European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 07, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday december 7, 1985 the stars and stripes sports letters backing fhe winners of Chicksands dear editor i was appalled by two items that were in the recent for ?1 Lel my that Al o of Csc football player the items really made me upset. The first item was not allowing Chicksands to com Pete in the . Championships. When i first read the article i threw my 1974 Safe runner up and 1975 championship awards in the trash. 1 can no longer be proud As a former european football player. Or. Dick Mullins. At Safe Headquarters stated that some of the players at Ramstein in Germany were scheduled to rotate dec what s More minor Lant the present and future welfare of sports in Europe or Orot acting a few players at Ramstein rotation is part military life. Or. Mullins should know this. And i m sure the Powers to be at Ramstein had nothing Todo with the decision. The second item 1 read is where upper Scyford will play the Mac team. It seems to me that upper Scyford and Alconbury should have shown support for Chick Sands and not played their game. It does t show much class on their part. Editor s note the upper i icy Ford Alconbury game was originally scheduled to be a playoff to Settle a tic atop the . S american division. The Winner would then play National division Champion Chick Sands for the . Title. . Officials decided to let the playoff game Between upper Heyford 8-2 and Alcon Bury 8-2 decide the . Title because there was no time for another game prior to the Safe championship game at Ramstein. The decision put Chicksands 7-3 out of the playoff picture maybe Chicksands would have lost who knows but we will never know. If i were at Chicksands i would Lell upper Heyford Alconbury the . And the Csc thanks but no thanks. The . Should hold its own championships and forget the Csc and the Powers they have. The Safe Headquarters has put a Black Claud Over the whole sports program in Europe. I m sure the wounds will take a Long time to heal. I would be willing to Wager that if Ramstein was t in the finals the decision would have been different. I have been trying for five years to get Back in Europe to play football or coach. But i Hope the time never comes now. Or. Mullins and the rest of the Powers at Safe Headquarters i Hope you can All sleep with a Clear mind at night. How could you eliminate the Chicksands team like that your headlines on the Chicksands Story should have read rip Safe football i know it will not help but to the fighting Chicks being a former Csc player i m sorry for what has happened to you. . Jim Bauman the azores Portugal dear editor question when is a championship team not a championship team answer if the team in question happens to be the Raf Chicksands fighting Chicks. At least such seems to be the philosophy of the Powers that be in Safe sports. The team that made one of the most amazing turnarounds in Safe football history has been the victim of one of the most Brazen Bare faced episodes of theft in Safe football history. The team that went 4-56 from 1979 through 1984 went 7-3 in 1985. Midway through the season they had the Sec Ond Best rated defense in the league. Their offence was t Loo shabby either. And both got better As the season went on. The three losses weren t exactly blow outs. Raf Alconbury won 19-8. Upper Heyford won 19-13 and Lakin Halh avoid Del a tic with a Hail Mary pass with seconds to go to Post a 13-7 Victory. And this is the team that s not Good enough to be in the play offs for six years the fighting Chicks were laughed at. Talked about and written about like they were dirt. Even this year nobody including the stars and stripes believed they were real. The Only ones who believed in the fighting Chicks were the fighting Chicks themselves and their supporters. We believe became the rallying cry of a Damn Fine team. Not a flashy team but a team that took a line from the song Ain t Gonna be held Down anymore and went out and got the Job done. In theory they were put out in the interests of fairness to the two teams that had belter records. O.k., i buy also in the interest of fairness to certain teams from the Continental sports conference that had some players due to rotate before dec 1." so in the interest of fairness to give some players a Chance to play Well eliminate 40. Is this fair or say it softly is this politics it seems that the . In general and Chick Sands in particular has been handed the Messy end of the stick again. After All football does t exist outside Germany right u unlike some Safe bases Chicksands is nol a football these Guys got out there on their own time and played their guts out. They did it to prove that the Little Guys could stand up to the big of course one Way to make sure Goliath gets the nod is to Sec that David does t make it to the fight. This Way certain Safe Goliath a Don t have to worry about the embarrassing possibility of losing to a team they be Dis counted for years. Well faceless Safe official somewhere in the interests of fairness to your Germany compatriots you be done a pretty fair Job of wrecking morale Here As Well As your credibility. Anything Cist you d like us to take your word about i la Tell you this though. At Raf Chicksands we re still Damn proud of our team. We know who s no. I even though we be been denied a fair Chance to prove it. Staff set. A. Mill Corn Raf Chicksands dear editor May i congratulate you on publishing such a Fine commentary on saturday. Nov. 23. By or. Bucky Fox. I must admin 1 Don t usually take notice of such articles bul on this occasion i feel that i would like to give my own can in be True that Chicksands was told stay Home. You re not Welcome surely not. And As for the knife Job on that can nol be far Short of slanderous. Has or. Fox asked the Man who has run the sports conference Here in the . For so Many years his Opin Ion was there. Inept planning on the part of Colac Chio is it True that the . Sports Leader never made provisions. I think not. In fact or. Colacchio was nol quoted on the Issue. Why is that Why has or. Fox allowed coach Carter Chicksands almost one fourth of his commentary to air his understandably angered opinions aimed at or. Colacchio and yet has not allowed or. Colacchio any defense admit ably or. Fox has stated the considered plans for 1986, but is in possible Hal i Csc plans were drawn up before the Slop surely this commentary is based on opinions. Afler All what can be said of a sports journalist who writes better yet Alconbury should have been ousted for choking a two game Lead with three games to perhaps or. Fox you would take this option. I now understand Why you write commentary. I do not know All the details in this Case. I fear or. Fox does nol either. But As a journalist it is his duty to his Public and newspaper not to mention self satisfaction. He should pres Cal a Well balanced article for the Good of his profession. Finally i agree As do most people probably including or. Colacchio that Chicksands earned. Their Why did t they get in Well ask or. Fox. Jimime Jones Raf Mildenhall editor s note yes or. Fox did talk to or. Colacchio. The commentary or. Jones refers to is Bucky Fox s biweekly column in the stripes sports Section. His column is his opinion on subjects he his researched not to be confused with the non opinion sports reporting he docs on a daily basis for stripes Holmes tarnished image dear editor i am responding to the letter that appeared in the stars and stripes recently concerning the ending of Larry Holmes reign As if heavyweight Champion. The near perfect record of Larry Holmes is indeed a commendable achievement but Larry Holmes inability to capture the full respect from the Public throughout his championship years was due to a Mouth that could be from a negative standpoint As Sharp As his left Jab. By verbally assaulting Rocky Marciano s credentials Holmes downplayed the value and prestige of a record he was viewed almost certain to break. Dignity also became a question with Holmes when he vacated the wac Tike and Lefi the capable no. 1 con Lender Greg Page in the dark because the s3 million purse for a Page fight was nol enough. Insl cad Holmes look an open arms offer from the if to represent them As their Champion and fight the much less dangerous Marvis Frazier to first Rounda fight in which papa Joe Frazier could Only envision his son reliving his father s first fight with George Foreman. Holmes can Call this business but honouring a mandatory title defense against a no. 1 contender is Honor ing dignity class and character to a world title an boxing itself. Gerry Cooney Larry Homes will go Down As one of the great heavy weight champions of All Lime bul Larry s Public Appeal will never reach the same Heights and that decision is unanimous. Vayne Atkinson Germany Holmes Cooney rematch dear editor when Gerry Cooney had his Opportunity for the heavyweight championship of the world against inc incomparable Larry Holmes he was undoubtedly Al the pin Nacle of his career. Unfortunately he did not succeed and As a result became very despondent and rejected boxing for quite some Lime. He Learned from his a Cecal and has been Able to compensate for his mistakes mistakes which will never occur again. After a two year absence Gerry returned to boxing. An intense training program was interrupted repeatedly by injuries plaguing the comeback efforts for quite some time. Suddenly injury no longer existed Ana efforts were quickly made to arrange for two tune up bouts which inevitably were very successful. Shortly after those iwo bouts Cooney s management attempted to secure a rematch with the Holmes Camp but unfortunately the Only obstacle was Larry himself for he did t want any part of a rematch with Gerry. Since a rematch never did occur one interesting statistic did unfold Larry Holmes never did generate a big payday again. Why the most he Ever Trade since Ihnn was $4.3 million in one fight not even close to the s10 million guaranteed for the Cooney is. Holmes classic showdown. Then Why is in you May ask Holmes was never Able to generate a big payday simply because Larry s oppo nent was t gentleman Gerry and the fact is Cooney is the Only Man who can generate a multimillion Dollar Gate for he has thai certain Charisma. Yes i say emphatically bring it on baby and inc boxing fans throughout the world want in. James m. Isabella Rhein main a Germany love those an to sports car Zdilor i am writing to inform you that even though Many people complain about an to sports there Are Many who love your sports programs. I think in is great a College game on saturday one or iwo pro games on sunday and the monday night game. Absolutely nothing wrong Wilh that. Keep up the Good work and this is just to say you re doing a Good Job. Keep up the Good work. By the Way basketball season has started and i m sure you la do a Good Job on that too. Kevin Murphy Heidelberg congratulations accent dear editor 1 am an accent Lions supporter and would like to publicly Conga Luzaic the football team for its Success this season. I attended All accent games and shared the Joy during inc Ihrcke wins and also inc sadness of i rec defeats to shape Hahn and 1sb whom we All know went on to become the Germany bin nor Small school champions. I Salute not Only your Success but also your courage to overcome last year s 1-5 record against some top notch Competition within the by Tenor conference. Each and every one of you should be proud. Michael j. Hirko Brun sum Netherlands
