Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 27

222-G720 Sportslinc For the latest sports scores and results. Today's television highlights: ABC 12:30 p.m. Football: Ohio State at Michigan ABC 4:00 p.m. Football: Miami, Fla. at Alabama CBC 8:00 p.m.

Hockey: Boston at Toronto Saturday, Nov. 17, 1979 SPORTS PEOPLE HORSE RACING iMI In 13-15 CLASSIFIED ADS DETROIT FREE PRESS COMICS U-M defense S22 COMPLETE -VjPi stands between OSU and roses By MICK McCABE Free Press Sports Writer It has been 1 1 years since there has been such a big discrepancy in the ratings of the two teams. That was Schembechler's first year at U-M and the Wolverines posted the stunning 24-12 upset over Ohio State, which was ranked No. 1. "At that time Ohio State was so big and powerful," Schembechler recalled.

But what you fail to realize is that we were going into that game with a lot of momentum." U-M's momentum went out the window when it lost at Purdue last week. flPuscas THE TWO MOST obvious reasons for Ohio State's success this year are first-year head coach Earle Bruce and sophomore quarter back Art Schlichter. Bruce has not only changed the Buckeyes' offense around, he also has completely recon- U-M smells a rose-scented upset of OSU in the wind JUST BETWEEN US: California, Here We See U-M, Page 5C Long before this football season began, Bo Schembechler had a few choice words for the ABC television executives. Last summer ABC-TV was considering not televising Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State battle. After all, Michigan State and Purdue were supposed to be fighting with U-M for the Big Ten football championship, but certainly not the Buckeyes.

"I felt all along this game would decide the title," Schembechler said. "I said that this summer when they talked about not putting this game on TV." Once again the Big Ten season has boiled down to U-M vs. Ohio State. The game will be played before another packed house of in Ann Arbor. Television coverage (they did listen to Bo) will begin on ABC (Channel 7 in Detroit) at 12:30 p.m., and kickoff is scheduled for 12:50 p.m.

Of course, If U-M is going to go to the Rose Bowl it will need Indiana's help. The Hoosiers must beat Purdue for U-M to head west again if it upsets Ohio State. Even if U-M beats Ohio State but Purdue beats Indiana, the three-way tie (U-M, Purdue, Ohio State) sends the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl by virtue of their better overall record. AND IT WOULD BE considered an upset if the Wolverines prevail. Ohio State is a perfect 10-0 (7-0 in the Big Ten) and ranked No.

2 in the country. Michigan has lost twice (8-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference) and is coming off last week's heartbreaking 24-21 defeat at Purdue. The Wolverines are ranked no higher than 13th in the nation and are 41-point underdogs. If you want to show people how smart you are, call 'em right now and say Michigan is going to the Rose Bowl again, They will say you are nuts, of course, there is no chance Kick Leach, U-M superfan For the first time in five years. Rick Leach won't be guiding the Wolverines in their annual shootout with Ohio State.

But the former All-Ameri-can quarterback will be there Saturday, in the stands. The story is in Sports People on Page2C. Rick Leach Kromm surprised that Wings are on market at all. But we know better, don we? It could happen easily even as the vultures from the Fiesta, the Bluebonnet, the Gator and lesser bowls assemble in Ann Arbor this morning to claim the Wolverine carcass for their own holiday shows. A simple parley will do it.

Take Michigan, a five-point underdog, to beat Ohio State, and do the same with Indiana, a three-point underdog to Purdue, and await the upsets. Presto! California, here we come. Stranger things have happened. The Big Ten is accustomed to having Michigan and Ohio State settle bowl matters between themselves on the season's final week. But it is not always the case.

No parlay stands out more in determining the Big Ten's Rose Bowl representative than the one in 1950. It was far more incredible than Michigan's 9-3 upset of the Buckeyes in a blinding blizzard at Columbus. On that same afternoon, Illinois, a 19-point favorite believing it was headed to the Rose Bowl, was caught in a monsoon and buried in the mud at Evanston, 111., by Northwestern, sending the Wolverines, a rather ordinary team that year, on to eventual victory in the Rose Bowl. That extraordinary sequence was a freak of weather, the two top teams in the Big Ten being destroyed by clearly inferior opponents. Will Hoosiers wake up? Ignoring weather, the point spreads this time suggest a similar two-upset parlay is quite possible, especially since both underdogs Michigan and Indiana are host teams playing their bitterest rivals.

You recall Indiana. The Hoosiers are the sleeper team of the Big Ten; if they had not slept so long, they might even have become a contender. They are potent, though, and historically they get nasty whenever state rival Purdue shows in Bloomington. Michigan needs it to happen again. I've had doubts about Ohio State's worth from the season's second week, when the Norris still silent on plans to sell past 15 years.

If he could see daylight through the end of the tunnel, maybe he would reconsider," Kromm said, although other team officials say the Wings poor play is not a factor in the sale. Norris' other business interests and the lack of a willing family member to take over the club are said to be the By BILL McGRAW Free Press Sports Writer Red Wings' coach Bobby Kromm reacted with surprise Friday at reports that club owner Bruce A. Norris might sell the team before Jan. 1. And general manager Ted Lindsay, who said, "nothing surprises me," said he and Norris had never discussed a sale.

"All we talk about is scoring goals," Lindsay said. Kromm spoke to Norris on Wednesday in New York City, where the Wings dropped their record to four wins, eight losses and two ties by losing to the Rangers, 3-2. "I am surprised because I was always under the impression that it (the club) was his baby It was so many years in the Norris family," Kromm said from his Maryland hotel room, where he relaxed before the Wings-Washington Capitals game Friday night. "HE'S BEEN a frustrated man that the club has not done better over the reasons Norris is looking for a buyer. Club officials said Thursday that Norris, whose father, James, bought the club and named it the Red Wings in 1933, was studying three serious purchase offers.

Team vice-president and Olympia general manager Lincoln Cavalieri said Friday several groups from Detroit and several outside groups had expressed interest in buying the club. Cavalieri declined to identify the groups, but other sources have named people associated with ON-TV, the pay television company, Mike Hitch, the pizza impressario and owner of the Detroit Caesars pro softball team and Harry Nederlander, member of the theatrical clan, as interested parties. NONE COULD be reached for comment Friday, nor could Norris. Lindsay, who described himself as "very personal friends" with Hitch, said Hitch had not talked about buying See WINGS, Page5C Our All-Catholic The 24th annual Free Press All-Catholic high school football team highlights today's sports section. The all-star team, compiled by Mick McCabe, spotlights the top players from the Detroit Catholic League and appears on Page 4C.

Ted Lindsay: "All we talk Bobby Kromm: "He's been a frustrated man." Buckeyes lucked out in the final minutes to beat Minnesota, 21-17. I wondered about 'em all the more in the fifth week when they slipped past Northwestern, 16-7. This is the same Northwestern team Michigan laced in the opener, 49-7. Strangely, the Buckeyes actually were outgained by Iowa last week even while winning, 34-7. As noted here many times, football teams can change dramatically during a season.

No doubt OSU has improved significantly since September when Purdue to show you was regarded as the confer about is scoring goals." Miniature hockey fans table their motions Bo Schembechler By LEN SINGER Free Press Staff Writer "Now, if you try to block the pass there, my center is going to put it in the short side," Stutz boasted as he slipped the puck into the net. The overmatched rookie received similar treatment from the other players on hand. The Canadiens' defenseman slipped the puck alone the boards to his right winger, creating a two-on-one break. Using his center as a decoy, the red, white and blue clad wingman whipped a shot past the Bruins' defenseman and eoalie into the far corner of the net. ence favorite.

Working under a new coach, the Buckeyes had inherited a defensive toughness and now in the last month wunder-kind Art Schlichter has had their offense humming against collapsed Big Ten rivals. Michigan seemed to have all it needed when the season opened, but soon its kicking faltered. So did its quarter-backing, and a week ago, uncharacteristically, everything fell apart for the Wolverines at Purdue. That's not like the Wolverines, to fade in the heat of competition. It's not like Bo Schembechler, either.

You can, if you like, excuse the loss at Purdue on the premise many That picture goal wasn't scored by Guv Lafleur and the Free Press 'Ask the Owners' action took place far from the Montreal Forum. The man who turned on the red light was actually Sidney Stutz and the feat was accomplished with three-inch plastic players on a table hockey game. Name football machines come unglued on the Boilermaker field. But notice, while you are at it, the fine line between the Address. exalted and the supposedly expired: Michigan lost to Notre Dame without yielding a touchdown and lost to Purdue on a dumb play-call at the goal line.

Otherwise, the Wolverines would be favored here: City. Personally, I would not want to break Buckeye hearts I would like to ask owner(s) William Clay Ford, Lions; and deprive Ohio State of the opportunity of going to the Rose Bowl. Michigan has had its chances and flubbed the last three years. 4 Ml ff IwVvA gS? (-- A bruce Norris, Ked Wings; Bill DavidsonOscar Feld man, Pistons (circle choice) these questions: Besides, Southern Cal figures to kick the devil out of Stutz, 30, is president of the World Table Hockey Association, which is sponsoring its eighth annual Detroit-area tournament this weekend. He and a handful of other WTHA pros gathered at his home in North ville recently to practice for the tourney.

TABLE HOCKEY IS PLAYED on a scaled-down replica of a hockey rink. Miniature plastic players, decked out in NHL garb, are attached to rods that poke out both ends of the game. The person handling those rods makes the players shoot, skate, pass and block shots. Starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, table hockey players from as far away as Miami and Vancouver will face off at the Holiday Inn Southfield, competing for cash prizes and the Maestro Cup, table hockey's answer to Lord Stanley's silver bowl.

Play will continue through Sunday. The WTHA has been around since 1971, when it formed a four-city tour in Detroit, New York, Montreal and Chicago. The organization has survived a number of changes, and even a rival league. "A fellow tried to start a group called the Professional Table Hockey Association," Stutz said, "thinking he could make a financial killing on the sport. He planned on a 10-city tour with $5,000 in prize money at each stop.

His expectations were too high, however, so the PTHA fizzled out." What's left of the two leagues is the WTHA's present three-city circuit of Detroit, New York and Boston. ALTHOUGH AT LEAST ONE manufacturer still puts out a table hockey outfit, the game had its heyday more than a decade ago, when many a Hockey Night in Canada fan found a set under his Christmas tree. According to Stutz, skills were often honed in nightly basement sessions, with one person generally dominating action. "Almost all the players who have entered our tournaments were whizzes in their local circles," said Stutz, "often coming in from their neighborhoods undefeated. "Most got a rude awakening against WTHA competition." Besides participating in practice and tournament games, the best of the table hockey players spend considerable time on their sets sans opposition, practicing rink-wide passes, backhand shots and face-off strategies.

That diligence pays off, particularly against inexperienced competiton. At the recent practice session, five WTHA vets and one rookie put In a couple of hours on the official tournament game. The newcomer was typical of WTHA first-timers, boasting an admirable record among friends, but looking for stif fer competition. Stutz, who has captured the coveted Maestro Cup twice, gave the upstart a rude introduction. "My center is going to whomever the Big Ten sends west, anyway.

Student9 sleit strikes The dynamite kid It is a very good thing Dwight Davison discovered he had a left hand and trained it; otherwise, he overnight would have become a more serious student at Wayne State University. The unbeaten middleweight (22-0) worked terribly hard to get a 10-round decision over Willie (The Worm) Monroe at Cobo Arena the other night. What he discovered was his need for something more than his explosive right hand. Fill out this coupon and mail to; Sports Questions Detroit Free Press 321 W.Lafayette Detroit, Mich. 48231.

"I beat him with my left and it really surprised me," said Davison, who caught a lot of the same from Willie. "All he was worried about was my right, and I never got to hit him much with that, so if I hadn't been training to improve my other hand, I'd have lost." Questions are arriving daily at the Free Press in re For the first time, Davison made plain he is not all that enthralled about a boxing career. He says he will press on sponse to our invitation for area fans to ask the owners" of the Lions, Pistons and Red Wings each of which is occupying last place in its division. If you have questions you'd like asked of the respective owners William Clay Ford, Bill Davidson andor Oscar Feldman, with it for a few years simply to test his worth in the ring, but he is not consumed by the game. I'll go on just so I won't have regrets someday.

I Free Press Photo by WILLIAM ARCHIE wouldn't want to see somebody else become champion, and Bruce Norris fill out the accompanying coupon and mail it to the address indicated. goal into the far corner of the net," Stutz stated. Bam, Two-time Maestro Cp winner Sidney Stutz sharpens hirskills in preparation for this weekend's tournament. even Mickey Gdodwin, and then have to tell myself, 'Hey, that could have been me, if I'd stuck with it." puck In goal, as predicted..