Page 322 - Demo

SPORTS:f ------------~ -------------------------------GARY HOENIG%u2019SBottomJust in case you%u2019ve been bored by the paucity of Billy-Reggie-George and Thurman psychodrama of late, a number of sports personalities have filled the gap with some classic self-indulgent performances of their own:%u2022Fred says that Butch and Dwight shouldn%u2019t be playing, because they%u2019re so badly injured. Rick says Dwight should have known how badly he was needed, and played no matter how hurt he was. Bill shrugs Budda-like, and blames the negative vibes. Don spits some tobacco, and blames Fergy and Rick, who aren't even on the club anymore.Welcome to CHOKE, another one of those disaster epics, where an entire city fights a losing bout with mass depression while those in a position to do something bicker among themselves. Some people will tell you the Red Sox aren%u2019t choking, they%u2019ve still got a shot at winning it all, and didn%u2019t they beat the Orioles Monday to retake first place? Bull. But Red Sox performance at Fenway over the weekend was the biggest choke job since Tom Dewey and the 1948 election. The Red Sox did absolutely abysmally in every category, and their performance off the field was equally amateurish. Injuries are part of winning a 162-game pennant, part of the test of emotional and physical qualities that ultimately decides which team is best. The Red Sox are responding to their adversity like a bunch of adolescents caught smoking in the school bathroom.Bjorn Borg didn%u2019t like the playing surface at the new Flushing Meadows tennis stadium, site of the U.S. Open tennis tournaments. Borg didn%u2019t like the lighting system. Borg didn't like the noise from the planes. Borg had a sore thumb and almost decided to default in the final round. In short, Borg, still this year%u2019s number one player despite Jimmy Connor%u2019s victory in the Open, behaved like a true tennis champion: petulant, selfindulgent, arrogant, borg wasn%u2019t the only player who complained about the stadium.Some prominent players even threatened to boycott next year%u2019s U.S. Open, once the most prestigious tournament in all of tennis, if the fast-plaving surface wasn't altered. Tennis players, who at times can make other athletes appear thoughtful and selfless, are big on perfect conditions.Ideally, you're talking blue skies, nc wind, a lame opponent, and an absolutely mute crowd.Sympathetic and flexible officiating is also a must.There must be something wrong when the viewer%u2019s sympathies lie with Connors, as the less-abhorrent personality on the court.%u2022Bill Walton has now managed to fire both his team and his friends. We learned last week from Walton that Jack Scott would no longer be representing him in his quest for the perfect roundball environment. Scott, a man with a radical reputation that apparently has suffered little for lack of philosophical substance, apparently pushed Walton a bit too far when, after convincing him that his relationships with Portland players and officials were all being used to exploit him. He suggested that Walton now consider returning to Portland. Walton then decided Scott was trying to exploit him. After all, just because Walton%u2019s paranoid, doesn't mean he doesn't have enemies.It is unclear w ho Walton will be playing with next season. Golden State has been unable to reach agreement with either Walton or Portland on obtaining the center%u2019s services. Maybe Golden State could trade Walton to the Knicks for a Marvin Webster, thus marking the first exchange between two teams of players thev don%u2019t actually own. Or perhaps Walton will declare himself a citizen of the I bird World, available to any underdeveloped country that needs an in jury-prone center for its 1980 Olympic team.For a price, of course.What's with these people, anyway? The ticket-buver wants to know. One unsuccessful bout with long-term self indulgence, and he winds up on the unemployment line or in divorce court. That's part of learning to be an adult. Don%u2019t athletes ever have to grow up?The answer is a qualified no. Most top athletes are living in a post-adolescent dome, a candv-factory world that has changed very little since the athlete%u2019s childhood. All along, he%u2019s been told he's somebody special. Academic and behavioral restrictions that apply to the rest of his generation often don't apply to the rest of his generation often don%u2019t apply to him. He%u2019s besieged with scholarship offers, with people willing to plv him with everything from cars to coke to sexual favors. It is not surprising that when he reaches the zenith of the career, he considers himself a member of a Nietzschean super class that deserves to have every whim indulged. The media attention heaped on him, the enormous sums of money he earns by just showing up, simply reinforce that self-image.The fan spends billions each year investing his fantasy life in this strange caste of super-children. In pursuit of that fantasy, we have inflated them far beyond the proportions of life and reality, and f3r beyond their own limitations as human beings. Is it so surprising, then, when a pinprick of adversity can so deflate them?Page 28, THE P H O E N IX , September 14,1978What%u2019sW ithThesePeople,Anyway?After the BlastYanks, Sox at the BrinkWith batting practice at Fenway over for the season, the Yankees will have to find new ways to pressure the Red Sox. That may be difficult, after the spectacular run to contention the Yankees have just experienced. But the Red Sox are still in contention and every upcoming game is crucial. The Yank%u2019s series in Detroit that began Tuesday could decide as much as this weekend%u2019s series with Boston at the Stadium.Has there ever been such a one-sided series during a pennant race? Sunday%u2019s 7-4 Yankee victory was never in jeapordy, but the game was so close by comparison to the others, that it seemed almost exciting. While the Yankees have been climbing back into the race on the strength of their pitching, this series marked their most remarkable hitting performance of the season. The Yanks outscored the Red Sox, 42-9. Lou Piniella had 10 hits in the series; Willie Randolph and Roy White, eight apiece. Reggie Jackson seemed to drive in a run everytime he swung the bat. In the process, Ron Guidry%u2019s 21st victory, another shutout, wasalmost obscured. The pitchers were never called on to do much last weekend.The Yankees had remained confident they could catch the Red Sox even during early season problems with injuries and clubhouse strife. Many players, among them Paul Blair and Gred Nettles, maintained that the Red Sox would suffer a major slump before season%u2019s end, that injuries would prove the Boston bench inadequate. How right they were.Don Zimmer%u2019s insistence on starting the injured Dwight Evens, Carlton Fiske and Butch Hobson seemed absurd when these players proved unable to field adequately. But their substitutes in the final two games were hardly an improvement. The Boston pitching, which held up so well through, midseason, has collapsed completely. Only Luis Tiant, wise and imperturable, has pitched well of late, and Zimmer somehow contrived to have Tiant miss this key series.But there are still three games at the Stadium to contend with, and the Red Sox have nothing to lose now. Disgrace is behind them.Tiant piiched Monday, and will pitch again against the Yanks, on Friday or Saturday. And Guidry, if he pitches in rotation, will miss the Boston series. There is also the question of Catfish Hunter%u2019s groin injury, which will probably force him to miss a start against Detroit. The Yankees have not won the pennant yet, and overconfidence at this juncture would be disastrous.In other pennant races, the surprise contenders seem to be fading rapidly. The Mets largely eliminated the Pirates, sweeping three games at Shea over the weekend. The Pirates now trail the Phillies by five games in the National League East. The Dodgers have opened a five game lead over the Giants in the West. Kansas City is in the most precarious shape, with only a 1 Vi-game lead over the Angels in the American League West. If current form holds up, however, at least three of the four teams that were in the playoffs last year would be there again this year. The Yankees would make that four. --G.H.TONY TORRENT: Dallas speedster Tony Dorsett (above, on a scoring romp) and Company wereultimately too much for the Giants, though the victory was not quite the cakewalk the Cowboysexpected. (Jim Cummins photo.)Jets, Overmatched Giants Show %u2019em Some Signs of ClassLast weekend wasn%u2019t quite as kind to local football fans as the one before. But preseason predictions of respectability seem accurate now. The Jets won the kind of game they habitually lost in the past, despite playing badly. The Giants gave the Cowboys a struggle before succumbing to the inevitable. Both teams exposed weaknesses, however, that should prevent any runaway playoff hopes.Buffalo came out prepared to bring the Jets down to their level, and almost succeeded. An aggressive defense harassed Jet receivers and quarterback Richard Todd. Todd was simply awful, throwing a ball that wobbled like a duck full of buckshot. But eke his predecessor J.W. Namath, Todd keeps coming at you, and by the fourth quarter, was finding Wesley Walker and Derrick Gaffney open in the seams of Buffalo's pass defense. A couple of lucky catches on deflections, and a defense tough when it had to, resulted in a one point J e ts %u2019 victory. Next week%u2019s opponent,Seattle, is another test of motivation. A loss would be a serious setback for the young Jets. A win, and they will head to Washington for a game with the Redskins and following week, 3-0 and sky high.The Giants refused to fold, even after the Cowboys ran up an early 14-0 lead with businesslike efficiency. Joe Pisarcik, resembling the charismatic guerilla leader rallying his tattered comrades to battle with the elite troops of the - capitalistas, brought the team back time and again, only to see Dallas capitalize on a turnover or relentlessly march downfield against a tired Giant defense.Not that Dallas didn%u2019t feel the pressure. Despite their pristine reputation, the Cowboys throw cheap shots with the best (or worst) of them, with safeties Charlie Waters and Cliff Harris the leading thugs. This time linebacker Bob Breunig was a standout on out-ofbounds tackling, and Harvcv Martin, who sacks quarterbacks with unmerciful regularity, was so upset at actually being blocked onone play that he threw a lewpunches and was asked to leave.But the Giants were obviously overmatched, and one got the feeling throughout that it was all just a matter of time. A crucial fumble by Larr- ( sonka has started some talk ot Csonka s retirement again, but the game wasn%u2019t lost there. Pisarcik may be game but he is an erratic quarterback, and the Giants defense seems to soften as the game gets longer. One unexpected bright spot in the secondary: Terry Jackson, a rookie cornerback. has displayed some of the vicious abandon that appears necessary for that impossible Dosition.This week s game with Kansas City should provide an interesting test. The Chiefs, under new coach Marv Levy, upset Cincinnati before losing to Houston in a close game last week. They are rebuilding, but they should be behind the Giants in that sometimes endless process.1 his is a game the Giants must win it they are to lujuuntn,%u00bb,stheir soft schedule this year. -G,H.