Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 43

Wl 12:3 The complete sports rundown, Page 4D. Late scores, 222-6720 13, The Red Wings need a win tonight against Toronto, or it will take a miracle for them to make the playoffs. But Wing GM Jimmy Devellano isn't sorry he hasn't gone for the "quick fix." Page 6D. TELEVISION 1011 MOVIE GUIDE 11 WEATHER 13 Call with iporti nwi: 222-6660 DETROIT FREE PRESS natural turf (sod) -I ii )p, Oilio World Cup bid i innn I. aAi: if sin HttftsAN -JLi-t-j- 11 isiSTic layer includes U-M stadium a i stadium's I 'Ml1 I lirlill ,11 I I Mil Proposed Vcrld Cup venues Stadium capacity at right Group 1: Northeast Gland 8tadlum, East Rutherford, N.J 76,891 Yale Bowl, New Haven, Connecticut 79.

Group 2: Mid-Atlantic JFK Stadium, Philadelphia 92,400 RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C Group 3: Florida Orange Bowl, Miami fO.000 Tangerine Bowl, Orlando, Florida 50.0 or Tampa 8tadlum, Tampa, Florida 72,000 Group 4: Great Lakes Michigan Sladlum, Ann Arbor 101.701 Soldier Field, Chicago 70,000 Group 5: Northwest Husky 8tadlum, Seattle 72,500 Candlestick Park, San Francisco 61,000 or Stanford 8tadlum Palo Alto, California ...85,000 Group 6: California (south) Rote Bowl, Pasadena, California 104,187 Lot Angelet Collteum 92,604 Reconitruetlon being comldtrad by ttadlum authority to Inereate width of field to mtet World Cup tpeclflcatlone. Capacity figure bated on propoted expentlon; currently holdt 59,000 at capacity. Ntgotlatlona with both ttadla pretantly being conducted. By JOE LAPOINTE Free Press Sportt Writer North American Soccer League Commissioner Phil Woosnam will meet in Detroit today with local civic, sports and business leaders to discuss plans to host part of the 1986 World Cup tournament at the University of Michigan's football stadium in Ann Arbor. The United States, Canada and Mexico are the remaining candidates to host the next World Cup, a tournament of 24 nations held every four years.

A decision on the World Cup site is to be made by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) when its members meet in Stockholm May 18. Woosnam is also vice-president of the States Soccer Federation, the governing body for soccer in the United States. SOCCER, CALLED football in most countries, is the world's most popular team sport. The World Cup is noted by most international sports fans as the most important single-sport tournament in the world, ranking behind only the multi-sport Olympic Games in global attention. Michigan Stadium is one of 12 sites to be offered by the U.S.

group in its bid to host the tournament. Because of its crowd capacity, the Ann Arbor stucture could stage up to nine games, Including the first and second rounds. "It's just sensational. It looks like we're going to get it," said Robert L. Fenton, a Detroit lawyer who put together today's meeting of local sponsors.

Fenton said he was recruited by Woosnam to be the chairman of the World Cup host committee for Michigan. "We don't have to build the facilities," Fenton said. "It's all here. We've proven we could host Super Bowl and the Republican convention. Think of what it could do for tourism and our local economy." INCLUDED AT the meeting, Fenton said, will be representatives of the U-M athletic department, the governor's office, the Detroit mayor's office, the Ann Arbor mayor's office, Detroit's convention bureau, the United Auto Workers, the AFL-CIO, the Detroit and Ann Arbor's Chambers of Commerce and the Teamsters' Union.

Don Canham, the University of Michigan athletic director, said he would be delighted to host tournament games, in part because "FIFA would pay a pretty good rent" which he would not specify. "We certainly are supportive," Canham said. "We've got dormitories here and everything." Canham said Michigan Stadium would have little problem complying with international soccer regulations demanding natural turf. Although Michigan's field is covered with artificial turf, Canham said a natural surface could be grown on top of it in time for the tournament, which is scheduled for late June and early July of 1986. The natural surface, Canham said, would be built by first putting a layer of plywood on the field, covering it with a layer of plastic, then topping it with soil and sod.

"They've done it before in Europe," Canham said. "It (the sod) roots in two weeks." OTHER PROPOSED sites for the World Cup games include Chicago's Soldier Field and'Giants Stadium, near New York City, the proposed site for the championship match of the 52-game tournament. Tickets would cost from $20 to $50 per game, Fenton said. See WORLD CUP, Page 7D Too early for predictions but, what the heck LAKELAND, Fla. A reader, Johnny Budinsky, sent me a note making 10 predictions for the 1983 baseball season.

The way he sees it: 1 Dan Petry wins 20 games. 2 Tony Armas hits 50 home runs. 3 Tim Raines steals 100 bases. 4 George Brett bats 5 Baltimore finishes no better than fourth. 6 Armas and Jim Rice combine for more than 225 RBIs.

7 A Tiger pitcher throws a no-hitter. 8 Pennant winners: Montreal, Los Angeles, Kansas City and Detroit. 9 World Series: Montreal vs. Detroit. Tigers win Series in seven games.

I want to make it known this very minute that I am Very glad to have Johnny Budinsky as a reader, and I hope he's out there always. But I also am a little worried, because the possibility exists that Johnny Budinsky has been rolling up this newspaper and smoking it. Just kidding, Johnny but there must be some explanation for an otherwise clear-headed young man making 10 predictions and batting an even .000. As a matter of fact, if you count the post-season picks separately, his slump goes to about 0-for-17. Which would, perhaps, still qualify him to play for the Tigers.

I am going to take Johnny Budinsky's predictions one by one, and rip them into left field. First pitching, then slugging 1 iger jits in Herndon quickly found a home 1 Dan Petry will not win 20 games. That would he might have expected in the free agent be more than a third of Detroit's victories all season. (You're supposed to laugh here.) No way. I sincerely believe Petry will win no more than 18 games this season.

Okay, 19 then. 2 Tony Armas may be bound for Fenway Park, but you still have to hit the ball 50 times to hit 50 home runs. market, he said, and maybe even a little better. So he had no qualms about accepting it. "There were a lot of good outfielders on the free agent market last fall," he said, "and I've been treated fairly here.

It a gooq situation here, and if I had gone out (to free agency), I never know what kind of situa tion I might've been in with another team. See LARRY HERNDON, Page 7D 3 Tim Raines steals 100 bases. Sure, but not in one season. 4 George Brett will bat .333 if he goes l-for-3 on opening day and breaks both feet running to first. 5 Baltimore finishes no better than fourth.

The Colts, maybe. 6 and 7 I doubt if a Tiger pitcher could no-hit Pitcher Dan Petry is having lower- back problems. Details are on Page 3D. hJ George Brett Armas and Rice. 8, 9 and 10 Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.

Now, then. I' Johnny Budinsky says he would appreciate it if I would make 10 predictions of my own and send them to him. I hope he doesn't mind me sending them this way. It saves me a stamp. Darwin evolves into a winner ill I Sr I By BRIAN BRAGG Fre Press Sports Writer LAKELAND, Fla.

Through the steady rain falling on Marchant Stadium Tuesday, a player sprinted along the outfield warning track. Many of his teammates were doing their work indoors, but Larry Herndon doesn't follow the crowd. His daily routine is important to him, so he ignored the rain and went on the field alone. Herndon found happiness in a Detroit Tigers uniform last year and found security in a long-term contract this winter. Now he intends to repay the Tigers with another solid season.

Herndon, 29 years old and entering his eighth big league season, is more comfortable than he has been in previous years. Last year was different. He was starting with a strange team in a strange league, and he might have been with the Tigers for only one year. Herndon was eligible to become a free agent after last season. "I know what to expect now," Herndon said as he sat on the clubhouse porch, cooling down from his sprints.

"Last year I didn't know the pitchers, I didn't know the team. Now I do, and I just want to work hard this spring and get ready for the season, because I want to win." HERNDON HAD the best year of his career in 1982, batting .292 with 23 homers and a team-high 88 RBIs, evidence that the possibility of becoming a free agent didn't bother him. "I knew it was an important year for me, sure," he said, "but I wasn't afraid of it. I knew I could play baseball, so I wasn't worried. Really, I didn't think about it that much.

It didn't constantly come on my mind. "And I've been on the ground before, in the mud, in the dirt, so I wasn't worried' about that part of it, about what might happen if I didn't have a good year. The clubhouse atmosphere was one big reason Herndon decided to sign a long-term contract with the Tigers. "I like this team," he said, "and I like Detroit. I felt comfortable there last year, and didn't have any trouble.

I enjoyed it. "Also, I thought I'd like to be with a team that can win, and I think this team can be a winning team for a lot of years." Herndon's new contract, estimated at $700,000 a year for four years, is about what 9 jc hf If' A. Vr' Free Press Photo by IRA ROSENBERG A new face for Tiger Stadium Free Press PhotobTALAN KAMUDA Continuing a renovation begun in 1977, workmen Tuesday covered part of the peeling surface of Tiger Stadium with a new skin in weather fit for a baseball game. The home opener is scheduled for Friday, April 8 against the Chicago White Sox. 1 Danny Darwin wins 20 games.

Which is no easy trick when you play for Texas. y. 2 Jim Rice hits 50 home runs. If you'd seen him here in spring training, you'd think so, too. Armas is barely getting the ball out of the infield.

3 The Detroit Tigers steal 100 bases, topping last year's total by seven. 4 Wade Boggs hits As I mentioned, I've been watching Boston. 5 Toronto finishes no worse than sixth. In case I haven't mentioned it, I've been watching Cleveland. 6 The Phillies finish no better than fourth.

They also finish the season on Medicare. I've seen retirement communities younger than these guys. From now on, they may spend the spring in Pennsylvania and the rest of the year in Florida. 7 xhe Tigers get no-hit. 8 Reggie Jackson's home run output drops by 15, or more.

in 9 The Cubs are in first place on the Fourth of July. The Cubs and Tigers do not meet in the World Series. Last time that happened WotlfWar II had just, ended and the country was InorgivlngnoodT--'' am not as yet prepared to make my actual predictions for the pennant races. It's pretty early to be picking teams to win their division, don't you think? We; need another week or two for perspective, not to mention trades and broken feet. As a disclaimer, I should admit here that in a Detroit radio interview several weeks ago, when pressed for a prediction, I did pick the Tigers to finish first.

There is a perfectly good explanation for that. The Interviewer mocked me for picking them last year and said, "Surely you won't pick them to finish first again." I picked them to finish first again and told him to stop calling me Shirley. 1 Since then, I have had time to weigh my opinions more carefully. It turns out they are getting pretty heaw. Mavbe I'll bo loeeine now and think ud 10 Larry Herndon (left) and Glenn Wilson, two of the top four Tiger outfielders.

Stanley plans to stick by Panther offense of action for three weeks. Stanley's not certain how to handle the offensive line' problem, but he's certain that he does not want to blame either Hebert or Carter for the Panthers' shortcomings. "I'm not disappointed in Bobby Hebert," said Stanley "He's young and inexperienced. And there are times when you could say maybe we should go with a more experienced quarterback. But I'm not looking to start a two-car garage: By CURT SYLVESTER Fre Press Sporti Writer The Panthers' offense, with only one touchdown in two games, has been less than spectacular.

The rookie quarterback, Bobby Hebert, has completed more than 54 percent of his passes, but has had trouble completing scoring drives. The rookie big-play wide receiver, Anthony Carter, has a grand total of three receptions for 33 yards in two games, has been fined for missing practice and has a habit of running the wrong routes. For the last three days since the Panthers fell flat, 19-7, in their Saturday night game in Tampa Bay Jim Stanley had heard those disconcerting facts. So it wasn't anything new when it was all presented to him again Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "That's a national tradition," Stanley said, with a grin.

"If you don't win, the offense is dull. I'm not Interested in glamorizing the offense, I'm interested in winning." And, therefore, Stanley says he's going to stick with the whole works his offensive concepts, his rookie quarterback and his rookie wide receiver. But even he admits things have got to get better than the 1 1 -first down performance at Tampa. "We feel we're going to have to throw the ball a little better," said Stanley. "And we have to have better protection to pass better.

I think the thing we got out of the (Tampa Bay) films is that we need greater production on first down." HEBERT HAS completed 29 of 53 passes (54.7 percent) for 354 yards and a touchdown, but he was sacked five times by the Bandits. To make matters worse for the Panther offensive 'line, one of the team's three guards Mike Weston has a knee injury which Is likely to keep him out wu-ijuai ici ay siciu. ns iimg aa uc 9 CACVUUug, ne 11 be our quarterback. He's grown a little every game." As for Carter, it's obvious that he has not been able to" absorb the Panther offense in the two weeks he's been with the team. And Stanley explained that the shift from the receiver" (flanker) to receiver" (wide receiver) between the first and second game made the adjustment to pro ball more difficult for Carter.

4 See PANTHERS, Page 7Q. ieasons why the JTigers won't finish any bitter than iourth..