40

I

q
a

DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
2B - Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
RALPH ROSSO
MEN'S GYMNASTICS
The sophomore recorded a personal best in
the floor exercise Saturday at the Windy City
Invitational, finishing third with a score of
9.200. The Morganville, N.J., native also tied
for third place in the vault (8.750).

'M' SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY -117
M BASKETBALL VS PENN STATE,8P.M
THURSDAY -118
W BASKETBALL VS. MICHIGAN STATE,
7P.M.
FRIDAY -1.19
W TRACK/FIELD VS. RED SIMMONS/
JACK HARVEY INVITATIONAL, 9A.M.
M TRACK/FIELD VS. RED SIMMONS/
JACK HARVEY INVITATIONALTBA
Ice Hockey at Alaska,11:05 p.m.
W GYMNASTICS VS. SOUTHERN UTAH,
7:30 PM.
SATURDAY -1.20
M TENNIS VS. MARQUETTE,10 A.M.
M BASKETBALL VS. PURDUE,12:17 P.M.
W SWIM/DIVING VS. NORTHWESTERN,
1 P.M.
M TENNIS VS. BUTLER, 6 P.M.
M GYMNASTICS VS. IOWA, 7 P.M.
Ice Hockey at Alaska,11:05 p.m.
*home games in all caps
*all times EST
Domination
The Michigan women's track
and field team obliterated the field
at the Kentucky Invitational this
pastweekend.
Itbroke two records, wonthree
events and posted four NCAA-
qualifying times.
Senior Erin Webster has had
success in Lexington, Ky., before.
She held the 3,000-meter facility
record going into the Invitational.
On Saturday, she bested her pre-
vious record by more than five
seconds (9:13.42). Junior Nicole
Edwards recorded a personal best
in the event, finishing in second
and posting an NCAA-qualifying
time (9:31.30).
Sophomore Tiffany Ofili also
improved upon a mark of her own
as she reset her Michigan Indoor
Record in the 60-meter hurdles
with a third-place, NCAA provi-
sional time of8.24 seconds. Unlike
Webster, Ofili barely topped the
record, besting her previous mark
by just .06 seconds.

SAID AND HEARD
"I would say that's a long way off. It de-
pends how good our team is. You only play
40 games a year."
- Michigan hockey coach RED BERENSON on the possibility
of a 700th win behind the Wolverines' bench.
Bowl-ing agutterball

When Nate Kaeding's 54-
yard field goal fell short
just after 8 p.m. Sunday,
it ended San _
Diego's impres-
sive season.
And for those of
us who parked
ourselves on
the couch for an
entire weekend,
it capped off a
terrific set of x
divisional play- -
off games. JACK
We saw the
Colts over- HERMAN
come Peyton
Manning's
continued playoff woes with the help
of kicker Adam Vinatieri - and the
crossbar. We witnessed the Saints
extend their miracle run for the
city that needs itnmost. We watched
an overtime field goal catapult the
Bears into their first championship
game since the '80s. And we once
again observed the genius that is Bill
Belichick and the calmness that is
Tom Brady, who compiled a miser-
able 57.6 QB rating but still found a
way to win.
Without a vested interest in any
of the teams, I enjoyed all 15 hours
of TV. But still, I couldn't help but
lament that as business and sports
become increasingly intertwined,
the number of all-day/weekend
sports affairs dwindles each year.
Sure, there's National Water Cool-
er Day, as former ESPN.com colum-
nist Brian Murphy once deemed it,
which occurs on the first Monday of

April, when the NCAA Tournament
ends. Concurrently, baseball truly
begins and, as a bonus, the Masters
Tournament is on tap. In2005, for
instance, we got to see Dmitri Young
belt three home runs for the Tigers
on OpeningDay, North Carolina
edge out Illinois for the NCAA title,
and less than a week later, Tiger
Woods come back in thrilling fashion
before winning a playoffto capture
his fourth green jacket.
And there's a few weeks earlier,
when the opening rounds of the
NCAA Tournament give us four-
straightdays of nothing but basket-
ball. And a few weeks later, when
Mel Kipers across the country sit
down for hours of the NFL Draft fol-
lowedby the NBA and NHL playoffs.
But for every opening week of the
NFL season (which coincides with
college football and the finals of the
U.S. Open of tennis), there's a New
Year's Day that has been ruined by
money.
Before the NCAA stood for the
Nothing (but) Cash Athletic Asso-
ciation, a full slate of the bestbowl
games provided the cure for the New
Year's hangover. You mightvaguely
remember the time prior to the Bowl
Championship Series system when
all of the major bowlgames were
played on the same day.
On Jan. 1, 1991, you could have
watched Colorado emerge with a
10-9 victory in the Orange Bowl to
win the National Championship,
downing a Notre Dame team field-
ing Rick Mirer, Raghib "Rocket"
Ismail and Ricky Watters. And Mark
Brunell lead his Washington Huskies

in a 46-34 shootout win, despite a
20-point Iowa fourth quarter in the
Rose Bowl. And the Sugar Bowl, in
which Tennessee stormed back from
a 16-0 halftime deficitto win 23-22.
And the Cotton Bowl, in which Rus-
sell Maryland destroyed the offense
of No. 3 Texas as he led his fourth-
ranked Hurricanes to a 46-3 win.
All of that on the same day.
Now, we getjust two of the major
bowls (that don't matter) on New
Year's, one (thatalso doesn't matter)
the next night and another (that still
doesn't matter) the day afterthat.
Sure they've given us an extra bowl
game, but this year it was a blowout
played late on a Monday night, a
week after I stopped caring about
college football. But I'm sure it's for
the sake of the student-athletes, of
course.
Whether you support a playoff or
not, it's tough to argue thatthe new
system is in any way betterthan the
old.
Luckily, NFL Divisional Play-
off weekend probably won't get
changed, since judging from the
number of Peyton Manning com-
mercials I saw, ratings must be doing
well. And that's a good thing, since if
this weekend is any indication (three
games decided by a field goal), it's
one of the most exciting weeks of the
season.
This year featured great plays
(Did you see Roosevelt Colvin's
interception?) and gutsy playcall-
ing (the Bears going for it on fourth
down at the end of the first half). It
produced heroes (Chicago kicker
Robbie Gould, who was working in

Michigan alum Tom Brady helped make the NFL Divisional playoffs ultra exciting.

construction before signing with the
Patriots in2005) and zeroes (San,
Diego coach Marty Schottenhemier,
whose undisciplined teamcommit-
ted too many silly penalties). And
it set up a great matchup (Patriots-
Colts, no need to explain) and a great
story (the Saints' possible Super
Bowl run).
Even the officials, announcers and
production guys provided entertain-
ment.
One official in the Colts-Ravens
game rescinded his flag after
explainingthere was illegal contact,
but notenough to warrant a penalty.
During the Patriots-Chargers game,
an offensive lineman was cited for
pass interference.
Greg Gumbel confounded Dan
Dierdorf with his mention of Puddy
from Seinfeld, playedby an actor also
appearing in a new CBS comedy. And
it's a good thing Joe Buck doesn't

work for NASA, because he needed
to ask whether five-eighths or half
an inch was longer.
But the production guys might
have topped itall by showingtape
from Seahawks'2004 overtime
playoff game against the Packers.
Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck
declared after winning the coin toss
"We want the ball, and we're going
to score," before recoiling with a look
of terror etched on his face and then
throwing the game-winning pass
to Packer Al Harris who returned
the interception for a touchdown.
Come tothink of it, maybe I can
live withoutosome of those other
all-day/weekend sports adventures
- but only if the rest are as good as
this one.
Have your own favorite days
of the sports year? E-mail Herman
at jaherman@umich.edu.


Visit our booth at the Multicultural Career Fair at the Michigan Union on Wednesday,
lanuarv 17th. 2007 from 2 om -6 om * Business Students: Please check our job posting on Impact