Wednesday November 3, 2004 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com SPE fR TSgan Bailu 4 12 . ..... ........ Thompson still on side of nirvana By Chris Burke Daily Sports Editor Michigan was in desperate need of some good fortune. Sophomore Garrett Rivas had just kicked a field goal to cut Michigan State's lead to 27-13 on Saturday, but time was quickly dwindling on the Wolverines. And then backup fullback Brian Thompson made the biggest play of his football career. It was the redshirt sophomore who jumped on Rivas's onside kick with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter - a play that instantly made Michigan's comeback dreams possible. "It was an unbelievable feeling," Thompson said. "Gar- rett made a great kick and I just happened to be there." On the play, Michigan lined up with two kickers on the field - Rivas and senior Troy Nienberg. Rivas came from the right side and nailed alow line drive. The ball didn't travel the required 10 yards, but it banged off a Michigan State defender and bounced back into Thomp- son's arms. "We had worked on (the two-kicker formation) before," Rivas said. "With onside kicks, it gets a little tricky. You just hope to get a good bounce and hope that it hits off someone's pads or something like that. "It just worked out like we wanted to." Following the recovery, Michigan needed just two plays and 15 seconds to pull within seven points on a Michigan State on a Chad Henne-to-Braylon Edwards touchdown pass. The Wolverines would tie the score at 27 three minutes later. But aside from giving Michigan a chance to rally from behind, the onside kick also served to reignite the thin- ning Michigan Stadium crowd. Almost immediately, the ICE HOCKEY Blue should embrace Brian Thompson, pictured kicking In Michigan's win over Indiana, revived the Wolverines on Saturd, recovering Garrett Rivas's onside kick in the fourth quarter. Wolverine faithful were brought back to life - though Thompson would have to wait until he got off the field following the onside kick to realize that. "I couldn't hear anything, I was in my own little zone," said Thompson of the crowd's reaction when he fell on the ball. "Honest to God, you're just kind of in a whole little nirvana." There may have been more highlight-worthy plays in Michigan's comeback victory. But for Thompson - a Saginaw native whose brother Shawn was a tight end at Michigan from 1998-2001 - his role in the win couldn't have been bigger "A lot of people rank their favorite games as the over- time against Penn State (in 2002) or the field goal against Washington (in 2001) or Minnesota last year," Thomp- son said. "But, being from Michigan, this was the best thing that I could have ever been a part of. I will never forget it." You oA HEis-MAN: After eclipsing the 200-yard mark on the ground for the third straight game, freshman run- ning back Mike Hart's name was quietly bandied about in the Heisman Trophy race. But Michigan coach Lloyd Carr believes Hart's not the Wolverine that should be following Chris Perry's foot- steps to the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York. See FOOTBALL, page 13 Ebbett, Gajic and Porter form one funny line By Gabe Edelson Daily Sports Writer Maybe the players on the Michigan hockey team's most productive scor- ing line play so well together on the ice because of how different they are off of it. Junior Andrew Ebbett's unassuming demeanor and Kevin Porter's freshman humility combine to keep two-thirds of the unit calm, but senior Milan Gajic's outgoing style spices things upa little. "It's a bit of a clash when it comes to personalities," Gajic said. "But (Ebbett and Porter) both like to joke around, and I'm a pretty big joker. I'll say things sometimes just to get a rise out of them, to see how they react." Gajic's latest stunt has come at Por- ter's expense. Throughout the season, the senior has lightheartedly badgered the freshman about not passing him the puck. "(I) just like to give him hell about it," Gajic said. "We've even got his dad involved now." Said Porter: "My dad would call me up and leave me messages on my cell phone. He would say, 'Hey, this is Gajic. Move me the puck. Pass me the puck. I've got a stick, too.' After every game Gajic will go talk to him, just to let him know that I need to move the puck more." But Porter's play this year has left little to be desired. "Porter is really finding his way here," Ebbett said. "He's really working hard and he's listened to everything that everybody's told him. He just does his job out there." Gajic isn't shocked by his new line- mate's quick start on the college level. "We'd heard things about (Porter and fellow freshman Chad Kolarik)," Gajic said. "So it doesn't surprise me at all." Still, Porter isn't completely happy with his progress. He knows he still has to continue to adjust to a quicker game in the CCHA. "I think I need to get used to the pace a little more," Porter said. "(Ebbett and Gajic) are a lot quicker, and I just need The University of Michigan S 1. Department of Recreational Sports L REC REC SPORTS Intramural Sports Program SPORTS JNTR AL WWW.recsports.umich.edu 734-763-3562 Entries due: Wed, 11/03 4:30 PM IM Building Entry Fee: $180.00 per team Manager's Meeting: MANDATORY Thur, 11/04 6:30 PM IM Building Tournament Dates: 11/7- 11/18 Yost Ice Arena ICe Hockey Entries due: Thur., 12/02 4:30PM IM Building Entry Fee: $35.00 per team $5.00 per individual Manager's Meeting: MANDATORY Thurs, 12/02 6:00 PM - IM Building Tournament Dates: Entries also Tues - Thurs, taken online 12/07-12/09 Sports Coliseum Wrestling : Run 4,Sat, Mitc Entries due: Thurs, 1 1/04 4:30 PM IM Building Entry Fee: $25.00 per team $5.00 per individual Entriesalso taken online Date: 11/06, 9:00 AM hell Fields/Gallup Park to pick up my speed a little bit. Their first couple steps are real strong, and they get off to a good start. It's hard to catch them when they get going." While practical jokes may steal the attention, exceptional play from Ebbett - who according to Michi- gan coach Red Berenson is the line's "glue" - has often gone unappreci- ated. Ebbett quietly put up 38 points last season, good for the second-best mark on the team. "I just kind of float under the radar," Ebbett said before practice on Monday. "I do my job, I work hard and I make sure my line's ready to go every night. It doesn't bother me not getting any press. As long as I go out there and work hard, my teammates notice it and I notice it, and that works for me." Over the past two-plus years, Gajic has come to appreciate what sets Ebbett apart from most other skaters. "(Ebbett) is such a great player," Gajic said. "He moves the puck and his head is always up. It would be really hard not to have success with him because he's just so good with the puck." But it's Gajic who currently leads No. 3 Michigan (3-1-0 CCHA, 5-2-1 over- all) in scoring with 10 points. "(Gajic) is a very offensive-minded guy, and that really helps me," Ebbett said. "I'm able to get him the puck, and he does the rest. He knows how to put the puck in the net." This season, all three linemates are currently among the top five point-earn- ers on the team. Ebbett sits third with eight and Porter finds himself tied with senior defenseman Eric Werner in the fifth spot with six points. "You've got a little bit of every- thing there," Berenson said, referring to the varying ages and styles of play of the three forwards. "We've made a lot of line changes for different reasons, but right now they're defi- nitely a line I can count on. Gajic is a smart player and he's an opportun- ist who can score. He can also make good plays. Porter's a good two-way player. Ebbett's a classic centerman. If you play with (him), you should get chances to score." Gajic is satisfied playing on a line that has registered at least a point in every game this year except Saturday's shut- out loss at Ferris State. But he believes his team is deep enough to duplicate his group's achievements with any combi- nation of players. "Just from the makeup of our for- wards, you can't have a bad line on this team," Gajic said. Still, Ebbett is content to milk his trio's scoring surge for all it's worth. "We're just really clicking right now," he said. Saturday 1_ DANIEL BREMMER Garden State of Mind On Saturday, I witnessed the best game I have ever seen in my four years as a student at Michigan. The 45-37 win over Michigan State was amazing for the play on the field, but maybe even more so because of the atmosphere surrounding the game - an environment that was directly related to the amount of light in the sky. When the sun set over the Big House, the atmo- sphere drastically improved. And that is why Michigan needs to add a night home game toits schedule each year. This thought first crossed my mind even before the game ended. As I walked from the press box, down the aisle between section 23 and 24 to get on the field, I looked around me and decid- ed: that we need to have a night game each year, to recreate this atmosphere. So after the game, when I saw Ath- letic Director Bill Martin outside the tunnel entrance to the stadium, I figured I should at least see if he shared my sen- timents. I asked Martin whether or not he felt any sort of atmosphere change between the time it was light out, and after the sun set. "It just seemed like the momen- tum turned for us in the second half, when ..." Martin started out. Yes! Maybe he does agree. "..Braylon caught that firs score," Martin finished. Martin went on to talk about how the athletic department doesn't want to play night games, and about the greater responsibility that a night game puts on him and his cohorts. A concern for Mar- tin was public safety following a night game - making sure that parking lots were well lit, police were in place, etc. Not to discount this as being unim- portant, but if professional stadiums all around the country can accommodate their fans, I'm sure that we could make the appropriate arrangements here in Ann Arbor. Tennessee seems to host 104,000-plus at least once or twice a year - there's no reason why a few thousand more fans should be a problem at the Big House. One potential problem that Martin didn't mention - but I'm sure has crossed the minds of the administrators - is the all-day tailgating that students would most likely participate in before a night game. It's true - students would spend all afternoon drinking. But how is that any worse than spending all morn- ing drinking, like students do now before the 3:30 games? And I know arrests were high for Saturday's game - 21 total - but that number could be largely due to the oppo- nent, not the time of the game. Should 0.0002 percent of the fans in Michigan Stadium ruin it for everyone? Martin even went as far as saying that he wasn't fully convinced that students would even want to go to night games. With all due respect, students would eat this idea up faster than free Pancheros on a bar night. Throwing a night game into the mix would be an opportunity to take an oth- erwise crappy Michigan cakewalk over a team - like Miami (Ohio) - and turn it into a game people would actu- ally want to go to. Or, even better, take a traditional rivalry game like Michigan's Sept. 10 meeting with Notre Dame in 2005, and move that one back a few hours ... Maize and Blue supporters would never be more excited for a game 10 months away. ight Lights You think anyone would be opposed to actually waking up at a reasonable hour following a Friday night out on the town and still having all day to tailgate? How could they not love it? Think back to how great the atmosphere was at the end of Saturday's game. Instead of equal levels of brightness all around the stadium, when the sun set, you could barely see the crowd, and fans were able to focus solely on the well-lit 120-yards of turf in front of them. The scoreboard was much brighter and vibrant in the surrounding darkness, and flashes went off throughout the sea of 11,000-plus fans. You could see players' shadows on the field - not those one-dimensional shadows the sun gives you, but the criss- crossing X-shaped ones from the four sets of lights. Sure, any game between heated in- state rivals will be big. But the aura of the night game played a huge role in making Saturday's game what it was. And if Martin still doesn't think a night game is worth considering, maybe the TV networks could have some influence. You think ESPN or ABC wouldn't love to broadcast Michigan's first-ever night game? Imagine the hype that would surround this monumental moment. And as everyone's noticed lately through this SBC-fiasco, some- times companies and networks can have big influences. One more reason to consider play- ing under the lights: Maybe if Michi- gan had more games broadcast to the entire country (not just ABC regional), guys like Braylon Edwards and Mike Hart would be getting the national hype they deserve. If the students and the networks aren't enough, what about player reactions? "I wish we had a night game here at Michigan Stadium," senior safety Ernest Shazor told me after Saturday's game. And Shazor wasn't the only Michigan player who loved the idea. "I think the fans get into ita little bit more under the lights," tight end Tim Massaquoi said. "I felt the crowd. The crowd got rowdy." Not surprisingly, this night game idea tested through the roof with all the play- ers I talked to after Saturday's win. Usually, Michigan football players are fairly reserved (some are just plain unexcited) when they talk abotiany- thing after a game. But on Saturday, talking about playing under the lights, the players were as giddy as a kid in a candy store. The closest thing I got to a negative answer about a potential night game was when Matt Lentz suggested that play- ing one in November might be too cold - a problem that some good scheduling could easily solve. So here's the idea: Take one of Mich- igan's first few home games - from September or early October - and shift it later in the day by a few hours to a 7 or 8 p.m. start. All in all, our home schedule would be enhanced year after year by adding a night game to the schedule. When I think back on Big House football during my four years at Michigan, the games that stick out the most are-2002's win over Washington (last-second field goal by Phillip Brabbs), 2002's overtime win against Penn State - which also ended under the lights - and Saturday's win over Michigan State. And if things go the way they should, maybe future Michigan students will be able to make their own memories of great games played entirely at night, rather than just 3:30 games that go into overtime. Daniel Bremmer would love to petition the athletic department to play an annual night game at Michigan Stadium. If you support the cause, drop him an e-mail at bremmerd@umich.edu. Cross Country Run 4 Michigan Stadium needs to see the lights. Officials are needed! Basketball - January 51°, 7:00 PM. All clinics are held at the Intramural Sports Building. Please contact David Siegle at 763-3562 for more information. Elections 2004 The Next Four Years: What the Election Results Suggest for Policymaking Michigan's 13th District Representative John Dingell and 8th District Candidate John J.H. "Joe" Schwarz Wednesday, November 3, 2004 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Pendleton Room, Michigan Union 530 South State Street, Ann Arbor These lectures are sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Each program includes time for questions from the audience. For more information, contact fordevents@umich.edu or phone 734-764-3490. I I I