Cleaves Enjoys Picture-Perfect End to Season

Michigan State basketball standout Mateen Cleaves told Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune that, growing up in Flint, Mich., he always had a picture in mind.

“Me standing there holding one championship trophy and Magic Johnson standing beside me holding the other one,” Cleaves said.

“Wouldn’t that be one for the history books?”

It became one for the front page after Cleaves led the Spartans to the NCAA men’s title Monday night, the school’s first since the Johnson-led team defeated Indiana State for the championship in 1979.

*

Magic moment: Wrote Mitch Albom in the Detroit Free Press, “That 1979 championship became the crumpled photo that the GI keeps in the foxhole. The memory is strong but, as time passes, you wonder whether you’ll ever feel the embrace again.”

*

Magic recruiter: After Johnson joined the Lakers, he was happy to continue recruiting for his alma mater. The only problem was, he sometimes had trouble convincing potential recruits that it was really Magic Johnson calling.

“I’m calling from Portland,” he recalled in his autobiography, ‘My Life,’ telling one nonbeliever, “Get out the newspaper and you’ll see where the Lakers are playing tonight. Here’s the number of my hotel and you can call me right back.”

*

Trivia time: Fred Stabley Jr., a sportswriter for the Lansing State Journal, left his mark on both the Michigan State program and the Lakers. How?

*

Sobering thoughts: Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe, “It’s not all laughs and jokes and smiles and happy tales at the Final Four. This thing is a financial colossus. CBS has paid an incomprehensible $6 billion (yes, that was a B) for the long-term rights and that should always serve as a reminder that what we have come to celebrate isn’t the Oxford-Cambridge crew race, but the Oscar night in a very cutthroat business.

“You think these teams just happened? You think [Michigan State Coach] Tom Izzo and [Florida Coach] Billy Donovan posted notices for basketball tryouts Oct. 1 and then walked onto their respective practice gym courts Oct. 15 to see who answered the call? Uh, no. The truth is that it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to assemble these teams.”

*

Athlete for a century: Carl Gartner will be coming in at 97 when he throws the first pitch to open the Iowa Cubs’ triple-A season in Des Moines on Thursday.

That’s his age, not the speed of his fastball.

Gartner, who will turn 98 Friday, played semipro baseball 80 years ago.

He is the father of Michael Gartner, majority owner of the team.

*

Trivia answer: He gave Earvin Johnson, basketball standout at Everett High in Lansing, Mich., the nickname “Magic.”

*

And finally: Izzo and San Francisco 49er Coach Steve Mariucci, close friends from their boyhood days in Iron Mountain, Mich., have had a friendly bet going on who would win a championship first.

A few years ago, Mariucci looked like a lock to win that bet. Now, it isn’t even a safe bet that he will ever win a championship.