Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 33

DETROIT FREE PRESS i-1 I 7 NBANHL 4 CLASSIFIED ADS 6-9 MOVIE GUIDE 11 1 Call with sports news: 222-6660 Kevin Loughery (left) was fired by the Washington Bullets Sunday, but the team's demise may not be all his fault. Clifton Brown reports, Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard and his son aren't keeping arguments about team stocks in the family. Keith Gave reports. Plus: NBA and NHL stats, and players of the week. Complete report, Page 5D.

Lions aide college bound: Lions defensive line coach Rex Norris has resigned to take a job with the University of Florida. 2D. Sports Phone (scores): 1-976-1313 LJiyjUUlulCyJ 9 6 HP In tie mcnic is over Baly: Charlie Uincent Moeller is sitting pretty after Hall of Fame win TAMPA, Fla. Gary Moeller didn't deny it. He smiled a satisfied smile and said: Well, yeah, winning a bowl game even with another man's team couldn't hurt a guy's reputation.

It was kind of an awkward question to ask, because Bo Schembechler, who has won more games than any other coach in Michigan football history ranking fifth in all-time major-college victories was back home in Ann Arbor, talking about how impatient he is return to work. And nobody least of all Schembechler has said a word about any change at the top of Michigan's football program anytime soon. Despite a heart attack and two bypass operations, Schembechler, three months shy of 59, has never indicated he's ready to slow down. In a halftime interview during Saturday's Hall of Fame Bowl, he said: "This is no way to coach football. I don't ever want to do it like this again." Audition is successful And as soon as the game was over, he began talking about his role in recruiting, which gets under way in earnest this weekend, with two dozen high school prospects on campus.

But the question had to be asked of Moeller: "Hasn't all of this, the weeks leading up to the Hall of Fame Bowl and the game itself, been sort of an audition for you?" The smile twisted around on his face that's the way Moeller smiles. Some people just smile and it instantly covers their entire face. Isiah Thomas is like that. Not Gary Moeller. Gourmet Mike ga wyiOfe Coach Mike Fratello is an Italian after a NlQUE Way teapot 42 inches Jgfflf flkk.

The highest-flying Hawk, 6-8 4zt jj allows him to to By CLIFTON BROWN Free Press Sports Writer The Atlanta Hawks haven't forgotten the last time they saw the Pistons. It was last May, following Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series. The Pistons won that game to clinch an emotional series, four games to one. As the Pistons hugged and celebrated on the Omni floor, the Hawks walked to the locker room with their heads down, their pride hurt and their season abruptly ended. "I'm sure they still remember," said Isiah Thomas.

"You know they want to pay us back." Tonight at the Omni (8 p.m., Channel 50 and TBS cable), the Hawks get their chance. It's the first of back-to-back games between Atlanta and Detroit, with Wednesday's game at the Silverdome. Just the facts are enough to make these two games meaningful. The Hawks lead the Pistons by 1 games in the Central Division, but the teams are tied in the loss column. They have the two best records in the Eastern Conference.

And both teams are playing well Atlanta has won five straight and Detroit has won 11 of its last 13. Subplots? Pistons coach Chuck Daly and Atlanta coach Mike Fratello are friends. Pistons assistant coach Ron Rothstein used to be one of Fratello's assistants in Atlanta. Two of the Hawks' forwards, Antoine Carr and Cliff Lev-ingston, were drafted by the Pistons, and Hawks guard Spud Webb was once cut by the Pistons. THROW ALL that into the mix, add what Detroit did to Atlanta in the playoffs last season, and you have an emotional pot that's ready to boil over.

The Hawks and Pistons have become bitter rivals, realizing they must surpassthe other to reach their ultimate goal the NBA championship. "The Hawks still think they're the better team," said Pistons coach Chuck Daly. "They're still trying to figure out how they got beat. "They've got the emotional edge right now because they have revenge on their side. Make no mistake, they're a great team.

We played defense against them in the playoffs as well as we can play. But that's the kind of effort it takes to beat them, because if you don't play well, they'll bury you." See PISTONS, Page 4D When he smiles, it seems to start slowly and just creep like a sunrise from one side of his face to the other. "Yeah," he admitted. "I guess you could say that it has been like an audition. This kind of ex- mJ penence can i nun a guy.

JV-- I "I'm just happy for CVLl J11V lUf Wti vui lirinn rt tfu if riiHn't fpll 111 V. -I-- 1 Km l7-TV 111 I RLE, wmm jrYJxr www DOC Glenn Rivers showed up at a junior high summer camp with a "Dr T-shirt and has been "Doc" ever since. His passes are as sharp as a scalpel. Mr. Rollins is a 7-1, 245-pound rebound-bearing tree.

Tree is also a great shot blocker, second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the all-time NBA list. Pistons vs. Hawks WHAT: Two-game series, tonight and Wednesday night. WHERE: Tonight The Omni, Atlanta, 8:00. Wednesday Silverdome, 7:30.

TV: Tonight Channel 50 and TBS cable (TBS subject to blackout in Detroit area). Wednesday PASS cable. RADIO: Both nights WWJ 950-AM, WTAC 600-AM, WPZA 1050-AM. TONIGHT'S LINE: Atlanta by 5. AT STAKE: First place in NBA Central Division.

Atlanta (21-7) leads Detroit (18-7) by 1'2 games. mm shootist For the last four years, Randy Wittman has shot over 50 percent from the floor The 6-6 guard had his best free-throw percentage last season Thats Reid delivers knockout when Tar Heels need it Gary Moeller yQU fed really happy about the way things happened. I'm happy for myself, too. And for my family." Moeller has been a head coach once before. He left Michigan, with Schembechler's blessing, and took the job at Illinois in 1977.

Three seasons, 33 games and 24 losses later he was back at Michigan, welcomed with open and friendly arms. "The experience taught me a lot of things," Moeller said. "It taught me that all the ingredients have to be there to win Now I know what to look for in a situation like that." At Michigan, he is Schembechler's right hand. The No. 2 man in the Wolverines' football program.

His title is assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. Some men can be content forever in a role like that. The taste of running his own program, though, seems to have never left Moeller's palate. For the past three weeks he has been Schembechler's surrogate, entrusted with the job his boss would have done, had he been healthy enough. He did it well.

He did it successfully. And he did it with all of the class and the dignity that has been the hallmark of Michigan football through the years. In a lot of ways, he did it as Schembechler would have; in others, he did it his way. Until the boss is healthy enough to resume his duties, Moeller will supervise U-M's recruiting. He will visit the homes of the young men who may become Michigan's athletes of the future because "the head coach or the head coach's representative needs to be in everybody's home, (and) I can relay the message from Bo." Just a suggestion, Bo The University of Michigan's athletic department is preparing for transition, from Don Canham who has been its athletic director for 19 years to whoever is his successor.

Because the school seemed poised to name its new AD early in December, then postponed it when Schembechler underwent surgery, there is speculation he will get the job when he proves he is healthy enough to hold it. Probably he will be athletic director and head coach, although you wonder what he thinks he must prove, what has eluded him, what makes him think his coaching job is incomplete. What if Schembechler, instead, satisfied himself with the AD's job, and Moeller was recommended for the head coaching job? Oh, I can hear Schembechler now, sputtering with rage: "Why, that's the silliest fool thing I ever heard of When decide I'm ready to move on to something else decide, and not some newspaper guy who lftows about as much about bur program as I know about nifclear physics." Well. It's just an idea. I'safC Tommy George Vl basketball LOS ANGELES When he nearly leaped into a barroom fight in Raleigh, N.C., resulting in his season-opener suspension, J.R.

Reid was simply preparing for what he does best delivering a knockout punch in the heart of a ferocious fracas. Last Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, Reid 6-feet-9, 256 pounds was at it again. This time on the court, this time with power moves and spin moves and intimidating defense. No matter where, when Reid hits, it hurts. Ask UCLA.

Just ask anyone who has encountered North Carolina's lumberjack-like center, the guy with the tree-trunk thighs, Rambo arms and peacock hair-See BASKETBALL, Page 3D File Photo man's J.R. Reid plays a mean, game of basketball. the ticket? Wings selling out By DREW SHARP Free Press Sports Writer The Red Wings have sold out all but standing-room tickets for 17 of their remaining 22 home games this season. Regular seating won't be available until March 1, when the Wings play Buffalo at Joe Louis Arena, the Wings' ticket office reported Monday. The four other games for which seats remain on sale Minnesota, March Boston, March Vancouver, March 10; and Hartford, March 24.

Only $8 tickets remain for all those games except Vancouver, for which a few $14 tickets remain. Standing-room ($14) remains for all games. The Wings lead the NHL in attendance, averaging 19,583. They have drawn at least 19,000 for 34 consecutive games at Joe Louis Arena. Their last crowd below that was 17,778 on Feb.

26, 1987, against Vancouver. NCAA sales brisk Tickets for the NCAA Midwest Regional basketball tournament at the Silverdome moved as briskly as the wintry wind Monday on the firsfday of public ses. See TICKETS, Page 3D Poor Wolverines stuck in Florida originating in the Northeast were backed up, and ATA couldn't get a plane to Tampa until early this morning. Michigan's departure was moved back to 1 a.m. The Wolverines were scheduled to arrive at Metro's International Terminal at 3:30 a.m.

The team had remained in Tampa after Saturday 2S-2i victory over Alabama in the Hall of Fame Bowl. Distraught players, who somehow managed to hide their disappointment with smiles, immediately took to the road. Some hit the beaches in Clearwater, others said they were going fishing in St. Petersburg. Underclassmen were trying to bum car rides from anyone in sight to get outside in the warm weather.

Don Lund, U-M associate athletic director, was ne center of attention at Harbour Island Hotel, breaking the news to players, coaches and guests. "I'm going to have a busy day," he said, sighing. By TERRY FOSTER Free Press Sports Writer TAMPA, Fla. How's this for tough luck? Michigan's football team was stuck in 70-degree weather for an extra evening and perhaps longer Monday because its charter plane was delayed by inclement weather up north. Surely, everyone can sympathize with the Wolverines after Monday's wonderful weather in Detroit, where temperatures plunged toward single digits and snow blew hard much of the afternoon.

The poor football players couldn't even go cross-country skiing; some went to the beach instead. This is how our heroes goUnto this lousy predicament: U-M's American Trans Air charter was to leave Tampa International Airport at 7:30 p.m. and arrive at Detroit's Metro Airport at 10 p.m. But a number of charter flights.