European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 13, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 23 \ commentary the Central theme of pro football what s Central to the National football league illustrates the strength and weakness of the circuit. On one hand you have the biggest and Best foot Ball team in the league. On the other you have four teams none of which seems to deserve a playoff berth that will inevitably go to one of them. At i 3-1, the Chicago bears have been the talk of the league since the beginning of the season. People like to talk about winners and when Mike Ditka s team went 12-0, the talk got louder. Even a 38-24 defeat at the hands of the Miami dolphins has t stopped the jabber surrounding the team that once was the Domain of George Halas. Llamas no longer dominates stories about the bears. The Media has latched on to people like head coach Ditka running Back Walter Paylon linebacker Mike singltary and tackle turned fullback William refrigerator Perry. The writers arc finding words hard to come by in describing the activities of the Browns steel cars. Bengals and oilers. Or is it the bengals St clerk Browns and oilers throughout the season it seems these teams Are tied for first place lied for last place or bound together in Between. The nil and its Crown Prince Pete Roc Lac have basked in the glow of the Chicago bears. The dark shirted Bunch from the Windy City has had Media  scrambling Over themselves. The refrigerator is Worth his weight in copy. His touch Down run and touchdown reception have produced coverage rivalling that accorded super bowl Xix. No team in the acc Central division offers the sort of personnel that writers can write about and commentators can comment about. Rookie Crnic Kosar was supposed to Lead the Browns into the promised land known As the play offs in modern nil vernacular. But it s hard to  a team from the Bench. That s where Kosar often finds himself while quarterback Gary Danielson sore shoulder and All. Tries to rally the Browns into the top spot. Donnie Shell John Stallworth and Mike Webster w Ould have been a Story the Lasof the current St clerk who enjoyed super bowl Success with the Pittsburgh franchise in one More try. But when their team fails to make the playoffs the Trio is Des tined to join their teammates in living rooms rather than locker rooms during the postseason. Boomer Esiason of Cincinnati offers intriguing possibilities. His first name alone is Worth a Story. But his team s lacklustre performance in i985 does t lend itself to a pulitzer prize winning Saga. In Short. Esiason has provided More of a pop than a Boom. Then there s the oilers. The less said about them the better. They used to Star Warren Moon but lately it s been Oliver Luck at quarterback. If you want More data on this club consult their Media guide. A team that finishes last in the acc Central As the oilers arc destined to do deserves the attention of Snow falling in the Alps. Acc Central teams mediocre As they might be arc the heart and soul of the nil. The league through scheduling and drafting strives to produce the parity that the Ai c Central division a Mitomi is. Yet when parity arrives the writers ignore it the fans scorn it and the nil front office shuns it. Should the acc Central Champion finish with a worse record than a team that misses the playoffs Calls for revising the playoff format will be heard As soon As the regular season concludes. Thus the bears Success appears even More pronounced. The league is geared to avoid the sort of dominance the  have achieved. Whether Chi Cago can convert its regu in  into play off victories is an open or i. But the team has not Only overcome its opponent a system designed to stifle the sort of record it has already compiled. Chicago will wrist All the notoriety it can out of this season. It has been More than two decades since the bears were crowned Kings of the nil and it will probably do decades again before Chicago will bask in the limelight of the winners Circle. Sports heroes live Short lives in the United states. There s too Many who arc prepared to pay the Price to be Champion one time not enough willing to relive the pain and agony that accompanies a championship season. Parity Zoera the. Tax Sun and sir Fri oilers North stars discard defense by the associated press defense who needs defense certainly not the Edmonton oilers and Minnesota North stars on wednesday night. Defense who has a defense certainly not the Chicago Black Hawks or Detroit red wings or the oilers for that matter on wednesday night. The defending National hockey league champions outlasted the Hawks 12-9 in a game that set or tied a Bevy of records. Glenn Anderson and Jari Kerri each had three goals Anderson added three assists while their enter Wayne Gretzky recorded the second. Seven assist night of his spectacular career. The 21 goals matched the nil Mark set on Jan 10, 1920, when Montreal routed the Toronto St. Pats 14-7. A total of 62 Points were scored in the game set Ting a league Standard and the 12 goals scored in the second period six by each team tied another record. It t enough to sit and watch a team such As Edmonton exploit every weakness you can have said Roger Neilson the Hawks co coach and then it s worse to find out your team is part of probably the nil Roundup Glenn Anderson Jari Kerri worst record that can be  the red wings were As bad falling to Minnesota \q-2. The loss dropped Detroit into the Norrus division cellar one Point behind the Leafs. Oilers 12, Black Hawks 9 Chicago Gretzky upped his Points total to a league leading 74 and was proud of his line s achievement. With Glenn and Jari As my wingers it i a lot of fun setting them up and to night was a bigger thrill because those Guys scored three goals apiece said the great Gretzky. Marty Mcsorley had two goals for Edmonton while Troy Murray and Kenya Remchuk each had a pair of goals for Chi Cago. North stars 10, red wings 2 Detroit Scott Bjugstad scored the first goal in each period Brian Bellows had four goals and Keith Acton added two goals and two assists at Detroit. Minnesota scored on better than one third of its shots. Islanders 4, penguins 4 Pittsburgh Mike Bullard s Sec Ond goal of the game at 9 28 of the third period gave the Host penguins the tie. Bui lard flipped a 30-foot shot Over goalie Billy Smith s left shoulder. Rangers 4. Of evils 2 East Rutherford . The visitors snapped new Jersey s three game winning Streak and improved to .500 14 14-1 As goalie John Vanbiesbrouc tied Calgary s Reggie a Mclin for most Victo Ries in the league with 14. Tom Laidlaw Mike Ridley Mark Pavolich and Rob whistle with his first nil Goa connected for new York while Rich Preston had both of new Jer sey s tallies. Canadians 3, whalers 1 Hartford. Conn. Montreal built a 3-1 Lead at Hartford then held on As the whalers dominated the third period hold ing the canadians with a shot on goal in the final 20 minutes Patrick Roy slopped 33 shots by the whalers who out shot the canadians 34 15, including 13-0 in the final period. Maple Leafs 6, St. Louis 4 Toronto three Low scoring do  Bob Mcgill Al Lafranc and Chris Kotsopoulos found the touch As the Maple Leafs moved out of last place in the Norris division with the red wings falling into the basement. Mcgill scored his first goal since his Rookie season of 1981-82, while Kotsopoulos managed his second goal this year and Lafrate got his third. Jets 6, canucks 3 Vancouver  Bosch Man scored two goals As visiting jets scored three times in the third period to snap a 3-3 deadlock. It was Only the fourth win in 19 games for Winnipeg. Go Boxer makes semis in Budweiser tourney Tulsa okla. A Loren Ross of the army the Only defending Champion m the tournament advanced easily to the 178 Pound class semifinals of the Usa Bud Weber boxing championship on wednes Day , a Cook at fort Hood Texas knocked Down Krishna Wain night of Fayetteville n.c., in the first round then stopped him in the third before a crowd of 1,845 at the Tulsa civic Center. I wanted to be impressive said Ross. He has woo both of his fights Here inside the three round distance. The two shortest quarterfinals came m the super heavyweight division. Sam Adkins of Baltimore knocked Down Bill Mcdaniels of Wagoner Okja twice and stopped him at 31 seconds of the first round. Sinclair Babb of new York left Lionel Washington of Casper wyo., helpless from a left Hook and stopped him at 48 seconds of the first. Earlier in the Day Jerry Goff out pointed Jon Albon Little in the 201-Pound class in a rematch of their National Golden gloves final which Goff also won on a decision. So finalists in the 12 weight classes were selected in afternoon and night ses Sions of 24 bouts each. The semifinals will be held Friday night and the finals saturday afternoon. Goff 22, of Saucier miss., Shook off a right to the head that forced him to take a standing eight count in the first round. Then he outfoxed the 18-year-old Little of Flint mich., for a 4-1 decision. Goff said i knew he was going to be Tough. He had something to  Goff used an excellent left Jab and a Quick right to the head to control the last two rounds. I think he threw everything he had in the first round trying for a first round knockout Goff said. Another Golden gloves Champion advancing in the Day session was William Guthric of St. Louis in the 165-Pound class. He used right jabs and Hooks for a 5-0 verdict Over Phillip Niccoli of Golden Colo. Little s 21-year-old brother Timothy scored a big win at 156 pounds wednesday night stopping Ray Mcelroy of san Diego in the third round. Mcelroy a Silver medallist in the 1984 . Amateurs appeared to be winning the fight when Little Hurt him badly with a left Hook. Little followed with another left Hook that turned Mcelroy s legs to Jelly. The referee stopped it. In other night action the Cross Brothers of St. Louis also met with mixed Success. Michael Cross 22, won a 5-0 decision Over Quincy Taylor of Carrollton Texas in a 156-Pound match. Randy Cross who took two standing eight counts in the second round lost his 139-Pound bout to  Markouris of St. Louis on a third round Rytir mint. He stormed from the ring after referee malt Passmore warned him for ducking his head. Cross returned to hear Markouris declared the Winner. Also advancing in the afternoon was Michael Collins. He used the experience gained in numerous International matches to Box his Way into the 119-Pound class semifinals with a 5-0 decision Over Clay Jenkins of Franklin Tenn