European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday february 14,1367 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Skunk a Dunk stinks up Safe slam Dunk Owooh huh it s Soo too exciting. It can Lake hostile crowd right out of a game ii ran put a borne crowd right Back into it. In the Etc going in can break the Back of an oppo nent that has been leading the entire game it can give a much needed adrenaline fix to Tarn mails that could t get Buck on defense the last time Down the court. All or the sudden it s the other team that can t setback on defense your teammates who a minute ago were huffing and puffing just standing there dribbling the Ball now Glide Down the court with the Power of an f-15 Eagle on Takeoff. The game changes. The crowd changes. The teams change. A Dunk makes a definitive statement. Don t tread on me Midder cause i la stuff that round son of a by cup in your face again next time we May go Down but John Paul Jones has taken Over at Centero this team and we have not yet begun to fight Owooh huh tis exciting in t it in his run and gun life this fast break of a world is there anything More final than a stuff by a 6-foot-6, 225-Pound ? is there anything More  than whether thai 6-6 monster has the Power 10 bring Down the backboard Ala Darryl Dawkims so what could possibly be wrong with a Dunk Well it s hard to believe but in could backfire. In Stead of slam Dun you could gel., slam Clunk instead of ending up in someone s face it could end up All the Way Back at half court in the hands of an opponent who quickly turns it into a 4-on-j fas break. Ii can give new life to a team thai a minute ago saw no possible Chance of winning. If you miss a slam Dunk that is the ultimate choke Job. Get out your red so Cap put on a cubs Jersey. Think it can t happen think again. It happens alot More often lately As the hype of hitting a slam has made it the Moil overrated shot in basketball. It happened Asl week at the Safe men s Basket Ball tournament. Not just once but time and Lime again. In one instance in Cost a team the game against the eventual Champion Alconbury spartans. You knew ii was a bad sign when the Brand Newby Nwaters gym saw it s backboard cracked in prac Tice by someone attempting a what else slam Dunk want to hear a stupid question Why is there a need to practice a slam junk then tourney time hit. Mildenhall extended Alconbury to double overtime in the Surprise of the tournament and had the Ball on the fast break with2 40 left and an 86-84 Lead. The pass goes in to marauders Center Bruce Wii Tim Bovim photo Lorms by Richard Road combo airy Fields 51 and mild stuuts Unm Wil Liams 41 should Hare Stock to in ups Liams in the Lane tightly guarded by the Only spartan Back to Slop the fast break. Williams extends himself into the air reaches Over his smaller opponent an rattles the rim backboard ceiling supports and prob ably the roof of the gym. All that noise but he does t score tile bucket. Not Only does it Bounce off into the stands from the Back of the rim but Williams hangs on tothe Iron for a technical. Alconbury s William Lewis cans two free throws for an 86-86 tic then the spar tans Estell spartan scores his Only bucket of the game with 1 40 left for the winning Points. What could have been an 88-84 Mildenhall Lea with 2 40 left in the game instead becomes a 91-87 Alconbury win. The spartans go on to win the title. Several coaches in the crowd Shook their collective Heads in disgust. Rhein main s Tim fancy said when will they learn they Don t have As much Spring in their step As they did Al the Sian of the game. Running up and Down the court All game like that they just Don t have enough strength left to make he  fancy goes on to add. You know thai probably was t the first time he s done that 1 1 is year. It s probably always been of that s of Well get the rent week before. What the coach needs to do is sit the Young Man Down when he docs that and say lock we Don t do things like that around Here " there was t a next week for the marauders Las week. There was t even a tomorrow. With an 0-2 record after the Alconbury game they did t have a Hance o make the semifinals. Williams was t the Only one to go slam Clunk Inthis tournament. Simbach went without a win in the tournament but Center Kenneth Johnson did leave without trying to Tattoo his own personal Don t tread on me message on the rams Cin rams. Johnson missed three dunks in the tigers 90-72loss to the rams the third coming with his team trailing 60-55 with 11 13 left. If he had gone for Tay ins instead and made them his team would have been up 61-60 and it May have been a different game. As it us. The tigers ran out of Gas but Johnson still stayed mad enough to Block three rams Cin slam attempts. I Floc tigers won he would have gone from Goat to hero but since they lost he went from Goat to lovable loser. Everybody in the gym could identify with the Pride he exhibited in that hopeless situation. Even Comiso s Larry Fields inc tournament map missed a slam. In the comets 99-92 Victory that ousted the Host Ben Walers phantoms from the tournament. Fields cruised Dow court unmolested to a i tempi a slam. At 6-2, 225, the fans Rose in anticipation of a rim rattling monster slum from the soft spoken Comiso Center. But instead. Fields started his leap Loo Early and banged it off the front of the rim. When asked about the miss Fields said it just slipped that s All. I had the height the jump i very thing but it just slipped out Onfroy.  so whats wrong with the slam Dunk to often it slips too often the players Are too tired Loo often the Ball slams Oil take your pick the from Back or Side of the rim. The truth is. Loo often it s just Plain missed. The slam Dunk is overrated. Always has been always will be. It was interesting to note that the Well coached Alconbury spartans tutored by Hob Russell when they had a Chance chose Lay ups in Stead of dunks. They said up Low for he title watch ing other teams slam their Way out of the tournament. A Layup May not be As flashy it May not bring the crowd to its feet but it scores the two. Coaches should slam thai print Home to their players. T s Batter up time in the soviet Union by Charles Mitchell Moscow up the reds Are coming but these ballplayers arc definitely not from Cincinnati. The soviet Union has entered a base Ball learn to compete in the 1990 Good Wilt games in Seattle the Ted Turner sponsored event that made its debut in Moscow last year. The soviet Union s adoption of the american pastime is no joke according to Yuri pol nov the head of the game department of the soviet state sports committee the supreme ruling body of sports in the country pol nov a pleasant Clear eyed bureaucrat who bears a close resemblance to Robert Bedford in the natural Points to soviet performances in such imported Western sports As ice hockey and basketball As to what can happen when the soviet sports machine takes game seriously. One Day we envision playing i reunited slates team like we do in ice hockey and basketball. A there will Bea real world series one Day pol nov said. When such a statement is made in a office of the state sports committee under the watchful Eye of a portrait of Lenin it goes beyond a Promise. It is a commitment. Pot nov said the introduction of base Ball As a trial sport in both the 1984 los Angeles and 1988 Seoul olympic game convinced the Kremlin the time has come to include baseball As an official soviet sport we were spurred on by two considerations by two  said pot nov. Baseball wat introduced into the olym Pic program and in will be a part of the Goodwill games in 1990. These Are the two main reasons we got involved  the sport has its own budget with the stale sports Structure although pot nov says he cannot disclose the enact amount of Money to be invested in the soviet baseball program. This year major soviet cities including Moscow. Leningrad and Kiev will have teams in a soviet National baseball league. Stale work Bri Gades Are Busy building Fields All Over in country. The soviet Union May not be on its own for Long As a baseball playing nation in the East bloc. Pot nov said both Poland and Czechoslovakia Are seriously considering setting up National baseball programs As Well. The comrades of summer Are Starling literally from scratch and virtually All the soviet knowledge of baseball has been culled from video tapes and american books on the games. Translators Are currently working on russian version of the baseball Rule Book and other instructional booklets. Basic rules Are to be published in mass circulation sports magazines like  team sport and i vulture i sport physical culture and sport. Pot nov said baseball has a certain a peal 10 the masses although its unofficial debut in Moscow last october Drew Les than 200 fans. Most of them left after a few innings in utter bewilderment. I be never seen anything Ike in beforehand can t understand a thing said one curious fan. Ihu pot nov believes that attitude run contrary to the essence of the game from one Point of View ill simplicity for spectators is appealing. Every spec Tator in his heart watches a game and participates and he thinks he can do i better himself Tomov said adding one of the aspects of televised american baseball he likes Best Are the advertise ments with inc move towards More open Ness debate and criticism in soviet society players May even be permitted to argue with the  remains a serious problem but Cuba a country run by a former Pitcher named Castro has agreed to help. A Deal for the manufacture of gloves and bats under License in the soviet Union is expected to be signed late this year. The Lenin Komsomol car Factor squad near Moscow has been using ice hockey gloves to practice indoors until they receive a shipment of gloves. Catch ers Wear goalie masks and hockey Chest protectors. Lathe operators have donated their time to manufacture bats on the Field instruction has come from third world baseball playing Stu dents from communist countries like Cuba and Nicaragua studying in mos cow