days until Notre Dame at
Michigan Stadium. The Daily's
season preview series starts now.
Page 14.

Mft ~ tboun a

Monday
July 26, 1999 1


Rottng 4M
excess o
emse es
By Jon Zemke
Daily Sports Writer
Last Tuesday a former Michigan
defensive back was sentenced to one
year probation for possession of four
ounces of marijuana.
The convction comes within two
weeks of Michigan football players being
charged with
beAcntemnt and SPORTS
ispiracy to
embea -- both C000r frtcrttly
felonies. Which-------------
comes on the heels of the ongoing Ed
Martin investigation ... and so on.
All through the 1990's the rap sheet
attached to Micigan's athletic program
has grown by leaps and bounds The
University's athletes hav been convieted
of es rvrhing from drunken dri ing to
al misconduct. Hut the question
remains, why does the University let
something as dispensable as athletics
disgrace its name'?
All in the name of excess.
Of the numerous shad incidents that
have followed Michigan athletics the last
decade, the vast majority have een
linked to athletes o coaches in revenue
sports. I can't think of one arrest or
charge that's been levied against a non-
revenue athlete or coach.
fact, athletes that don't make a dime
or the University are what Michigan
wanted (at one time) all their sports pro-
grams to epitomize. These athletes that
work just as hard - if not harder-than
their counterparts in football, basketball
and hockey do so without much funding,
following or fanfare.
They're the saving grace of Michigan
athletics.
0o much money is pumped into rev-
e sports, which leads to too many
expectations and too much fanfare. Too
much is staked on a game. It's about
alumni donations, post season berths and
corporate deals. Sport has gone from a
past time to a time to make money.
And what dominates headlines'? Two
coaches with alcohol related incidents,
one resulting in removal. Another rev-
enue coach fired because he couldn't
keep adequate control over his program.
In the last 10 years, 25 revenue-sport ath-
1 have had run-ins with the law.
These sports are too big for their own
good. The negatives now overshadow the
positives. The ideals that these programs
once stood for are now out of sight.
For the University to maintain it's
integrity as "the leaders and best," it
should cut away these athletic programs
that are rotting away in excess of them-
selves and start anew laterdown the road.
st think, a decade without a revenue
ra sheet. A decade when our institution
of higher learning's integrity ist sold
out 107,000 times every Saturday.

ichigan ightens
non-Bigenload

By ChiDpe
& HDi Syorts Writer
After pylayng the Jeff S garuiu-rated
No. I touglest schedule itr time namioat
Iast season, 'oach Brian Li'tbe aid
his M Sichgan basketbal tem n av Sr
canghr a hut of h reak tuis y-ar
justa bt. astseaon,18 f
4 ~Michign's 3I gyuames wmere pared
Saga Inst NCA~ A Tourntamnrt 'tears,
tos 12-19 mros.
Jris sasonMiigani ua. eased upa
on ins moum ouferenut sche'dule ma
strike no e ,f a hase B iE t
P Vhlgigbe l opspoensnumm d ir e mu
colm a f 01he Wolvrines .1 on-
Uil Oak', ainal au teiam thatis
tecrmmir' ciass af rvirallys 
r - ,.entir' toster 1efs for hue NBA, rmt us
to Crisler Atena oti maurd, DeJ c. I I.
FaL PHemn Boston College, a fornrer Hug E ass
Peter Vignier and the Michigan basketball team face a less-challenging nonconfer- power sirat has crumbiedh sutree 0tah
ence schedule this season, which could help balance their Big Ten slate. Ji nO'Brien's departure for Ohio
Mees will fill shoes of tradition

Stare In 1997, went 6-20 last serson.
* Georgia Tech, Michigan's prede-
term ued opponent in the Big .
teti An .C Challenge on Dec. 1. lost a
key etg in its offense when NH\
fencesitter Bion Glover finally decid-
ed to ump ta The League.
Vatious other troteonferee obsta-
ce', pine the Wolverines' hah if they
d 't t ing 1heir 'A' gaurte to the hard-
court every night.
Despme miaking the NCAA
Trramruamet n each of the past two
asesns, Perry Wassou and IDsumit
Miercy harum't been sale to e.s rim
agminst Mihugan yet, droppimng he
pastu twro rotests to the Wiolserinres hay
a ta. af jusi eight pouts. JThe Itansrr
w ii gem anrmhe « shot Nor. 23 in An
Vestera Miehigan has piCked a
mresnsfuI figm with the WVserines
rimh tr the past two years, knoekinmg
them off iin their season opneer at
Crislet ir '97 and also in a rmidre-ason
matchup at neutral Van Andel Arena
in Grand Rapids last season.
See SCHEDULE, Page 15
r

By Jon Zemke
Daily Sports Writer
Of all Michigan sports facilities, the
Varsity Tennis Center looks the most like
a compound. With its sprawling lawn
and concrete structures that line the hill
it stands on, the tennis center is a very
imposing site. Looking down from the
enclosed balcony that overlooks the out-
side tennis courts and a few acres of
grass inspires a feeling of awe.
That feeling of awe is closely associat-
ed with the history ofthe Michigan men's
tennis team. In the 102nd year of its exis-
tence, Michigan named Mark Mees as its
14th men's tennis coach last June.

Mees, a former Wolverine all-
American, has been in awe of the pro-
gram ever since he made his first catn-
pus recruiting visit. When Mees saw
105,000 people cheering in the rain for a
soggy Wolverine football team to beat
Duke lie knew that this is where he need-
ed to be, which was unusual considering
where Mees is from.
"I grew up in the middle of Ohio State
country," Mees said. "And I grew up a
die-hard Ohio State fan"
But fortunately for Michigan, the
competitiveness of the University and
the athletic tradition was enough to lure
the Ohio native away from home.

"When the facilities weren't very
good," Mees said, "even with the facili-
ties as they were - he could sell him-
self." Mees went onto help Michigan win
four of the 14 (1970-'83) straight Big
Ten titles under former coach Brian
Eisner.
But the main reason Mees succeeded
at Michigan was his tenacity. He was a
"practicalholic," as he described himself
So much so that he developed a conge-
nial hip problem. From the constant
shuffling and short distance sprints that
tennis demands the range of motion in
his hips became less and less. It got to be
See MEES, Page 15

Mark Mees will have tradition on his
side as he heads up Michigan tennis.



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