European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 24 the stars and stripes Friday july 15,1988 commentary indoor game s really off the Wall How would you like to have a pro football team that scored 52 Points and could t even beat the spread How about could t even win the game How would you like to have a quarterback who can Complete a touchdown pass from his own end zone to the other end zone on the Fly How would you like to have a quarterback who throws 10 touchdown passes in a single game and still needs a last minute rally to win the game like to have a quarterback who throws for 42 touchdowns and 1975 Yards in just 9 games and wins Only 4 of them would you like to coach a team in which the highest paid Guy on it makes $1,000 a game i which the lowest paid Guy on it makes $1,000 a game no we re not talking about some people s demo cratic Republic of East Europe Here we re talking about the United states of America. Has socialism come to american football no but miniaturization has. It s closest football. The half court game. Fast break football. Would you like to coach a game where All but three Guys Are eligible to catch a Forward pass where As a matter of fact the Only ones who can t legally catch it Are the Guy who throws it the Guy who centers it and the one Guy who blocks for it. That s the kind of game we used to play in the streets. Everybody go out for a Long one football. You Don t have to worry about hang time on punts in this game. No punts. Your team always has Good Field position. Goodfield position in the nil by definition is anything inside the 50-Yard line. You re on the opponent s 49-Yard-line even when you re on your own 1-Yard-line. This robs to announcers of one of their Best and Libs. The jets have Good Field position in this game you have Good Field position coming out of the locker room. We re talking of course of Arena football the indoor game the illegitimate child of George Halas Jim Thorpe and the four horsemen. It began with the Decatur Staley and the Canton bulldogs and it s come to this. There Are 8 players on the team 19 on a squad of whom 18 can play. The 19th gets in a game Only if one of the ones on the Field can t Frost a Glass or remember his first name. Jim Murray there s none of this la Dee Dah platoon system. When you re on the Field you re it. Two re the wide receiver and the cornerback the flanker and the free safety. You have to remember whether to try to Bat the Ball Down or run with it. You be heard of the Flea Flicker play Well How this the quarterback fades Back into his own end zone if necessary and lofts a Long one which goes through the other team s end zone and bounces off the Fence and carols into the arms of a wide receiver in the end zone. Incomplete pass huh. Touchdown. Illegal Man downfield no such thing. The Only time a Ball is dead is if a customer catches it. Or it lands in a hot dog stand. Otherwise it s like Golf. Play is As it lays. No foul balls in this business. Stay awake. Sound like fun it is. The players keep moving and the clock keeps moving. If it did to score would be in three digits. You would t know whether a . Score was Aba or Afa. As it is the scoreboard keeps just one blink away from a nervous breakdown and some nights it s like a Stock Exchange ticker in a panic 10 minutes behind the trading on the the floor. It s a table stakes games. It was the intent of the Powers that be in the invention of this Pool without pockets to keep the High rollers out the Donald Trumps and the Texas big Rich who seem to manipulate athletics for their own non sporting up poses. Here the league runs the teams not vice versa. The playing Field is exactly half the size of a nor Mal Gridiron 50 Yards by 25. Not Only do the nets behind the goal line come into play so do the Walls along the sidelines. They have broken up More plays and players than Homicidal halfback on de sense. The Walls Are the Only ones who can play zone but like the linebackers they cannot Blitz either. Well one and Only one linebacker can Blitz but Only in a restricted zone 1 Yard on either Side of the Center which is not really a Blitz since a True Blitz depends on the element of Surprise in direction Ray Willsey is in charge of this strange menagerie that is part football part hockey and part Street fight in a hallway. It s a Little like playing baseball with 45-foot base paths basketball with a 5-foot Basket. It requires some adjustment. Nothing Ray Willsey can t handle. A career coach who left a business major at Mit no less to pursue a life in x s and o a Ray began his coaching i Canada where thay have some funny rules too. He went from there to the universities of Washington and Texas returned to his Alma mater California where he was head coach and athletic director until one Day an unsympathetic administration instructed him to fire two assistants for overeager recruiting. Academicians who would have marched in the streets to free a murderers on a technicality wanted to throw two coaches and their families into unemployment for an illegal visit to a football Prospect s Home. I told them to fire me first Willsey recalls. They Willsey lasted 9 years with Al Davis and the raid ers. Which would seem to prepare a Man for any thing from putting out Oil Well fires to collecting waterfront Loans. Or coaching Arena football. Willsey Wel comes the Challenge. His . Cobras came late into this wild card game that can Only be likened to spit in the Ocean poker or seven card stud Low Hole card and All like it wild. Willsey s team lost its first three games in which it nevertheless scored 52, 35, and 43 Point but then reeled off a 4-2 record. Someone said it s saturday night live football and you half expect Eddie Murphy to show up bark ing signals under the Center. But it can be crawling in a bag with a Leopard grins Willsey. It does have its advantages. When Ray wanted total the incomparable wide receiver Cliff Branch into returning to the game and Cliff was undecided Ray was equal to the persuasion. Look at it this Way he urged. If they moved the Mound up half Way to 30 feet 3 inches in baseball Satchel Paige would still be pitching would t he and getting everybody out. Well you got a 30-foot Mound to pitch yeah but in regular football the Fence never got in the pattern and 66 Points won 10 out of 10 games. The los Angeles times optimistic Sidney 30, embarks on fifth quest for her first medal by Bert Rosenthal a track writer Indianapolis As she approaches 30, Mary Decker Slaney the Best woman s distance runner in american history is optimistic that Shell finally get that elusive olympic medal. With the Seoul games still More than two months away the Oft injured Slaney has to get through the . Olympic Tri als which begin Friday at the Indiana University track and Field stadium. But All signs Are in her favor As she Points for a possible double in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters. The 3,000 will be contested first i both the trials and the olympics and she has made that event her no. 1 priority because of her celebrated collision with Zola Budd during the 1984 los an Geles games. The 3,000 is one of the eight distance Between 800 meters and 10,000 meters in which Slaney owns american records. She also is the world record Holder inthe mile the 1983 world Champion in the 1,500 and 3,000, the 1979 pan Amer ican games Gold medallist in the 1,500 and a four time National Champion once in the 800, twice in the 1,500 and once in the 3,000. Olympic trials but All that pales in comparison wit Slaney s obsession about winning an olympic medal. She was denied a Chance to compete inthe olympic trials in 1972 because at 13 she was too Young. She missed the 1976trials because of injury. Along with All other americans she could not compete in the 1980 Moscow games because of the american Boycott. And in 1984, she had the great fall. Slaney came Back with a vengeance in 1985, going undefeated in 14 races. The she took a maternity leave in 1986 and missed the 1987 outdoor and 1988 in door seasons because of injuries. Now however she is in excellent condition. She has run four track races this year and won them All easily. Most importantly she has been pain free. I m healthier than i be been in years Slaney said i be been doing harder training. I be been doing extensive track workouts. Longer runs. And there has t been an muscle Slaney realizes that she will need More than the four preliminary races and the five in the trials a semifinal and final in the 3,000 Friday and sunday and a heat a semifinal and a final in the 1,500next wednesday thursday and saturday to be ready for the Tough Competition of the olympics. So after the trials Slaney plans to Goto Europe on aug. 5 one Day after her 30th birthday and compete in a Mil eat London or Malmo Sweden a 3,000 at Zurich Switzerland on aug. 17, and a1,500 at Cologne West Germany on aug. 21. Whether she runs both the 1,500 and3,000 in the trials and in the games will depend on How Well she comes out of the3,000. Given my injury history i will make my final decision to double after the 3,000," she said. The schedules this time in the trials and the games Are much More favourable than they were in1984. Four years ago there were six races Over five Days. This time the races Are spread Over nine Days and the 3,000 i finished before the 1,500 starts and it gives me a Chance to see How i this year i want to concentrate on the 3,000," Slaney said but i hate to Mary Slaney. Medal looks possible give up the Chance for a double when the schedule is so accommodating. The olympic schedule is exactly the same As the trials. It s Good for that double. I want an olympic medal preferably a Gold. Right now it looks possible. I just Hope it
