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S P O R TS :GARY HOENIG%u2019BottomLineA few words about the Dodgers: The myth of the gracious loser, a homily that supercilious athletes and coaches continue to pander in public, certainly has little to do with the real world, where profit-atany cost is the operative theology. But it%u2019s one thing to linger ungraciously on the opposition%u2019s luck and the umpires%u2019 bad calls, and another to malign a city full of fans simply because you stunk up the stadium.After Sunday's display of Alphonse and Gaston,the Dodgers spent a lot of time in the clubhouse talking about the big, bad nasty New York fans. Bill Russell, who has played shortstop like a man trapped in the middle of a handball court on Atlantic Beach, termed the Stadium fans animals, and blamed them for his worse-than-inept play. Davy Lopes, the only Dodger infielder who has played up to a mediocre level in the field, substituted a subtle form of sociological racism for Russell%u2019s zoology, and blamed the Bronx environment for the fans' overenthusiasm. Nobody asked Steve Garvey what he thought. Garvey was too busy looking for his bat.Now, while it is true that fans in other cities, notably Philadelphia and Cleveland, have some reputation as a raucous bunch, there%u2019s little question that the New York baseball fan is in a class by himself. Stadium security people don%u2019t even make a serious effort any more to keep the crowd under control once the game has ended.They're happy there are no riots during the game.But surely Russell%u2019s suggestion that he was playing with fear lodged in his brain that some hate-crazed Yankee fan was going to blow him away with a street-gang issue Saturday Night Special is a bit much. Russell may have a big apple in his throat, but it has nothing to do with New York City, except insofar as Russell is incapable of dealing with the pressure of playing in an important series before the most difficult audience in the game.As for Lopes' perhaps well intended but insidious remarks, he ought to check the color of most of those fans out there. You think the local street stud has got $15 to lay out per ticket to sit in the bleachers and freeze to death? More than half those people drinking all that beer come down by bus from the suburbs, and get crazv-happy from winning and drinking. That%u2019s white people, Davy, and not poor people, either. If environment has something to do with that, perhaps baseball players and owners shouldn%u2019t spend all that effort selling beer. You know how wierd those white middle-class people get when they get a little beer into them.Didn%u2019t realize the L.A. fans were so special. Can%u2019t wait to see what Chavez Ravine looks like when the Dodgers are down 4-1 to Guidry in the eighth inning of Game 7. Half empty seats, half yawning fans soaking in some smog-screened sun.Now that%u2019s class.* 4c * * * * ** * i(cNow that the regular sports trunk line will be available to interested readers as soon as the newspapers are published again, this sports section will begin to take on a different look. While the main arena of the Sports Circus will still be a focus for some stories, parti' uiarly in this column, there will be considerable space devoted to local sports, particularly high school and college football and basketball. There'll also be some attention paid to other amateur sports developments, such as the emergence of soccer and of serious women%u2019s competition, on the high school and college level.It is, after all. on these levels that the buying and selling of bodies and lives begins, and that the crudest and most hypocritical forms of such trading exists. A superior athlete in the throes of adolesencc is subjected to the kinds of pressures from adults and peers that most of us would find difficult to deal with as adults. To understand that strange class of superchildren who perform for us, this is the place to begin the analysis.For the local fan, we%u2019ll be providing the scores he wants every week We hope to provide a whole lot more.It%u2019s OnlyThoseWierd,BoozieWhitesKnicks Goof (Already)New Knick Marvin Webster (left) lost his first duel toRocket Moses Malone. (Jim Cummins photo)It was only one game, but Friday%u2019s inept first half performance by the Knicks during a 111-107 loss to the experienced Houston Rockets did not augur well for early season success by this young and woefully incohesive Knick team.Potential tradees Jim Cleamons and Butch Beard could not move the club. Heywood and McAdoo seemed tentative and dribbled too often. This year%u2019s savior, Marvin Webster, was in early foul trouble and was completely outplayed by Moses Malone (29 points, 20 rebounds to Webster%u2019s 9 and 5), who has added 15 pounds of muscle to his already considerable physical equipment. %u201c Moses,%u201d observed Marvin, %u201c looked bigger than I%u2019ve seem him before.%u201dA furious fourth quarter rally, led by Ray Williams, kept the Rockets from blowing the Knicks out of the Garden, and saved an embarrassing exit by some of the angry crowd. But Williams, recovering from a pre-season operation that sidelined him for most of the exhibition season, was alternately awful and brilliant, making mistakes and baskets in flurries. Though he moved the club, his obvious rustiness left him vulnerable on defense, where Brooklyn-born Mike Dunleavy (20 points, 8 assists) often embarrassed him with long range bombs and easy penetration.The Knicks will have plenty of trouble in the early going without the veteran leadership of players like Earl Monroe and Jim MacMillian. Willis Reed said after the game he was pleased with the way the team refused to %u201c chunk out%u201d despite being behind by as many as 22 points in the third quarter. Determination is an admirable quality, but it won%u2019t hold off the Gulf & Western sharks if the losses begin to accumulate.The Nets, now owned by a group headed by Alan N. Cohen, the former president of Madison Square Garden, may be an added embarrassment for the Knicks. They won their first two gamesover the weekend, beating the Pistons by two at Detroit to spoil Dick Vitale's debut as coach, and beating the L.A. Abdul-Jabbars by two at home. Thus far, Winfred Boynes has nicely complemented Bernard King at forward, EddieJordan has racked up seven steals, and centers George Johnson and Bob Elliott have more than held their own against the like of Jabbar and Bob Lanier. Local fans may have a team in the N B.A. playoffs after all. %u2014G.H.Football Teams Go Over .500Two wins for the locals in football last Sunday, arid both now have winning records with midseason approaching. All this and a World Series winner too. All praise to the benevolent god Video.The Jets are now 2-1 with Matt Robinson under the center, after their 33-10 demolishing of the Colts. They have now outscored their last two opponents, 78-24. Robinson threw only eight complete passes, but those were good for a startling 215 yards (Wesley Walker caught five for 154 yards, including a 77-yard td). Kevin Long ran for 136 yards, his biggest day as a pro. The opportunistic Jet defense racked up threeinterceptions and two fumble recoveries.The Giants looked awful against Tampa Bay. and were trailing 14-3 with 12 minutes remaining. Rut Tampa Bay%u2019s much touted rookie quarterback Doug Williams has tiic arm but is green as sour apples, and ultimately his inexperience turned the game around. A fourthquarter overthrow on a pass over the middle w as intercepted by Harry Carson and returned to the B u g %u2019 s 30. Joe Pisarcik (4-13, for 45 yards and 2 interceptions) was then replaced with Jerry Goisteyn, and a Golsteyn pass to new acquisition James Thompson gave New York a first down on the 10. Larry Csonkathen bowled over everybody from the seven and scored.On Tampa Bay's next possession, running back Louis Carter fumbled and the alert Carson fell on the ball ai the Bug%u2019s 12. Five plays latc-f. Csonka barrelled in again, this time from the 1. With the Giants leading 17-14. the Bucs drove into field goal range with seconds remaining. But Neil O%u2019Donahue missed a 42-yarder that would have sent the game into overtime. The Giants, now also 4-3, will take it. First place Washington, which lost for the first time to the rejuvenated Eagles on Sunday, will be at the Meadowlands next week.Yanks Shake Some Problems, Surge into Series FinaleAs the World Series cane to New York Friday, some familiar early season problems%u2014inconsistent pitching and off-the-field strife%u2014 threatened the Yankees%u2019 fairy tale finish of 1978.But Sunday night, as raucous Stadium fans precipitated another spasm of self-righteous drivel from the non-stop mouth of Joe Garagiola, the Yankees had once more demonstrated whyGaragiola's pal, Yogi Berra, the man with more World Series rings than fingers, calls this the best team under pressure he%u2019s ever seen. In winning Games 3, 4, and 5, the Yankees exposed the Dodgers as a team that plays defense like a schoolyard basketball team, and as one that broods over one mistake while making another. In the process, Graig Nettles taught a nationwide television audience what local fans have known for years%u2014that he ranks with the best third basemen in the game%u2019s history, including Baltimore%u2019s mythical St. Brooks.Friday, Ron Guidry struggled through an eight-hit, seven-walk performance for a complete game. 5-1 victory attributable mostly to Nettles. Graig played goalie at third, repeatedly making incredible stops with crowds of Dodgers onbase to save run after run, with the Yankees nursing a 2-1 lead. Three eighth-inning runs iced the victory.Saturday%u2019s game was the big win. Figueroa struggled to redeem himself for his shoddy opening game, but he finally yielded a three-run homer to Reggie Smith (Smith%u2019s first in more than a month) for a 3-0 Dodger lead. But the Yanks battled back to tie the game, scoring one of their runs ona controversial play in which Reggie Jackson seemed to deliberately interfere with a Bill Russell throw that bounced off his foot. The Yanks Y ' V P l ' i t l J a 11 \\; t i / A t iin the tenth on Lou Piniella%u2019s single off young Welch.So the Yankees returned to Los Angeles with the luxury of saving Guidry, with plenty of rest, for Game 7.-G .H .Page 28, THE PHOENIX, October 19.1978