14 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 29, 1999
LATACK
Continued from Page 11
Sugar Bowls dancing in its head right now. But in order to
get to the national championship game on January 4, the
Boilers have quite a task ahead of them. In the next four
weeks, Purdue plays at No.4 Michigan and No. 12 Ohio
State, and hosts No. 14 Michigan State and No. 2 Penn State.
The chances that Purdue will win two of those games are
slim. And even if the Boilermakers should survive the hell-
ish stretch without a loss, thereby crushing all the other
heavyweights' hopes in the process, they still have possible
slip-ups Minnesota and Wisconsin remaining on the sched-
ule.
The most difficult part of the conference slate is that there
are hardly any off-weeks. In addition to almost half of the
conference teams currently in the Top 25, usual conference
doormats - such as Minnesota (3-0) and Illinois (3-1) -
are also making some noise.
So it's very possible that no team will end up perfect in the
Big Ten this season. Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and
Purdue could all beat each other. And while strength of
schedule is accounted for in the BCS, Big Ten teams saddled
with losses clears the way for the teams like the Seminoles
and Cornhuskers -. pseudo-undefeateds that have survived
their annual tough game per season. Meanwhile, going unde-
feated in the country's best conference is about as difficult as
figuring out the BCS to begin with.
"Sometimes somebody gets hot and can run the table,"
said Michigan State coach Nick Saban, whose team faces the
Wolverines, Boilermakers, Badgers and Buckeyes during a
make-or-break, four-game stretch. "But, man, it seems like
there's a lot of good teams to play."
And because there's so many good teams to play in
October and November, it could mean that the best teams
won't be playing each other on Jan. 4.
-Andy Latack can be reached via e-mail at
latack(4umich.edu.
For $160 a sea-
son, students can
see Mike Comrie
and his team-
mates in nearly
all of their home
games. Games
played during
University break
periods are not
included in full-
seasonRpackages.
DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
-W
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.M1
',' m
SALES
Continued from Page 11
Non-student tickets range from
$12, $15, or $17 dollars a piece - a
figure Bodnar says is very reason-
able when compared to other pro-
grams.
"I can say that our prices are'very
competitive," Bodnar said. "When
you look at other quality programs,
our prices look good. Consider a
school like Minnesota where they
just raised prices from $19.50 to
$21.00 a ticket. We feel we're very
competitive."
And apparently so do the non-stu-
dents that have packed the waiting
list with the hope of one day being
among those packing the 6,343-seat
arena.
"We have about 500 people on a
waiting list right now," Bodnar said.
"Now we were able to move some
people off of it this season, but a
large waiting list does still exist."
But while all existing season tickets
have been sold, Bodnar says there will
still be a chance for those currently
without season tickets to see Michigan
in action this season. Individual game
tickets for several games not included
in the season ticket package will be
available and go on sale October 4.
"We will have some tickets for
games that will be played over breaks
when school is not in session," Bodnar
said.
"Tickets for some of these games
were not included in the ticket pack-
ages.
Also available for purchase are tick-
ets to Friday's Blue-White scrimmage.
Tickets for the 26th annual intrasquad
event are on sale now at Yost Ice Arena,
and are $4 for adults and $1 for children
fifteen and under.
But Bodnar did say that he expects
every regular season game to eventual-
ly sell out as Yost Arena continues to
build a reputation on providing
Michigan with unparalleled fan sup-
port.
And that support, hockey coach Red
Berenson said, is a large factor in how
his team is able to perform each night
when playing at home.
"Our crowd has been a big part of
our success," Berenson said.
"Our crowd, our band, the students,
the population that supports out team,
they are huge. It not only helps our
team, but it can be an intimidating fac-
tor for opposing teams."
Student hockey ticket *
sales climb 10 percent
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10/28/99
By David Horn
For the Daily
As the American Ryder Cup team
neared completion of the greatest single-
day comeback in the event's history last
Sunday in Brookline, Mass., the players
made a mistake that has unfortunate
future implications. It was not the
Europeans, who came out on the short
end of a 14 1/2-13 1/2 defeat, who real-
I
Want A
Challenge?
ly lost. It was professional golf, and pro-
fessional sports.
On the 17th hole, American Justin
Leonard faced Spain's Jose Maria
Olazabal in the second to last singles
match of the day. It
would prove to beG
the last hole of con- GOLF
sequence played in Commentary
the 1999 Ryder -----------------
Cup. Having battled
back from four holes down Leonard,
who had putted poorly all weekend, was
in position to cap off an extraordinary
and improbable United States comeback
with a 45-foot birdie putt. Make it, and
Olazabal would need to equal the
accomplishment with an almost equally
difficult putt to extend the match, and
the Cup, to the 18th hole. Miss it, and
Leonard would jeopardize the American
team's chances of winning back the Cup
for the first time since 1993.
Leonard made his putt. After the
young American's heroics, the rest of the
American team, save for Payne Stewart
(who was battling European team mem-
ber Colin Montgomerie a hole behind in
the final match)ran out onto the green in
celebration.
Olazabal had yet to putt.
The American team's premature cele-
bration, while painfully human, signi-
fied the crossing of the last line of pro-
fessionalism and sportsmanship golfers
had yet to cross. Golf, compared to other
contemporary sports, has always been
held to a higher standard in regard to its
ethics and its code of conduct. That may
be an unfair standard, but nevertheless, it
exists. It was acceptable, if inexcusable,
for fans to heckle European team mem-
bers in between holes. The key word in
the term 'home-field advantage' is
advantage. It was appropriate for the
Americans who had completed their
matches to come watch Leonard - and
even to celebrate the victory in any way
they see fit.
After the win. What was inappropri-
ate was the display of enthusiasm the
Americans showed on the green, before
the match was assured.
Was an apology in order? Would it
have been appropriate for Leonard to
concede the putt to his opponent and to
trust his own ability to win on 18? I think
that had Leonard conceded the putt it
would have been one of the finest
moments in golf's history. It would be
among the finest in sports history.
What a role model! His teammates
behave disrespectfully; he essentially
forfeits a stroke, and then earns back the
win on 18 to complete the greatest
comeback in Ryder Cup history.
Is Justin Leonard conceding the putt a
fantasy? Is it out of the question? It is
not. Ryder Cup play encourages players
to afford their opponents "gimmies" as a
sign of respect. It is not done when the
putt is more than a few feet (such as
Olazabal's 25 foot attempt) but no rule
prohibiting such judgment exists.
From the perspective of Jose Maria
Olazabal, it is difficult enough to
attempt a 25-foot birdie putt to extend
Ryder Cup play against the Americans in
America without the American team
running across your line. Leonard is not
at fault for not conceding the putt.
Indeed the idea is outrageous, and he at
least had the sense to realize that the
match was not over, and took the initia-
tive to quiet down his countrymen and
usher them off the green and back to the
gallery.
Although my vision of Leonard
chivalrously and honorably deciding that
the only way to win the Ryder Cup legit-
imately after the celebratory fiasco
would be to do so on 18 is, to say the
very least, optimistic, I cannot think of a
better way for professional sports t
begin the 21st century.
Indeed Sunday's events makes those
who are generally thought of as the gen-
tlemen of golf today-Tiger Woods, Mark
O'Meara, David Duval, etc.-look no
more gentlemanly than athletes of any
other sport. Golf lost something in the
triumphant display on 17 at Brookline.
Sports lost on Sunday. What happened
spoiled an otherwise brilliant day of
golf, and tainted a well-deserved U.S
victory. The Europeans, for the most
part, were gentlemanly enough not to
point fingers and further spoil the
American win, and something can be
gained from observing that demonstra-
tion of gracious losing.
The American team won eight and a
half of the 12 points available on Sunday.
It performed astonishingly well, and as
athletes it seems they deserve nothing
but accolades. But they neglected part of
their responsibility as professional athO
letes, and that was to act professionally. I
am fearful of the implications their
behavior has on sports and on golf, and
hope that they see in hindsight what mis-
takes were made. I hope the first Ryder
Cup of the 21st century ends on a more
positive note than the last of the 20th.
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