Finally ...

by Rob Wood

Over the past year or so, a great many events occurred in the sports world that had not come to pass for quite some time. What had gone around for far too long finally came around, again. Not all of these "finally"s involved championships and football games; some were just issues that had taken far too long to resolve. Of course, looking back only covers half the glass of water. To look at the glass as half­full, the future must also be taken into account. Here's to what has been sipped over the past year and what may be toasted to in the next.

It seems like years ago that Steve Shields was the star goalie for the maize and blue icers. His last name alone made him a memorable goalie, but he also had one very visible statistic (among many): he was the all­time NCAA victories leader. That record stood for years. One night a few weeks ago, however, Shields's successor, Marty Turco, decided it finally needed to come down so he broke it. Marty Turco is now the winningest college hockey goalie ever. Congrats, Mr. Turco.

During the 1996­97 NFL season, the Detroit Lions finished 5­11. They didn't make the playoffs and it seemed as though they had given up hope of ever doing so again. That's when Lions Owner William Ford finally decided to fire Wayne Fontes. It was about time he got his head out of, er, the sand.

Tom Osborne had been pacing the sidelines for 25 years as Head Coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. His teams won at least nine games and went to a bowl in each of those seasons. He finally decided to retire following the 1997 football season. Though he was such a great sportsman and first­class human being, one thing remains to be said: good riddance.

Thirteen years. That is how long the AFC had waited to experience a Super Bowl win. The NFC had proven its dominance time and again to every AFC team it had faced in the League's championship game, including three times against the John Elway­led Denver Broncos. John and the AFC finally ended that drought, last month. Kudos to you, John, even though you do live in Colorado.

The Michigan men's basketball team finally won a post­season tournament. Okay, so it was the wrong tournament. They still got a shiny little trophy.

The Heisman Trophy is no longer a perennial resident on the offensive side of the football. The award finally goes home with a primarily defensive player, as Michigan's own Charles Woodson brought it back to Michigan after a six­year absence. The NFL is getting as dominant a player in Charles Woodson as anyone who has ever taken the field.

Back in 1955, a guy named Gordie Howe helped the Detroit Red Wings capture the last Stanley Cup Championship the Wings would earn until 1997. A team of guys with names like Konstantinov, Larionov, Kozlov, Federov, and Fetisov, along with Yzerman and a few others finally brought the Cup home to Hockeytown...and there was much rejoicing.

One last, great thing you all might remember, provided you didn't drink yourselves blind and into a vegetative state over it, is of course, the Michigan football team's national championship season. That team will never be forgotten by any of the maize and blue faithful. It was an unstoppable force, as it plowed through the competition like Roseanne through a buffet table. Being a Michigan Wolverine never felt so good.

Predictions are usually best left to seers and clairvoyants, but there are those that can occasionally be made by the average sports writer, either through an obvious observation, or just based on hope alone.

It has been seven years since the Detroit Pistons won an NBA Championship. The Bulls have established a bit of a dynasty, and all of the Bad Boys are long gone. Well, almost all of them. There are still two guys left in the Motor City from that era: Joe Dumars and Rick Mahorn. Dumars has been in the League for 12 years and Mahorn is in his 16th. Unfortunately, with new talent like Eric Montross, Grant Hill, and Jerry Stackhouse now in the mix, the Old Guard may have to get kicked upstairs over at the Palace. It is a rather safe prediction that their retirement is imminent. Sorry guys, it may be time for the New Guard to check in. Another safe bet is that with all the young talent the Pistons have acquired, they'll be making a run at another championship, soon.

It has been over 33 years since the Lions won a League Championship. That's what it was called the last time the silver­and­blue won it, as opposed to the current Super Bowl moniker. While it would be foolish to predict that the Lions will become a legitimate force in the NFL anytime soon, it is pretty safe to predict that they have a better chance at making the Super Bowl if they drop Scott Mitchell; the sooner, the better.

After Detroit won Lord Stanley's Cup last year, many Michiganders worried that Scotty Bowman might decide to relinquish the helm of the Red Wing juggernaut he helped build. After all, he's no spring chicken, and he has accomplished everything a person in his position can possibly accomplish. Fortunately for the team and its fans, Coach Bowman opted to remain in Detroit for one more season in the sun (or on the ice, as the case may be). Don't bet he'll stay after the season ends, however. The workdays he's been putting in all these years will end, and he will finally get to live in an environment with liquid water, for a change. Thanks for the memories, Coach.

Getting back to going out on a limb, this year's Michigan men's basketball team has the capacity to be the best squad to step onto a court or the worst depending on how widely televised the game happens to be (the bigger it is, the better they are). If they make it into the NCAA Tourney, and if they advance past the second round, count on another national championship in Ann Arbor this year.

As the limb gets thinner, the predictions become more based on hope than on reality, and the sports writer become less credible and more optimistic. This next statement stands on its own, for better or worse: the 1998 Major League World Series will be won by the Chicago Cubs. Remember, if by some miracle it actually happens, you heard it here first.

One last hope­based prediction calls for the awakening of the rest of the sports world to the fact that auto racing is not a sport! Motor sports is an oxymoron. There is no such thing! Maybe the sports world isn't ready for that prediction, quite yet. That's okay. They aren't ready for a college football playoff system yet, either.

To return to reality for the last (and best) prediction, the NBA must be revisited. It has been quite a few years since Larry Bird has taken home a championship ring. Because he's Larry Bird, and regardless of whether he's wearing a player's uniform or a coach's suit, the man is due. This year, he will collect. MR

This article was published in the 11 February 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 16, Number 7).
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