Big Three aside, 'M' sports continue to thrive

ALAN GOLDENBACH The Bronx Bomber

TO: All incoming students
FROM: The Michigan Athletic Department
RE: The Big Three
MESSAGE: We apologize, but ...

Because it got caught up in mailing you all the junk mail regarding M-Cards, MSA elections, University Health Services and so forth, the University mistakenly forgot to send its snazzy-jazzy, whoomp-there-it-is, glam-jam brochure telling you all about the aura that surrounds Michigan's varsity athletics.

Sure, it directed you to the Union Bookstore during orientation and showed you the hot items in Maize and Blue haute couture. They forced you to buy the keychains that blare "The Victors" incessantly, and told you that those Nikes sure look a lot cooler than the latest from adidas. But they forgot to tell you all about the teams that make this university the most marketable one in the nation.

With that said, let me take the opportunity to introduce you to Michigan sports - the people that will make you proud (often at the most unexpected of times), but unfortunately, more often than not, will make you seethe with frustration and force you to ask each other, "Leaders and best?"

This athletic department revolves around a lead actor - football - and two very strong supporters - men's basketball and ice hockey. These programs are what makes money for Michigan, and puts the University on SportsCenter nightly.

The football team was a monster under the leadership of coach Bo Schembechler in the 1970s and 1980s winning nearly 80 percent of its games and 12 Big Ten championships during his 21-year reign.

The basketball team is the glitziest of the three, gaining much of its fame within the past 10 years with the help of a national championship in 1989 and a group of cocky freshmen two years later, known as the Fab Five, who led the Wolverines to the national-championship game in back-to-back seasons.

The hockey team, affectionately referred to as the "icers," won the NCAA title just two years ago with an overtime goal in the championship game. The Wolverines have set NCAA records by winning 30 games in each of the last six years.

Pretty impressive resume, eh?

Well, here's the one word you didn't want to hear: letdown. That's the motto for the Big Three this year, which should make for a pretty ugly Michigan sports scene.

The football team is a 7-5 team at best. The good news is that the Wolverines have probably the best all-around player in the country in Charles Woodson. The bad news is that they need about 10 clones of him if they want to smell Roses four months from now. That's because Michigan's schedule, as I'm sure you're all aware, is a god-send for television networks looking for games attracting a national audience, but a nightmare for the Michigan fan; the Wolverines will probably lose most, if not all of those big games.

If you find mediocrity humorous, and underachievment captivating, then be sure to pick up some men's basketball tickets. Don't let anyone tell you that Michigan has so-and-so who was this guy's national high school player of the year. This is a team that lost it's best player to the NBA and couldn't even crack the NCAA Tournament last year with him. Prepare yourselves for a .500 record and a sixth- or seventh-place finish.

Even though you've probably noticed a pattern developing here, you're going to ask why the hockey team is headed for a sub-standard season after such a splendid streak of consistent domination. Ever heard of these guys: Morrison, Botterill, Legg, Madden? Haven't? Good. Then you won't feel like there's a void to be filled on this team that lost the greatest recruiting class in college hockey history and players who were all among the 20 best in school history. Michigan coach Red Berenson brought in a solid recruiting class, but it will be at least a year or two before it begins paying dividends.

These are the reasons why the athletic department didn't send you anything this summer. Calm down. I'll give you a couple of minutes now to call your parents to tell them that you want to transfer.

Okay, now that I have your attention again, I want to point out to you that because this is a down year for the "Big Three", it's prime time to acquaint yourselves with the low-budget, and even lower profile teams that, unlike the aforementioned, are on the upside. These could be bandwagon teams quite soon, especially if the "Big Three" fail to meet even the lowest of expectations.

Did you watch the Olympics last summer? See that guy Tom Dolan, a.k.a. the best male swimmer in the world? A Wolverine, although not anymore. Still, both the men's and women's swimming teams at Michigan have routinely placed among the top five in the nation for the past decade. Men's coach Jon Urbanchek and women's skipper Jim Richardson are considered among the nation's coaching elite and never have a problem with bringing the best swimmers in the world to Michigan. If you can watch swimming during the Olympics, there's no reason not to do so here at Michigan.

Catch any of that WNBA this summer? Or maybe the ABL last winter? Women's basketball is on the rise big time and in the span of one season, Michigan's team has gone from Big Ten doormat to above .500. Sue Guevara took over as coach last season and found a chemistry with her players that was never there previously. Led by the conference's best freshman, Stacy Thomas, and dominating center Pollyanna Johns, this is Michigan's best hope for postseason basketball.

Wait until the spring, when the swimmers are heading for the beach and the basketball players hit the asphalt and you'll see another group of Wolverines on the rise - Geoff Zahn's baseball team. This team was ravaged by NCAA violations in the 1980s and whose subsequent development was stunted by coach Bill Freehan. Now that Zahn has two seasons under his belt, improving each year, this team will also be challenging for conference honors and tickets to the College World Series.

Feeling better now? Call your parents. Tell them that green and white don't suit your wardrobe and that you want to stay in Ann Arbor. Michigan's Wolverines appear in many different forms. Just because you don't see them on TV doesn't mean that they don't exist, and it certainly doesn't mean that they don't perform to the standards of the "leaders and best."

- Alan Goldenbach can be reached over email at agold@umich.edu

09-08-97