Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 37

ye 'w i Doomcday arrives Sunday: When San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana (left) looks across the line of scrimmage Sunday, he'll see the Dallas Doomsday Defense pass rush. Page 2D. Friday, lan. 0, 1002 tho scciebosid The complete sports rundown. Page 4D.

BIG TEN CAGE TELEVISION COMICS i6o I Call with sports nawi: 222-6660 KEVIN SMITH HITS 19 FREE THROWS rfiyl Boivnay Spartans stun Boosters, 65-58 Everyone gets a Bowlful when Super turns to Hyper The 1991 Michigan Host Committee met to discuss Super Bowl XXV. Once again, the game had been was expected of them. Smith poured on 29 points, including those 19 free throws, while Vincent added 16 points and executed the second-half steal and stuff that turned the tide in the Spartans' favor. "I said before the game our guards would have to play spectacular, not just good, in order for us to have a chance to win," said Heathcote. "And they did that.

"This win was a big lift for our kids. A tremendous lift. But we played our best game of the year and we still were lucky to win." BOBBY KNIGHT, Indiana's fire-breathing coach, was in Michigan State prevailed in spite of Its nagging inability to put the ball through the net from the field (MSU shot a chilly 39 percent), thanks to 24 Indiana turnovers and the clutch free throw shooting of guard Kevin Smith, who sank 19 of 19 free throws, smashing the Big Ten record. THE VICTORY left Michigan State at 6-5 for the year, while Indiana dropped to 6-4, having lost three games in a row for the first time since the 1978-79 season. MSU's game plan was simple: Keep the ball in the hands of Smith and freshman guard Sam Vincent all night.

The fact that Indiana habitually plays man-to-man defense made that task much easier. And Smith and Vincent did everything that By JIM HAWKINS Fre Presi Sporti Writer EAST LANSING When Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote first thought about opening the Big Ten basketball season against defending national champion Indiana, he jokingly said he considered forfeiting. Then the perennially powerful Hoosiers lost two in a row over the holidays, and Heathcote began to seriously believe his Spartans stood half ft Thursday evening, MSU's Spartans made their coach glad he decided to show up. They upset Indiana, 65-58, to the delight of a capacity crowd of 10,004 at ancient Jenison Field House. awarded to Detroit.

Or, rather, to Pontiac, home of the historic Super Bowl XVI game between San Francisco and San Diego (the Battle of San-San, as it came to be called). Anxious to determine whether preparations could be made any better than they were back in 1982, the committee took a top-floor room at the new Beverly Draper Hotel in downtown Detroit for the meeting Present were those to whom Super Bowl XXV's planning had been entrusted: Oldman Young, great WfttfYO Red grandfather of the city's first six-term mayor; Rick! Montalban, owner of Montalban-Iacocca Motors in Royal Oak; Hash Browns McWhirter, the Detroit rare form, ranting and raving at the officials from the first jump ball, often glaring or shaking his finger. Midway through the second half, he grabbed center John Flowers by the back of his shirt as the Hoosiers walked off the court for a timeout, set the player down hard on the bench, and screamed in his face for 20 seconds. When play resumed, Flowers, a 6-foot-9 freshman, was still sitting on the bench. See MSU, Page 60 Pistons rookie; Funny Eliot, a local TV weatherman; Lou Dan Sleezy, proprietor of an adult-movie house in bend, but Keego Harbor, and Alvin P.

Rozelle, former commis sloner of the National Football League, now owner of Pete Pigskin Pizzeria in Pontiac. "Gentlemen," Young said, "and lady, we're here to see if we can avoid making some of the mistakes made at our last Super Bowl, which, as you know, ended in they don't fold, 5-4 tragic circumstances. I want to hear from all of you, and If you will indulge a 95-year-old man one old-fashioned courtesy, I'd like to go ladies first." "Well, since I am the only lady in the room," Rickl Reserves fail Pistons in loss to Suns Montalban said, "I THINK! Ha, ha. I suppose you mean me. And I will be happy to tell you my Super Bowl fan- By BILL McGRAW Free Pres Sporti Writer The topic of debate Thursday night at Joe ta-sies, as my father would say.

But first, come outside and see my new car. It is beautiful and elegant with rich Corinthian leather. Lee Iacocca's dream has come Louis Arena after two periods of play was the Red Wings' apparent death wish. vrt I i true." Would they, some of the 10,498 fans "Later, Ricki, later." were asking, blow a one-goal lead going into One medium pigskin pizza the final 20 minutes and lose again, this time to the Pittsburgh Penguins? The odds on losing were good. Going into the game, the Wings had won just twice in 1 1 tries.

In their "All right. I would suggest, then, that we begin with the Super Bowl merchandising. How are things going with the Super statues we ordered?" two most recent defeats, they had wasted leads, too. But Thursday, the Wings won, 5-4. This time, the difference was consistent "No problem," said Hash Browns McWhirter.

"They're just outside the south gate at the Silverdome. By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Prtti Sporti Writer For seven minutes Thursday night the Detroit Pistons looked like a team bound for glory, but the first time Scotty Robertson gave his starters a breather they were derailed. The Phoenix Suns, making their lone appearance of the season in the Pontiac Silverdome, dominated the remaining 41 minutes and blew the Pistons away, 1 10-94. No one disagreed that the first mass substitution was the turning point. "We went from the penthouse to the outhouse very quickly," Robertson said.

"We started out well, but it looked like we got tired. We went to the bench, and when we put the starters back in we couldn't get it together again. "The No. 1 job, when you come off the bench, Is to play defense and protect what hustle, moxie and muscle over 60 full min Marble statues of four great Super Bowl figures: Vince Lombard! of the old Green Bay Packers, Mean Joe utes. "I can't imagine why they're so low in Greene of the four-time champion Pittsburgh Steelers, Kellen Winslow of the 1982 champion San Diego the standings when they play with intensity like that," said Pittsburgh coach Eddie John ston.

Free Preu Photo by ALAN KAMUDA Chargers and Stan White of the Lions, who this year became the only person ever to play football years without ever being in a Super Bowl." "It was crucial," said John Ogrodnick, Red Wing Mike Blaisdell flicked off his shot Thursday night, but Penguins goalie Michel Dion blocked the puck with a stick save. "Fine, fine. Now then," Oldman Young said, "how the Detroit forward who was one of the most active Wings. "You just can't go on losing. The guys were talking, there was no way we were going to blow this one.

They about the official Super Bowl Drink?" "Drink?" asked Funny Eliot. "That reminds me of a you've got, but we just didn't do it." that vanished over a 2:56 stretch of the second period when the Penguins scored were fired up. They were ready. "We have to have that intensity every three goals on three consecutive shots. They DETROIT GOT just 19 points, 10 re story.

Oneway a guy was tending bar when in walked a customer and a dog named Mickey. 'I'll have a the guy said. 'And what'll you have, And Mickey said game. had only seven shots in the entire period bounds and one assist from its bench. See RED WINGS, Page 30 Gardner connected, the score would have been 4-4.

At 1 3:37, the Wings went up by two goals when Willie Huber scored the eventual winner on a power play. A minute and a half later, Pittsburgh came back on another power-play. Mike Bullard scored from short range to cut the Detroit lead to one and make it scary once again. Earlier, the Wings led by three goals. But "We had our rhythm going for the first THE WINGS also got a couple breaks and "Forget it, Funny, we've all heard the joke about seven minutes," said Isiah Thomas, who co-incldently exited about that time.

"Then, all Mickey the dog." good goaltending at the right time by Bob Sauve, who stopped a shot by Paul Gardner early in the third period with a leg save of a sudden, it stopped and we couldn't get Dale McCourt rode the bench after he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, but it didn't get him down. Page 3D. "Oh. Well, as most of you remember, we had a back into it. That's when we really lost during a Pittsburgh power play.

Had contest in January 1982 at the Westin Hotel where we picked three Official Super Bowl Drinks and let the control of the game." John Long, who appeared to have a small disagreement with Robertson in the third quarter, agreed. public decide which one they liked best. The three finalists were 'Sour 'Golden Dream' and 'Referee's I don't remember which one won, but I do remember that one of those drinks was marketed McGrory may get shot at Sugar Ray See PISTONS, Page 60 Piston guard John Long says an offi By GEORGE PUSCAS Free Prest Sporti Writer and made a million dollars. Another was marketed and lost a million dollars. The third turned out to grow hair on women's chests, and the bartender did five-to-10 at the Jackson pen." i cial missed a foul on him, admitted it and made it up on another play.

Page 6D.i Milton McCrory's fortune, if not his uture, jumped right out at him Thursday in "We can't have that happen." "Exactly. That's why I suggest we let this year's a surprise announcement that a fight with Sugar Ray Leonard for the world welterweight boxing championship could be his. Official Super Bowl Drink be beer." Wisconsin tips U-M, 65-63, with It all depends on whether Mccrory ae- "But what kind of gimmick is that?" asked Lou Dan Kf- eats No. 4-ranked Randy Shields in their Sleezy in a whiny voice. 'This is the Super Bowl.

Everything should be Super during Super Bowl Week. 0-round fight at Cobo Arena on Super Bowl last-second shot I've got a new line of Super products that I'll be selling in the lobby of my theater, if you get my drift." Eve, Jan. 23. If he wins, McCrory, who is only 19 years old, will have a title fight with Leonard at the Pontiac Silverdome in April. "I bought some Official Super Bowl belt buckles and By MICK McCABE Free Pret Sporlt Writer He would get the jump on stablemate homas Hearns, who lost to Leonard on a neckties at Hudson's," said Oldman Young.

ANN ARBOR Eric Turner and Dan "I bought some Official Super Bowl socks and jocks 4th-round TKO in their $40 million show Pelekoudas did not want to leave the court at mart," said Hash Browns McWhirter. down In Las Vegas last September. Hearns is gradually 'being primed for a rematch. hursday night at Crisler Arena. Eventually they walked slowly toward "I bought an Official Super Bowl Buick LeSabre with rich, Corinthian Super Bowl leather," said Ricki.

"I got a call from Janks Morton (Leon the Michigan locker room. But they did not want to go inside. They wanted five more ard's manager-trainer) last night," said Emanuel Steward, who handles McCrory, the rising young star of the Kronk boxing They fell for the old Super Sell minutes of basketball and one more chance at Wisconsin. "Excuse me," interrupted Rozelle. "I've been quiet But there was no overtime period for the team.

"Janks said that Leonard would take on the winner of the McCrory-Shields fight. Wolverines; Scott Roth's 20-footer with one because I wanted to see if any of you remember what happened back in '82 at the Battle of San-San. You second left gave Wisconsin a 65-63 victory he Silverdome is all right with him; he gures Leonard has a strong following in don't, do you? Let me refresh your memories. over U-M in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Detroit, even though this is Tommy Hearns' "The Michigan Host Committee met for more than a town." What made this loss, the eighth in nine Steward's announcement came at an in games for U-M, tough to accept was that it troductory luncheon of McCrory and Shields year to make plans for the game.

Carol Gies, who ran the committee then, called it a bigger production than the 1980 Republican Convention. Jim Steeg from the NFL called it bigger than World War II, the Olympic Games and the breakup between Burt Reynolds and at the Pontchartrain Hotel. It caught both Free Prest Photo by JOHN COLLIER could easily have been a win. Wisconsin is another team that will finish well down in the Big Ten standings come March, and the ghters by surprise, but McCrory, a recent graduate of Pershing High, was not especial- Wolverines needed the victory badly. Sally Field.

We're talking big here. Milton McCrory (right) will mix it up with Randy Shields (left) at Cobo Arena on Jan. 23, but he already is thinking about the Pontiac Silverdome and Sugar Ray Leonard "I know I can beat him." awed. See U-M, Page 6D "But they oversold it. They sold Super this and See MILTON McCRORY, Page 60 Super that until we all fell into sort of a Super stupor.

They sold Official Super Bowl lip gloss and Official Super Bowl laxatives. They had a Super Ball for, dancing and a Super Crawl for drinking, remember? Everybody on the Super Crawl went from pub to pub until they got snockered. Well, by the time the game came, everybody was so hung over, they stayed home. I As 1 sports on tno ait Attendance was less than 11,000. And I got fired.

"So take it easy this year, will ya? I'm only asking contract," according to Robert Hurlbert, the attorney representing ON-TV. "We, think it is an attempt to force us to' renegotiate the contract to make it more lucrative for them." Currently, ON rents air time from; WXON for $800 an hour. The fee adjusts upward or downward according to the cost-of-living index. David Nelson, attor-! ney for Channel 20, called Humbert's comments "totally improper," although he refused to discuss the case. "It belongs in-court," he said.

The case will come to trial Feb. 16 in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The dispute already has caused head-! aches for Red Wings fans who expected to; See SHORTS ON THPAIR, Page 60 Air battle puts U-M cage game on free TV Jpff once, sports fans will benefit from a dispute between two combatants in the TV business. As a result of the continuing legal battle between ON-TV and WXON-TV (Channel 20), Saturday's basketball game between Michigan and Purdue will appear, free of charge, on Channel 56, Detroit's public station.

Originally, the game was one of 10 Wolverine home games scheduled to be presented by ON-TV, the scrambled-signal pay service which rents selected hours from WXON-TV to show movies and sports events to its subscribers. But because Channel 20 refused to rent enough time for ON's coverage of Saturday's 4 p.m. game, and because ON pre- two things. One, let's forget about selling Detroit as the Official Super Place to Live. And two, would somebody please tell me the story about Mickey the dog?" vlously had promised to show it to subscribers, who pay $22.50 per month for the service, ON has elected to give away the telecast.

The dispute between ON and Channel 20 involves the 50-year contract the two parties signed less than three years ago. Channel 20 is suing ON-TV. "They (Channel 20 officials) are charging a variety technical breaches of Fishing goes into cold storage: Too much of anything is never helpful and so it is with last week's blast of winter. Free Press outdoor writer Tom Opre explain how the attack of snow and, rain affected Michigan anglers, in his fishing report on Page 5D. Mick McCabe's high school sports column is on Page 3D..