Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 27

ii the scoreboard The complete sports rundown, Page 4D. Late scores, 222-6720. EMU students rally to support crach: Interim football coach Bob LaPointe is gathering support from students and players who want to see him named as the permanent football coach of the Eastern Michigan Hurons. The story is on Page 2D. Wednesday, 24, 1082 TELEVISION 7 ENTERTAINMENT 7-9 WEATHER 11 Call with sports news: 222-6660 DETROIT FREE PRESS istons 680108 1 0 ow out Ml V.

motorless ockets Quit-nhile-aliead synch ome knocks gems out of the ring As shepherd of one millionaire and with another on the way, Emanuel Steward, the fight manager, has been led to study the human psyche. He knows, for instance, that you can lead a gang of athletes into a gym and instruct them in the art of beating the hell out of one another, and some will quit. They might be the smarter ones. Others will persist so long they must be told to seek a different vocation. And then there are others who do very well, indeed.

They become not only important members of the community but assets to the national economy. When such fighters talk of quitting while still at their physical peak, tremors are felt in the television, stadium and gambling industries. Some poor sap trying to balance the budget in the nation's capital realizes one more cruel blow is coming when premature retirement takes such million-dollar taxpayers off the rolls. Before departing last week for New Orleans, Thomas Hearns, who on Dec. 3 will fight Wilfred Benitez, the super-welter weight (154 pounds) champion, remarked that he would fight two more years, meaning he would retire from boxing at age 26.

"There are other things I want to do, like business and stuff," he said. lioxing burnout like any other kind Hearnspronouncement (first heard two years ago) preceded by one day the retirement at age 26 of Sugar Ray Leonard. These two, as you recall, enriched themselves and countless others with their $40 million classic fight 14 months ago. Even the international auto industry felt the impact. Hearns became the proud owner of a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes and a brace of Corvettes.

He is not the kind of customer dealers want to see fade away. Steward, watching over Hearns' preparations in New Orleans, reasons that the urge of successful fighters like Hearns and Leonard to quit their game early is not a syndrome peculiar to boxers. "I think it happens to all people at different times in their lives," he says. "People burn out. They go through the same routine day after day for years and finally they AP Photo Joe Bryant slaps the ball away from Pistons guard Isiah Thomas Tuesday night.

Dump act, Garvey ims: By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer HOUSTON There was a time when the Detroit Pistons looked a lot like the Houston Rockets looked Tuesday night. Dull, disinterested and unmotivated. Today, the Detroit Pistons lead the Central Division, and the Houston Rockets who just two years ago went to the NBA finals have won just one of 12 games. Their latest defeat came Tuesday before 8,960 fans in the Summit, a 128-106 loss to the Pistons. And the night eventually became so disinteresting for the Houstonians that they resorted to chanting for former hometown hero Ricky Pierce.

"We want Pierce! We want Pierce! We want Pierce!" they begged as the former Rice University star sat stoically on the Piston bench. Coach Scotty Robertson finally relented with 3:30 left in the game, and Pierce offered some solace for the crowd when he hit a jump shot In the final seconds. That did little to alleviate their disappointment with their own team, though. THE ROCKETS, now 1-11 for the season, failed to give the fans anything to cheer about all night long. They were was so weak a challenge that the Pistons couldn't even concentrate on beating them.

"When you're dominating, it's hard it's hard to play a complete game when you're up by 17," noted Bill Laimbeer. The Piston center had a dozen rebounds and 1 1 points for the night, despite lapses in which he simply batted at rebounds instead of grabbing them. The Pistons led by 17 twice in the first half and could have led by 30 had they not gone into those mental funks, several times dropping passes that had "slam dunk" written all over them. "With a young team like this it's difficult to maintain concentration," conceded Robertson. THE LOSS was the Rockets' fourth in four games at home this season and drops them 6V2 games behind the Midwest Division-leading Kansas City Kings, though the season is only three weeks old.

Isiah Thomas, who had 24 points for the night, was the only one with kind words about Houston. See PISTONS WIN, Page 5D By CURT SYLVESTER Free Press Sports Writer If Billy Sims had his way, he'd cast two no votes in the NFL Players Association balloting scheduled for next week one on the new contract with club owners and one on union leader Ed Garvey. Sims agrees with the apparent majority of his teammates who don't like the tentative agreement, and he said Tuesday he agrees with Chicago defensive back Gary Fencik and others who have suggested Garvey be replaced as executive director of the NFLPA. "I feel the same way," said Sims. "As long as he (Garvey) has been in there, it seems he's hardly accomplished anything for the players.

"I always felt we should have someone who knows business or someone who played football and knows the players' needs. I see no way in which he has done a good job. Even after we had a tentative agreement, he said he wouldn't recommend accepting it. "He said he's leaving it up to the players," said Sims. "It's like he's getting out of it now, so if we don't like it, we can't blame it on him.

"I think everyone in charge should have had time to get everything in order in eight weeks (of the strike)," Sims said. "If not, then there should be somebody else in charge." ALTHOUGH SIMS went along with the 57-day players strike, he questioned the union's bargaining goals and tactics throughout. And although the Lions are generally opposed to the tentative agreement, Sims is the only one to suggest publicly that Garvey be replaced. Sims said he expected to "break even on what I lost" during the strike if the contract is approved by the NFLPA's members. "So I won't get nuthin'," he said.

"Twenty, thirty grand that's a little less than I lost (in the strike)." The vote on the proposed collective bargaining agreement originally was scheduled for Tuesday but was delayed until Dec. 3. See LIONS, Page 6D i fi H' say, 'That's enough of this They want to go on to something else." If you see it happening more today among young boxers, there's a reason for it that has little to do with the shock of catching a stiff shot right between the eyes. "What's happening is that fighters start out much younger now than was the case years ago," says Steward, man found dead Fried Ex-Wolverine Emanuel Steward "and they burn out like any- dogs, the Detroit Wolverines, the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1934, Friedman was named coach of the City College of New York.

He later coached at Yale and at Brandeis universities and became athletic director at Brandeis in 1949. He resigned in 1963 after the school dropped intercollegiate football. At the time of his death, Friedman was a member of Brown, Reed a New York investment firm. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, a brother and a sister. Free Press staff writer Brian Flanigan and special writer Morris Moorawnick contributed to this report.

Michigan team. Friedman, who many say revolutionized the forward pass in college football, paired up with end Bennie Oosterbaan and the "Benny-to-Bennie" era was born. The quarterback was named to All-American teams in 1925 and 1926. Friedman's coach, the legendary Fielding Yost, once called him "one of the greatest passers and smartest quarterbacks in history." Oosterbaan echoed Yost's words. "I think he was the greatest passer Michigan ever had," fie said from his Ann Arbor home when told of his friend's death.

"He was a great leader a great blocker he was one of the greatest we ever had After college, Friedman played eight years of professional football with the Cleveland Bull NEW YORK (AP) Benny Friedman, a two-time All-American quarterback at the University of Michigan in the 1920s, was found dead in his apartment Tuesday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Police said Friedman, who had been in poor health for a decade and had a leg amputated in 1979, had left notes indicating he was "severely depressed." He was 76. Friedman's football career spanned 40 years as a player and coach. A 5-10, 175-pounder, he was installed as the Wolverine quarterback in 1924 following a disastrous game in which Illinois' Red Grange scored five touchdowns against a favored Benny Friedman, 76, was found dead in his New York City apartment. Cest bon! Detroit gets Canadien hockey By BILL McGRAW Free Press Sports Writer On Saturday evenings, when Mike Rumps gets ready to watch hockey on TV, he settles back, grabs something to drink and opens a French dictionary on his lap.

Rumps, a Sterling Heights policeman, uses the book because the telecast is beamed down from Montreal totally in the language of Moliere, Hugo, de Gaulle, Beliveau, Richard and Lafleur. "I don't know what they're saying," says Rumps. "But it's so great we get more hockey. You don't need to know French to follow the game, but my wife (Lori) says she enjoys hockey better in French than in English." Rumps is one of a growing number of Detroit hockey fans to discover that for the first time ever, the Montreal Canadiens who play the Red Wings at 7:30 tonight at Joe Louis Arena can be seen on TV locally nearly every Saturday night, thanks to Windsor's CBEFT-TV (Channel 54). CBEFT, part of the federally owned Radio Canada network, was founded six years ago to serve the French-speaking population in and around Windsor.

This fall, for the first time, the station is carrying hockey on a regular basis. And it's not just hockey, but hockey of the legendary Le Canadien, one of the most successful teams in all of sports. It hasn't taken long for fans to notice. "Oh, my goodness, body else. I started boxing when I was eight years old.

I loved being in the ring. By the time I was 17, the desire was gone even though I was better than ever. I put everything into one last year, won my national Golden Gloves title, and that was it." The obvious question, of course, is what is going on with Hearns that he should mention his retirement two years hence when he still has much to accomplish? Is Hearns burned out, or is the flame fading? Does he really want to fight anymore? "He's just being realistic," says Steward. "He set 26 as his boxing retirement age a couple years ago, before he won the WBA welterweight title from Pipino Cuevas. Remember, Tommy's been fighting since he was 10 years old.

"He loves fighting, but, like anything else, there's the drudgery. With a lot of guys, there comes a day when you don't want to run the five miles anymore, or do the 100 sit-ups, or even go to the gym. A lot of other people wake up one day and just hate going to the office. It has nothing to do with success or failure; one day, it just strikes you there are other things you'd rather do." Steward says he has no doubts about Hearns, whom he pictures as "enthusiastic" as ever while prepping for the difficult Benitez. "Tommy still has goals to achieve," he says.

"It depends on the individual. Roberto Duran fights for pride. Ray Leonard fought for money and glory; he never liked boxing in the first place. Tommy Hearns always has wanted to leave his mark on boxing; that's his drive. He has money, but he hasn't reached his goals." Hearns mil carry on fill he (juits In pursuit of those goals, it helps, says Steward, that welterweight Milton McCrory, the Hearns clone, is in New Orleans with him.

"The other day, they sparred 10 rounds. It was their typical war. Where else you gonna find two No. 1-rated contenders working each other like that?" If anything concerns Steward, it's a sublime problem he can do nothing about. There's an old saw in sports that once a man has been beaten for the first time as were both Hearns and Benitez (by Leonard) it will be easier for him to be beaten a second time.

The suspicion is that the unbeaten tend to fight harder and longer to retain the mystique of invincibility. In defeat, weaknesses and tendencies long unidentified are exposed, and then, Steward contends, "there's the subconscious; a guy who's been beaten can accept it easier the second time." Not that Steward is worried about Hearns. He pictures him as very serious and greatly determined to everybody is just enthralled," says Therese Quenneville, a public relations specialist at CBEFT. "They write and say how much they appreciate it." "THEY'RE ALL quality games," says Rumps, who has watched the Canadiens defeat the Flyers and Nordiques in recent weeks. "It's free-flowing; there aren't a lot of whistles for stupid things like offsides and icing.

The Quebec game was incredible. They have a fantastic rivalry, and we get to watch." "I like listening to them speak French for about five minutes straight," says John Kerr, another Michigan-based Montreal fan who is elated over the Canadien telecasts, "then you suddenly hear them say something in English, like, 'Steve (The telecasts have three announcers Rene Lecavalier, Richard Garneau and Lionel Duval.) "Hearing it in French just adds to the Canadiens' mystique," adds Bob Nowaczewski, a Detroiter who knows more hockey than French. "I like it when (the Forum announcer) says, 'La troisieme etoile, da tird star, Mark CBEFT recently changed its position on the dial from 78 to 54, strengthening its signal in the process. Michigan viewers living close to the Detroit River or Lake St. Clair get the best reception, but one inland fan near Seven Mile and Telegraph says he receives a clear picture by moving his portable TV into his bedroom.

People whose cable systems do not carry Channel 54 can get the station by reinstalling their UHF antenna in the set's UHF screws and finding Channel 54 on the UHF dial. Maple Leafs' games continue to be shown on Channel 9, as they have been for three decades. But the Leafs are a bad team in the National Hockey League's easiest division. "It's so hard to get used to watching the Canadiens after watching the Leafs and Wings," said Rumps. "But I'm getting used to it." Cost la but dia Canadian! Parlez-vous hockey? The following words and phrases repeatedly pop up during French-language telecasts.

The list was prepared with the help of Pierre Cote of Windsor radio station CBEF-AM. Correct accent marks are not Included. "Le but du Canadien a ete compte par Guy Lafleur, avec I'alde de Pierre Mondou et Larry Robinson, a dlx-neuf minutes et vlngt-clnq secondes" (Le bew du Cam-die-en a ehtay contay par Guy Lafleur, avec led de Pierre Mondou eh Larry Robinson, a deece-nuf meenoot eh van-sank segondf. Canadien goal scored by Guy Lafleur, assisted by Pierre Mondou and Larry Robinson, at 19 minutes, 25 seconds. "II tlr, II compte!" (Eel teer, eel conil): He shoots, he scores! "Un dur lance, arrete par Sevigny" (ahn der lansay, arataypar Sayveenee): A hard shot, stopped by Sevigny.

"Bon plongeon de Sevigny" (bohn plonguhn de Sayveenee): Good dive by Sevigny. "Un arret cle" (ahn ar-ray May): A key save. "Nllan est chasse pour deux minutes pour avoir clngle" (Nilun ay shasay pour duh meenoot pour avwahr sanglayf. NHan is banished lor two minutes for slashing. "Hor8-j'u" (orjuh): Offsides.

"La rondelle, le disque" (la rohndel, le deesk): The puck. "MIse au Jeu" (meese oh juh): Faceoff. "Match nul" (match nool): Tie game. "Vlctolre" (veectwahrf. Win.

"Defalte" (dayfeif. Loss. "La HgAa bleue" (le leen bluhf. The blue line, i "Wlckenhelser decroche un tlr" Wlckenhelser day-crosh ahn leer): Wickenheiser shoots. "C'etalt hors-cible" (Saytay or seebluh): It's wide.

"II louche le poteau" (Eel toosh lepotohf. He hits the post. "C'est le butt" (Say le It's a goal! preserve his status as a big It only proves another point. Guys who can punch usually are serious about Bill McGraw's hockey notes column ii on Page 5D, everything. JiiIUjl-l.