European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 13, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 13, 1996 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Houston May be headache for a left Shea stadium is Safe for the moment. The building s baseball tenants however May not a. The first potential assault on the Shea turf by Gleeful new York mets fan was prevented when the Home team its magic number for clinching the National league East Lute reduced to two left town. This was a Clever bit of scheduling Given the propensity met fans have for destroying the infield when their heroes win titles. In 1969 they committed major mayhem three times at Shea saluting the my East no playoff and world series victories which All were achieved there. This was expensive carnage for the landlord. No wonder the City had a fiscal crisis. So now the met faithful must journey Down the new Jersey Turnpike to veterans stadium in Phila Delphia where new York began a three game series Friday just one thin Victory Over the Phillies from wrapping up what has passed for a Pennant race. Ninety Miles in t far to travel for a party especially when you be been waiting 13 Yean to have it. The problem for this team is that the division clinching Celebration might be the Only one the mets get this season. There could be a number of negatives lurking ahead for them. Stan with the schedule. The commissioner s office in a bit of inter sports Courtesy agreed to shuffle the playoff Sites to Accomma Bock Iodate pro football s needs. As a result the a series which was supposed to Start in the East City this year opens and closes instead in the West Al most certainly at Houston where the mels have had a history of headaches. Living room baseball Astrodome style does not agree with these City slickers. They Are 123-156in the National league s Only indoor stadium including 2-4 in this season of their greatest  Nave never quite recovered it seems from a memorable 1-0 shutout inflicted on them by hous ton in the dome in 1968. The game lasted 24 innings making it Tough to forget. Four mets Tim Teufel Ron Darling Bob Ojeda and Rick Aguilera have pending court cases in Houston As the result of a disagreement with the local police department on the team s last visit. Texans have taken to wearing to shirts commemorating the affair. They say. Houston police 4, new yorkmci10. The humor May be to on the visitors. Even though the mets have won seven of 12 games against Houston this season the astros Bob Knupper has the Only shutout thrown against Newyork this Wason. And Houston pitchers Tiave effectively shackled two of the most important met  hitter Gary Carter has an anaemic. 190 aver age against them and Darryl Strawberry is hitting .208, what s More Strawberry is in a terrible Funk right now after Shea s critics spent most of the last two weeks amusing themselves by booing him. He has replaced the departed George Foster As a favorite target for the fans and at 24, he has not yet devel oped the thick skin necessary to Deal with the criticism. He probably figures 21 Home runs and 76 rib qualify As a productive season. He s probably right but it May be too late to retrieve his spirit from the battering he s had to absorb. Then there is the matter of the cakewalk the mets have enjoyed this season. They have had a double digit Lead for most of the summer and have no played crucial games for a Long time. They must prove that they have not forgotten How to do that. All of this adds up to an intriguing playoff pairing. The mets would prefer Boring which is what the turned the no East race into this summer. And the fans would prefer winning at Shea. Tearing up artificial Ingels is awfully Lough. Nil s top scorer 25, pondering retirement Toronto a Wayne Gretzky the most prolific scorer in the history of the National hockey league says his retirement is coming sooner than most people expect. "1 Don l see Wayne Giet Efcy playing for a lot longer the Edmonton Oilen Center said thursday on the eve of the opening of his team s training Camp. How much longer i Don t neatly know. When i was 20 Yean old i could t wait until next year i said at the time that i d play to a certain age 30. Now my Altitude � to take it one year at a Lime. My Altitude i think is different from a lot of other professional athletes and hockey player. I love the game so much and i be never stopped Loving it. But i could play tuesday and Friday hockey with 15 or 20 friends and enjoy it just As much the player who used to be called the kid now is 25. The Brantford Ontario native was 17 when he turned professional. Last season Gretzky broke his own nil Points record by posting 163 assists and scoring 52 goals for 21s  seven nil seasons he has scored 481 goals and added 85 s assists for 1,337 Points in 553 games. The stress of being a superstar lakes a loll. Guy Laflour. Marcel Dionne and Gil Bert Perreault All broke into the nil a about the same time but it was Lafleur the Best of the three who left first. The More i think about ii the More 1 think teammate Kevin Lowe said it est when he talked about Lafleur s retirement Gretzky said. Lafleur retire while Perreaultt and Dionne continued to play. But Lafleur played so Many More playoff games. It was much More mentally and physically demanding on him Over that period of time than it was on Dionne or Zemault. I just think it takes its loll during a Busy summer Gretzky had to answer questions about the oilers toss to the Calgary flames in the playoffs Tail Spring. He said he did t mind the Gril Ling. When you re on lop you accept the accolades and when you lose you have to be prepared to answer the questions Grelite said. The flames won fair and Square and they deserved it the one advantage they had we that they prepared All year for us. They knew they were going to play usand they certainty wanted to beat us. When we beat the islanders we spent the whole year preparing for them so we had a Little bit of an advantage. That s afghan Wayne Guntz Lar. One year a a time what happened to us against  i Elsky says it la be a Lough season forthe oilers who had been favored last Spring to win their third straight Stanley cup. The Montreal Canadien won it knocking off Calgary in the final. I honestly have to say that 1 look at the coming season As a big Hill to climb. 1 think we have a lot to overcome. Right now the situation obviously could be a lot  Lucas helps others fight drug abuse Houston a former Houston rockets guard John Lucas says the Sam forces that drove him to be a lop athlete arc now driving him to help others fight nig dependency. Lucas currently undergoing treatment at a Houston Hospital for drug and Alco hol dependency has established a physical fitness program he says will help other patients during their drug treat ment i m the first celebrated athlete to admit to using drugs and i want to be the first athlete committed to solving the problem Lucas said thursday. The no. T enemy in this country today Are drugs and alcohol. I fed i can make a Small Impact an helping the  Lucas was released by the rockets on March i5 Afler he tested positive for co Caine for the second Lime in two seasons. Lucas says his experiences in rehabilitation convinced him of the need for More physical activity during recovery. Moil people come into drug treat ment undernourished out of shape and they Don l feel very Good about them selves Lucas said. After 30 Days on the program Yoa can t see a healthy mind but you can see a healthy body. With a healthy body stress goes and and self esteem goes up. 49ers Francis torn Between Hawaii football Redwood City Calif. Up san Francisco 49ers Light end Russ fran Cis Bas been pulled for nearly 2 years by two very disparate forces the Beauty and serenity of the hawaiian islands and the violence and noise of professional fool  be been trying to adapt to this game for 12 years said Francis who retired for a year from professional football in 1 982. Sometimes i think to losing the Battle. But what it comes Down to is i simply enjoy  combination of factors could make this season Francis Best. Eacho tear into zone defences or double coverages. Head coach Bill Walsh also likes id swing Roger Craig. Joe Cribbs or Tom Rath Man out of the Backfield 10 lie up at least one of the  resulting patterns usually leave Francis in a one on one situation Over the Middle with a linebacker to the 49ers season opening 31-7 Victory Over Tampa Bay Francis caught 6 passes for 91 Yards and was awarded a game Ball i was certainly very honoured to be Given the Ball for a game in which there were so Many key performances he said. That s what makes this so Spe  33-year-old said the key to san Francisco s passing game is the ability of quarterback Joe Montana and a group of Veteran receivers. It s a product of playing together for a number of years and really knowing How the other Guys Are going to react Francis  also plays a major Rote because we May run four different routes than the ones called in the huddle. It s our Job to read and react to the defense and his Job to read  but there is another Side to receiving a football  Are different Levels of fear a receiver goes through out there in a Pat Tern said Francis who saw former teammate Daryl Sling Ley paralysed by a hit in 1977. There is the fear that the quarterback won t Sec you. There is the fear that someone u going to Lake your head off. Then there is the fear you Are going to drop the Ball and be the Goat of the Century. That All goes through your mind in minuscule of a minute. Then it s re placed by a fierce sense of  As in every discussion with Francis talk which had entered on football slowly drifts to his other love Hawaii. I get a lot of support from the people of Hawaii Francis said. "1 have a made Lei a Lei of Green leaves from some friends hanging in my locker for Luck. Had a similar Lei hanging in my  1984 when the49era went 18-1 and won the super bowl