Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 50

rt -r v-r I WGknd 60 DETROIT FREE PRESSFRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 12. 1986 in i n1 hi La Wa 'full i w. The big game often hangs on little things big men do -JA ill i 1 2S Free Press Photo bv MARY SCHROEDER Detroit "subway alumni" gathered recently to cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame. Notre Dame is something special By TOMMY GEORGE fret Prtix Sports Writer SOUTH BEND, Ind.

What a gloomy birthday present Notre Dame's Alonzo Jefferson received last season. What a contrast the day was for Michigan's Dieter Heren. In U-M's 20-12 victory over Notre Dame last Sept. 14 which happened to be Jefferson's birthday Jefferson dropped the second-half kickoff and ripped his left knee in a wild scramble and collision with Heren for the ball at the Irish 14. Notre Dame led at half-lime, 9-3, but Heren's recovery led to a 0-9 Michigan lead and to victory.

The play ended Jefferson's season, for Heren who went on to block a Michigan State punt that led to victory and tip Illinois' Chris White's potential game-winning, game-ending unsuccessful field goal attempt it was a hint of his heroics to come in special team's play. So often in a clash such as Michi-gan-Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (ABC, Channel 7 in Detroit) it is the little things that big men do that make all the difference. Jefferson and Heren know as well as any player involved Saturday that a bobble here or a tip there could decide the game and their Seasons. "It wasn't the only play that decided the game, but it was a play that did have a lot of momentum attached to it," Jefferson says.

"To this day, I've never seen it on film. The closest thing I've seen of it was when I was in the barber shop the other day. I picked up a magazine and there was a picture of me getting ready to field the kick. Under it it said: 'Jefferson's misplay cost the JEFFERSON HAS never viewed the play, he says, because it has taken him a year of rehabilitation from complicated reconstructive knee surgery for him to take a hit again, to not fear getting hurt again. The scars are there, two Like in the Notre Dame game last season.

Maybe like in Saturday's battle. JEFFERSON AND Heren are on the same page when recounting last season's crucial kickoff: Jefferson: "I usually take a step back when fielding a kickoff to gain momentum. But on this kick, the ball seemed to die in midair just before I reached to catch it. It hit me right in the chest and then bounced off my knee and onto the ground." Heren: "I was flying downfield. The sideline was to my left, he was getting ready to reach that way for the ball.

I told myself the main thing to do was go for the ball and keep it in bounds. The next thing I knew, my shoulder pad was into his knee." Jefferson: "Usually I just fall on the ball when something like that happens. But this time I was reaching for it instead. I think from the beginning I was just too anxious. We had a 9-3 lead, but I knew playing Michigan at Michigan that it wasn't going to be enough to win.

Anxiety ruled out for me instead of reaction." Heren: "I grabbed the ball and we slid tangled together a yard or two. I don't know if it won the game but it sure helped out." Both players say this game, the season-opener for each team, will set the tone for their seasons. Heren says he felt for Jefferson, but he won't on Saturday. "This is the kind of game, the kind of season I have always looked forward to," Heren says. "We know they have good special teams and we've been working hard on ours, especially since kickoffs will be from the 35 this year.

Maybe things will work out the same way on a kickoff this time, huh?" Not quite. At least Jefferson can take solace in this fact, regardless of whatever happens: this time his birthday falls on Sunday. Dieter Heren Alonzo Jefferson large ones that run about five inches long on each side of his knee. But he might play tailback against U-M if doctors give him the OK today. "Maybe I'll even return a kick, because I've been looking forward to this Michigan game," says Jefferson, a 5-foot-9, 179-pound senior from West Palm Beach, who has a fifth-year of eligibility in 1987.

"The fact I was injured against Michigan makes it the perfect team to get rid of this bad feeling. "I've never lost my desire. If anything I've learned a valuable lesson in patience and discipline in just getting back to where I can play." Heren will be in the Michigan lineup, at outside linebacker and on the punting team. And, of course, on the kickoff team. He is a 6-foot-3, 220-pound fifth-year senior from Ft.

Wayne, whose personality fits the reckless abandon special team play requires. "Yeah, I've always liked playing on special teams since I was a little kid," Heren says. "It's something where you can just fly around and not too many things can screw you up. You're just going wild going after the ball. "I kind of go after things off the field the same way.

I think I got it from my grandfather (Ed Lamb), who is a really off-the-cuff guy. On the special teams you really can't anticipate anything but just be ready for something to happen, and in the process make it happen." Notre Dame fan. My dad's dad came from Ireland. County Meath. My dad was there when they dedicated the stadium (in 1930).

He had scrapbooks from the early years of Rockne. And he'll be taking the train there this weekend to see them play Michigan. And I'll be with him at the game." ANOTHER SUB alum, Bob Clark, said, "I didn't know anything about Notre Dame" until his sons expressed desire to go there about 15 years ago. Since then, Clark, a foreman in a die shop, has joined the Notre Dame club and attends the games because "just walking around the grounds thrills you." He takes some static from people at work. "They find out you're for Notre Dame and they want to bet against you and give you the gears when they lose," Clark said.

"The last five years, it's been harder, but we've won more than we've lost." The last five years, when Faust was struggling, were hard times for some Notre Dame fans and a delight for those who would jeer, jeer for old Notre Dame. Lennon, the head of the official alumni association, says he understands why the widespread support for the Fight-ing Irish produces an opposite reaction in some people. "We may not be the best," Lennon said, "but we sure think we are." NOTRE DAME, from Page 1D "Until 1913 (the year quarterback Gus Dorais and end Knute Rockne helped make Notre Dame famous by upsetting Army, 35-13, with the forward pass), Notre Dame was a small school seen as an underdog," Lennon said. "The Fighting Irish weren't that well known. And it was part of the early American tradition to pull for the underdog." IN THE 73 years since, Notre Dame has been the underdog on the football field a minority of the time, although Michigan is a six-point favorite to defeat the Irish.

Throughout those years, the subway alumni have grown to millions of fans. Although they were first identified as the hordes who went to see Notre Dame play Army every year at Yankee Stadium, many of the sub alums now live in areas where no subways exist. "A subway alum," said sub alum Terry Brady, "is someone who has a love affair with the university. In our family, it started with my father. He first took me to Notre Dame games when I was in the sixth grade, maybe the fifth grade, at Precious Blood School.

"My dad didn't go to college. He was a saloon keeper who grew up in Depression times. But he always was a great vesltend listian Shouldn't NFL lighten up television blackout policy? I I Many fans would like to see the Lions' home opener with the Dallas Cowboys on television Sunday. Detroit's Channel 2 would like to show it, too, and CBS and its advertisers would like it to be on in the Detroit area. stadium status report How tough It It to sell out a stadium? Here's how the 10 NFL teams with the largest stadiums did last year: Most of the Silverdome seats are sold.

In fact, the number 1 of tickets sold by Thursday's blackout deadline would have guaranteed a sellout (and a telecast) in 19 of the NFL's 28 stadiums. Chances are fair the game will be sold out by kickoff. Nevertheless, because the Lions sold only 73,138 of their 80,638 Silverdome seats by 1 p.m. Thursday, their home opener will be blacked out in the Detroit area. The closest station to carry the CBS 1 Stadium Avg.

1985 Metro Pop: Team capacity '85 att. sellouts area ratio NY Jets 76,891 67,729 8 9,120,346 118.6 NY Giants 76,891 72,557 8 9,120,346 118.6 LA Raiders 92,516 63,724 1 7,477,503 80.8 Detroit 80,638 63,076 2 4,353,413 54.0 Cleveland 80,098 66,969 0 1,898,825 23.7 Denver 75,100 73,687 8 1,620,902 2l6 Miaml 75,206 67,812 4 1,625,781 21.6 Tampa Bay 74,315 38,753 0 1,569,134 21.1 Kansas City 78,067 45,019 0 1,327,106 17.0 Buffalo 80,290 38,036 0 1,242,826 15.5 J08 Lapoint8 telecast wil1 De Channel 3 in Kalamazoo. I CnrrtA favor no tinth cotallitA AifUnt tjuiiiv luwiiu nun aaicniLC uiauca May risk the wrath of the NFL and pirate the Saturday 11:00 a.m. CB Trackside at Ladbroke DRC. 12:30 p.m.

SD College football: Iowa State at Iowa. 12:30 p.m. fwTSa College football: Mississippi State at Tennessee. 12:30 p.m. (TM) Tennis: World Couples Championship, semifinals, Hilton Head, S.C.

12:30 p.m. CPM) Harness racing from Hazel Park. 1:00 p.m. CEBS Tigers: Baltimore at Detroit. 1:00 p.m.

Q) Track and Field: Highlights of the IAAF Grand Prix Final, Rome (taped) 1:30 p.m. This is the NFL. 2:00 p.m. Running: The Mercedes Mile, New York, N.Y. 2:00 p.m.

35 College football: Syracuse at Army. 2:30 p.m. (Q College football: Ohio State at Washington. 3:00 p.m. 52) Baseball pre-game.

3:00 p.m. 55 College football: Michigan at Notre Dame. 3:00 p.m. Sportsweekend: Bowling, Canadian 10-pin world qualifying; Horse racing, St. Leger Stakes; Doncaster, England; Alberta Derby, Calgary.

3:15 p.m. UJ Baseball: Boston at New York Yankees. 4:00 p.m. dig) Baseball: Atlanta at San Francisco. 5:00 p.m.

flSpjT) Horse racing: Marlboro Cup, Belmont Park, Elmont, N.Y. 7:00 p.m. SfJE UJ College football: Illinois at Southern California. 7:00 p.m. (M3 Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh.

7:00 p.m. CBS) College Football scoreboard. 7:30 p.m. CHS College football: Texas at Louisiana State. 8:00 p.m.

Baseball: Montreal at St. Louis. 10:00 p.m. (MB) SJ College football: Michigan State at Arizona State. 11:00 p.m.

CSS) College Football Report. Sunday 11:00 a.m. msD Tennis: DuPont Ail-American Championships, men's and women's finals, Amelia Isle, Fla. 11:30 a.m. CBS) Sports Center Sunday.

12:30 p.m. (D) NFL Today. 12:30 p.m. (Q) NFL '86. 1:00 p.m.

(ED NFL: Philadelphia at Chicago. 1:00 p.m. (TJ NFL: Cleveland at Houston. 1:00 p.m. (BaD Tennis: World Couples Championship, finals, Hilton Head.

S.C. 1:00 p.m. CHID Harness Racing from Hazel Park. 1:30 p.m. CZBD Tigers: Baltimore at Detroit.

1:30 p.m. Canadian football: British Columbia at Toronto. 1:30 p.m. fwom Baseball: New York Mets at Philadelphia. 1:30 p.m.

CM Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh. 3:00 p.m. CBS) Horse Jumping: World Vaulting Championship. Bulle, Switzerland (taped), 3:30 p.m. NFL '86.

3:30 p.m. Canadian football: Hamilton at Saskatchewan. 4:00 p.m. NFL: Indianapolis at Miami. 4:00 p.m.

NFL: San Francisco at Los Angeles Rams. 4:00 p.m. (MS) Baseball: Atlanta at San Francisco. 9:00 p.m. CBS) Boxing: Mark Breland vs.

Reggie Miller, welterweights, and Tyrell Biggs vs. Pureed Davis, heavyweights, 10 rounds each, Atlantic City. 11:30 p.m. Sports Final Edition. 11:30 p.m.

Sunday Update. The population ratio reflects the number of potential customers In a metropolitan area for each seat In the stadium. Population figures are for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, U.S. Bureau of the Census, circa 1 980. The chart does not take Into account such factors as team record, ticket prices, quality of stadium, access to stadium and whether a team shares the market.

game. Shame on them. For the game to be televised locally, all seats had to be sold by the deadline, 72 hours before kickoff. Football is the only major pro sport with such strict restrictions. i At least one interested party thinks televising Sunday's game would be to the Lions' advantage.

"If they win, and it's on TV, wouldn't that sell tickets throughout the rest of the season for the Lions?" asks Maria Drutz, Channel 2 marketing director. "I understand the NFL rule. But it sure would be nice to give the people of Detroit an appetite for football." Drutz added that her station's point of view includes some self-interest. If the Lions are shown locally (instead of the Philadelphia-Chicago game, which is scheduled instead), Channel 2 draws a higher rating and can sell its local commercial spots easier and for a higher fee. AP Photo Buddy Ryan makes his first visit to Soldier Field Sunday as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

best bets you're trying to sell." Pinchbeck says the league doesn't want to make NFL football "a studio sport." Pinchbeck said the Lions can't make a "unilateral decision" to lift the blackout even if they wanted to because the blackout is league policy. (The blackout could be lifted by agreement of both teams and the NFL.) Since the Lions began playing at the Silverdome in 1975, only 23 of 85 regular-season home games have been televised locally, according to George Heddleston, Lions public relations director. It happened twice last season, not at all in 1984 and three times in 1983. The high mark was seven in 1980, the rookie season of Billy Sims. Some teams televise all home games.

Consider the Washington Redskins. They play in one of the smallest stadiums (55,750) in one of the league's largest markets They have sold out on a season-ticket basis every game since 1966. In 1973, legislation from football-happy congressmen forced the NFL to lift home blackouts when games were sold out 72 hours in advance. Pinchbeck says that when the law expired in 1975, some lawmakers wanted to loosen the blackout restrictions further, perhaps by shortening the deadline to 48 hours or by making the cutoff point 90 percent of capacity instead of a full sellout. Such rules would have allowed the telecast to be seen in Detroit this week.

The league headed off that effort, Pinchbeck says, by sending a letter to Congress promising to abide by the terms of the old law. Baseball: Red Sox-Yankees WHAT: Boston at New York, 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Yankee Stadium. COVERAGE: NBC (Channel 4 in Detroit). ANNOUNCERS: Vln Scully and Joe Garaglola.

OVERVIEW: The Red Sox have a healthy lead in the American League East, so NBC also is dispatching a crew to Philadelphia, where the New York Mets could clinch the National League East as early as tonight. If they do, the network will file a special report The pre-game show, hosted by Marv Albert at 3 p.m., will feature interviews with Red Sox pitcher Tom Seaver and Yankees first baseman Don Mattlngly. College football: Wolverines-Irish WHAT: Michigan at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Ind. COVERAGE: ABC (Channel 7 in Detroit).

ANNOUNCERS: Keith Jackson, Tim Brant and Al Trautwlg. NFL: Eagles-Bears WHAT: Philadelphia at Chicago, 1 p.m. Sunday, Soldier Field. COVERAGE: CBS (Channel 2 in Detroit). ANNOUNCERS: Dick Stockton and Dan Olerdorf.

OVERVIEW: Remember how Mike Dltka and Buddy Ryan got along when they were on the same team? This will be their first meeting on opposite sides of the field and "The NFL Today pre-game show (12:30 p.m. is marking the occasion with a feature called "Welcome Back, Buddy Ryan." At halffime, CBS will pay tribute to announcer Pat Summerall, who's celebrating his 25th year with the th.3 retires DOUG RICHARDSON, spokesman for CBS Sports, says, "Of course it would be better for our viewers if the blackout rule was not In effect. But we understand the NFL's reasoning." Lions general manager Russ Thomas said Thursday that lifting the blackout without a sellout 72 hours before the kickoff would be unfair to the Pontiac taxpayers and the bond-holders who helped finance the stadium. "We have an obligation to fulfill terms under which those bonds are sold," Thomas said. "Would it (lifting the blackout) be fair to the people who bought those last tickets?" Thomas said the Lions need revenue from ticket sales to help pay salaries.

He said that changing the blackout policy would cause "erosion of our rights to sell our product." But wouldn't lifting the blackout aid the NFL in the Big Picture? This is the last year of a five-year, $2.1 billion contract with the three major networks. An estimated 60 percent of NFL revenue comes from TV, a league spokesman said. NFL ratings haven't been as high as expected in recent seasons, rising slightly in 1985 after reaching a modern-day low in 1984. If the NFL wants to charge the networks a higher price for its games in the next contract, wouldn't it help the league to lift the blackout in cases such as this, raise the ratings and make the product more appealing to the networks? IT'S NOfr THAT simplesays Val Pinchbeck, the NFL's director of broadcasting. "Part of the appeal (of football as a TV show) is the excitement factor that emanates from the full house," Pinchbeck said.

"It doesn't seem right to give away what The most-watched sports shows on television for the period ending Sept. 8, according to Nielsen ratings: Event Rating Share 1. Giants-Cowboys, ABC (Monday) 21.2 38 2. Raiders-Broncos, NBC (Sunday) 16.6 36 3. Browns-Bears, NBC (Saturday) 10.4 27 4.

Eagles-Redskins, CBS (Sunday) 9.6 25 5. Florida State-Nebraska, ABC (Saturday) 8.3 16 6. UCLA-Oklahoma, ABC (Saturday) 7A iT 7. The NFL Today, CBS (Sunday) 6.0 20 8. College football post-game, ABC (Sat.) 5.8 15 9.

Cards-Astros, Padres-Mets, NBC (Sat.) 5.5 16 10. U.S. Open men's final, CBS (Sunday) 5.4 12 Notebook: Dick Vltale, former University of Detroit and Pistons basketball coach who currently announces college games for ESPN, is negotiating with ABC Sports to be a color analyst this winter when ABC shows limited schedule of games, says Irv Brodsky, spokesman for ABC Sports. "I have not signed a darn thing," Vitale said Thursday. "I hope it's a reality." The deal would be for eight Sunday games after Jan.

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