European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page in the stars and stripes monday september 29, 1986 columns 2 weeks vacation without sports by Andy Rodney i propose that each year we Lake a two week Vaca Tion from All professional sports. Late August or february would be a food Lime to give All of us this much needed rest during which Al professional teams and individual players would Stop competing l would give us 3 Chance to pay Tome attention to the National debt foreign affairs our own financial mailers and the family. Baseball fans might feel that August would be a bad Lime for baseball o pause but if we plan carefully it would t Hurt baseball. For example there is no reason they could t still have the playoffs and to world series Over before labor Day. There s so much that s tiresome about profession Al sports. For example we desperately need some Lime away from the radio and television reporters who give us the results. I can t take much More of Boston edged Toronto Cleveland blasted Baltimore Houston whipped at Lanta. Chicago routed Oakland and Cincinnati triumphed Over san  we know a learn never simply wins or loses a game. A vacation from pro sports might help each sport get Back on schedule. There s something unnatural about having a sport played out oils season. As much As i love pro football 1 Rind it offensive to have it played in 90-degree weather in  is for the fall when the weather is. Crisp. If football creeps into november and Early de Cember that s acceptable but football in july or Jan uary is nol. Neither is baseball acceptable m octo Ber. There Are indoor stadiums in several cities nowbut indoors can t change the atmosphere of the out doors surrounding the stadium. Indoor Arenas arc acceptable for circuses ice hockey and basketball but they re wrong for football and baseball. The annual convergence and overlapping of the baseball season with pro football is bad Tor both sports and it divides the nation. Football fans Don t like to have the world series interfere Wilh to Cir regular season and baseball fans seem to think All the television sets in the country belong to them during the series. Friction is inevitable. A vacation from professional sports would be As Good for the athletes As for the fans. The seasons Are obviously Loo Long for the players. Golf and Tennis professionals play incessantly. You can look in the paper any Day of the week any week of the year Andrea that Ivan Lendl advanced to the final of some thing. Week after week Martina Navratilova beats everyone else. It must be As Dull for the players As it is for the fans. Was it Likely for instance that Pam Shriver would beat Martina to the . Open Iceni tourney or that someone other than Ivan Lendl or Boris Becker would win the men s division if Alt the entrants had t already played each other 25 limes this year there might have been some suspense. Would further propose that during the two wee vacation from professional sports the play the teams and the agents Btl All business negotiations out of he Way. There would be absolutely no talk about Money at any other time of year. If a satisfactory arrangement for pay could t be arranged in iwo weeks that would be the end of it. Talk of whether player would get 110 million Over a period of two years or $2 million Over a period of 10 years would cease when the vacation ended. When of eff that s the question by James j. Kilpatrick when John Mcenroe and Tatum o Neal we remarried in Oyster Bay n.y., the associated press quo cd inc roman Catholic priest who performed the ceremony this is the culmination of them knowing each other so  not Long after the a reported the nuptial ceremony inc los Angeles Herald examiner reported on . S decision not 10 hire 42 teachers from Spain. Said inc personnel administrator their language skills were such there was a question of them being Able to communicate in a class where there were nol just bilingual  Jann Mccroy of Birmingham ala., raises a ques Tion that persistently has troubled newspaper editors. How far should we go in correcting the grammar of sources we quote what editorial changes should we make in letters to the editor Sci us assume that father Byrns in new York an Kathy Price in los Angeles were quoted accurately. Lei us further assume that each of them meant to Hook a Gerund to a proper possessive pronoun. The intended to say their knowing each other Ana their being Able to communicate but they were not writing for publication they were just talking with reporters. Would have tidied up the quotations on the grounds that such a minor emendation would notch Anu the sense of i hair remarks and that newspapers Nave an obligation not Only to be accurate but also to be kind. Some of my Brothers and Sisters will disagree with that policy. Accuracy is important to us. If we Correct or edit with too heavy a hand we May Drain All tic flavor and personality from a quotation or a letter. Ver Mont Royal or retired editor of the Wall Street Jour Nal tells a Story from his Days As a cub reporter. Hews covering a police lineup that involved a woman suspect in a robbery. Suddenly that s her cried inc witness. Royster wrote his Story that Way. A Prim and proper copy editor changed it to read that is she. The color wished out. Bad editing. There Are other occasions when accuracy counts for More than kindness. Given a transcript of a Crim Inal trial or a presidential press conference we arc obliged to stick absolutely to the record. Quoting president Reagan is a vexatious experience Tor our Leader is capable of the nost garbled syntax since Eisenhower slept in the White House. What did Rea Gan mean to say we must ask Larry up cakes to provide an English text the next Day. I know of no Rule of Universal application. 1 spent17 years editing letters to the editor. Our Rule was to Correct every error in spelling and grammar. In print All of our correspondents were As literate As Oxford dons. Perhaps we went Loo far but it made for easier Reading and unencumbered comprehension. We we retrying to do our correspondents a favor. These Are not easy issues to decide. Two questions have Arisen about those trouble making verbs lie and Lay. The smithsonian institution in july mailed a flier for a Caribbean cruise it was promoting As your Clipper yacht lays at an Chor in a secluded Cove on the West coast a newspaper reported a homicide police let inc body Lay in a crumpled Heap on the  is there some nautical exception to the general Rule that Lay lakes an object Bui lie never does would have had that body lying not laying in the Street c pm Vul Prau off off today s crossword by Elcene s1ieffer across 1 on equal vuluel5 tipple 8 roman censor 12 Spanish inss14 ancient Caun Liyin chefs nerd 36 Early persians 37 hut few Are "40 ventilate 41 plunder12 n?p-4llh it new i Lili ind  i 20 invllnl23 Smull rwtfnl24 taut that Lei in hnmi1is Koch in item 28 Cut "ft�9 Kirsi Siton of sprint?30 Crown 32  3 Busy plan 35 Sale lag 41 English Queen 48 Poison remedy 49 pome frail50 humorist 51 soap franc bar Down i silly one z Popeye Swee 3 sky god4 Gran chair0 talc Honfi palm6 Ain t shame?"7 crepes 8 forty inks 9 barren10 eur Plant s ear11 hebrew 13 Robert or Donna solution time 28 mine. 9-29 saturday s answer 19 Al nor loppers20 trouble 21 it s before log lit or watch Zzz military cap29 causes distress sub cranium 26 amino or carbolic 27 wheel Hub 29 Church Pun 31 fowl like organ33 annual festival34 ruler Al Palestine and sons36 the South of prance37 applaud 3� sharpen39 Chaplin 40 it a before Dale or room 43 old place with you"44 calamity 45 Howery ailment46 of b-29 Hubert thank goodness Rita s soft opera remind