David Den Herder

Former 'M' stars find a sure thing in ABA

DETROIT - There are few good things that come from spending dreary Ann Arbor afternoons lying on my couch and waiting for the Snackster sandwich maker to finish my grilled cheese.

But every so often - just when it seems like soap operas and Michael Jackson marathons are ruling digital cable - Comedy Central will play an obscure, phenomenal '80s comedy.

Luckily, I was mulling around for one of the best ones. "The Sure Thing," starring John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga might be my favorite of the genre. It's funny, romantic, and like every '80s comedy has a sappy, happy moral.

But this movie's simple lesson stuck with me past the closing credits, after my grilled cheese and through a cold evening in downtown Detroit.

There's no such thing as a sure thing.

Anybody that is a sports fan will tell you that. But nowhere did it ring truer than the floor of Joe Louis Arena Thursday night as the Detroit Dogs played host to the L.A. Stars of the ABA 2000.

Of course, "The Sure Thing" is not a flawless sports metaphor.

The movie opens with a young Cusack away at college, having recently developed a crush on a beautiful young brunette, played by Zuniga. The story gets interesting when a friend from L.A. (Anthony Edwards) calls Cusack with news that - should he make it across the country in several days - a Barbie-doll blonde will be waiting for him, happy to relinquish her virginity before traveling abroad for the semester.

It is, Cusack's friend assures him, a sure thing.

Now, the ABA 2000 is not a flawless production. In fact, the Dogs usually play at Cobo Arena, but were forced to relocate on account of the Detroit Auto Show Thursday - sending at least one journalist on a frantic search for the ballgame. But once courtside, things were incredibly familiar.

The Dogs roster includes former Michigan players Sean Higgins, Travis Conlan and Willie Mitchell. The L.A. roster boasts UCLA stars Ed O'Bannon, Toby Bailey and JaRon Rush - as well as former Michigan forward Jerod Ward.

If the date were no factor, you might go so far as to call this game a star-studded affair. In their days playing NCAA basketball, hype was high for these players - Willie Mitchell was a part of the "second coming" of the Fab Five, Sean Higgins was busy hitting buzzer-beaters in the Final Four and Jerod Ward was tabbed by some recruiting analysts as the best player ever to come out of high school in 1994.

Ed O'Bannon led UCLA to the NCAA title as a junior in 1995. The same year, he forwent the remainder of his college eligibility and declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft, where he was a sure lottery pick.

O'Bannon was supposed to be a sure thing for some NBA team.

Yet somehow here he was at Joe Louis, listening to "Who Let The Dogs Out" after every Detroit slam dunk.

And somehow, I didn't sense any despair.

As the plot flies by in "The Sure Thing," reluctant travel partners Cusack and Zuniga end up falling into puppy love by the time they reach L.A. - though they refuse to say so amidst their adventures on the road. At the climax - without each others' knowledge - Zuniga dumps her boyfriend and Cusack, unexpectedly, dumps his chance with the sure thing.

In true '80s fashion, of course, the two return to school in the autumn and finally admit their love.

But it wasn't until an evening with the Detroit Dogs that I realized I may have misinterpreted the moral of the story all along. Because perhaps this Barbie-doll blonde, the sure thing, the motivation for the entire plot wasn't the real sure thing after all.

Maybe the movie's title referred to the fact that, despite all the conflicts, Cusack and Zuniga would be together in the end.

I used to think there was no such thing as a sure thing in sports.

The players of the ABA 2000 probably didn't expect their storylines to twist through minor league basketball.

But growing up everyday loving basketball - dreaming basketball dreams - maybe the sure thing was that somehow, they would end up living basketball lives.

Higgins is the first to admit that this "isn't the NBA, isn't the Final Four."

But he said he likes playing basketball and really likes playing with friends.

I might argue that he loves it.

"It's always fun to play in front of the people you grew up with and your family," said Conlan in the bowels of Joe Louis Arena.

"I feel real fortunate that they started this league. It's been a great opportunity for all the guys sitting in this room."

- David Den Herder can be reached at dden@umich.edu.