Thursday 0 April 14, 2005 sports. michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily. com POheRTSigan ailg 9A . . . .... .......... . . .......... Kunkel represents' new wave of catchers By H. Jose Bosch Daily Sports Writer The tools of ignorance. In baseball circles, it is commonly known that "the tools" refers to the gear that a catcher dons before step- ping between the lines each and every inning. It's understandable why many would believe a catch- er is ignorant. Most rational thinking human beings would shy away from having anything, let alone a hard baseball, be hurled at them at upwards of 90 miles per hour. Add that to being less than a foot away from someone swinging a bat plus being expected to throw your body in front of any pitch in the dirt - expos- ing unprotected arms and thighs - and the image of a catcher as being a stupid brute becomes clearer. But senior Jeff Kunkel represents a new age of catchers that are far from ignorant and brutish. At one point, they were the slow, awkward kids of playground pasts who were only a step above the right- fielder in little league - but only because the catcher got to wear gear and the ball would actually come to him. But today, catchers must be the smartest person on the field and also one of the quickest in order to be suc- cessful on the diamond. Quick in mind and body, the catcher is now the field general. "A catcher is like a coach on the field - somebody who can recognize something with a pitcher." Michi- gan coach Rich Maloney said. "He might have to give him encouragement or light a fire in him. He is also somebody who is in touch with the game and has an understanding of hitters and isn't afraid to be vocal if need be." At any given moment, a catcher must know an abun- dance of numbers - from the pitch counts to the inning to the score of the game. But he must also remember the hitter and his tendencies and be able to identify how his pitcher is throwing, the position of his fielders and what each of them has to do in every possible situation. Maybe most importantly, a catcher must be the pitcher's psychologist and best friend. "You develop a personal relationship working with them so much throughout the season," Michigan pitch- er Jim Brauer said. "The catcher is with you for every bullpen and every game. They know when you're stuff is working and when it's not. They know how to fix you and how to help you out. A lot of times, they come out to the mound and they try to talk to you and try to settle you down." In Kunkel, Michigan has arguably the best catcher in the Big Ten. Last season, Kunkel had a .978 fielding percentage, WOMEN'S GOLF On his birthday, Schick says 'bye TOMMASO GOMEZ/Daily Michigan senior Jeff Kunkel had a .978 fielding percentage last season. This year it's up to .993. BRIAN SCHICK Schick Happens Today is my birthday. I don't mention this so that people run out and buy me gifts, but it's funny how things come full circle. It was 22 years ago today that I was born at University Hospital. Seriously. I've been a Wolverine since the day I was born. I doubt too many people on campus can make the exact same claim. Today is also the culmination of my career at The Michigan Daily. Just as my life began today in 1983, a huge part of it is ending today in 2005. Naturally, I've been a lifelong fan of Michigan sports. Going to a sporting event is one thing, but the experiences I've had from covering sporting events over the past four years make those same sporting events that much more incredible. Hockey is my favorite sport by far, and the chance to cover the hockey team was the main reason I joined the Daily. People gave me crap over the years for not saying I wanted to cover football, but it's just not the truth. I've seen some great games at Yost Ice Arena over the years, but nothing compares to the view from the press box. Seeing legendary coach Red Beren- son sitting behind the bench is a thrill, but actually talking to him on daily basis last season was something I never thought possible. Another thing that I never anticipated was the friends I've made over the past four years as well. I doubt that sitting in the press box would be as interest- ing without your beatmates to discuss the flow of the game or to argue about who is a better player. Instead of being a blast, road trips would be nightmares without some good company. Even when not covering an event for the Daily, road trips with sports staffers are never dull. Therefore I decided to put together a top-10 list of my favorite memories over the last four years that involve either road trips with fellow staffers or actual game coverage. The last time I ranked something in a column it turned out pretty well, so I figured it was worth reviving one last time. So, from the home office in Colfax, Ind., here are the Schick Happens top-10 Daily memories: 10. Women's tennis This was my first beat, and it was a great place to start. The players were great to me and were actually glad to answer my stupid questions about tennis, since I knew next to nothing. I still go back every year, and they still say "hi" to me. You should check out their final home match of the season this Saturday; I'll be there. 9. Facing the music Not necessarily a positive memory, but something I'd have to do at some point. I wrote a pretty scathing com- mentary about former women's bas- ketball coach Sue Guevara and had to go down to practice the next day and confront her. The first thing she said to me was, "Oh, you're the guy trying to get me fired!" Ouch. 8. Big Ten champs! Despite covering hundreds of games, I only got to write one Big Ten cham- pionship story in my four years. Field hockey won the regular season title in 2002 after going 6-0 in league play. 7. The G.R. As a big fan of the hockey team, I had to go to Grand Rapids for the NCAA regional, and, therefore, attend all four tournaments in my four years. It was great fun to cheer (I couldn't while covering the team last season) with the likes of Bob Hunt, Ellen McGarrity, Eric Ambinder and Chris Burke. Then, against her better judgment, Ellen let us crash at her house. 6. Women's Big Ten Tournament Four words: "Big Ten, Big Times." For an explanation, you'll just have to ask Gennaro Filice, Dan Bremmer or Josh Holman. 5. My kind of town Chicago was the site for this year's Big Ten basketball tournament, and also where the basketball beat butchered Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" at a karaoke bar after Michigan's loss to North- western. Let's just say it was a trip that knocked your socks off, among other things. 4. Hawkeye country After risking our lives to drive through a blizzard to Iowa City in Janu- ary for the Big Ten basketball opener, we arrived safely - but most of the Iowa fans didn't. They missed perhaps the most exciting game of the season, thanks to Daniel Horton's return from an injury. 3. Manchester, N.H. The town itself wasn't anything spe- cial, but the journey sure was. Driving across the plains of Ontario and some- how getting lost around Niagara Falls while looking for a McDonalds were just some of the highlights. Michigan hockey also played an amazing overtime game against Boston College in the NCAA regional final. 2. Granddaddy of them all I think everyone will tell you that the 2005 Rose Bowl was one of the best games ever played, and the best I saw in person. But the game was just part of a great week in Southern California that contained several surreal experiences, most notably the bright orange rental car. 1. The Last Frontier I was lucky enough to convince my editor to let me fly to Fairbanks, Alaska, last year for Michigan's hockey series against Alaska-Fairbanks. It was like vis- iting a foreign country without needing a passport - some of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. I also encoun- tered dog mushing for the first time and saw a community that might care more about its hockey team than Ann Arbor does. In addition, it brought me closer to Berenson, as he couldn't stop asking about my trip once I got back. If I left off certain people who accompanied me on these trips, it's because I chose to highlight the outgo- ing class of editors, and I apologize for the omissions. You know that I think the world of all of you (even if I seemed not to show it at times), and it's been both a pleasure and an honor to have worked with everyone throughout my career at the Daily. Brian Schick really didn't think he would write such a sappy column, but it couldn't be helped. He can be reached at bschick@umich.edu. caught 18 base runners stealing and led the Big Ten with seven pickoffs. Currently, he sports a .993 fielding percentage, and he has thrown out 10 would-be base stealers. The defensive highlight of his season was the five runners he caught stealing in the opening Big Ten series against Minnesota, one of the few bright spots for the Wolverines that weekend. "Throwing a guy out at second or picking a guy off at second when a guy goes to bunt and misses the bunt to take the momentum away from them," Kunkel said, "that's important." Much stronger now than when Maloney first came to the program in the 2002 season, Kunkel has not only grown into a major defensive threat for the Wolverines but has also been a major contributor at the plate. In a new era of catchers, where a great defensive catcher cannot get by with just a .220 batting average anymore, Kunkel is third on the team in hitting with a .366 average. Considering Michigan is hitting .310 as a team, Kunkel's numbers are very impressive. "I think he's the elite catcher in the league, truth- fully," Maloney said. As vocal as he is on the field, Kunkel is very soft spoken off it. He credits a lot of his successes to for- mer coaches and the starting catcher for the Wolverines when he was a freshman, Jake Fox - a third-round Major League draft pick. "When I first got here, playing behind Jake Fox, I learned a lot of things from other guys," Kunkel said. "I've had good coaches that have helped me get better with certain things like improving my arm strength and being more relaxed and more confident." Dye course Golfers By Lindsey Ungar Daily Sports WriterJ When the Michigan women's golf teami stepped onto Purdue's Kampen golf coursei in West Lafayette this past weekend, they' were stepping onto a course unlike any other in the Big Ten. Kampen is different for one reason - legendary golf architect Pete Dye.+ "This course is the top-of-the- line," Birck Boilermaker Golf Com- plex superintendept Jim Scott said.; "We take a lot of pride in it because it bears his name." One of the few collegiate courses+ designed by Dye, Kampen is a links course that challenges golfers with bent grass fairways, bent greens+ and a lot of bluegrass rough. "There's not a bad hole out there," Purdue associate golf coach Greg Rob- ertson said. "Every hole challenges you. You've got long holes, short holes - you're hitting different clubs off the tee and different shots in the greens. It's just a great golf course." The difficulty of the course in combination with blustery condi- )lay legendary tions made the Wolverines finish Like many of his co last weekend more impressive. The is a result of Dye's c team rallied from a nine-stroke def- According to his wif icit, shooting 292 in the last round, Pete's "hands-on" appr to earn co-champion honors with and construction is wha Texas Christian at the Lady Boiler- from his contemporari maker Invitational, has made him successf "We really played well, particu- "He works very hat larly towards the end," Michigan holes set up, and he d coach Kathy Teichert said. "Every- paper," Alice Dye sai thing came together for us." reason his courses ar Freshman Isabelle Grendreu shot that he's there. He wen a career-best, 2-under 70 to lead the at least 60 days. He wa Wolverines. and he worked. If it di Kampen has hosted numerous he fixed it right then an other tournaments, including the Purdue Associate A women's NCAA Championship, and tor Nancy Cross cre will be the site for the men's NCAA a vision for molding Championship in 2008. landscape into a beau To get his ideas for links courses "He's an incredib like Kampen, Dye took his inspira- Cross said. "When I tion from a month-long trip touring with him, we would b the classic courses of Scotland in the same little bit of 1963. Since then, he has designed would say, 'Now, can: dozens of courses, including many ine that a golfer wou PGA tournament sites. Most. recent- and then it's going to ly, his Whistling Straits course in right...' and of cours Kohler, Wisc., hosted the 2004 at nothing but dirt an PGA Championship. of trees over on one s urses, Kampen reative genius. fe, Alice Dye, roach to design at sets him apart es and is what ul for 40 years. rd on how the oesn't do it on d. "I think the e so special is nt to Purdue for as there on-site, dn't look right, d there." !thletic Direc- dits Dye with g the existing tiful course. le visionary," would go out be standing on f land, and he you just imag- uld do x, y, z, dogleg to the se I'm looking nd some hump ide. It was just amazing to me what he could see in his own mind." Dye wasn't the only one working on the course in the summer of 1997. About 40 students put in seven-day, 80 to 90-hour work weeks to com- plete-the course for a spring 1998 opening. "It was a win-win (situation)," Cross said. "He was energized by the students, and they were thrilled to try to impress and learn from Pete Dye." The course is still a model for modern, renewable design. Sci- entists at Purdue continue to use Kampen, situated next to wetlands, as a research lab for water filter- ing. As a result of the system, the course reuses water in its irrigation systems while protecting and clean- ing nearby Celery Bog. Seven years after Kampen's opening and while he approach- ing 80 years old, Dye still checks in with Scott to see how the course is holding up and adapting. And the magnificence of the course is some- thing both the Wolverines and Boil- ermakers can agree on. (734) 996-9080 www.aoeoycom SBOWTIS Wed~nesday 8:00pm IMPROY CMEY JAMM WTH T~u't~nvOy m SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT APR 141, 51 & 161 ALONZO BODDeN -Winner Last Comic Standing 3 - Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn - Late Friday - The Tonight Show - Comedy Central's Premium Blend I m