Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 21

GOLF I MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and 14 others survived second-round matches Thursday. "It's like the NCAA tournament. You want to keep going, keep advancing," Woods said, pace 2c. BLACK HISTORY i MONTH TODAY Feb. 25, 2000 Lions I Still, Boxing 6 Scoreboard 6 ON TEC WEB www.freep.com 1 phone 313-222-6660 Section iicex Geran feeew scoring big with kids, community after his playing days DREW SHARP By SCOTT TALLEY FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER Ignorance no excuse to hypocritical NCAA i QUESTIONS that seemed innocuous a few weeks ago have cost a young man much of his college basketball season.

Chalk up Jamal Craw It just didn't seem right. The Pistons were playing their final game at Cobo Arena, and Denver's David Thompson was stealing the show. On a day the hometown team, or at least a Detroit athlete, should have dominated the headlines, the Nuggets' sharpshooter torched the Pistons for 73 points. Thompson appeared to be the lone star that day April 9, 1978 until a call went out to Ice. man in his hometown of Seattle.

Crawford also has to donate $11,300 to a charity for benefits he received from Henthorn. We're quick to condemn the NCAA and some of its archaic rules, which often result in unfair discipline. But Crawford could have alleviated any misconceptions about the rules last year when he entered his name for the confused collegians who probably are asking themselves this: If the NCAA is so determined to keep basketball players in school as long as possible, why does it do things that drive them away? But, please, don't brand Crawford a helpless pawn, victimized by the excesses of an athletic world gone insane. Don't shed one tear for a player who might leave Michigan after his freshman season to join the Continen tal Basketball Association or a European professional league, hoping to hone his skills so that one day, maybe, he will make the NBA. He's as much to blame for this mess as anybody else.

Crawford will be suspended another eight games for applying to the NBA draft as a high school senior. He already had missed six games while the NCAA investigated his relationship with Barry Henthorn, a business ford as another casualty of the NCAA's theory of reverse due process, where you are assumed guilty until proven innocent. Add his name to a growing list of Please see SHARP, Page 8C SWINGING THROUGH SPRING LEGENDARY What Black Legends of Professional Basketball dinner. When: 6 p.m. I Saturday.

Where; Riverfront Ballroom, Cobo Honorees: George Gervin, AlAttles and Ray Scott from the NBA; Don Barnette, Harry ''Sykesandthe late Goose Tatum, Harlem Globe-r trotters; Andy Johnson, Phila-L delphia Warriors and Globetrotters; Bobby Grund, barnstorming promoter, and Dr. Bob Sims, Harlem Yankees. Tickets: $75; call 313-822-8208. "We were playing New Orleans that night, and a sports writer called me and said David Thompson scored 73 points at Cobo, and that I needed to score 58 to win the scoring title," recalled George Ger-vin, then a star with the San Antonio Spurs. Gervin's coach, Doug Moe, "said he wanted me to go for the title, and then my teammates said they wanted me to go for it.

But after I missed my first six shots, we called time out and I said, let's forget about it." But Gervin's teammates didn't give up on the goal, and he didn't give up on them. Gervin scored 53 points by half-time, including an NBA-record 33 in the second quarter. He finished with 63 points in 33 minutes and won his first of four ib 'i jr NBA scoring titles. "I scored a few extra points in case their calculations were a little off," Gervin joked from his San Antonio home. "The fact that David had his game at Cobo in front of my hometown fans gave me extra incentive.

I knew no matter what, I had to give the effort." It has been 14 years since he played an NBA game, but the Iceman is still cool for many basketball fans. Gervin, a Detroit native who played at Please see GERVIN, Page 5C XT rt ,7 1 I) 1 JOE Ml fCHELUSpecial to the Free Press I. The Iceman is plenty cool with students who visit his George Gervin Youth Center in San Antonio. ERIC SALSOetrat Fna Press Tigers catcher Rob Fick takes batting practice Thursday. For the first time in his career, Fick comes into camp with a good chance to win a major league job.

Wings tickets Fick uses blast as motivation Corner HR gives Tiger best chance Couples again in SI swimsuit issue 400 in finals Blunt Devellano blames payroll By NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER I FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES ByGENEGUIDI free press sports writer Red Wings season-ticket holders received a shock the other day. It came in the form of a letter Jimmy Devellano, the team's senior vice president, who set prices for playoff tickets at record levels $45 to $125 for the early rounds and $75 to $400 for the Stanley Cup finals. Last season's top ticket was $250. "The cost of your tickets has increased; we know that is not good news," Devellano wrote.

"To put together a competitive team year after year is expensive. It is our desire to keep the team very competitive for our loyal fans in Hockeytown, so we hope you understand." If Devellano sounded blunt, that was the idea. "I tried to be brutally honest," Devellano said Thursday. "When it comes right down to it, it's payroll. It's just payroll." Thanks to their success, the Wings' payroll has grown to about $50 million, ranking in the NHL's top five.

It will shoot up this summer. The Wings will attempt to keep unrestricted free agents Bren-idan Shanahan and Igor Larionov and will negoti- Denver Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski and his wife, Julie, are baring a little skin in this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The Romanowskis posed together, with Bill in white football pants with no shirt and his first Broncos Super Bowl ring prominently displayed on his right ring finger, and Julie in a silver bikini. "I'm saving this bikini and showing it to my grandkids when I'm 80 because I trained my fanny off for this picture," Julie Romanowski said in a photo caption for the spread. "It was like I was training for my Super Bowl." Daniela Pestova is the cover model for this year's issue, which also features some photos in 3-D and includes a pair of tinted glasses.

The issue goes on sale Wednesday. Other couples posing in the magazine are Ben and Julie Crenshaw, Junior and Gina Seau, Jason and Joumana Kidd, Gabrielle Reece and Laird Hamilton, and Glen and Christina Rice. The Romanowskis' picture was shot in July, after they were selected from a list of 60 married athlete couples to appear in the swimsuit issue. As part of their contract with Sports Illustrated, the Romanowskis had to keep their involvement with the issue secret. LAKELAND, Fla.

Anyone who was there will never forget the moment. As the last game at Tiger Stadium built to a climax, everyone was looking for a defining moment, an exclamation point for the event. With one swing, Robert Fick provided it. With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Fick drove the ball to the top of the rightfield roof and touching off a wild celebration at the Corner. Months later, the memory still brings a smile from Fick.

"I'm still on a little high from that," Fick said while getting ready for a spring training workout. "I'm working off it, letting it motivate me." For the first time in his career, Fick, 25, enters camp with a good chance to win a major league job. Last year he suffered a shoulder injury while swinging in camp, underwent surgery in May, and didn't leave the disabled list until September. In other words, it was a lost season. And Fick can't wait to erase the memory.

tflic stALbuetrofl Frae Kress Robert Fick, who came up as a catcher, might be used as a designated hitter and backup first baseman. Please see TIGERS, Page 3C Please see WINGS, Page 6C.