
Khalid," Connecticut coach Jim
Calhoun said. "They locked him up."
Syracuse put this one away with a
22-2 run in the first half as it broke
from an 18-18 tie. Williams, a fresh-
man, had eight points, including con-
secutive 3-pointers that made it 40-20
with 5:11 left. The Orangemen led 44-
26 at halftime and it could have been a
lot worse as they missed their last 10
shots from the field in the half.
The Huskies, whose three other
losses were by a total of 12 points,
never could get a sustained run in the
second half.
A dunk by Thomas on a nice pass
from Hart with 11:14 left gave
Syracuse its biggest lead, 66-41. Hart's
3-pointer with 8:01 left made it 69-47
and was the Orangemen's last field
goal of the game as they went 19-for-
23 from the line the rest of the way.
"It seemed like at one point (in the
second half) that they were looking
around like they didn't know what hit
them," Thomas said of Connecticut.
"They were surprised the way we
came out and just attacked them,
played with so much emotion, and just
kept going."
AP PHOTO
As one Syracuse fan celebrated his school's 88-74 victory over Connecticut last
night, the Orangemen proved they are for real in the Big East.
Thomas paralyzed in accident
LIBERTY, Mo. - Derrick Thomas,
one of the most feared pass rushers in
NFL history, has a broken neck and
back and might never walk again.
The star linebacker of the Kansas
City Chiefs has paralyzed legs follow-
ing a car crash on an icy road in which
his friend was killed.
Thomas has use of his arms and
upper chest, and doctors held out hope
he might fully recover. Doctors said the
33-year player faces extensive rehabili-
tation and probably will have surgery.
"I don't think you can say anything
right now" Dr. Jon Browne, the Chiefs'
team physician, said yesterday "These
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type of injuries have a mind of their
own and a treatment pattern of their
own. They're all uniquely and individu-
ally different."
Thomas was being transferred from
the Liberty Memorial Hospital to the
Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson
Memorial Hospital in Miami. Thomas
was born in Miami and his mother lives
there.
Friends and teammates came to the
hospital Monday. Also visiting was
Steve Palermo, a former American
League umpire who was shot in 1991
and left partially paralyzed.
"Do not rule anything in;" said
Palermo, a Kansas City resident and
friend of Thomas. "And do not rule
anything out. He understands the gravi-
ty of it. But rte's also very optimistic."
Thomas has fractures in vertebrae in
his neck and back.
"Derrick's injuries are primarily to
the spinal column," Browne said. "He
does have some neurological impair-
ment which is continuing to evolve."
With an infections smile and fun-
loving attitude, Thomas is one of the
most popular athletes in Kansas City
history, almost on a par with baseball
great George Brett. Friends dubbed him
"social director of the NFL'
1.
2.
3.
4.-
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
New Hampshire
Wisconsin
Michigan
North Dakota
Maine
Boston University
Michigan State
Northern Michigan
Boston College
Rensselar
18-3-3
19-6-1
19-6-0
16-2-2
15-4-4
14-6-5
17-7-1
16-6-2
14-7-1 -
13-7-2
400
332
290'
281
264
195
170
92
45
.42
2
4
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
Others Receiving Votes: St. Lawrence 29, Northeastern25,
Colgate 14, Niagara 13, Minnesota 3, Ferris State 2,
Colorado College 1, St. Cloud 1, Yale 1.
-III
SUMMER1llh
9
a
in Health Administration for
Undergraduate Minority Students
at The University of Michigan
School of Public Health
ePaid Internships
.GRE course by
NIWLIE: .KAPLAN and
r ~ H3 meother benefits
F; hhta enstein or
:: rmen MT-PROaRns
STUDENTS WITH
CROHN'S DISEASE
OR
ULCERATIVE
COLITIS
Please join
Dr. Ellen Zimmermann
Assistant Professor of
Gastroenterology,
U of M
For an informal discussion
of topics including:
the Michael Rn Gutteran Award in betty
Ye Roy W Cowden Memorial Fellowship
I'he Louise and George Piranian Scholarshp
of Health
Management & Policy M3226
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029
734-936-3296
Will be announced
Tuesday, January 25
3:30 itm.