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April 08, 2004 - Image 8

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The Michigan Daily, 2004-04-08

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0

Thursday
April 8, 2004
sports.michigandaily.com
sports@michigandaily.com

POR TSt at a ig

8A

'M' Nine soar
past Eagles in
ate outburst
'By Ryan $*sin
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan sophomore third baseman A.J. Schei-
dt emerged from the dust cloud at third base
showing the ball he stabbed out of the air to keep
the score tied at one in the top ESEM., H. t
of the seventh inning. M61H4GAN15
"That changed the momen-
tum of the game right there," senior designated
hitter Brandon Roberts said. "For him to make
that play is unbelievable. It's a big lift for the
pitchers and a big lift for the rest of the team."
As the fans stretched and the attitude in the
Michigan dugout became electric, the clouds
'opened and the sun shined down on The Fish in a
5-1 win for the Wolverines.
Roberts stepped to the plate in the bottom of
the seventh inning riding "a little adrenaline and
emotion" to face Eastern Michigan's Will Stew-
ardson, who was working on a no-hitter.
Roberts got all of one pitch, drilling it over the
right field fence.
"When you catch it good, you know it's going
out," Roberts said.
The home run marked his first long ball of the
season and Michigan's first lead of the game, 2-1.
"After Brandon Roberts hit that bomb, that was
huge," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "It
seemed like it relaxed us."
. The Wolverines collected all five of their total
hits after Scheidt's play, putting up two runs in the
seventh and two more in the eighth.
Michigan threatened earlier in the game, put-
ting a man into scoring position in the third,
fourth and fifth inning. The Wolverines also got
the leadoff man aboard in innings one, three and
four, but none off hits.
The Wolverines failed to capitalize until the

How 'bout this fantasy?
Shut up about baseball

JA QV( : urLn, ny
Sophomore third baseman A.J. Scheidt's diving stop on a line-drive in the seventh inning helped spark the Wolverines
yesterday. Brandon Roberts opened the following inning with a home run to put the Wolverines in the lead.

fourth inning when a hit batsman, walk and pop-
out set the table for Roberts. He delivered a sacri-
fice fly to centerfield, scoring junior Kyle Bohm
from third. The Wolverines notched that run,
despite a zero in the hits column.
While the Wolverines were kept from hitting,
the entire lineup was making contact, as none of
the Michigan batters struck out.
"I thought we've been hitting pretty well, even
this weekend," Maloney said. "(Eastern Michi-
gan's) pitcher did an outstanding job, and some-
times you just have to tip your hat to them."
Freshman pitcher Derek Feldkamp, a part of
Michigan's starting rotation, came in a relief role

to end the eighth.
"He had to throw a bullpen (session) one day'
this week, so this was just like his bullpen," Mal-
oney said. "We want to win the game - I guess
he was the right guy."
Feldkamp set down all four batters he faced,
earning his third save. Despite the appearance in
relief, he will get his regular start this weekend
against Iowa.
The win improves Michigan's record to 12-11
on the season, but was also the 298th victory of
Maloney's career. Maloney now sports a 42-38
record for the Wolverines since coming from Ball
State.

DANIEL BREMMER
Garden State of Mind
S's official: I can't stand fantasy
baseball, and the psycho owners of
these teams drive me crazy.
In the past, I never really had a prob-
lem with it. I was in a few leagues in
high school but never really cared -
maybe that's why I can't imagine how
anyone could go so crazy over these
players and their stats. But the whole
process never really bothered me.
I started thinking even more about
fantasy baseball when I read Naweed
Sikora's column about this pastime in
Monday's Michigan Daily.
Then, on Tuesday, I had a revelation.
During a sports section meeting at the
Daily, I brought my laptop to try and get
some work done. To my disbelief, I wit-
nessed three of my colleagues pulling
Clark Kent-esque transformations from
sports editors to crazed fantasy-baseball
lunatics.
These guys surrounded my laptop -
keep in mind, my laptop has a small 12-
inch screen - watching Yahoo's stat
tracker, huddled around the display
closer together than Matt Damon and
Greg Kinnear in "Stuck on You." I'm
telling you, it would've been easier to
pry Shawn Kemp away from a platter of
free cupcakes than get these guys away
from my computer.
And all this for what? To see how
many strikeouts Mike Maroth had
pitched through five innings?
I started thinking about these crazy
fantasy baseball owners in general,
and only one thought popped into my
head: What the hell is wrong with you
people?
You sit at the computer for hours to
watch a meaningless Yahoo pop-up
window like it's the Paris Hilton video.
You think nothing is more important
than how a scrub like David Bell did
from the plate that night. You jump up
and down when a player from a team
you hate hits a homer and you scream in
agony when a guy you don't even like
gets injured.
. But worst of all, you annoy the hell
out of me while doing it. These mind-
less drones make this "game" more
annoying than a Backstreet Boys song.
Let's get this straight: It's not the
common, silent, 'I-check-my-team-
once-a-week' kind of fantasy managers

who get on my nerves. It's the crazy,
obsessed, I'd-rather-see-my-fantasy-
catcher-hit-a-homer-than-Michigan-
win-a-national-championship'-style
people who make me want to bang my
head against a wall.
Even Naweed - whose column on
Monday made fantasy baseball sound
so good it should have ran on Yahoo's
website - would probably agree that
these over-the-top fantasy baseball man-
agers get on his nerves, too.
I have no problem with other fantasy
sports. I'll even admit that fantasy
drafts, baseball included, are a good
time. And I can see why someone could
get into a different sport if it were short-
er. Spending 17 days a year - even
somewhere in the 30s if you count
Monday nights - watching a football
stat tracker seems fairly normal com-
pared with the 162-day grind of the
baseball season. I've been in fantasy
basketball leagues, and I admit it's fun,
but only because I could get away with
checking my team once a week at most.
Fantasy baseball is different because
of the length of the season. This eternal
sandlot session makes some of these
guys nuts. These "managers" think that
their fantasy prominence means that
they are the next Brian Cashman or
Billy Beane. Great thinking: Beating
nine of your hung-over buddies in a
meaningless league is just as impressive
as winning a real-life World Series,
maybe even more so.
Baseball is statistically driven -
probably more than other sports - so I
understand why fantasy baseball man-
agers are into home runs and ERA But
some of these fantasy studs are so
obsessed with some of the most
obscure stats there are. WHIP? (Before
I go any further, let me explain: WHIP
equals Walks plus Nits, divided by
Innings Pitched, something that any
fantasy baseball veteran will tell you).
I can't help but think that, if it wasn't
for fantasy baseball, WHIP would be
as ridiculous as one of SportsCenter's
"he's hitting .358 against left-handed
pitchers whose names start with vow-
els in ballparks that serve light beer on
Tuesdays" stats.
In my quest to understand why peo-
ple get so involved in the fantasy base-
ball season, I talked to my friend Jon,
who said that the best thing about fanta-
sy baseball is the chance to "learn about
random players you've never heard of."
With all due respect to guys like Karim
Garcia, there are members of his own
family who don't know (or care) as
much about his stats as some of these
fantasy gurus.
See BREMMER, Page 9A

I

Competon at several positions
higlihtsfialspring practice
By Ian Herbert Saturday except for the first one. last year's Rose Bowl. Redshirt soph-
.DailySports Writer "So we've had the advanta2e of nmore Matt Gutierrez is the favorite

X79
61 VJS

NOTE

getting
It's the time of year when sports to the n
fans around the country are ripping up the kic
their NCAA brackets and sorting ers enj
through pages of stats trying to decide point,]
whether to start Eric Chavez or spring."
Melvin Mora at third for their fantasy Ever
baseball teams. going t
But it's also the time when football gan's sc
coaches around the country get bom- yards m
barded with questions about quarter-
back controversies, injuries and new
recruits -time for the spring football
scrimmage, better known as the
Spring Game.
The Michigan football team has
been practicing since March 13, but
its spring practices end this weekend.
The final spring practice will be this
Saturday at Michigan Stadium and is
open to the public. Coach Lloyd Carr
said that the format has not been
decided yet, but said that there will be
some game-type situations.
"We are not going to divide the ,
team up because we just don't have
enough guys to do it," Carr said.
"Hopefully we will be able to give
everybody the game-type experience
that is always so much fun and really
the most important thing to take out
of the last practice. We'll have 25,000
people there and it's a great opportu-
nity for young players, in particular,
to get exposure."
Carr said that, up to this point, the
spring practices have been going
remarkably well, especially over the
last two weeks. He added that almost
all of the players have improved, and
he credited that improvement, in part,
to the football stadium's new turf.
"We have been outside more than
any year since 1990, when we went to
grass in the stadium," Carr said. "We Running
have gotten into the stadium every this sprii
the michigan daily

great film outside as opposed
ot-ideal inside. Plus, (it helps)
king game. So I think the play-
oy it a lot more. From that
I think it's been a very good
yone wants to know who is
o replace John Navarre, Michi-
chool-record holder in passing
who helped lead Michigan to

for the position and has impressed
Carr.
"Matt (Gutierrez) has had a really
good spring," Carr said. "He runs the
football team like a veteran guy. He's
just one of those guys who's a great
competitor. All the things I have said
about him in the past are true. He
really is a take-charge kind of guy in
See SPRING, Page 10A

Carney becomes
most recent player to
leave women's hoops
Just two weeks ago, three mem-
bers of the Michigan women's bas-
ketball team - sophomores Niki
Reams, Mie Burlin and Lauren
Andrews - asked for and were
given permission to leave the pro-
gram. Now point guard Rachael Car-
ney, also a sophomore, has
announced her departure from the
team.
"Rachael has made the decision
not to return to Michigan women's
basketball, and we respect that deci-
sion and wish her well in future
endeavors," Michigan coach Cheryl
Burnett said in a released statement
to The Michigan Daily yesterday.
As a freshman under former coach
Sue Guevara, Carney received the
co-Most Improved Award and started
15 of the 27 games she played in.
This season - like Andrews and
Burlin - Carney saw her playing
time drop after the arrival of first-
year coach Burnett and her staff.
Carney didn't start this season and
averaged 12.1 minutes per game -
down from 16.6 her freshman year.
Carney could not be reached for
comment. She has yet to announce
whether she will transfer to another
basketball program next year.
With Carney gone, just five mem-
bers of this year's team remain and
just four recruits have signed letters
of intent to join Michigan's program
next season. But Burnett continues
to stay positive.
"We remain committed to building
a solid foundation for our program
and look forward to what the future
holds for women's basketball at
Michigan," Burnett said in her
released statement.
Burnett refused to comment
beyond the released statement.
- Ellen McGarrity

a

4

back Pierre Rembert, a rising Junior, hasn't impressed coach Lloyd Carr so far
ng. Said Can. "I would say that he has not had a great spring."

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