European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday july 20,1990 the stars and stripes Pago 23 playing gee Ball by Tony kornhe1ser the Washington Post by now Yotive seen our two Page and for dug out Derby the rotisserie leaguer a dream Date where you pick nine position players including do a keep the drool off commentary and four pitchers and try to keep the drool Vinyl pocket pen Holder your in fact in a surprised you be lifted your head up from the Agate Type Long enough to read this a you re probably hoping for a piddly arcane stat in Here that la help you decide Between Mike Witt and Bobby Witt for the fourth on your make believe pitching staff. Just done to be a half Witt. The sports world today is divided Between Roto Guys and what psychiatrists might Call a a healthy Normal you can Tell you re in the company of a Roto Guy when 1. He a been hunched Over a copy of a the Bill James historical baseball abstract for so Long that Mold has appeared on his egg salad Sandwich. 2. He comes Over for the weekend and when he unpacks his suitcase instead of clothing All he a brought is a magnifying Glass a calculator and a computer program entitled a left handed Pinch hitters Wrigley mid week wind blowing and the first thing he says to you is a so who does a Guy have to know to get a decent Box score in this hellhole a 3. He squeals with Delight when a Friend Calls at 2 . To say he a listening to the san Diego game on shortwave radio and Bip Roberts just got a Bloop double. 4. He phones the radio sports talk Bozo and swoons As they discuss the height and weight of a Middle reliever at Bluefield. The proper Way to end a conversation with a Roto Guy is by saying a get a can alas they Are growing in number. I figure if you not beat Mem. I asked the respected Washington Post reporter Richard Justice to select the Premier Roto team. He hit and Frank Viola Dwight Gooden Roger Clemens and Dave Stewart to pitch he went with starters because dugout Derby does no to pay off on saves. I then tacked the full Centrefold and to a Wall in the sports department. I read the whole and by the Way. To Nat a More Reading than i did in College and i was a literature major. I was disappointed to reach the Bottom and see i Hadnot won a Gas Grill. Once a week i get. A vacation Home come on letter informing me in be won a Sas Grill and i can pick it up in Central Virginia. Who needs a Gas Grill that badly i invited staffers to throw darts and thus pick our players. A list of staffers who participated is on file with the irs. Here is our dream Dart dugout Derby team Dave Bergman in. 102 at bats. Dugout Derby lists fielder As a do. If he actually was a do Bergman might get enough at bats to help us. Bergman s 37 and has never played regularly. You might be Able to twist my and get me to Trade him for Ingmar Bergman. Junior Noboa 2b. 0 or. 104 at bats. In a not thrilled. I had three hrs. In mind unfortunately none named Noboa. Greg Litton 3b. 84 at bats. In a riot thrilled did i say that already Alan Trammell is. In a thrilled Harold Baines do. As Long As his Knees hold up. In a still thrilled. Hubie Brooks of. Mel s funnier but can to hit the Slider. Eric Yelding of. 31 steals but 0 or 9 errors. I wish i could play him at second and not have to give up a Power of Slot. Brad Komminsk of 7 rib. Once such a great Prospect that Henry Aaron said a a he a going to do things Dale Murphy Only dreams like what Drift through All 26 teams Steve Avery p. The braves Best Prospect since Komminsk. Justice predicts Avery will be fabulous. But will he be fabulous in time for me to win the trip to Merv Griffin a Bahamas resort and Casino so i can bet on Merv John Franco pall Star. But a reliever. Maybe we could get buddy to move him into the rotation. Ramon Martinez p. What a Dart. Thank you Post reporter Bill Brubaker the top gun by dug out Derby standards. In be offered a 10-year pact. Dave Schmidt p. Everyone groaned when this Dart hit. A although $2 for the first minute per Cal suppose i have to talk to the team physics p the ill is Steep. Physician first to that a my team and in a sticking with it. Unless i Trade pm intrigued by being Able to dump the dogs null aft Ftp it. A a a it _ a. Wilt make sure my new Pitcher is Over his tendinitis suppose i have to schmooze his agent to work out a new Deal before he agrees to play on my Roto team for $2 a minute on a 900 number i usually Call 900-love. My problem is with the concept of Roto Ball. Its techno nerd. Wise up Roto maniacs. Celebrate sports done to calibrate them sports be faxed. They should be played. If you can to play watch or listen on radio. Roto Ball does t demand you do anything except arrange numbers if that a what drove baseball they draft infielders they a draft accountants. Roto Guys have no need to go to the Ballpark All they care about a Park is its dimensions. Dugout Derby just lists players for you to choose from a not even teams they play for Roto Matons done to . They Aren t interested in standings or Pennant races or the games themselves. They re mercenaries they care Only for the cold statistics of their individual players. Box scores give them larger More comprehensive spreading out like an Oil stick Box scores. Like Seymour the carnivorous Plant in Quot Little shop of they have one Agenda feed me Roto Guys Are the Antithesis of sports. They re the Decimal Post brigade the info cult of the 21st Century the Wax works of Western civilization. Roto Guys have no souls. Bring More darts Graf aiming for upswing amid Racket by Marc Fisher the Washington Post Bruehl West Germany a Steffi Graf was supposed to be the one Success spoil the German hero who stayed Loyal to her Home the innocent girl who wait to bound Over to Ner father manager after each Victory. There Haven been Many of those congratulatory hugs of late. And amid the general euphoria Over their country a world cup championship the fickle fans of Germany Are wondering about their 21-year-old Tennis Wunderkind. First she started losing a after 66 consecutive victories three powerful blows at Berlin the French open and Wimbledon. Then the rumours flows a lurid stories about her father a Model and $430,000 in hush Money. Now Steffi Graf is bitter and Hurt talking about bailing out of Germany and moving to Florida blaming her losses on despised reporters interested Only in Selling newspapers. Could she be like Boris Becker the other Tennis god who captured German hearts and then broke them could Graf follow Becker Down the Road of riches to a life of free spending a string of sweethearts it seems inconceivable to germans who know a different Graf the one who returns whenever possible to this quiet Dorf of 14,000 people. A there in Bruehl you can see Stef Lead a Normal life says the mayor Guenther Reffert who considers the Graf clan his towns most valuable asset. Bild an oversized red Black and White a you can see her walk her dog shop in paper that boasts the highest circulation the supermarket. She is known of of any daily in the free world is a bizarre course but no one bothers her. I am sure mix of cheesecake political intrigue and she will stay Here the grass have just old fashioned scandal mongering. Built a new House and Tennis the Becker and Graf Story went like but outside the protective cocoon the this two German kids who practice to mayor and her parents have spun Graf Gether when they were 8, growing up in is troubled. Small towns playing a not very popular one British Tennis writer concluded sport became world famous in their fans wanted to know More. And the journalists Ever eager to satisfy wanted to Tell their stories. That a where Bild and its big Bucks came in. For major Money a Tennis insiders Here say about 1 million Marks about $600,000 each a Bild signed Graf and Becker to exclusive contracts. For every Mjor match the players would Tell their stories to Bild which would splash their pictures and words All Over its front ack and inside pages. Then Becker began to seem mortal. And As the end of his Bild contract neared the paper turned on him. Sud Mut Zimmermann who covers Graf and her family for the German sports information service. Quot when you Nave a contract with Bild and it ends watch the Meissen Story has been fast paced the kind you have to buy the paper every Day to follow Meissen is thrown in jail on suspicion of blackmailing Graf prosecutors say Meissen is paid hush Money Meissen takes Back her paternity Charae against Graf even though his name is on the child a birth certificate. Through it All Peter Graf said nothing. Nor did his daughter but the Strain _ Iper turned on him. Sud showed. She was seen crying after Seles Denly beloved Becker was a trifle Well beat her a second time in Paris. Graf there were All those girls. A few telephoto lenses some payments Here and there and the soiling of Boris was underway Beckers image suffered in part from Steffi Graf after losing at Wimbledon. Leaving Germany for Florida after her losses that Graf a increasingly looks and sounds rather bored with it ail. This week Graf and her family went to their House in Boca Raton fla., so Steffi could recuperate from a recent the exposes of Bild and the rest of what germans Call the a Boulevard but Becker did t help matters by moving to Monaco to escape German taxes. This did no to go Over Well. Becker outraged sought sympathetic ears and unloaded. A some mornings i read the newspaper at breakfast Quot Becker told beat her Racket against a locker room Wall after the Berlin open. And now like Becker Graf has struck Back. In an interview in Stem Magazine a depressed and dejected Steffi says it was not Seles but a an opponent who Wasny to on the court who beat her in Berlin and Paris. Quot yes i lost both finals to this German when she heard what Bild and Quick a Slick Magazine had reported about her father Steffi said a i had a Driver West Germany a Tennis Magazine. Quot they take me into the Woods and i ran around b Ivy s i emus Magazzi serve the readers so Many lies every Day myself. Then i sat and thought to Myse that its just incomprehensible to me. A you have to be above . All of which just Sells More papers. So it did no to work. A i Haven to done any. Sinus operation escape the pressure and when Graf showed that even she might be thing against these press people. They Here m Bruehl you can see Steffi be As far As possible from her detractors mortal the script was a familiar one. Pretend they re Only questioning my a i a mostly the editors and reporters of the timing is a matter of hot debate. Graf her. In reality they be getting at me. The paper germans love to hate Bild. Started losing in May when Monica Seles a i have never in my life hated people. Beat her in the finals of the Berlin open. So in a sorry but i must say i hate these shortly after that Bild began a series of people. I can to take it anymore. If i Only front Page stories on the father Graf affair. Knew How to defend myself a nearly every Day Bild mannered 4 headline about Nicole Meissen the 22-year-old former Playboy Model who accused Peter Graf of fathering her baby. And nearly every Day the Story was accompanied by a racy photo of Meissen. A its Becker All Over again Quot says Hel myself in the end Graf makes it Clear that she intends to return to her winning ways. She Hopes to play in the Canadian open july 30, but her sinus problem is not Likely to have healed sufficiently by then. Which makes her next major goal the . Open which runs aug. 27 to sept. 9
