Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 27

Sports Editor Bill Brophy, 252-6170 OUTDOORS 12D 1D Nuggets knock out Sonics 2D LiALI CJ Capitals stay alive 7D Sunday, May 8, 1994 Wisconsin State Journal For (Grin, makes splask Offbeat guy at home in Arena ball State Journal wire services LOUISVILLE, Ky. It was the kind of front-running effort that was expected from Holy Bull. Only it came from Go For Gin. Winless in his three previous starts, Go For Gin dominated the 120th Kentucky Derby Saturday in the way many people thought Holy Bull might, or perhaps Brocco would. The bay colt, a 9-1 betting choice ridden by Chris McCarron, was second going into the clubhouse turn and first coming out of Back in the days when a young high school football writer was covering the Iron Range in northern Minnesota, the newspaper that employed the rookie used to ballyhoo its prep coverage by asking readers to watch for the young scribe driving a little red station wagon.

And back in the office, veteran writers took the rookie aside with some advice: Make sure the little red wagon runs into a guy named Art Haege. Haege was an assistant football coach at the University of Wisconsin under John Coatta in 1969 and he made it to the Range as head football coach at Virginia High School with the reputation as an unconventional coach. He had this reputation because he wasn't afraid to let his teams try unorthodox things like throwing the football more than a handful of times per game and because he was a colorful guy who liked to talk to the media. I I i COMMENTARY The young reporter outlasted Haege on the range and the coach's unconventional ways have caused him to have a rather long list of jobs on 1 i i I'fa it. He stayed there to win the Derby on a damp day over a sloppy Churchill Downs track by 2 lengths over Strodes Creek.

"This horse is a trier," Go For Gin's trainer, Nick Zito, said. "He has heart and he has courage. That's what racing is all about." Holy Bull, who has led most of his previous eight races and went wire-to-wire in five of his seven victories, struggled home 12th in a field of 14 3-year-olds. Brocco, the second betting choice, finished fourth after being third at the top of the stretch. A month ago, Zito, 46, who won the Derby in 1991 with Strike the Gold, had predicted that Go For Gin would win the Derby.

During Derby week, however, he would not go quite that far. "I don't know if he's up to the status of Holy Bull and Brocco, but he's close," Zito said. Saturday, Go For Gin stomped the status of Holy Bull and Brocco into the mud. "I'll be at the Preakness with bells on," Zito said from the winner's circle. Zito said not having the favorite's label was a blessing.

"My dad always used to say, 'Remember, the underdog is a dangerous Zito said. "He got his track. We were lucky and blessed. We had two beautiful weeks at Churchill Downs. He Please see DERBY, Page 9D Holy Bull disappoints9D his coaching resume.

It seems Haege has surfaced again 90 miles away as the BILL BROPHY defensive line coach with the Milwaukee Mustangs, the state's latest professional team which opens Arena Football League play Thursday. And now, as the young scribe has grown, it is hard to work up the enthusiasm to take his little white Honda to the Bradley Center to see if Haege is still unconventional But certainly his sport is and certainly his team will still throw the ball all over the place, even if Haege's job now is to coach the underpaid defenders who will chase down the receivers and quarterback. The Arena Football League is a made-for-TV trashsport that fills the late night hours on ESPN in the spring. The indoor Associated Press game features eight players a side playing Go For Gin, left, and jockey Chris McCarron cross the finish line well ahead of Strodes Creek to win the 120th running of the Kentucky Derby Saturday. on a field half the size of a football field Garner gambles, Blue Jays cash in 50 yards by 85 feet wide, or roughly the size of the hockey rink at Hartmeyer Ice Arena.

Nets hang at either end zone and the wall around the field is padded by foam. Balls that hit off the nets and wall are in play. Teams score six points for a touchdown, one for a conversion kick, two points for a successful run or pass after touchdown and two points for a successful drop kick after touchown. A field goal is worth three points and a successful drop-kick field goal is worth four points. Most Arena Football League players make about $500 a game so you won't see a lot of big names at the Bradley Center, Bones is making fans forget about what's-his-name other than head coach Lou Saban, who has as White moved to third.

Molitor followed with a high chopper to third base that deflected off Kevin Seitzer's glove and scored White. "I don't really know much about Bronkey," Molitor said. "All I know is I got enough of it to put the ball in play." Had Seitzer not been playing Please see BREWERS, Page 3D more stops on his coaching resume than Haege. And you should see a lot of points scored, if you choose to buy tickets that are priced from $8 to $28. Because of the emphasis on offense, the indoor game potentially has appeal to an audience that is likely to snooze through a w- -i -i well-played 2-1 World Cup soccer game TORONTO abrhM 5 0 10 Whit, cf 0 0 0 0 Cedeno 2b 4 0 2 0 Molitor dh 4 0 2 0 Olerud lb 2 0 0 0 Sproaue 3b 3 110 Deloodo I) 4 0 0 0 Huff ph 3 112 R.Alomar 2b 2 0 0 0 Coles rf 4 0 0 0 Borders Schofleld ss J1 1 Tonus next month.

And because the game is fairly easy to understand, even if it is a bastardized version of the real game, it may even appeal to football fans who can't figure out icing and offsides of hockey. Team officials, who have seen the MILWAUKEE Horn I (ton cf A. Dim ct Spiers T. Ward rt G. Vaughn If Nilsson Selrnr 3b Harper dh Jaho lb Jt.

Valentin 2b Totals MHwoukM TORONTO (AP) Milwaukee Brewers manager Phil Garner went against the book Saturday and put the potential winning run on base. And, as often seems to happen, the strategy backfired. Domingo Cedeno singled home the tying run with two outs and Paul Molitor followed with a run-scoring single as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied in the ninth inning and beat the Brewers, 3-2, ending a three-game losing streak. Toronto trailed, 2-1, when Pat Borders singled with one out off Jeff Bronkey (1-1) and moved to second on a groundout. That brought up Devon White, whose home run in the eighth inning raised his batting average to .314.

Garner decided to walk White and bring up Cedeno, a rookie batting .117. "The kid has got to get a hit for them to beat us," Garner said. "I'll take my chances with the kid before I take my chances with Devon White." Cedeno lined Bronkey's first pitch to right field. Turner Ward's throw home beat Borders, but he put his shoulder into catcher Dave Nilsson to jar the ball loose, then slapped the plate for the tying run abrtibi 4 2 11 5 0 11 S011 3 0 10 4 0 2 0 10 10 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 4 0 2 0 4 110 4 0 0 0 34 3 It 3 1 000 1 0 012 3 By Andy Baggot Sports reporter MILWAUKEE One of the first lessons Ricky Bones said he learned upon arrival in the major leagues: "Keep yourself away from the newspapers," he said, laughing in the face of the company he was keeping at the moment. "Forget about the numbers.

Forget about the boxscores. Doesn't matter if you're going good or you're going bad. You're better off not knowing the numbers." But when he arrived here three seasons ago to pitch for the Milwaukee Brewers, Bones occasionally found himself giving in to temptation. He would open the sports section to the baseball page and take a quick glance at the standings to see where San Diego was situated in the National League West Division. Bones was acquired from the Padres, his first pro team, during a late spring training trade in 1992, so the impulse is understandable.

But there was more to it than that. In trading for Bones, shortstop Jose Valentin and outfielder Matt Mieske, the Brewers gave up a third baseman named Gary Sheffield. Celebrated for his massive, mostly un- Please see BONES, Page 50 game do well in Albany, N.Y., and Tampa, are hoping football-crazed fans in Two outs when winning run scored. Wisconsin may be willing to take a look at Nilsson (6L LOB Milwaukee 10, Toronto 10. 2B (6), Olerud (12).

HR Harper (1L White Spiers. SF Harper. RER SO 7 2-3 0 1 1- 3 0 2- 3 3 Bones Llovd Sconkm Bronkey (1-1) 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 the arena game and they are encouraged that more than 3,000 season tickets have been sold. But in a town that can only attract 15,847 fans to County Stadium on a sunny spring afternoon last Wednesday to watch a major league sport, one can only wish Stotttemyre 0 0 2 14 7 Castillo (2-0) 3 10 0 10 Lloyd pitched to one batter In the eighth. 2l3.

Alt. 50,54. Art Haege and his new employers good Associated Press luck at trying to sell a new sport that I McDowell delivers for Sox3D I Lemke's HR saves Braves4D looks like it comes from the originators of Brewers' Ricky Bones, who leads the AL with a 1.12 ERA, shut out the Blue Jays for the first seven innings Saturday. American Gladiators. Running feud Syttende Mai, Mad-City trying to co-exist It's time to throw UW's Chris Kathan competes in the javelin at the Wisconsin Twilight track meet Saturday.

Kathan finished in first place with a throw of 175 feet, 4 inches. For more on the meet and a complete UW sports wrap, turn to Page 8D. is leading the well-organized event, said they can. "I don't think one has to win and one has to lose," she said. "I don't want either of us to lose.

It wouldn't be good for the running community." Renault, meanwhile, isn't so sure. She's still smarting that she wasn't contacted before the announcement. And she wasn't thrilled when her race was described as the perfect "tuneup" for the marathon. But she said the Syttende Mai will carry on. "I think that ultimately the Syttende Mai will probably shrink tradition that some feel the marathon the Greater Madison Convention Visitors Bureau's move onto the local racing scene will threaten.

The problem is in the timing. The Syttende Mai is held every year on the mid-May Saturday closest to May 17, Norway's Constitution Day it is scheduled for this Saturday. The marathon, meanwhile, is scheduled for May 29, just two weeks later. The question? Can the two races, so close together, comfortably co-exist? Opinions vary. Mad-City race director Kerry Nolen, a veteran marathoner who By Kent Youngblood Sports reporter Pat Renault has taken pains to take the politics out of the situation.

But, months later, a little exasperation still comes through when she thinks back to that day in October when plans for the Mad-City Marathon were unveiled. "It was like being punched in the stomach," Renault said. It was an understandable gut reaction because Renault is the director of the Syttende Mai race, a 20-mile, 22-year tradition that takes runners from Madison's Capitol Square to Stoughton. A f'0 if i 1 State Journal photo JOSEPH W.JACKSON III Please see RUNNING, Page I.