European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday augusts 1988 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary rain does t ruin Wembley s Parade your watch shows 3 30 . It s sunday in London. Two and a half hours until the american bowl kicks off at Wembley stadium. This Miami san Francisco Bash is an exhibition game. The National football league standings won t shake Over this. The British fans sure will. They flood into Wembley As if it s playoff time. They Wear dolphins and 49ers jerseys jets and giants Caps cowboys and redskins jackets. These Are fans. They Don t mind that Dan Marino and Joe Montana and Mark Clayton and Jerry Rice won t play much. They re Happy to have the nil in their o clock. One hour to Kickoff. The stands Are already 75-percent full. Miami s Vincent Warren and san Francisco s Roger Craig Lead their teams onto the Wembley grass. The 49ers band jazzed it up. The crowd goes Young the 49ers backup quarterback will later say he never Ever heard a crowd that loud for warmups. It was like Ron Jaworski the dolphins Reserve a a will compare the fanaticism to a super bowl.5 30. Time for the first wave. You forget to count but there have to be 10 Waves by game s ends. 5 45. San Francisco s cheerleaders enter. By the crowd explosion you think Montana has hit Rice for 80 Yards. 5 50. Miami s cheerleaders come on. If the fans sound delirious it s because they re watching 20 women built like Samantha Fox. And wearing barely As much.5 55. The . Marine color guard from London s Navy outfit marches onto the Field. The stands Are packed. Attendance will be announced As a sellout of 70,535. That s some 2,000 less than the year before. Yet you recall empty seats for the 1987 game and you see none Here. Reason Wembley offers less standing room. 5 58. A woman with a fabulous voice belts out the Star spangled some fans join in at of they All join in for god save the Buck Fox is Ken George 49ers running Back Terrence Flagler. Swept for to after Streaker s run 6 07. Miami s Fuad Reveiz kicks off to Joe Cribbs in the end zone. Jeff Cross makes the tackle at the 49ers 14. This game is on. 6 30. Rain. More like a flood. The fans Brave it better than the players who grab rain gear. The Only complaint from the crowd is Boring that s directed at the cheerleaders who cover their bodies with plastic o clock. The coast is Clear for a Streaker. Unlike in the 1986 game when a nude dude streaked Between the bears and cowboys this Guy wears clothes. And he s polite. Rather than interrupt Young s signal calling at the Miami 6-Yard line the fan complies with the referee s signal and runs to the sideline. Oblivious to that commotion Young hands to Terrence Flagler who sweeps for a touchdown and a 14-10 san Francisco Lead. 7 30. Halftime. The rain stops. The band strikes up the stars and stripes the fans participate with their Here we go Here we go bar. The Dolphin cheerleaders prance around with american and British flags. 8 45. Fourth Quarter. Marino and Montana Are Long gone. So Are their backups Jaworski and Young. In a stateside exhibition half the fans would be gone by now too. Wembley remains jammed and loud.8 50. The 49ers third Abjohn Paye directs them to Miami s 23. With a 21-20 Lead and six min utes left this one looks Over. But Paye fumbles the snap. Linebacker Eric Kumerow recovers. 9 10. The dolphins third a a Dave Archer Caps a 77-Yard drive with a Bootleg from the 4. The to gives Miami a 27-21 Lead. Just 1 28 remain. 9 20. Paye fumbles away the liners last Chance at the dolphins 36. Miami wins 27-21. The teams jog off to a powerful ovation. 9 30. The coaches meet the press. Don Shula says i had the same feeling on the sidelines As i do in Miami. The crowd enthusiasm and reaction was Bill Walsh says i think we put on a Good show for the British Walsh adds i Don t think Well be asked to return for a few years but i Don t want to run right Back. I la come Back personally. There s a lot to see 9 45. Someone mentions a Rumor about the saints and chiefs playing an exhibition in Germany next year. An nil official will say it s possible. As for London another packed party at the american bowl is As certain As the rain. The stars and stripes soviets defeat of Aba s Hawks has Thompson wishing for pros by Peter Alfano new York not the news from the soviet Union last week was a Little unsettling for John Thompson. The soviet team Defeated the Atlanta Hawks of the National basketball association in the final game of a closely contested three game exhibition series that was the Best barometer thus far of the Caliper of Competition the americans May face in the olym Pic games in Seoul South Korea in september. For Thompson the . Coach it Reaf firmed his Contention that this country can no longer simply Field a pickup team of outstanding collegians and win a Gold medal. The United states will again be favored to win the Gold medal they have failed to win Only once in olympic com petition. The loss was in 1972 in Munich West Germany when the soviet Union won in the closing seconds of a controversial final that had three endings. But the world has been slowly catching up to the United states in basketball at least to american collegiate basketball As interest increases american coaches give More clinics abroad and foreign players polish their Talent at universities in the United states. Some Call this giving away secrets others View it As a Type of cultural Exchange. In either Case Thompson sees trouble. Any time a soviet team beats the at Lanta Hawks you have to be concerned Thompson said in a Telephone Confer ence Call from the olympic training Camp at Georgetown University on monday. Thompson s biggest obstacle is time. Within a Span of a few months he must Field a team of players from different schools who can adapt to the system he uses at Georgetown. It amounts to a crash course in Basket Ball and a lot of big names Are left be Hind As Thompson stresses teamwork Over individual Talent. He would like to see basketball Fol Low the Lead of some other olympic sports and allow professionals to com Pete. An american team led by magic Johnson of the lakers and Larry Bird of the celtics would be expected to crush the opposition. As an alternative Thompson also sees Merit in having the option to Des Ignate the National collegiate Champi on As the United states team especially if it were a Strong team such As Georgetown was with Patrick Ewing at Center. It s a tremendous Honor for a player to be Able to represent his coun try Thompson said but at some Point we have to become realistic. There can t be one definition of a professional in this country and one definition in another. We need to use professional players against professional Thompson was an assistant to Dean Smith of North Carolina who coached the 1976 olympic team. Smith had four of his own players on that team which caused a mild controversy. Thompson said he could see the advantages though. He has been pleased with the work ethic of the players in his Camp. The problem is not the will to work but getting a conditioned response he said. The trademarks of his Georgetown teams Are the running game and pres sure defense which he Hopes will off set the size and strength of some of the european teams. Progress is slow however. These kids Are struggling to under stand what i want from them Thompson said. The olympians have been scrim making against Rookie teams fielded by the bullets the 76ers and the kicks because Thompson wants them to face teams that Are coached in a specific style. The first exhibition game will be against a team of Aba players saturday in Providence . I m concerned though he said. I want our team to play defense against set plays like Well face in the olympics instead of one on one play ers. During the season your players roles Are established but these kids have to make adjustments. Some will be making three passes More than they re accustomed Thompson May be just showing the pessimistic Side that coaches appear to favor especially when anything less than a Gold medal would be consid ered a big disappointment. He also said that he welcomed the pressure. There is pressure on the staff and players he said but it s the world we live in and enjoy. We accept the Challenge and responsibility. No one made us do one Man team wants to own one Inglewood Calif. A magic Johnson who has been a franchise Type player for the los Angeles lakers wants someday to become a franchise owner. I want to be an Aba owner John son said at a news conference tuesday to promote his third annual Benefit All Star game at the forum sunday. I be told Aba commissioner David Stern that when i m out of the game i d like to buy an expansion team or any team that became available. I be already made my move. I m going to put on a suit and get involved in big business and with charities said Johnson who recently helped the lakers win their second consecutive Aba title. I be already started a marketing com Pany and am meeting with ceo s chief executive officers. I be always had other people handle those things for me but now i m meeting those people my Post playing career Johnson has ruled out is coaching. I be been travelling for nine years now. Its hard but i enjoy it because i m playing Ball. I Don t think i d enjoy it As a coach Johnson said. Johnson expects to raise Between $600,000 and $700,000 for the United negro College fund from the game and a dinner auction saturday. I d gone to a lot of dinners and always wanted to help but did t know How an which organization needed help Johnson said. Some of my friends looked into it and said the Unco needed the Money the most. I was just going to have a dinner but i was in bed one Day thinking Why not have a game too "
