Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 17

1 I Lansing State Journal Baseball Smoltz plans Sports Editor Gerry Ahern 377-1 071 Classified 6C PORTS to start Saturday Healing: Pitcher still not 100 percent. Page 3C Wednesday June 17, 1998 Tom riivjiLWi DETROIT RED WINGS WASHINGTON CAPITALS i Jordan should retire on top Let's start with a confession. I was never a fan of the Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan. For most of his career, he was either trying to beat or beating the teams and players I loved. First, it was the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s and 1990s.

Then, it was Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers. Actually, I hated Jordan. For some reason, after Jordan returned from his two-year venture into baseball in 1994, that all changed. Maybe it was because the Pistons and Magic were no longer in the championship picture. Either way, I was glad when he came back.

Now, it's time for him to go. Jordan had nothing left to prove a year ago when he said this would almost certainly be his last season. Now, he's given us the greatest sendoff of any athlete in any sport. Jordan was this year's regular-season MVP. He was the NBA Finals MVP.

He made the last basket of ii fi u. -jr 'T III A -vl:" i i I vr8 fJ vt Big gun: Detroit's Doug Brown celebrates the first of SUSAN WALSHAssociated Press with Tomas Holmstrom (left) and Sergei Fedorov (91). Wings win this one for Vlady, Sergei Associated Press WASHINGTON This Stanley Cup wasn't for players or fans. This one was for friends Vlady and Sergei. The Detroit Red Wings became the first team to win consecutive Stanley Cups since 1992, completing a sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 4-1 victory Tuesday night behind a two-goal performance by Doug Brown.

Steve Yzerman received the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. The Red Wings' second straight sweep also gave Scotty Bowman a record-tying eighth Stanley Cup as a coach and capped an emotional and tumultuous season that followed the team's first championship in 42 years. Six days after the 1997 celebration started, it tragically ended in a automobile accident that left defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov with severe head injuries. "Vlady's spirit was present in us all season long," winger Igor Larionov said. "Victory No.

16 for No. 16," added Vyacheslav Fetisov, referring to Konstantinov's jersey number and the number of games necessary to win the NHL title. "This is for this man, who will run and walk again," Fetisov said, his hand on the shoulder of Konstantinov, who was wheeled onto the ice wearing a Red Wings jersey. After the teams exchanged handshakes, the Stanley Cup was presented to Konstantinov, who beamed as it teetered on his lap. His teammates formed a circle around him, and at their urging, he feebly raised two fingers to signify the second title.

"I said, "Vlady, put two fingers in the air. We did this for said Vyacheslav Kozlov. With the Cup still on his wheelchair, his teammates pushed him around the ice in a victory lap. At one point, he raised an unlit cigar to his lips. Konstantinov, considered one of the NHL's top defense-man, watched the game from the stands at the MCI Center.

When the Red Wings opened a 4-1 lead early in the third period, chants of "Vlady! Vlady! cascaded through the arena from the thousands of Detroit fans who somehow got tickets. Even Washington fans seemed to join in as their Please see WINGS, 6C answer all questions his two goals Tuesday night Neil Koepke of their family Konstantinov and and masseur Sergei Mnat-sakanov. The accident, which resulted in serious brain injuries to both men, quickly altered the celebratory mood and gave each Red Wing a new perspective on life. Perhaps that was reason that the season was free of major controversy. Nobody complained about Scotty Bowman tor any of his quirky decisions.

Detroit skated through the regular season with one goal to be prepared for playoffs. It took some time for Detroit to get its playoff game in sync, but when it did, the team flourished. Some way, somehow, this team found a way to skate around adversity. And win. And just like last season, su-purb balance among the skilled My I 41 Sweep success This isn't the first time an NHL team has swept to the Stanley Cup two years straight; heck, if not even Scotty Bowman's first time.

Here are the other back-to-back sweeps since the NHL Stanley Cup Finals went to a best-of-7 format in 1939: 1982-83: The New York Islanders, coached by Al Arbour, sweep the Vancouver Canucks in 1982 and the Edmonton Oilers in 1983. 1976-77: The Montreal Canadiens, coached by Bowman, sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976 and the Boston Bruins in 1977. 1968-69: The Canadiens sweep the St. Louis Blues twice in a row, with coaches Toe Blake (1968) and Claude Ruel (1969). The losing coach both years? Scotty Bowman 1948-49: The Toronto Maple Leafs, coached by Hap Day, sweep the Detroit Red Wings twice in a row.

Tommy Ivan was the Wings' coach then. his career. It won an NBA championship. It has played out. Jordan key We will hear this story again and again for the next tew months.

Will Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson be back? It all depends on Jordan. Who knows what Jordan will do? I know what he should do. Jordan's winning shot Sunday was viewed by an estimated 65 million people, the most ever for a basketball game. Any basketball game. And how could he top it? Michael Jordan is 35 years I pld.

He'll be 36 when next Season begins. If Jordan does come back, certainly it would be for one more year. That's about all he has left in which to compete at the highest level. History is not kind to he- roes in their mid-30s. Fading stars Larry Bird played his final season at the age of 36.

The Boston Celtics were 51-31 in i 1992. They lost to the Cleve- land Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs. When Magic came out of retirement at the age of 37 in 1996, the Lakers finished with a 53-29 record. They lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. And what about Wilt Cham-.

berlain? When Wilt was 36, he scored 14.8 points a game for the Lakers. But the Lakers had a 69-13 record and won i the NBA championship. Wilt stuck around for one more year after that. 5 Chamberlain, who once av-' eraged over 50 points a game, saw his scoring average tum-', ble to 13.2 points a game in his final regular season. The Lakers lost in the NBA Finals I to the Knicks in five games, i Chamberlain averaged 10.4 points a game in the playoffs.

The signs of decay in Jor-J dan are evident, too. Jordan relies heavily on a jump shot that is getting less and less reliable. In the Finals, Jordan shot .427 from the field. i That's his worst shooting ever in six NBA Finals. Jordan's skills are fading.

And the past few years, the Bulls' margin for error has been shrinking. The Bulls have squeezed all they can out of a dynasty. I Now, they begin the trip to mediocrity and become the Detroit Pistons of 1991, who were swept in the Eastern Conference championship by the Bulls. What Detroit fan will ever forget Isiah Thomas leaving the bench and walking past the Bulls' bench in shame to locker room in the last game's final moments? So Jordan risks the greatest ending he's ever engineered for what? Losing in the second round of the playoffs to a team like the Atlanta Hawks on cable TV on a Thursday night? He deserves better. Jordan has earned it.

What do you think? Write to Tom Gantert at 120 E. Lenawee Lansing, Ml 48919. players Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and the role players Tomas Holmstrom, Martin Lapointe, Joey Kocur, and Kris Draper proved to be an unbeatable combination. On the blue line, Nicklas Lid-strom and Larry Murphy were outstanding. Jamie Macoun and Bob Rouse were very good.

On a team with some wonderfully talented players, there's also more than a few great warriors like Holmstrom and Lapointe who make a difference. And despite a roller coaster ride by Osgood, who made every long shot an adventure, the 25-year-old goalie outdueled every opposing netminder. He played better than Nikolai Khabibulin, Grant Fuhr, Ed Belfour and Olaf (Godzilla) Kolzig. Sometimes, Ozzie was saved by his teammates. Sometimes, he saved them.

Another Cup, more champagne, start the parade. It's all so addictive. Can they make it a three-peat? Why not? What do you think? Write to Neil Koepke at 120 E. Lenawee Lansing, Ml 48919. 4I1 111 iV -Vh Wings One Stanley Cup just wasn't enough.

The Red Wings had so much fun winning and thrilling a city and a state a year ago that they set out on a mission to do it again. There were obstacles to overcome and plenty of doubters. But the skeptics have been silenced. The Wings are back on top, celebrating hockey's biggest prize the Stanley Cup for the second straight season. Another dream season ended in jubilation Tuesday with a victory over the Washington Capitals, completing a stunning four-game sweep.

It took Detroit captain Steve Yzerman 14 seasons to hoist the Stanley Cup over his head. Now he's done it twice in 374 days. And fittingly, he was named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. Another finals sweep, another Cup, another parade with hundreds of thousands of fans saluting their heroes. And who would have dreamed that all this was possible back in October, when the Wings raised their championship banner and set out to defend the Cup? Serious questions were Bandits scoring Quad City rallies past Lugnuts in rain-delayed game By Joanne C.

Gerstner Lansing State Journal Yawn. It's not that the Lansing Lug-nuts and Quad City River Bandits played a bonng baseball game Tuesday. A 2Va-hour rain delay pushed the game's start time to 9:40 p.m., leaving many Lugnut fans up past their bedtimes. Lansing lost 12-4 to Quad City at Oldsmobile Park, with the game ending at 12:43 a.m. "Our bullpen simply let us down and that's the story," Lansing manager Bob Herold said.

"We had the lead and gave it away. They helped us with four errors, but we couldn't get it done. raised about this team's capability of repeating. With the savvy and poise of a champion, it responded to every challenge. Yes, the Red Wings proved they could win the Cup without standout defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov, whose career ended in the tragic limousine accident six days after Detroit won it a year ago.

Yes, goalie Chris Osgood showed he could carry his team to a championship, just like Mike Vernon did in 1997. Yes, a veteran defense, despite its age, lack of speed and physicalness, proved it could play at a high level and withstand the long playoff grind. The Wings took a workmanlike approach, handling wins and losses with little emotion. For sure, this team had fun, enjoying every moment and quickly moving on to the next game. The goal from the start was 16 wins over two months.

No craziness until No. 16. Now, a close-knit group of players, motivated by team success and not individual goals, is going a little crazy, savoring back-to-back titles. All year long, the Red Wings were quietly motivated by the two seriously injured members unleash deluge "I don't think this game accomplished much for us, outside of some hurt feelings. The field wasn't bad for all the rain.

You can't complain because they had to play on the same field we did. The Lugnuts (34-33) held a 3-0 lead until the sixth inning. Lansing starter Justin Peder-son folded in sixth. He gave up three earned runs, allowing. Quad City (37-29) to tie the game at three.

"I thought Justin did very well until those runs which came with two outs," Herold said. "He did fine." Pederson, who faced the minimum amount of hitter through five innings, allowed two walks and struck out three in his six-inning stint. The River Bandits roughed up reliever Steve Maas (2-1) in the sixth for three more runs to take a 6-3 lead. U.S. coach vows to make changes Sampson also said Frankie Hejduk would start in the game, which the Americans must at least tie to have any chance of advancing to the second round.

"If we don't play a lot better against Iran," Ramos said, "we're not going to beat Iran." Ramos, Wynalda and Mar-celo Balboa are the only three players on the U.S. roster who had experience in the tournaments of 1990 and '94 as well as '98. "It's hard to believe when you look down the bench and see Alexi Lalas and Marcelo Balboa and Jeff Agoos, who's played just about every qualifier," Ramos said. Sampson was peeved Ramos disclosed he was starting. But he also admitted he will mix in more veterans Sunday.

"Certainly there is some ex-r perience on the bench I will draw from for this Iran match," he said. Associated Press PARIS On a day of embarrassment and finger-pointing, the United States also made some Inside inep changes. Complete as veter- coverage. ans ex- Page 4C pressed discontent following Monday's 2-0 loss to Germany, U.S. coach Steve Sampson looked to boost the attack for Sunday's crucial, politically spiced World Cup game against Iran.

"We went out with the wrong attitude," forward Eric Wynalda said Tuesday. "We went out with a timid attitude, which is what's to be expected from guys who haven't been there before." Tab Ramos was told by Sampson he will start against Iran, adding a second play-maker next to Claudio Reyna. ROD SANFOROLansing State Journal Boring: Lansing players wait in the dugout during the rain delay. The game finally started about 9:40 p.m..