Wednesday October 5, 2005 sports. michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily.com PR TSictigan til 11 After fumbling twice, safety looks to RB's coach for help By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Editor After Saturday's win over Michi- gan State was long over, senior Wil- lis Barringer went to running backs coach Fred Jackson for some advice. Barringer fumbled the ball twice during the game, and Jackson gave him some pointers on how to hold on to the pigskin. But Barringer is not a running back - not even close. Barringer is the team's starting free safety. What did he learn from Jackson? He said that Jackson showed him exactly how to hold the football. But that wasn't all he learned. "I'll probably just fall down," Barringer said when asked what he would do the next time he got an interception. It's not often that a safety man- ages to fumble twice in one game. Most safeties are just lucky to even touch the ball twice in one game. Barringer took care of that with two first-half interceptions. "Well, Willis set a Michigan record in that game. He caught two passes and fumbled them both," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. At the very end of the first quar- ter, the Spartans were trailing 14-7 when they tried to get a little fancy. On first down deep in Michigan's territory, the Spartans' Jerramy Scott took the toss from quarterback Drew Stanton and threw a pass deep down the sideline intended for tight end Dwayne Holmes. Barringer stepped in front of the pass and made the interception before Holmes stripped him a sec- ond later. The referee originally called it an incomplete pass because he said that Barringer never had con- trol - but replay revealed that Bar- ringer made the catch and Michigan took over possession. "I thought I caught it and I thought I possessed it, but I guess they want- ed to review it," Barringer said. "I was just ready to go onto the next play and just play defense." Barringer got his second intercep- tion on the last play of the first half. Michigan was up by three and the Spartans had the ball on the 35-yard line. Stanton tried to get a Hail Mary down the left sideline, and Barringer was there once again. "What goes through my mind is, 'Thank you,' " Barringer said. Shortly afterward, the safety fum- bled his second interception of the game, but, just like the first time, Michigan recovered it. At the beginning of the year, it didn't look like Barringer would start. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds in high school, but, coming into this season, he had made just a handful of starts. Even though the secondary lost two starters last season, the free safety position was actually settled. Junior Ryan Mundy, a two-year starter who even got significant action as a freshman, had the posi- tion all locked up. But a nerve injury has kept him from seeing significant playing time this year, and Carr said that Mundy will be out the entire season. "I thought he would come back some time this season at least, but I just try to go in there and do as much as I can with the team," Bar- ringer said. Carr said that Barringer proved himself throughout spring and fall practices, and, when it was deter- mined that Mundy wouldn't play, Barringer was named the starter. "He is one of these guys that per- severed," Carr said. "I don't think there is a more likable guy on our team. What he has done at a posi- tion where there was a lot of ques- tion about our secondary, and I think what he has done has just been out- standing. I personally couldn't be happier for the guy because it hasn't been easy for him." And now that he has the ball, Bar- ringer has no plans of fumbling it away. RYAN WEINER/Daily Willis Barringer may not be a running back, but that didn't stop Fred Jackson from giving the free safety some pointers. Ready or not, the NHL is back with changes that aren't so bad Shaky showing leads to disappointing finish In my five-year-old mind, ice hockey stood head and shoulders above every other sport. I lived and breathed hockey, reading my beloved Islanders' box scores after every game and anxiously putting stickers in my skating-lesson book after each success- ful session. I couldn't wait until the day I would finally grab a stick, put on a helmet and take to the ice, beginning my dream of becoming an NHL superstar. But that day never came. After a few months, my parents inexpli- cably pulled me out of ice skating i lessons, and to this day, I can't do much more than skate forward and MATT turn left. SINGER Sadly, my skat- Spitting Fire ing lesson experi- ence wouldn't be the last time hockey left me disappointed. I was seven years old in 1993, when my dad managed to score a pair of tickets for the Islanders' second-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He brought me to Nassau Coliseum, where I sat, wide- eyed, as the Islanders skated to a victory in front of an ecstatic crowd. On the way back from the game, my dad asked me if I had a good time. "I liked it," I replied. "But it was a little too loud for me." Of course, Nassau Coliseum never got that loud again because the Islanders haven't won a single playoff series since they dispatched the Penguins that year. Fast forward to 2004. The Islanders were finally decent again, looking poised to finally win a playoff series. Of course, it was too good to be true. They - along with the rest of the NHL - sat out the season due to a labor dispute. So there you go - hockey and I'have had a pretty rocky past. It's my first love, the one that builds my hopes up, only to leave me disappointed every time. But still, I always seem to give hockey another chance. Despite my heartbreaks over the past 15 years, I can't help but be just a little excited for the NHL's return tonight (which ironically, coincides with my birthday). Hoping to reclaim disil- lusioned fans like me, the NHL has insti- tuted the most dramatic set of rule changes any major sport has attempted in decades. The rule prohibiting the two-line pass? Gone. Ridiculously oversized goalie pads? Gone. Icing the puck to allow for a line change? No longer allowed. And finally, the most exciting new rule - ties not decided in five minutes of overtime will proceed to a shootout. Traditionalists are screaming bloody murder, claiming that the NHL is selling out its truly loyal fans to fill up arenas. And although some of these new rules do repre- sent a sharp break from the NHL's past, the league is in a tough position. In the wake of the lockout, the NHL lost its TV deal with ESPN, and instead inked a contract with the Outdoor Life Network. Does anyone even get the Outdoor Life Network? And does hockey have anything to do with outdoor life? So, given the circumstances, it's hard to blame Commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL's leaders for trying to broaden their league's appeal. Plus, nostalgia notwithstanding, the new rules are pretty damn sweet. I know quite a few die-hard hockey fans, ones who appreci- ate the finer points of a neutral-zone trap or a well-played puck behind the net. Not one of them went to games hoping for a zero- zero tie. It's not like the NHL doubled the size of the net - the games won't turn into circuses. But I'll trade in 2-1 games for 4-3 games any day. And call me a product of the ADD- riddled, MTV-addicted generation, but I can't wait to see my first shootout in person. There's no more exciting play in sports than the penalty shot, but they come about once in a blue moon. Now every game will have the potential for an edge-of-your-seat, game- deciding shootout. That familiar, empty feeling of leaving an arena after a tie game will become a thing of the past. And finally, the loser of the shootout will still earn one point, fair consolation for fighting hard for 65 minutes. Of course, knowing my history, hockey will probably find some way to disap- point me. Maybe the revamped Islanders will stink again. Maybe I won't be able to find Outdoor Life Network among the hundreds of channels on my satellite dish. Maybe I'll never attend a game that ends in a shootout. But for today at least, I'll push my doubts aside, open my arms and happily welcome back the NHL, new rules and all. - Matt has long since forgiven his parents for canceling skating lessons - he wouldn't have made the NHL anyway. He can be reached at mattsing@umich.edu. By Nate Sandals For the Daily The Michigan men's golf team headed into the Memphis Intercollegiate Tournament on Monday looking to build upon their home victory at the Wolverine Intercollegiate last week with a road vic- tory against many of the same universities. Michigan finished ninth overall in the 15- team field with a three-round total of 888, 12 strokes out of first place. Tournament host Memphis University, led by individual winner Keven Fortin-Simard, was the team champion with a three-round total of 876, five strokes ahead of second-place Southern Mississippi. The Wolverines left the Colonial Country Club in Cordova, Tenn., yesterday knowing there was still a good deal of work to do to prove they can consistently compete against top competition. The team's performance was capricious during the first two rounds on Monday, and they entered the clubhouse tied for seventh. That inconsistency continued into Tuesday's final round. "There was some good and some bad in this tournament," Michigan coach Andrew Sapp said. "No one played consistently well for three rounds." Tim Schaetzel was Michigan's lone bright spot from the tournament. The sophomore from Atlanta, Ga., followed up his fourth- place finish at the Wolverine Intercollegiate by tying for fifth in Memphis. He recorded an even-par 216 over the three rounds. But even Schaetzel suffered from some erratic play. After shooting a 4-under 68 in the first round, the sophomore followed with a 5-over par 77 in the afternoon round. His combined 145 earned him a share of seventh place overall after the first day. Schaetzel shook off the bad second round and shot a 1-under 71 in the final round yesterday. "The confidence that I carried over from last week allowed me to have a selective mem- ory and put the second round out of my mind when I teed off for the final round," Schaetzel said. "I tried to get into a good rhythm out there. I wanted to shoot a lot of pars and take advantage of birdie opportunities." If Schaetzel was the bright spot from the tour- nament, senior Christian Vozza was the opposite. Vozza was the individual winner of the Wolverine Intercollegiate and was expected to have another strong showing in Memphis. Instead, Vozza finished tied for 52nd with a total of 230, 14 over par, for three rounds. "It's hard for the team to do well when the best golfer has an uncharacteristically poor showing," Sapp said. "We count on Christian to lead the team, but he never found his game here." In fact, Vozza finished with the worst score of Michigan's five golfers. Senior Brian Duff and sophomore Brian Ottenweller tied for 33rd with totals of 224. Junior Matt McLaughlin finished 51st, one stroke ahead of Vozza. Despite the disappointing finish, Coach Sapp hopes that the team's struggles down South will serve as a learning experience for the final two tournaments of the fall. "We have a short week before we head out to California," Sapp said. "We've got to have a short-term memory regarding this tourna- ment and make sure we don't let the inconsis- tency follow us out west." The team hopes to focus on the positives from Memphis as it spends the next five days preparing for the Alister MacKenzie Invita- tional at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif., beginning on Monday. Al ;