Western cowgirls
Dallas Post/Charlot M. Denon
On Sunday, as I understand it,
three-quarters of the world was
covered by water and the other
quarter, except for the wealthy
neighborhood of North America,
was breathlessly watching the
World Cup soccer match between
West Germany and Argentina. To
every one else in the world, this is
the game and championship fist
counts.
Being a natural |
American, the
thought of the {
world conducting ¥
any series
deciding the
champions of the
world without an
American team is
RICK ROGERS
like considering a war without
bullets — is it possible?
It’s strange. America always
crowns its champions, champion of
the world, though all the teams are
from America and you’d be hard
pressed to find anyone outside this
hemisphere who plays any of the
sports - baseball, football,
basketball - that really count.
I should back up for a minute.
The reason we didn’t send a team to
the World Cup is that by
international standards, American
soccer stands up to international
competition like the Argentine Navy
did against the English Navy. We
didn’t want to be humbled by some
mosquito capital.
I watched the World Cup. Well,
some of it anyway, when the action
on the other stations - a Phillies
game, a golf tournament, a telethon
and a John Wayne movie - got to be
too much.
Some thoughts about the world’s
most popular game.
I tried to keep an open mind, to
appreciate the finer points of this
game, but I’m an American and
naturally need blood and/or action
to keep me attentive.
But as far as action goes, real
action like running, jumping and,
most importantly, scoring, this
game ranks with the cockroach-
racing and baton-twirling in terms
of excitement. Some say that soccer
American game. Maybe. But, more
likely, soccer hasn’t made it hee
because it is a slow and boring
game. In two 45-minute halfs you're
lucky if you see three goals scored.
No offense. Defense is a joke. You
try to get through a million guys on
a half-mile field to score. The
Refrigerator couldn’t do it, even if
he could roll a half-mile.
Soccer is one of those games that
is better played or watched in
person than on the boob tube.
Somehow the excitement just
doesn’t come through. To me, it’s
like watching a silent movie. I know
what is going on; but, except for the
train scenes and the fight scenes, I
don’t care.
Never is a long time, but soccer
just isn’t meant to be a major
spectator sport here. It will never
crowd out baseball, basketball or
football, at least in my lifetime, as
the meat and potatoes of America’s
sports diet.
Simply: Soccer doesn’t have the
two essentials to make it in
America - action and a hint of
violent intensity.
Oh, the Phillies won on a grand-
slam by Juan Sammuel in the ninth,
8-7. You won’t see that in a soccer
game, either.
-0-
BITS & PIECES
I'm sick to death about hearing
about what tragedies the deaths of
Len Bias and Don Rogers are.
These were two young men who
killed themselves with drugs. It is
sad, maybe a loss, but surely no
tragedy. Tragedy is athletes acting
like hoods while kids look up to
them.
It’s to the point where athletes are
going the way of politicians and
actors as fallen heroes.
-0-
Some are calling for Lefty
Driesell’s relocation in wake of the
drug-related death of Bias. They
say he should have known what was
going on and stopped it. They say he
held a meeting with his team
shortly after the death of the star
player and told them not to say
anything damaging about Bias:
They say he let five of 12 Maryland
players flunk the Spring semester
without saying a word.
The scary thing is Driesell has
been considered one of the finer
handlers of young men in the
country. Think about that and
shudder.
-0-
This whole drug mess and the
academic fraud is just a symptom
of a greater plague that infects all
sports: greed. Greed for the buck is
the backbone of all this. Coaches
want the reputations that winning
gives, franchises and schools want
the revenues that winning provides.
The athlete is plankton of this
food change.
-0-
If the Phillies finish at .500 this
season, and that is a big if because
they’ve been below .500 all season,
they will finish a mere 20 games or
so behind the Mets. The Mets should
take a couple of weeks to let the
slower souls catch up.
-0-
Had to be one of the saddest days
in Philadelphia sports history when
Steve Carlton was waived by the
Phillies. Rest assured, some other
team will pick up ‘Lefty’. This is the
year of the aging pitcher, and
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Cleveland had the guts to acquire
an aging and overweight knuckle-
baller named Phil Niekro, another
team will seek a trim, four-time Cy
Young sure Hall-of-Famer named
Carlton.
-0-
Talking about aging pitchers
given new life, Tom Seaver’s trade
to the Red Sox will do nothing
except raise the team’s league
leading era. Seaver is older and has
lost enough off his fastball to be
splattered all over the Green
Monster in left. Tom will lose his
nickname ‘Terrific’ by August.
(Rick Rogers is a sports
columnist for The Dallas Post. His
column appears weekly.)
Western Nite held
Dallas Post/Charlot m. Denmon
Four Dallas High School girl soft-
ball players and three from Lake-
Lehman participated in action last
weekend at Lehigh University in
Bethlehem in hopes of advancing to
final round play of the Womens
Scholastic. Fast-Pitch play in the
Keystone Games competition.
Players chosen to advance, who
were part of the sub-division region
2 team, will play at State College,
Pa., in August against at least three
other teams.
Those participating from Dallas
in last weekends play included
Joyce Tinner, Heicli Scholz, Tracy
Cave and Lori Cave. From Lake-
Lehman, the three taking part were
Lori Pantle, Noel Kuznicki and Beth
Finn.
Lake-Lehman head softball coach
Flossie Finn and her assistant
Cheryl Travis, along with Wyoming
Valley West pilot Marge Kelly are
the managers for the squad.
Following is the All-Star schedule
for teams involved with Back Moun-
tain Baseball Inc.
Monday, July 7 - Division I Girls’
Softball - Back Mountain National
Jammers beat Mob
The Jammers got two goals from
Williams, a goal from Pavloski and
a penalty Kick by Jones to defeat
The Mob, 4-3, in the Penn State-
Wilkes-Barre Youth Soccer League.
Sleightholm scored three goals for
The Mob.
In other action, the Cosmos out-
scored the Kicks, 9-1, with three
goals from McDonough, two from
Schrader and one each from Rich-
ardson, Hedden, Jones and Ursiak.
vs. Wyoming-West Wyoming, away;
Avoca, home.
Tuesday, July & - Boys’ Hardball -
Back Mountain American vs. North
National vs. Ashley, home.
Wednesday, July 9 - Division II
Girls’ Softball - Back Mountain vs.
Avoca, home.
End, away; Back Mountain All games begin at 6 p.m.
Phone (717) 779-9689
Nv MIKE HARPER
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