Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 13

SECTION Baseball, Page 2 Preps, Page 4 Scoreboard, Page 9 Scores: 1-900-737-8884, Sports: 1-313-222-6660 (Calli to the (core line are 7M per minute) BUSINESS Also inside: Penn State women's player collapses twice during game. Page 7B. Saturday, Feb. 17, 1996 Bcttoit 4ftee $rc Wings black out late to Blues, 4-3 COLLEGE HOCKEY KSIhThe Spartans padded their lead in the win over Lake Superior State. Wolverines jumped into second with a 5-2 win over Notre Dame.

Tonight: MSU andU-Mplayat 7:30 at Joe Louis Arena. See Page 8B. TVeryes will be a tough foe as Isiah jersey is retired BY KEITH GAVE Free Prew Sport Writer ST. LOUIS Blame Grant Fuhr. i There are a dozen good explanations for the Red Wings' 4-3 loss Friday night to the St.

Louis Blues. Among them: the law of averages, lousy luck, worse officiating, fatigue and lackadaisical play with the lead in the closing minutes against a team that doesn't quit But this loss was Fuhr's victory in his 57th start in as many games. And it didn't surprise Wings defenseman Paul Coffey. He and Fuhr were teammates during the championship years with the Edmonton and Coffey had seen this act before. "He's something," Coffey said.

"Luckily for them, Grant always gives them a chance to win. Especially in the first period. We came out guns-a-blazing and he stood on his head." MAGIC NUMBERS 4 Retired jerseys of Detroit sports stars BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN Free Press Sporu Writer TEf SV SAW HUK, RED INQS he question seemed simple enough. "Isiah, are you excited about having your jersey retired?" Thomas fell silent. "Isiah, are you excited?" I CHARtll iGEHRINQER, GREENB 1 Still no answer.

Finally, the strangest three words snuck out of Thomas' lips, three words he rarely, if ever, uttered in 13 years with the Pistons: "I'm very nervous." What? Isiah Thomas, nervous? Cocky little Isiah? The kid who survived Chicago's mean streets? The 6-foot-l guy who scored 18,822 points and managed 9,061 assists while giant mens' elbows whacked him in the forehead? The guy who punched Bill Laimbeer and once walked over to the Washington Bullets bench and slapped Rick Mahorn across the face? The guy who didn't hesitate to play on a And left the Wings scratching theirs. "Grant Fuhr should be MVP of the league, if anything," said Mike Vernon, Detroit's hard-luck goaltender. "It's tough for a goaltender to play every game like that, let alone See RED WINGS, Page 8B John Andretti driven to be 500 contender severely sprained ankle in the 1988 NBA Finals? The guy who wasn't afraid to move to a new country, be the league's only minority owner and make decisions that could make or break a franchise? Nervous? Isiah? Surely, watching your No. 11 jersey rise to the Palace rafters tonight will be easier than those challenges. r- Not so, said Thomas, whose heart is a lot softer than he lets on.

It won't be easy at all. Not when your blood, sweat and tears are dried up on the floor beneath you, your wife who sacrificed so much is beside you, your kids you wish you saw more of are holding your hands, and your adoring mother is in from Chicago, beaming with pride. Not when your former coaches and teammates, men you loved and men you drove crazy Gene Pingatore, Bobby Knight, Chuck Daly, Laimbeer, Joe Vinnie Johnson, Kelly Tripucka are honoring you, forgiving you for the timesyou shouted at them. Not when 21,454 fans fans who wish you were still here, fans who voted you to 12 All-Star Games are shrieking your name. And especially not when you had to haul your heart away to Toronto from the organization you loved, drag your banged-up body from this buflding that was your home, and hide yourliurt feelings behind a deceptive Truth is, tonight will be one of the more difficuTt'nights of Thomas' career, "It's going to be very hard for me to contain my emotions when I walk into that building," said Thomas, a part-owner and executive vice president with the expansion sLARRt s.AURtE.

REOWIKS I OH. DAYTONA KARIN ANDERSONDetrott Free Press "It's going to be very hard for me to contain my emotions," Isiah Thomas told reporters Friday, 1 left my heart and soul on that floor." Snecial nim IiHii DlrfOH CU AK, LINT JAY, St REP tflNGS kJ sV i 1 a. should only See ISIAH THOMAS, Page 6B 1 be about the good times it REDWINGS 've often thought about what would have happened to the Pistons had Isiah Thomas gone to Dallas in the spring of 1981 and been nice to DELVECSHIO. i BY STEVE CROWE Free Press Sporti Writer DAYTONA BEACH, FU. Before climbing into his Little Caesars-sponsored Ford Thunder-bird for Sunday's Daytona 500, John Andretti plans to eat a light ireakfast.

"Aw, I'm just going to go with something plain, Andretti said after practice Friday at Daytona International Speedway. "Like just cheese maybe with the cheese crust." A few hours later, Andretti hopes to be washing it down with some bubbly. After a stirring third-place finish in one of Thursday's Twin 125-mile qualifying races which set positions 3-30 for Sunday Andretti seems a real possibility to take NAS-CAR's most prestigious topping. Andretti's Ford co-owned by former Ford racing boss Michael Kranefuss and IndyCar kingpin Carl Haas will start on the outside of Row 3, next to the Kellogg's-backed Chevrolet of Terry Labonte. The front row, cemented in pole qualifying last Saturday, goes to Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, winners of Thursday's Twins.

Row 2 belongs to Sterling Marlin seeking a record third straight Daytona 500 victory and Ken Schrader. Andretti, 32, also sponsored by Troy-based Kmart, finished 18th in Winston Cup points last year, his second full NASCAR season and first with fledgling Kranefuss-Haas Racing. His best of five top-10 finishes was fourth at Michigan in June. Last February, in his first See DAYTONA, Page 5B Mavericks owner Donald Carter. i felAH HOMASi JWSTONSI Corky meiwecke NBA Those were 1 John Andretti WHAT: Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.

WHEN: Noon Sunday. TV: CBS (Channel 62 in Detroit). TODAY: Goody's 300. Crowe Picks: 1. Sterling Marlin, his Daytona dynasty grows.

2. John Andretti, nice guy almost finishes first. 3. Dale Earnhardt, not this time, if any time. the days: Isiah Thomas and John Salley celebrate the Pistons' first world championship.

oils Thomas began his pre-draft visit by ripping off the cowboy hat that he had been given, saying '1 ain't no cowboy." He might as well have said, "I ain't no Maverick." Abel I j-'Tj 'HiOHMSON, i JpiSTONS ij Mil 'V i i i i1 flAWUt, i FptsTOHS I OH, SPARKY yCAVE BINQ.f PISTONM 4 ifc OH, ISIAH If you're going WHAT: Isiah Thomas' jersey-retirement ceremony. WHEN: 7:30 tonight. WHERE: Palace. SPEAKERS: Dave Bing, Bob Lanier, Bill Laimbeer and Vinnie Johnson all of whom have had their jerseys retired by the Pistons plus former coach Chuck Daly, Detroit mayor Dennis Archer, NBA commissioner David Stern, Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight and others. TlP-OFF: Pistons-Raptors game slated for 8:15.

TICKETS: Sold out. If you're not Channel 50 will carry the festivities, beginning with a half-hour Isiah special at 7. Just asking We love Isiah but can't help wondering whether tonight he'll: Choke the emcee? Punch Laimbeer? Walk off and refuse to shake anyone's hand? Nah, none of that, but for more on Zeke's career, see Page 6B. A few days later, Dallas drafted DePaul forward Mark Aguirre, leaving Thomas to the Pistons and making a genius of general manager Jack McCloskey. Had the Mavericks ignored Thomas' attitude and drafted him anyway, of this much I'm sure: The Pistons wouldn't have two championships, let alone one.

The Palace wouldn't have been built. Former coach Chuck Daly might still bC waiting to get into the Basketball Hall of Fame. McCloskey might still be saying, "If only the Mavs had passed on Thomas." Carter would have kept Roundball One the private jetliner he sold to the Pistons before the 1987-88 season and given it to Thomas. And tonight's jersey-retirement ceremony for Thomas would be at, say, Carter Place, the Mavs' new arena featuring 200 suites and two championship banners. And in i Detroit, the Pistons would be a distant fourth behind the Lions, Red Wings and Tigers.

Best little man to play the game. Ever. And we had him for 13 seasons. We bumped into each other last weekend in San Antonio, moments after Thomas' first draft pick for the expansion Toronto Raptors See CORKY MEINECKE, Page 6B WALKER, Sparky Anderson is coming back to help his old team celebrate Opening Day, and lend support to the rookie manager. No hard feelings, eh? Actually, it's his really old team, the Cincinnati Reds, and the rookie manager is Ray Knight.

Anderson, right, reluctantly agreed at the urging of Reds owner Marge Schott to serve as grand marshal for the 76th Findlay Market Parade on April 1. Parade spokesman Jeff Gibbs said Anderson was concerned he'd be a distraction. "He said he wanted to stay away from ballparks this year because everywhere he goes, they'll say they're "rotyi in hiring him tR.i a ilif as a coach," Gibbs said. "He said, 'This is Ray's first game. I show up in Cincinnati, every reporter will talk tome, not Ray.

I don't want to take that away from No word on exactly what Sparky's parade duties entail, but we recommend he not walk behind Schottzie. 14 'f' HUGHES, i.