European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday Jura 3, 1988 the stars and strikes Paga 23 commentary sports skinned under an s knife it s thursday morning. You re groggy from hearing he pistons celtics game. No wonder you miss an s 6 10 . Radio sports report. You re barely conscious when the 7 22 sports ral lies your Panasonic. What was that braves pirates result again no Biggie. Good of an snorts will serve another Scafi and eggs plate at 9 03. You won t go hungry for scores. Or will you Good of an sports has turned into bad new an sports the Pas month. For gel the Steak and eggs. Get ready for dry Cereal. On the 9 03 sports update an gives you a morsel on the . Olympic women s basketball Tri als then a Pinch of Pepperdine baseball. The Only thing you can sink your to cell into is the pistons Victory. But no baseball scores. Not one and 12 games were played the night before. Your stomach growls in anger. Is this morning fast an aberration at american forces network maybe a bitter diet Pill while the rest of an s sports reports bulge sadly no. Starting May 2, vast radio program Ming changes forced sports to Lake it in the gut on every news and sports Slot 6 ., 7 ., 9 ., noon 6 . And 10p.m. The deepest Cut hit the 6 . Newscast. An slashed that sports show from is minutes to 10 min utes. That s a 33-percent knife Job. This us a to by an radio s fines hour. Or at least finest is minutes. Sports would hit the air at 6 15 . And go through a myriad of scores inter views and commentaries until 6 30. The show made room for baseball football basketball hockey Bob Colas Frank Deford Steve Harvey you name in. La rivalled some of the Best packages on stateside radio. Those 15 minutes were an sports meal ticket. The formal goes Back to the 1960s when the 15-min Ute sports journal would Lead into the 6 . News. You did l mess with those is minutes. No mat Bucky Fox ice How Many massive changes churned through an especially on to those 15 minutes in the 6 . Radio Slot were As steady As bread on Butler. Until May 2, 1988. Without warning an scorched five minutes off its sports meal ticket. Its bread and Butler turned into Burnt Toast. The first night of the slashing i thought my watch was fast. The second night of the Cut i called an in Frankfurt to complain. A sports reporter answered. He explained thai news programmers wanted sports casters to help with newscasts. The news program mers thought the sportscasters would t have Lime to formulate a 15-Minulc sports show anymore. I asked the sports reporter if he agreed with that theory. He replied no that building a 15-Minutc sportscast was not much tougher than doing a i 0-minute Job. I listened to a few More of these sportscast to hear How hollow hey realty sounded. Corning on the air at 6 20, Milt Fitzwalter or Tom Williams would Rush through Aba arid baseball scores then offer a Bob Edwards interview. That was it. Good night next sports Al 10. How hollow is that after decades of 15 minutes an sports showcase lacks its trophies. That s Only one victim of an s sports Guil Lotine. An sportscasters used to present Al sin daily reports live. With a few exceptions they had a Good feel for their listeners and gave up to Lac minute sports. Since the May massacre a newscaster reads the sports at 6 10 . At 7 22 . And 1209 ., we hear a ape of an armed forces radio and television service sportscast or in los Angeles sometimes that can be fun like when Many Hond Croft said of Billy Martin s dirt kicking spree. Billy. Billy Billy. What s a Mother to do but although the a fits sportscasters speak Well enough they limit their shows to scores and inter views. They never give us analyses by Howard Cosell and pal o Brien who was the neatest commentator to Wake up to at 7 22. As for that 9 03 . Sports lip Dale which up dates Little anymore someone in the an Stadta needs a Back to Basic sports lesson. Irritated by these sports shortchanged i asked an to explain them. Here s one answer. The change was made Loen Able an radio to comply with inc Mission tasking to provide timely distribution of regional command and Community  translation an wants Fitzwater and Williams to take Lime from their sports duties so they can present Neucom  this is a ivc minium show at 12 15 . That offers such critical matters As commissary advice and baby food problems. An says in has not Cut sports in menu Hilary which is exactly what in Lias done. The network also has the Gall to say there has been no reduction in sports news  Tunny. But turning a 15-Minutc show into a la minute squeeze sounds like a reduction. I asked an if the sports changes arc permanent. Answer nothing is Ever permanent we consider a number of factors when programming decisions arc made and continually look for ways to improve news and information services to the  Here arc three ways i. Give your audience Hack that 15-Minulc sportscast in the 6 . Slot 2.  an sportscast cars present sports 3. Quit turning an into anything for news especially at he starvation of sports. Tin sw1 ind she Isiah Thomas keyed pistons comeback by the associated pros wednesday s Star Isiah Thom As. Pistons scored a game High 35 Points 29 of them after halftime i n Detroit s 02 96 overtime Victory Al Boston Garden. Thomas who hit 11 of 20 Field goal Al tempts after halftime also contributed eight rebounds five assists and four steals in 47 minutes As the pistons Drew to within one game of clinching their first berth in the Aba finals since 1956, when they were the fort Wayne pistons. Of lord from the beginning of the third Quarter on wednesday night Thomas whose full name is Isiah lord Thomas Iii made 11 of 20 shots from the Field. In that same Span the entire Boston celtics team made 12 of 48 Shols. Jekyll and Hyde Detroit for Ward Dennis Rodman scored 10 Points on s-for-7 shooting wednesday night and improved his postseason Field goal percentage to .480. From the foul line however Rodman missed both of his at tempts to drop his playoff free throw numbers to 11 makes in 31 iries a horrid percentage of .35s. Half and half on wednesday night in game 5, Boston made 21 of 40 first half Field goal attempts or 52,5 per cent. In the second half and overtime the celtics made 12 of 48 shots or 2s percent. Forward Larry Bird who Sank five of 10 shots in the opening two periods missed 11 of i $ for the rest of inc game. Of Fer 8 49 one game after the Detroit pistons remarkable o-for-20 shoot ing slump that lasted 10 11, the celtics suffered a similar drought wednesday night missing 12 consecutive Shols in an 8 49 Span of their 102-96 game 5 loss. Boston leading by 12 before the chill hit were out so Refl 9-2 during the drought see saw Detroit guard Joe do Mars last three performances in the Aba notes Eastern conference finals have been a study in inconsistency. In game 3, Dumars scored 29 Points on l2-for-21 shooting. In game 4, do Mars was l-Fqr-10 from the Field and to tales four Points. On wednesday night Dumars made eight of 14 shots from inc Field and finished with 18 Points. Thanks for showing up bos Ion guard Danny Ainge the team s third leading scorer during the regular season with a 5.7-Point average continued to struggle wednesday night going scoreless in 47 minutes. Ainge d-for-6from the Field in the celtics 102-96 game j loss is shoot ing just 40.s percent from the floor this postseason and averaging Only 12.3 Points fifth Best on the celtics. Gang Green Boston starters played 235 of 265 possible minutes wednesday night an average of 47 per player. The numbers compiled by celtics reserves in 30 minutes of action illustrate Why . Jones is less than eager to use his Bench. In 30 minutes sin players combined to score two Points on l-for-4 shoaling. They failed to grab any rebounds or As Sist on any baskets committed nine per Sonal fouls made one steal and turned inc Ball Over twice. Pat and Matt ii Pat Williams who hired Matty Guokas to coach the Fhil Islah Thomas 29 second half Points sparked the pistons in wednesday up Floto i Good Liams now president of the expansion or Lando magic announced wednesday he signed the 44-year-old Guokas to a Nrec year contract to be the team s first head coach. Guokas despite a 119-88 record Al the mixers Helm was fired by 76ers owner Harold Katz Early this season. Trivia barring any further changes who will be the senior coach in terms of continuous service in the Aba s Atlantic divisional the Start of next season speaking if i have to take 30 or 40 shots i m going to shoot the Ball. I m not going to lose my Confidence i m either going to shoot us out of it or shoot us into in. A Loi of great players come into this league and never gel in a championship series game. My whole focus is on jelling  Detroit s Isiah Thomas after his 29 Points after halftime spurred the pistons to a 102-96 Victory at Boston Garden and moved them to with in one game of reaching the Aba finals. I s getting to the Point right now where we re wondering what the hell s wrong with the  Boston for Ward Kevin Mchale on the celtics shooting woes Boston the league s Best percentage team Al .521 during the regu Lar season has made 41.8 percent of its Field goal tries in the East final against ctr Oil. Trivia answer Rick Pitino of the new York kicks