European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 25, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 25,1989 the stars and stripes Page 23 super bowl Xxiii Nof a Greaf game but a great finish by Tony Kornheiser Washington Post before we get swept away by the rampaging cur rents of verse adoringly crafted to celebrate the Best Ever by far and Don t you dare say it was t super bowl let s ask ourselves what Well remember most from the fabulous first second and third quart ers the 3-d diet Coke commercial. The heart stopping suspense of Bud bowl i. The relentless volcanic Parade of touchdowns by Cincinnati and san Francisco. At the risk of being labelled revisionists let s review the highlights of the first 44 minutes and 24 seconds from super bowl Xxiii Early in the first Quarter Ortho pudists were enthralled As collective three and individual two super bowl records for broken leg Bones were established. Steve Wallace broke his left Fibula on the third play. Tim Krumrie broke his left Fibula and left Tibia afew minutes later. Though Krumrie s injuries were too severe to allow him to play Hurt he was Able to watch Hurt and until doctors ordered him to a Hospital latin the game he remained in the Cincinnati locker room lying on a Stretcher drinking Beer and viewing the game on to. Moving right along with our highlights late in the second Quarter we had the Chance to see Bill if you Don t think i m smart ask me Walsh pensively Otto attempt the shortest Field goal in super bowl history rather than go five feet for a touchdown then get skunked when the snap was Lousy. Other than that both teams mostly went nowhere. San Francisco started one series on its own 11, and seven plays later punted from its own 12.another 49ers series went bad lateral minus-10sack minus-4 and lost Fumble in three plays. Cincinnati having called two successive timeouts to acquire the Ball at the end of the first half sent in a showstopper Boomer Kneel Down. It was 3-0 after one Quarter 3-3 after two 6-6 witless than one minute left in the third. If it was any More football it would have been soccer. Great de sense so How come All the announcers talked about were missed opportunities it was t a great game. Commentary what it was was a great finish. By far the Jestever. Nil executives Are saying thanks we needed that. Without a great finish people would be remembering that super bowl week began with startling riots in Overtown and Liberty City and that super sunday its own self began with the discouraging new that Stanley Wilson had yet again offered himself up to the terrible lure of cocaine. Without that great finish super bowl xxii would have been framed at both ends by human trag Edy. At least now there s a stirring human Victory to counterbalance a worrisome week. The great finish bore witness to the spirit of exultation and achieve ment under pressure. From Stanford Jennings Kickoff return to John Taylor s decisive catch it bathed us All in glory a Small and tender mercy. Joe Montana the Terry Bradshaw of the 80s, combined with Jerry Rice the Lynn Swann of the 80s, to make the san Francisco 49ers the Pittsburgh Steeler Sof the 80s. It s always a pleasure when one player can single hand edly account for All the relevant if somewhat exaggerated Praise. Thanks to Cris Collinsworth for say ing Joe Montana is not human. I Don t want to Cal him a god but he s definitely somewhere in Between. " we had them first Down on their 8-Yard line wit three minutes to go and somebody came up to me and said we got pm now i said have you taken a look at who s quarterbacking the 49ers? that s what it comes Down to. He s maybe the greatest player whoever played the  further thanks to Collinsworth for adding Jerry Rice has t been playing Long enough to be called the greatest receiver Ever to play this game but maybe by some time next week hell have earned  i Don t suppose anyone who saw the game has any trouble with All that. Eight seasons ago a Callow Montana announce himself to the nil by leading the 49ers across 89 Yards in four minutes against Dallas culminating inthe catch by Dwight Clark. Now in less than three minutes a More experienced and not nearly As blon Montana took them 92 Yards in the drive. Where there were Clark and Freddie Solomon to throw to there Are Rice and Roger Craig. On Bill Walsh s 49ers it s always been about  and catchers. Beat you Short beat you Long. Well go to the blackboard last Guy with the Chal wins. And the constant the fixed Star is Montana. Montana the Dutiful student of Walsh s system the customized vehicle for Walsh s schemes the perfect Extension of Walsh s ego because Montana has no apparent ego of his own. For years people have agreed that Walsh s lips Don move but they wonder where he s attached the strings to Montana s head. I owe everything that s happened Here to Bill Montana said unprompted. He got the Best from us when we were Young and he s getting Thebes from us As we get  Walsh returned the compliment by praising Montana s performance As being determined and at the same time icy and poised and thinking clearly which is precisely the Way Walsh would describe himself. So when Walsh says it was a pleasure to be out there with him it s subliminally redundant. They re two of a kind Cool and deliberately detached. I try not to have any feelings during the game Walsh said most reveal ugly. I try to coach the game like i looking through a window like i m not even in the  if he could Walsh would probably operate Montana by Remote control. The soldering question for the 49ers now on that s never fully been extinguished since Walsh won his first super bowl in 1981 is whether he will stator go on one hand Walsh talks of severe stress an isolation on the other he talks of reveling in his Job and getting better at it As he s gotten older. He love working with players but he feels oppressed dealing with their agents and the Media. He s not sure what to do. Coach be the Genera manager go Over Niagara Falls in a barrel nobody seems to have pushed Walsh onto this ledge apparently he walked there himself. He s 57 years old an indisputably great coach but an aging Hamlet. If he leaves he leaves on the sweetest clearest note Ever sounded in a super bowl game. If he stays As Long As he s go Montana Rice and Craig he s got the Chance to hear it again. We should All have such choices. Wilson Calls team Cincinnati a Stanle Wilson the Cincinnati running Back barred from the super bowl after a recurrence of substance abuse contacted the bengals tues Day to say he is with his parents. Wilson said he and his Parent were leaving Miami but did not disclose their destination the club said. We Are All behind him in the challenges he faces bengals coach Sam Wyche said. Wilson who had t been seen or heard from since being suspended saturday night was barred after he missed a team dinner and meeting. Mike Brown the bengals assist ant general manager said Wilson was seen in his hotel room sat urday night with what Brown said appeared to be crack a form of cocaine. There was evidence of crack at the scene and Stanley was not himself Brown told the Cincinnati enquirer. Brown said the material found in Wilson s room was turned Overto the nil. Wyche and other bengals officials have said they consider Wil son s playing career Over because he was told in writing by commissioner Pete Rozelle that his next drug incident would be the last one the league would tolerate. This is the third time Gener Al manager Paul Brown said. This is the end of  Odd hours Don t faze fans abroad by Rob Gloster Cardiff Wales a former nil quarterback Steve Pisarkiewicz sipped a Beer and watched the big game on super bowl sunday except it was Early monday morning and he was in Southeastern Wales. Pisarkiewicz coach and Quarter Back of a semipro team in Britain american football league yelled at a couple of team mates to watch the blocking technique Pisarkiewicz of the san Francis co 49ers, while he marvelled at the talents of signal caller Joe Montana. In a Rural land where the Icke shuffle is almost As rare As a dancing sheep Pisarkiewicz was glued to a live telecast of the super bowl that lasted until 1 45 . In Britain and 1-2 hour Slater elsewhere in Europe. From Belgium to Brunei football fans stayed up until the Early morning hours or awoke before Dawn to watch a game that is attracting More worldwide interest every year. In Britain nil All time leading rusher Walter Payton and former nil place kick ers Mick Luckhurst and John Smith provided to analysis. In Hong Kong the game was shown live starting at 6 . Throughout parts of Europe and Asia football fans saw the game on tape delay or huddled around radios to pick up the armed forces radio broadcast. In tin Brunei the . Embassy in Bandar Seri Bugawan offered a taped version Mon Day at breakfast time. Cardiff cab Drivers said they drove teen agers loaded Down with hot dogs and Beer from supermarkets to private parties late sunday night. During the monday morning Rush hour the cabbie reported Many Calls from weary sports fans struggling to get to work on time. Pisarkiewicz believed to be. The Only for Mer nil player Active in a league outside North America said football is starting to attract interest in Wales despite the local passion for Rugby and soccer. This is Rugby country Here but the Welsh team is doing terribly said Pisar Kiewicz a first round draft Choice in1977 from Missouri who was mostly a Bench warmer during four years in thenal St. Louis and Green Bay two years in the Cal Vancouver and Winni Peg and three seasons in the Usel Philadelphia and Orlando. And the problems hooliganism they re having in soccer Are unbelievable he said so people Are trying american  despite the growth in fan interest and the expansion of football leagues throughout Europe not everyone is impressed. The american embassy in Paris set up a Large screen to and invited employees to an All the pizza you can eat super bowl Bash. But Harry s bar a traditional hangout for expatriate americans did not show the game. We believe conversation bars should be limited to interesting conversation and do not condone sitting around Gap ing at some screen bar manager Dun can Macelhose said. Domestic ratings on the increase too new York a Abc s final National ratings for the super bowl up about 4 percent Over Abc s 1988 num Bers could make it the third most watched show in the history of television the network said  a rating of 43.5 and a 68 share san Francisco s 20-16 Victory sunday Over Cincinnati could meet or exceed Abc s expectations of reaching 120 Mil lion viewers Abc spokesman Doug Kelly said. We won t know for sure until More results Are in Kelly said. It takes about five to seven working Days to find out. We re in position to reach 120 Mil lion and possibly go higher but we really Don t know  the most watched show in history Wasnic s 1986 super bowl Between Chi Cago and new England seen by an Esti mated 127 million television viewers. Next on the All time list comes lbs s1987 super bowl Between new York and Denver with 122.6 million viewers Fol Lowed by 1983 s final episode . On lbs with 121.6 million. We could go above m.a.s.h.," Kelly said. The Abc research department s preliminary estimate of total viewership is 116 million but it won t be official until the Nielsen come out in about a week