Page 18 -The Michigan Daily - Thursday, May 19, 1983
Thinclads go to Big ens
4
Fiel
events
aid men
By JEFF FAYE
"When it rains, it pours."
That has been more or less the motto
of this outdoor season for Big Ten track.
Every team has been rained on all
through the season, and going into this
weekend's championships in West
Lafayette there are hopes that it will
stop soon.
DESPITE THE WEATHER, the
favorite going into the meet has got to
be indoor season champ Indiana by vir-
tue of that victory and having a fairly
healthy squad. That, at least is the con-
tention of Hoosier coach Sam Bell.
"We're well in every event, but
there's no easy route to the champion-
ship, he said. "Seven teams have a shot
at placing in. the top five, and three
have a chance at the title."
Those three squads are Indiana,
Michigan and Wisconsin, who happened
to place in the top three indoors. Ac-
tually, there are only two teams in the
race. The Badgers are destined to finish
behind the Wolverines.
THE REASON for this is that in in-
door track there is no discus event and
Michigan has the favorite in Scott
Erikson (182'10"). The Wolverines also
have the third best height in the pole
vault. Last week, Dave Woolley set a
personal record of 16'6" and appears to
be peaking at just the right time. In ad-
dition, Jack Harvey's squad also has
long jumper Derek Harper, who could
repeat his blue-ribbon finish in the In-
diana Invitational two weeks ago to
boost them into the top spot in the con-
ference.
In the distance events, the Blue's
highest hopes are carried by Brian
Deimer and Gerard Donakowski, the
third- and fourth-place finishers in the
NCAA indoor two-mile. Their top
races are the 3,000 meter steeplechase
and 10,000 meters, respectively.
Deimer's 8:36.80 in the steeplechase is
the best in the conference's outdoor
season, as is Donakowski's 28:53.6 in
the 10,000. For the Wolverines to do
well, these two must set an example for
the rest of Michigan's distance runners
to follow.
Assistant coach Ron Warhurst ex-
plained, "We just have to hope that the
distance and field events save us and
the other teams knock each other out in
the other races."
Women
need
distane
to uset
Badgers
By JEFF FAYE
The word around the Big Ten is that
the women's track championships this
weekend is more or less a two-team
race - Michigan versus Wisconsin.
For that matter, if you ask anyone
who will win, they say "Michigan".
Anyone, that is, except Blue coach
Francie Goodridge.
According to Goodridge, the
Wolverines have one major flaw. "Our
throwers," she says. "In the indoors
there weren't as many throwing events
and that helped us. Our strength is the
distance events, just like Wisconsin,
and we may cancel each other out. I'd
have to pick Wisconsin to win it."
FOR THE DISTANCE people to
guide Michigan to the top, senior Sue
Frederick-Foster must lead the way.
The defending indoor mile champion
holds the league's top time in the 3,000
meters (9:18.6), third-best time in the
800 meters (2:07.6) and fourth-best in
the 1,500 meter run (4:32.11).
The 3,000 should be Michigan's event,
because after Frederick-Foster comes
Melanie Weaver with a time of 9:22.3
and Sue Schroeder at 9:23.6 to round out
the top three. In addition to her time in
the 3,000, Weaver has the fastest 10,000
meters (33:57.66) of the year.
Although the Wolverines are weak in
throwing, they are solid in the long and
high jumps. Lorri Thornton won the in-
door crown in the long and will be in
contention in the outdoors, as well.
Joanna Bullard won the high title inside
and is a strong favorite to finish first
again.
GOODRIDGE DOES not expect to get
a great deal out of the sprints and mid-
dle-distance races, but the two team
members to watch are freshman Joyce
Wilson and senior Brenda Kazinec.
Their clockings in the 400-meter run are
second (:53.57) and fourth (:55.42),
respectively, in the conference. Wilson
is also number four in the 800 at 2:08.08.
The coach suggests that it is a wide
open contest, with seven teams having
a shot at the top five spots. She adds
that three teams could win the title (the
third is Indiana).
While her last statement is
questionable, Goodridge is right about
one thing. It may be a cliche, but, she
says, "We have our work cut out for
us."
4
4
Elway can't be blamed .. .
HE._SPORTINGVIEWS_. . .Irsay should know better
By JEFF FAYE
FOOTBALL is beautiful.
NCAA, NFL or USFL, it doesn't matter. I love it.
But lately it has started to look like the (yuck) New
York Yankees circa 1979, during the Billy Martin
scandal
Take this John Elway-Baltimore Colts fiasco. To
me, this is Baltimore owner Robert Irsay playing
the part of George Steinbrenner.
The problem arose when the aforementioned
Yankees offered Elway megabucks to play for
them. Armed with a bargaining position like that,
he told the NFL he wouldn't play in Houston or
Baltimore.
Irsay drafted Elway first anyway, and when he
wouldn't sign he was traded to Denver. By the next
night he had signed a contract reputed to be one of
the best in football.
At that point the problems should have been over.
Life, of course, isn't that easy - especially if an
organization with a large bruised ego is involved.
Last week, Irsay released a press announcement
concerning Elway.
He saidthe Colts will "get" the rookie back. "We
also signed up a couple of boys who are looking for
Elway. We are going to get Elway."
As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Irsay is reacting to
the situation like a spoiled child. Certainly John
Elway wasn't completely in the right, but it wasn't
really his fault.
Throughout the last four years, everyone told
Elway how great he was. No offensive player
received as much recognition as he. There was not a
person alive who could touch his statistics. As more
and more praise was heaped upon him, something
happened. He started to believe what he heard. It is
completely understandable, Anyone would have
done the same.
Unfortunately, it happened at a time when the
"money" players in professional sports have been
dictating where they wanted to play and have been
receiving huge salaries for their services.
Taking all this to heart, Elway decided that he
should tell the Oilers and Colts he didn't want to
play for them. He wanted to play on a team with an
offensive line to protect him. Who can blame him?
Simple - Irsay.
"Elway got his way, but didn't get his way. He
wanted to play on the West Coast, and we put him
500 miles from the West Coast."
Apparently there is at least some malice on the
part of the Colts' owner. The man acts like all his
problems during the past few years were Elway's
doing. I'm afraid I can't sympathize with him.
Irsay should never have drafted Elway after the
Stanford graduate said he wouldn't sign with the
Colts. He was lucky that the Yankees didn't sign
Elway before the trade with Denver was completed.
As it is, he should be happy with Mark Herrmann
and Chris Hinton, especially since, according to his
own words, "Elway will never be any good."
What I cannot see is why Irsay was so stubborn
that he had to draft Elway. Perhaps he thought the
rookie was bluffing, that he would sign with
whoeverwdrafted him. If that is what he thought, I
wonder how he became wealthy enough to own a
football team. His horse sense must be grazing in
some pasture.
Elway had a baseball contract waiting for him.
All he had to do was give the word and he would be a
Yankee. Would a player of his caliber bluff just to
toy with the masterminds of the NFL?
The answer is a resounding "No Way!" Irsay just
was plain naive to think Elway would bend to his
wishes. Then, after he was humiliated (at least in
his own eyes) he tried to cover up for it and
published threats and predictions. To make matters
worse, he brought his new players into the act.
Irsay deserves to be reprimanded and fined by
the league for his remarks on the Elway situation.
As for Elway, in the past he might have been at-
tacked from all sides for his behavior, but because
of the environment he was brought up in he
shouldn't be blamed. He just did what he saw others
do for years. The blame should fall on the system.
The system breeds greed. Now that I think of it, Ir-
say is probably a product of the system, too. But he
should know better. He's seen the good ol' days.
Hair Styling Pacers nix
With A Flair
DASCOLA STYLISTS raft
East U, at So. U. ...... ...664-0354
Liberty off State ........66x-9529
Maple Village ...........2761-733
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Pacers have rejected a deal proposed by
the Houston Rockets for the Pacers to bow out of today's coin flip to determine the
No. 1 pick in June's National Basketball Association draft, a Pacer spokesman
said yesterday.
The No. 1 pick most likely will be Virginia's 7-4 Ralph Sampson.
The Rockets offered Indiana their second pick in the draft No. 3 overall, their No.
1 pick in the 1984 draft and Indiana's choice of either Caldwell Jones or Allen
Leavell in exchange for the Pacers bowing out of the coin flip.
"We're still listening to offers, but that offer I guess you could say we turned
down," Packer spokesman Dave Paitson said.