CLINTON ST. QUARTERLY BY LENNY DEE WRITING a sports column for a Quarterly is a lot like watching outdoor soccer. . .all foreplay and no follow-through. Timely stories fade with the regularity of spring phenoms. In the hopes of getting a groundswell of public support for my plight and a regular column in the Journal, here are highlights and lowlights of recent stories ignored, ill-covered or misunderstood. 1 ) l f Earl Campbell seriously wants to improve the lot of his fellow teammates he could donate the additional 400g’s a year he’s asking for to the 2nd string Oilers toiling at close to the minimum. I’m sure Earl could become team captain with that as a platform. 2 )T h e press ought to go into my friends’ living rooms before they label NBC’s soundless telecast of the Dolphin-Jet game a brave, unique experiment in sports journalism. Everyone I know has been tuning out the inane patter of the Gowdys for years. Watching Lynn Swann pirouette through the air with the greatest of ease or Jim Plunckett plucking a few Eagle feathers for his cap is quite a joy when backed by Springsteen, Weather Report, or even Blondie. Any veteran fan knows more than the supposed experts and if you miss a play there are always two, three or more replays from every angle. 3) Someone on the local dailies might want to talk to John Holden, coordinator of the Regional Specatator and Convention Facilities Task Force. When asked why a $1.5 million extension of the stadium roof was needed when the facility only fills beyond the covered seats for the annual Pirate visit, Mr. Holden suggested that the choice seats needed to be covered for baseball, since the Beavers were playing on an all-weather surface. When queried, Mr. Holden was astonished to find out that even with an all-weather surface, baseball was not played in the rain. 4 )N ex t time there’s a story on the NBA’s troubles, it might be useful to ask how much the league can improve with a leader who as chairman of the Democratic Party could win only one state against the likes of Richard Milhous Nixon. 5) Or for that matter how the NBA writers could vote Dr. J over Jamaal Wilkes or Rick Barry on the all-time team. Jamaal can only shoot, rebound, pass and play defense better than the Doctor—while Barry has the small honor of being the only player since Bill Russell came into the league to lead a club to the NBA championship without a dominating center. As for Julius, he has rewritten the rule books with his IVi steps to the hoop, his skying has set longevity records, and his defense has allowed Bobby Gross to develop a rep that has been essential in extending his career. Don’t get me wrong—the Dr. can shake—but not well enough to bake a championship. 6 )w h ic h brings us to a man who if healthy is going to change the recipe for roundball. Before the coming of Magic Johnson, kids growing up in the playground would model their games after the best at their respective positions. When they mature, you wonder if a Marques Johnson will be another Elgin Baylor, can Ralph Sampson top Kareem, is Dr. Dunkenstein going to become as good as Oscar. All great questions for the hot stove league but with the coming of Magic Johnson and his capability of playing all-star ball at all five positions, the game is going to go through a metamorphosis. Positions will no longer be important. The seven foot phenoms of tomorrow will be dribbling like Cousy, forever hanging in the air a la Elgin, rebounding with the power of Wilt, shooting with the pure form of West and playing with the third eye of an Oscar. If Magic is healthy, LA will become the first club since Russell’s Celtics to repeat as champions. Ther£ are only four clubs with the speed, shooting, boards and defense to win the whole shootin’match. In the East, Philly, Boston, and Milwaukee are preparing to pound each other unmercifully for a month or so, leaving the battered victor easy pickens for a slick Laker machine that moves -the ball up and down the court like a well-played pinball game, forever keeping the elusive orb in play, scoring at will, and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. 7)Remember that’s George Pasero, Oregon Journal, 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201. SAY it isn’t so, Ralph. Tell me you had the Beavers flyin’ so high that they took the wings off the powder puff Bluejays and made them walk back to Manhattan, Kansas or Moscow, Idaho or wherever they’re from. Tell me you didn’t treat the game as a 9th grade math assignment and just shook your head when the boys failed to do something right, while Jack Hartman had his team primed for a fight. Did you forget that games are won or lost by how much adrenalin is running through the blood stream as well as by the execution of x’s and o’s? You really didn’t fail to call time out when Kansas State made its charge ... letting them cut an 11 point lead to 3 and gain the momentum. Was that really a mediocre man-to-man defense we played when our superb zone defense would have led to more turnovers and a break in the offensive cold spell? That wasn’t you who let Kansas State run down the clock for 2 minutes without fouling their weakest shooter and instead let Olympian Orlando Blackman have the final say. Tell me I’m dreamin’, Ralph—that we’re in the final four in Philly—goin’ after that neo-Nazi from Ind iana .. .and we’re showin’ the rest of the country what good b-ball is about. Letting them know we’re not a bunch of hayseeds waiting for the rain to fall. Tell me you wanted this game so bad, that these youngins you’ve been nurturing for four years played with a passion rarely seen'on the silver screen.. .that you didn’t look like a condemned man on death row waiting for the guillotine to fall. Say it isn’t so, Ralph. ■ NUMEROLOGY Charts and Analyses Multi-Level John R. Bonahoom 232-5873 Carol m r n iTTTTTI I i l 11111111111111111n in i i i i i i i i im i i i i r 3549 SE Hawthorne 233-0964 A ■■ 1 HOMEMADE CINNAMON ROLLS* C A r f a --------------1 Doris HAIR ODESSEY Hair Creations | 32nd & SE Division 5 AM-2 PM Mon.-Fri. i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i 233-9265 ^hocolates ■ ^Justom EUROPEAN STYLE CHOCOLATES, CAKES AND PASTRIES Gift Certificates Available • Chocolates available by the piece or pound Steven McCullough Joseph Vasquez 1971 W. 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