Thursday -October 28, 2004 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com ORTe Slchgan ¢iy 1OA .- I . .......... . Gutierrez o ts to fix shoul er Big Ten should crown champion on gridiron By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer The Matt Gutierrez saga has final- ly come to some type of conclusion -- for now. The redshirt sophomore quarterback is taking a week off from practice, recov- ering from surgery to repair cartilage damage to his shoulder. Gutierrez had the procedure on Monday at the Univer- sity Hospital. While Gutierrez has spent much of this week sleeping, his father Paul - who traveled to Ann Arbor from northern California to accompany him through the surgery and recovery process - said that everything has gone well. "He's still, I'd guess you'd say, heav- ily medicated," Paul Gutierrez said. "But he's not experiencing a lot of pain, and that's the good part." Gutierrez was expected to begin the season as the starter, but was shut down the week before the Miami (Ohio) game for what the team called a'sore shoulder. This began a period of speculation as to the nature of Gutierrez's injury. Eventually, an MRI later that month discovered that the quarterback had a torn labrum, a type of cartilage found in the shoulder where the shoulder blade is connect- ed to the arm. Because the labrum is located between two bones, it is much hirder to detect than other shoulder problems, such as a torn rotator cuff. Thus, it was much more complicated process to formulate a diagnosis than it would have been for a more visible shoulder injury. For someone who was supposed to be Michigan's starting quarterback, the whole ordeal was a frustrating experience. "The toughest part was that he knew he couldn't perform and not knowing what was wrong initially, and then hav- ing to wait until things took their course," Paul Gutierrez said. After the problem was discovered, Gutierrez and his family consulted team physician James Carpenter - who con- ducted the surgery - and a special- ist in Los Angeles. The doctors shared information, and once the final progno- sis became clear, "things moved pretty quickly after that," according to Paul Gutierrez. Now, Gutierrez will begin an estimat- ed six-month recovery period and will no longer be the holder for kicker Garrett Rivas. Punter Adam Finley is expected to take over those duties. Gutierrez will be unable to throw the ball for three months while the sutures used to reattach the labrum to the bone heal. Then the quarterback will begin light throwing during the following three months, when he is hoping to be close to a full recovery. Labrum tears are more commonly found in baseball pitchers, whose arms BOB HUNT TONY DING/Daily Michigan quarterback Matt Gutierrez will miss the rest of the season after shoulder surgery, but he hopes to compete for the starting spot next season. bear more significant stress than a quar- terback's. But Oakland Raiders quarter- back Rich Gannon missed much of the 2003 NFL season with a similar injury. As of now, Gutierrez is expected to make a full recovery. While the origin of the injury is up for speculation, according to his father, Guti- errez probably developed a sore shoulder during fall practice and put too much additional stress on it, leading to the tear. Meanwhile, true freshman Chad Henne has flourished in the starting quar- terback role, leading to speculation as to Gutierrez's future at Michigan no matter how well he recovers. Paul Gutierrez said that he has spoken with his son about the situation, but that nothing significant has changed in that regard. "His goal is to get healthy, and com- pete, and eventually win the job back," Paul Gutierrez said. "He's going to com- pete as hard as he can." Gutierrez has two years of eligibility remaining, and is currently not able to apply for another year. Unleashed it's a situation that previously seemed impossible. Michigan is in.a position where it could go undefeated in conference play and not go to the Rose Bowl. Actu- ally, it could even win its final three games and not go to a BCS bowl at all. Unless Wisconsin gets upset, the Wolverines are going to have to hope for a loss or two out of Utah, Texas and Tennessee, or they could be spending their winter break in Central Florida. The possibility of Michigan going 10-1 and ending up in the Capital One Bowl is still remote with all the football left to be played. But the fact that the possibility exists is troubling because Michigan won't be able to settle its conference fate on the field. Since the Big Ten has 11 teams, the conference is forced to utilize a rotating schedule in which each team plays its non-designated rivals six times out of every eight years. This created a situation where winning the conference title has as much to do with who you don't play as who you do. If Michigan and Wisconsin win out, the Big Ten will have split champions who didn't face each other during the regular season for the fourth time in nine years. (The most recent was in 2002 when Ohio State and Iowa both finished 8-0 in the Big Ten.) So which team is named the Big Ten's BCS represen- tative is often decided by the con- ference's second tie-breaker (overall record), or even its third tie-breaker (who has had the longest drought since being the conference represen- tative in the Rose Bewl)s. r For a sport like college football, where championships are supposed. to be decided on the field during the regular season, tMis aproblem. While arguing who the best team in the nation might be is part of what makes college football great, argu- ing who the best team in the confer- ence might be is not. Michigan and Wisconsin have clearly established themselves as the best two teams in the Big Ten this year, and we'll never know how they would have done against each other. This problem has two solutions. The first would be to add two con- ference games and have each Big Ten school play just one or two non- conference games. This would never work though, because many schools rely on scheduling the Eastern Michigans of the world each year so that they can have six or seven home games. An expanded conference schedule would make it impossible to do that. Thus, there is just one solution: Have the Big Ten add a 12th team and a conference championship game. Now, I know what some of you are saying: What about the tradition of the Michigan-Ohio State game being for the Big Ten title? While I realize the game is important, it's also not the 1970s anymore. Other schools (there was a time when Wisconsin was a perennial doormat) have been able to put good teams together and make a run at the Roses. And the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will mean something regardless of whether there is a game played in the first weekend in December. But what about the fact that the Big Ten would have to add a 12th member? The view of conference commissioner Jim Delany is that the league is not interested unless the ideal situation comes along, such as Penn State in 1993 and Notre Dame (or at least that's what con- ference officials thought) in 1999. But there are many schools such as Missouri, Syracuse and Pittsburgh that could possibly fit within the conference. And I'm guessing Notre.: Dame would reconsider entering the conference if it knew it would never -ahev~eehanee again (theT,' would never expand beyond 12). nofth zt ig to cu the expansion of the ACC to 12 team lnss forever chang'd4l h,6 See HUNT, Page 11A 0 Red Sox win first Seres since 1918 ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Boston Red Sox - yes, the Boston Red Sox! - are World Series champi- ons at long, long last. No more curse and no doubt about it. They sure got you, Babe. Ridiculed and reviled through decades of defeat,: the Red Sox didn't just beat the St. Louis Cardi- nals, owners of the best record in baseball, they swept them for their first crown since 1918. Johnny Damon homered on the fourth pitch r of the game, Derek Lowe made it stand up and the Red Sox won 3-0 last night, wrapping up a Series in which they never trailed.F Chants of "Let's go, Red Sox!" bounced all around Busch Stadium, with Boston fans as revved-up as they were relieved. Only 10 nights earlier, the Red Sox were just three outsx from getting swept by the New York Yankees in the AL championship series PedroI before becoming the first team in baseball postseason history to overcome a 3-0 deficit. It was Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of frustration and futility, after two world wars, the Great Depression, men on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. After all that, on an eerie night when the moon went dark in a total eclipse, the Red Sox made it look easy. Gone was the heartbreak of four Game 7 losses since their last title, a drought - some insist it was a curse - that really began after they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. "I'm so happy. I'm happy for the fans in Bos- ton, I'm happy for Johnny Pesky, for Bill Buck- ner, for (Bob) Stanley and (Calvin) Schiraldi and all the great Red Sox players who can now be remembered for the great players that they were," pitcher Curt Schilling said. Schilling got himself traded from Arizona to Bos- ton last November, eager to beat the Yankees and put the Red Sox in the World Series for the first time since 1986. He made it worth his while, with the win ensuring him of an extra $15 million in a contract he negotiated himself. "We wanted to do it so bad for the city of Boston. To win a World Series with this on our chests - it hasn't been done since 1918," first baseman Kevin Millar said. "So rip up those '1918' posters right now." Damon's leadoff homer off starter Jason Marquis and Trot Nixon's two-out, two-run double on a 3-0 pitch were all that Lowe needed. Having won the first-round clincher against Anaheim in relief and then winning Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, Lowe blanked the Cards on a mere three hits for seven innings. Relievers Bronson Arroyo and Alan Embree See RED SOX, Page 11A Martinez Merrill Lynch mI.com/careers/americas SHARE OUR PASSION MERRILL LYNCH PRESENTATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN juniors and sophomores are invited to attend: Wednesday, November 3, 2004 5:00-6:30 pm D1273 Whether you look at us in terms of people, culture, products or our virtually limitless possibilities, Merrill Lynch defines "exceptional" in every sense of the word. It's a source of pride for all of us who work here. And a source of exceptional careers for those eager to share in our passion for doing great things. Attend our presentation. And let's explore the possibilities together. Summer opportunities: Accounting & Finance n.