Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 87

I'm 1 'NVl" Now It's for resl: Today's television highlights: Sunday, Sept. 12, 1082 (j5 Drugs, strikes, courts and the USFL CBS 1:00 p.m. NFL football: Tampa Bay at Minnesota BASEBALL PAGE 4 i ii i rT) take a backseat today as the Lions CBS 4:00 p.m. Tennis: U.S. Open.

HORSE RACING 7 v- take on the Bears at the Silverdome. NBC 4:00 p.m. NFL football: Raiders at San Francisco OUTDOORS 11 I 1 1 DETROIT free PRESS See the of SportSi Page 10H CBC p.m. CFL football: Ottawa at Edmonton I Call with sports news: 222-6660 I i I i-J I i. i i mi "imp "wwn i jpii.y WWTt mwmmhwjmmmm wylJjl Downey Looking for daylight Michigan tailback Lawrence Ricks looks downfield after finding himself in a maze of Badgers during first-half action.

Ricks, a senior, carried the ball 24 times for 153 yards and scored the first touchdown of the 1982 season for the Wolverines during the 20-9 U-M win. r.n A' -T --Z ti Fickle fans in the stands: If we pay, you better play "Every time I call it a game, you call it a business, and every time I call it a business, you call it a game." A football player to a coach, from "North Dallas Forty" Eddie Murray could have been elected to public office after his last-second field goal beat Dallas. Tom Skladany was the most popular player in the Pontiac Silverdome whenever one of his punts painted the ceiling or whenever one of his fakes turned into a successful forward pass. A marble bust of Billy Sims would have been mounted near each gate of the parking lot had he continued to run Detroit's National Football League adversaries into the ground. Such is the public posture on football players.

They aire royal entertainers kings and court jesters simultaneously and so long as they keep the audience contented, nothing is wrong with the world. There is no thought that the football player as businessman must make whatever money he thinks he is worth. What are you worth, the peasants say, when we who pay to see you play can barely pay our grocery bill or our monthly installment on the car? So far as an athlete is regarded as little more than a performer, and an overpaid one at that, the average Man in the Stands (or woman, of course) does not regard him as a real human being, with mortgages and windowed envelopes in the mailbox. And since the athlete's salary has been made public, often by a journalist who has carelessly fattened the estimate, there can be no raise from the boss without the average citizen knowing all about it. You can't quietly raise the bid Billy Sims doesn't mind if a secretary squeezes another 20 bucks a week from her boss.

Nor does he mind if an executive at one of the Motown motor headquarters is offered an extra 100 grand in incentives and bonuses. Sims doesn't mind because he doesn't -r" -mmmmmmm Free Press Photo by ALAN KAMUDA U-M rmm clown 1SCOMS1E best cf ths rest "This is the most satisfying first (opening game) win I've ever had." Bo Schembechler By JOE LAPOINTE Free Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR Although the score was close much of the day, Michigan's 20-9 victory over Wisconsin Saturday wasn't really terribly tense, exciting or impressive. The Wolverines won because they were in better condition to survive the heat and because their rebuilt running game and rebuilt offensive line dominated a Wisconsin defense that prevailed only in personal fouls, 5-0. The victory avenged Wisconsin's upset of Michigan in last year's season opener and got the Wolverines off on the rieht foot in this year's Big Ten race before 104,932 fans. Georgia 17, Brlgham Young 14: Sophomore Kevin Butler booted a 44-yard field goal with 1:11 remaining for sixth-ranked Georgia.

Page 8H. Ohio State 21, Baylor 14: Ohio State blew a 14-point lead, but won on sophomore quarterback Mike Tomczak's one-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Page 8H. Nebraska 42, Iowa 7: Quarterback Turner Gill threw two touchdown passes to spark No. 3 Nebraska, which lost to Iowa, 10-7, in last season's opener.

Saturday special; know about it. Neither do Skladany and Murray. But when these men try go for the gold against their employers, their adoring public suddenly sees them as men who intend to bite the hands that pay them. Ingrates. Overstuffed fatcats.

"The poor baby ONLY makes $100,000," or whatever. 11 It is envy, nothing more. What business should it be of the average ticket buyer whether or not Billy Sims sits out the season in a himself, saying he called too many running plays for quarterback Steve Smith, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 107 yards and two interceptions. "I threw some bad passes," Smith said, "but I had some good ones too. I got hit sharp a few times (on runs) and and I got poked in the eye once.

I took a few licks in the head." Badger coach Dave McClain said the five personal foul calls some on Smith's runs were a "major, major factor. "The fans just intimidated the officials out there," he said. "I don't mind the officiating, as long as the officials call them fair on both sides. I can't believe the officials allowed themselves to be intimidated like that." The Badgers also were hurt when highly regarded safety Matt Vanden Boom was injured early in the game. He was hospitalized and scheduled to remain overnight for observation.

McClain thought Vanden Boom had suffered a concussion. For Michigan, senior flanker Anthony Carter caught only one pass for 10 yards, early in the game, and was most effective returning kicks. See MICHIGAN, Page 6H "Whether you realize it or not, Wisconsin is a good football team," coach Bo Schembechler said afterward. "They are not some run-of-the-mill team If you check early-season games between teams supposed to be good, there's very little scoring. Early in the season, defenses tend to dominate.

Most pleasing is that we blocked pretty well. I think Lawrence Ricks established himself as a pretty good running back This is the most satisfying first (opening game) win I've ever had." Another major factor was the Michigan defense, which played a crisp and clean game full of enthusiasm, according to to linebacker Mike Boren. "I don't give a damn if we fumble the ball in our own end; I say let's go out there and challenge them," Boren said. "I wanted to beat these sons of guns. They beat us last year and they embarrassed us.

It was my first game last year and it tore me up. We studied those films all year, in spring ball and all fall. I knew it by heart." Boren, a junior, said this year's team has a better attitude. "Not as many seniors," he said. "When you get a lot of seniors, you starting thinking big time." IF THERE is a major concern for Michigan, it would have to be its passing game, or lack thereof.

Schembechler blamed Happy Birthday, Bear: Bear Bryant celebrated his 69th birthday on the sidelines, watching his No. 4 Alabama team rip Georgia Tech, 45-7. Last season, Georgia Tech knocked off Alabama, 24-21 Alabama's only loss and Georgia Tech's only win of the regular season. Saturday, it was 31-0 Alabama at halftime. Page 8H.

struggle of principles? You can say he was wrong, that he had a signed contract and should play and that's the truth but he is a man and an American and must therefore be granted the right to make whatever decision satisfies him most. No "fan" should insist that Billy Sims sacrifice his ethics just because he is needed to 11 Bear Bryant run the bloody football. Where is the sympathy toward Sims Murray Michigan's passing attack (a.k.a. Anthony Carter) was noticably quiet Saturday afternoon. Details, 6H.

rn77 1 ol Just awful! Bosox kick Tigers, 13-3 Lloyd wins 6th Open 7 Wo 4 i that most other laborers would receive if they were standing up to management? A reader opinion poll in the newspaper showed that the public at least the portion of it that cared enough to respond did not support Sims in his protest against what he considered to be an unprincipled maneuver by one of his bosses. He was determined to get to the bottom of the situation if he had to go straight to the top, to the chairman of the board, thereby bypassing the men who actually hired him. Sims wanted to return to football so badly that he himself orchestrated the meeting with the owner of the team, demanding it, arranging it. When it was over, his personal attorney still discouraged him from reporting to work. At his own risk, Billy Sims ignored that advice and once again accepted someone's word as bond.

He did not get anything new in writing. Will fans be satisfied? will be interesting to see how the Silverdome audience responds to Sims at his introduction today before the season-opening game. Some may make him feel guilty for having put them through all this, as if he had done them wrong. The man who took legal action against the Detroit Lions, claiming they were not delivering the product for which he was paying, must now be pleased that Sims is once again on display for his amusement, one more acrobat for his private circus. Now that the team's two kickers have gone AWOL, however, perhaps the man will amend his lawsuit.

Say, ask for half his money back. Murray and Skladany are in a boat that Sims has just abandoned. They want more money and they are doing what they deem necessary to get it. But their timing is poor, and when they returned two days later to try to straighten things out, the Lions weren't listening. Call back next week, they were told.

Eddie Murray, being paid $45,000 a year (estimated) while working as one of the game's ranking placekickers, walked out to make a point. Now he is paying for it. The public must decide where loyalty bends and where it ends. Celebrities commit a cardinal sin when they incovenience their admirers. Forgiveness is grant By GEORGE PUSCAS Free Prest Start Writer NEW YORK Chasing history, Chris Evert Lloyd won her sixth U.S.

Open women's tennis championship here Saturday, while Jimmy Connors set himself up for another shot at the men's title. The smooth and steady Lloyd, now 27 and convinced her time at the top of the game is limited, overwhelmed Czechoslovakia's Hana Mandlikova, 6-3, 6-1 in just 63 minutes, regaining the title she yielded a year ago to Martina Navratilova. Navratilova, the favorite this year, was upset in the quarterfinals by Pam Shriver, clearing the way for Lloyd, who now stands third among the all-time women's champions in the Open. Molla Mallory won eight titles, and Helen Wills Moody won seven. Connors, a three-time former champion, advanced to the men's final by whipping Argentina's Guillermo Vilas, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Connors will meet Ivan Lendl in today's 4 p.m. (Channel 2 in Detroit) finals. Lendl extended his mastery of John McEnroe, ousting the three-time defending champion 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 in the men's semifinals. EVEN BEFORE this tournament began, Lloyd left no doubt of her eagerness to win the U.S. title "just one more time." She had been beaten at Wimbledon by Navratilova and lost her rank as the No.

1 player in the By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON The Tigers didn't have long to savor their Friday night victory at Fenway Park, a win that broke a string of 12 losses in Boston. Saturday afternoon the Red Sox took revenge in full measure, humiliating the Tigers, 13-3. Detroit committed seven errors, tying the 1982 American League high. Six Detroit pitchers issued 11 bases on balls, their highest single-game total of the year. The 25,451 Boston fans roared in delight at the Tigers' ineptitude and watched the Red Sox score more runs than they have in any game in more than two years.

The 13-run yield the Tigers' high for the year, too. The Tigers committed three errors in the first inning. Loser Milt Wilcox (10-8) was gone before it was over and the Red Sox rolled up a 4-0 lead. THE TIGERS made two more errors in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Rookie Howard Johnson committed three errors at third base.

Rookie Mike Laga committed one at first base. Rookie pitcher Bob James committed two. And veteran Lance Parrish was charged with one. Only the Chicago White Sox have committed as many errors in a game this season. The Tigers were in the game, trailing by only two runs, after 4 innings, and they out-hit the Bosox, 11-10.

But with the bases on balls and the errors, it was a pure giveaway. The Tigers now have lost 25 of their last 29 games at Fenway. See TIGERS, Page 5H fx i ed only when the men climb into their costumes again and perform for the pleasure of the crowd. We don't care about Sims' self-respect or the kickers' well-being, the people say. We came to watch a game, not a business.

We pay, you play, and don't you forget it. Htfw sad. 7 i UPI Ptioto world. See PEN, Page 12H Case closed. Chris Evert Lloyd wins another U.S.

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