Page 16-- The Michigan Daily - Friday; June 6, 1986

Boba
By SCOTT G. MILLER
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
The best graduating high school
football players in the nation decide
where to play college football. The top
baseball players decide between two
options, the minor leagues and
college.
MICHIGAN recruit Greg McMurty
faces all three options. The Brockton,
Wecher re

By EMILY BRIDGHAM
Competitive excellence is the name
of the game for both the NCAA Cham-
pionships and Thomas Wilcher, who
has the competitive drive to overcome
his injury and exploit his excellence in
the NCAAs this weekend.
"I love competition and I'm a great
competitor when the talent is there,"
said Wilcher, who hurdled to third in
the NCAAs last year. "I'm not in tip-
top shape, but I feel strong and will
have to see what happens.
"There is not more time to sit
around and wait. This meet is a step-
ping stone for Tech Nationals and I
want to be there."
Wilcher finished sixth last year in
Tech Nationals, which culminates all
the amateur talent in the U.S., both in
and out of college. Only the top three
placers in each NCAA event are in-
vited to this hot meet.
Todd Steverson, who qualified last
weekend in the CentralsCollegiates in
46.11 for the 400 meters, faces talent


ttles Bosox for star McMurtry
Mass., native could come to Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler decide on a career," said McMurtry. Brockton football coach Armonr
and play two sports like ex-Wolverine and the Red Sox' management will "Right now I am neutral on Bo's ad- Colombo feels McMurtry is "goo
and ex-Tiger Rick Leach. He also battle all summer for McMurty's vice." enough to be a first-round NFL draf
could sign a six-figure contract and heart. NEUTRALITY does not apply to the choice."
play minor-league baseball. The Red Schembechler started this process Red Sox' and Schembechler's feelings "He has all the necessary charac
Sox selected McMurty 14th in the first by visiting McMurtry last weekend to about McMurtry, and for good reason. teristics which go along with grea
round of Monday's major-league offer guidance. "Bo told me it would Consider the following: prospects," said the coach, whos
amateur free agent draft. be better if I came to college and How interested is Bo? He not only team is perennially the best ii
If he attends class in the fall, he is played football and baseball and get visited McMurtry in Brockton, but Massachusetts. "There are a lot o
no longer Red Sox property. Michigan an education. After four years I could also attended a baseball game the people in big-time football right nov
recruit played in. who are minus one of the
0 Bo promised the wide receiver he prerequisites whether it be speed
could wear "number one." Not coin- size, desire, or attitude. Greg does no
Sato f y in S cidentally, McMurtry models himself lack anything."
after Anthony Carter. Compounding McMurtry's decisior
MICHIGAN baseball coach Bud is the chance to play for the team o
that has clocked times approaching injuring himself at the meet, will not Middaugh can hardly wait until Mc- his childhood dreams. "We certainl
the world record 43.8 Omar Davidson, be in action this weekend. Murtry patrols center field at Ray would have rather seen another tea ,
who qualified at the Big Ten's before Sue Schroeder and Cathy Schmidt Fisher Stadium. Baseball scouts draft him," said Michigan recruiting
are representing Michigan's women's compare him to his favorite player, coordinator Fritz Seyferth. "It has t
team. Darryl Strawberry. be hard for a young man like hi
The Central Collegiates, in addition McMurty is the only prep athlete coming from an education-oriente
to qualifying Steverson, provided the selected to the USA Today's All- family. Education is first in thei
opportunity for a few Wolverine men American high school football team minds, and we hope money doesn'
to crank out their top performances of and to Baseball America's top twenty change that."
the season. Dave Irvine pole vaulted list of high school players. Academics was McMurtry's reaso
15-1 in the meet and Rollie Hudson ran 0 The 6-3, 200 pounder used his 4.4 for selecting Michigan. He is a goo
a 1:51 800 meters, trimming more speed in the forty-yard dash to catch student, and his favorite subject i
than a second off his previous best. 40 passes for 1266 yards and 22 touch- history.
Senior Doug Krauaw ran a 3:53.0 in downs. His team won the state The Red Sox hope McMurtry will
the 1500 to win his heat. Division I football title. rewrite Boston history books. The
"For my first and last (official) In baseball games this spring he club is in a no-lose situation. .If Mc
meet in my college career I was hap- has a .424 batting average with 31 Murtry attends school, the Sox ca
py to win," said Krause. RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Brockton claim they tried their hardest to sign
"When you're out in first nobody baseball is undefeated heading into the local talent. If the team signs him,
shades you," Krause cracked, "so you the state playoffs. it adds a potential superstar. The Red
get a better tan." WITH McMURTRY'S vast athletic Sox deny the choice was a publicity
qualifications, his future is unlimited. ploy.

Wilcher
... eyes Tech Nationals


yAretha Frankness Tigers lose heart.

n

Michigan Stadium
ean' t be duplicated
(Continued from Page 15)
dug into the ground. Kramer cited Kramer. This is because the first few
dagbeau FieldiGrenaKraerd thedrows are almost on the same level as
Lambeau Field in Green Hay and the the football field, thus causing
Pontiac Silverdome as two such sideline obstructions to impede a
examples. Even basketball arenas, clear view of the field. "However,"
such as Crisler Arena (partially) and adds Kramer, "the first seat in all
Carver Hawkeye Arena (totally) in other new ones are good because,
Iowa City, are built into the ground to what they did is, they dug down seven
some degree. feet more (than at Michigan)."
According to Kramer, Michigan New stadiums continue to be built
Stadium is not perfect. "The first seat using the same ideas that Yost em-
in this stadium is not good, says ployed, but Michigan Stadium's reign
as college football's largest playing
r structure may never crumble.
"I don't think there will be another
one like it built," says Broyles. "They
(other universities) wouldn't be able
to afford to build one like the one at
Michigan."
The scrimmage has now ended and
a gathering of reporters encircles
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler
and a few of his star players. The
current leader of this great college
UNIV R IT football tra dition squints in the
II sunlight as he answers questions.
TOW ERS Down on the center of the sacred foot-
ball field lies the fabled block 'M'
The Best of Campus Life! etched in gold. A couple of grade school
Furnished Apartments boys toss a Nerf football, reaching for
Corner off. Univerity & S. Forest the glory that goes with the turf on
136S. Forest Ave. which they tread.
761-2680

r E DETROIT TIGERS, one-time champions of the
baseball world, died yesterday of heart failure.
They were 24-25. The team will be buried in the bottom
half of its division for years to come.
The Tigers, who came alive in the middle of 1983 and
rose to become World Champions in 1984, had been suf-
fering chronic heart problems since early last year.
With a five-game winning streak last week, the team
was in high spirits and appeared to be on the road to
recovery. However, the Tigers became seriously ill in
Seattle last weekend, losing three bloody games to the
ghastly Mariners, and then fritted away in Oakland.
The team was especially sickly Monday night, as it
yielded an unbearable seven walks and seven runs in
the first inning against the A's. After the game, Detroit
doctor Sparky Anderson tried to revive the team with a
loud mouth-to-ear resuscitation, but his efforts were in
vain.
The Tigers came alive in June, 1983, rising from an
infantile two games over .500 that month to a mature 22
games above. The Tigers finished the year at 92-70 and
in second place in the American League East.
It was in 1984, though, that the team reached the
prime of its life. The zealous Tigers jumped out to an
unprecedented 35-5 start, captured 104 victories,
breezed by Kansas City in the playoffs, and dusted off
San Diego in the World Series.
With the World Championship came fame and for-
tune. During the off-season, the Tigers were toasted at
banquets, appeared on TV commercials, and were
showcased on talk shows. According to Dr. Anderson,
it was this fast-lane lifestyle which led to the Tigers'
health troubles.
"They suffered the winter of being champions," An-
derson told reporters earlier this week. "It's a great
thing, but it can have its problems."
Even by the start of 1985 the Tigers' heart had
become weak. They were lethargic, apathetic; their

uttuc atg lt6 g vlte

defense was porous, and their bullpen had gone soft.
The once-strong Tigers struggled just to survive.
In the off-season, Detroit's General Practitioner Bill
Lajoie did all he could to enliven the Tigers. He re-
signed the vivacious Kirk Gibson, acquired the
energetic Dave Collins from Oakland, got free-spirited
Dave LaPoint from San Francisco, and brought in the
lively bat of Darnell Coles from Seattle. Dr. Anderson
tried to spark the team earlier this year by infusing
youth into the bullpen, and by giving periodic pre-game
pep talks.
But the doctors' efforts were for naught; the Tigers
did not respond to treatment.
Baseball mystics do not foresee a Tiger reincar-
nation for at least several years. Last summer,
Baseball America deemed the Tigers' minor-league
players as the worst in baseball - and that was before
they traded away top prospects Roger Mason, Rich
Monteleone, Bob Melvin, and Chris Pittaro. They also
removed young slugger Nelson Simmons from their
system. Because of his personal problems, Simmons
was thought to be cancerous.
A joint funeral has been arranged for the Tigers and
the Toronto Blue Jays (who died unexpectedly earlier
this year). Funeral services for the two teams will be
held today, tomorrow, and Sunday at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers are survived by millions of beloved fans,
many of whom are shocked by the Tigers' tragic down-
fall and refuse to face the team's death.
"No, no!" cried a die-hard Tiger fan. "I can't believe
that a team so strong in 1984 can just collapse in less
than two years. I just... I just can't believe it."
The Detroit Tigers
1983-1986
R.I.P