European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday August 18, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 25 commentary keeping score of nil in Berlin reflections from the los Angeles rams 19-3 Victory Over the Kansas City chiefs last sat urday in Berlin s american bowl there was a revelation from Derrick Thomas that Alabama s Ray Perkins and Bill Curry were transitional coaches until a successor with stronger Bear Bryant ties could be found to please Bama fans. Although Perkins was Bryant s former wide receiver and handpicked successor he moved of to the Tampa Bay buccaneers in 1987 after four seasons. At Alabama he started a massive renovation program of Campus facilities that included an indoor practice facility new football offices and Media studio and the addition of an upper deck to Bryant Denny stadium to expand its capacity from 60,210 to 70,123. Curry led the tide to a 10-1 season in 89 and a sugar bowl berth against Miami. But he moved on to coach Kentucky just Days after losing to the Hurri canes 33-25. Miami clinched its third National championship of the decade with that win. I knew Curry the Man and the coach said Thomas who played for four years under both per Kins and Curry. There was too much turmoil in the beginning for the relationship to work. Be it fair or be it not fair there was really no Chance for Curry to succeed at Alabama anyway. That was All a transition  i thought Perkins went to Tampa Bay because of buc owner Hugh culverhouse s $750,000-per-year offer. Thomas said he had other reasons perk did t leave just because he said look i m up and leaving there was All kinds of stuff surrounding the whole situation from the president Down. It was just part of the transition for him to be there. It was t going to  fan politics a whole lot of politics. Curry just happened to be the Scapegoat. It was t nothing that he could Ever do. He could have won the National championship and he still would t have made  Thomas said new coach Gene Stallings should fare much better than Perkins or Curry. Gene s permanent Thomas said. He s got a staff there. Everybody that s Ever coached at Ala Bama he brought  Stallings had invited Ozzie Newborne to come Back and coach receivers but he s staying in Cleve land one More year betting that the Browns can finally beat the Broncos to get to the super bowl. After seeing 55,429 people Rock olympic stadium for the rams and chiefs in a bowl game Atmos phere i believe Berlin should get a world league franchise eventually or at least become a regular american bowl Host like London. I m amazed that no matter How bad their quarterbacks play coaches Are usually positive about them in Post game interviews. Mike Elkins stank up the place in the first half for coach Marty Schotten Heimer and Steve Pelluer had an ugly fourth Quarter. Each threw a pair of interceptions. Yet this is what sch Ottenheimer said about Pelluer after the game he got to running on one he got the Ball High and it ricocheted off the receiver s hands and was intercepted. Then on the other one he tried to make a throw across his body while running to the right and it s a very dangerous throw to make. That really was t the kind of throw we  the Only thing he would say about the four inter wait Morrissette Derrick Thomas says coaches were doomed. File captions his quarterbacks threw they Only had one turnover we had four and that s going to get you in trouble All the  the nil should make the projected regular season starters or returning All pros play at least the entire first Quarter in these american bowls. What happens too often is that the second third or fourth stringers play 90 percent of the game to protect key players from injury so we never get to see the True character of the teams. But like Ahmad Rashad said there is no easy Way to play football. You can t play it  for instance the league s leading rusher in 89, Chris Tian Okoye made Only a first Quarter Cameo appearance. Our plan was to get him in in the first Quarter play him a Little bit. Of course we did t have that Many snaps in the first Quarter sch Ottenheimer said referring to the rams holding the Ball for 11 first Quarter minutes. We wanted to get a look at Barry word and Billy Jones and both did a pretty Nice  rams coach John Robinson did run Gaston Green 21 times and Green responded with 115 Yards which included crowd pleasing 30 and 25 Yard jaunts. Robinson is looking for that 1,000-Yard Back to take Greg Bell s place. And the fans probably saw Green win the starting tailback Job from Curt Warner on saturday night. Don t you think the outcome might have been different if sch Ottenheimer had run Okoye 20 times word and Jones combined for 42 Yards Rushing with word getting 33 of them. You might have noticed on the transactions wire that the chiefs signed holdout offensive tackle Irv Eatman a couple of Days after the loss to the rams. Rob Woods who was signed As a free agent from Cincinnati played most of the game at right tackle. Makes you wonder if Eatman will get his Job Back with Woods starting at another line position or will Woods be demoted stay tuned. Thomas told his former Alabama Rookie . Linebacker George Bethune. That he was going to. Keep score of the sacks on a chalkboard and hold it 6p Tor Bethune to  Bethune won the sack race in Berlin 1-0 when he decked Elkins. Nil fans in Britain can dial  similar to the 900 numbers in the states to get scores and data on their favorite teams said Bob Lyder of the London sports marketing firm acc. To get nil and other major league scores dial pan am s spor Scall at 0898-121747. It s updated every 15 minutes with game  last three numbers change for specific team information 0898-121501 for the redskins packers 502, bears 503, saints 504, giants 506, 49ers 507, raiders 508, dolphins 509, Vikings 511 and eagles 512. The spor Scall line gets 300,000 Calls a year Ledr said. It about 70 cents for the first minute and 45 cents after six o clock. The average Call lasts about three  so much for Wei Brincken s Low profile. The Safe team s quarterback. Cliff Jackson was seen in Berlin at a rams chiefs practice but he disappeared before i could talk to  like the warriors season so far. The score from the first game of Rhein main s Continental sports conference title defense two sundays ago hit me like a Boll of lightning.  40, Rhein main 0. What no misprint the score shocked me so much because earlier in the week i visited Sembach and  with photographer Jim Der him for the season previews. Talking to Wei Brincken coach Chris Simmons i found a coach brimming with much More Confidence than i expected for a Man who had just inherited a team that went 1-9 in 1989. We re going to Surprise some people this year Simmons said., the commander and the base arc full behind us now. I m not going to make any predictions but we re going to gain some respect this  Simmons went out of his Way to downplay the improvement of his bal club. We took a look around. Frankly i was t impressed either. Forty Points and three Jackson touchdown passes later  shocked the league with a rout of the defending champions even though the Rock ets lacked big boosters from 89 cornerback Butch Watkins and a a Tor Hill two of the Best athletes in the league who were booted from the air Force be cause of big time trouble. Wei Brocken was brought Back to reality with a 41-12 loss to Ramstein last saturday. Bui with a 1-1 Start the warriors have a helluva Chance of finishing better than last year s 1-9.Rhein-main rebounded with a 46-8 drubbing of Oesterberg which shows that not much has changed in Holland after the wolfhounds one year hiatus from the league. The stars and slips non classic or hitter Fisk eyes record Arlington Texas a Carlton Fisk never dreamed it would come Down to this. I m not your classic Home run hitter the Chicago White sox Catcher said. I m More of a line drive hitter. I m not like Oak land a s Star Jose Canseco and those other Guys who just bomb balls out of the  one More Homer though and he will have bombed More balls out of the Park than any other Catcher in baseball history. Fisk tied Hall of Famer Johnny Bench with 327 homers with a shot aug. 8 in Kansas City. Bench hit 327 of his 389 lifetime homers at Catcher. Fisk has 22 Home runs while playing other positions for a lifetime total of 349 Over 18-pus seasons. Not bad for a line drive hitter. Friday was Day nine of the Milestone wait Tor the 42-year-old Fisk. But he got to to go against somebody his own age. Fisk was pencilled in As Catcher in the second game of a doubleheader at Arlington stadium. Charlie Hough was scheduled to pitch the Texas rangers. Fisk s milestones seem to have been saved for greats of the game. His 500thcareer hit came off Nolan Ryan in 1976. Career hit no. 1,500 was off Boston s Roger Clemens. "1 Hope he gets it Chicago manager Jeff Torborg said. All the Good ones have a hair for the  the game is a makeup of last week s1 7v?.-hour rainout in Comiskey Park believed to be the longest rain delay in baseball history. Ryan will Start the first game for Texas. Torborg said he decided Fisk would catch the second game not because of any Success he s had against Charlie but it s More like the Lack of Success he s had against  but he s in Good company  Fisk s next Homer also will put him past George Foster and into 42nd on the All time list. Fisk is the Only Catcher in modern base Ball history to top the Century Mark in both homers and stolen bases and Only the third Catcher Ever to collect 300 homers 1,000 runs and 1,000 Bis. Hall of Farmers Bench and Yogi Berra Are the other two. He has been selected to the american league All Star team to times. F he deserves All the accolades he has doming his Way Torborg said from his Arlington hotel thursday night. Every time he reaches a Milestone you re Happy because he s so deserving. He s worked so  Torborg said much of the credit for his team s surprising Success this year has to go to Fisk. Many picked Chicago to finish last in the Al West this season but the while sox at six games Hack Are the ones Challenge the athletics for the Crown. He s done a Heck of a Job with these Young kids Torborg said. We re the youngest team in baseball you know the youngest pitching  softball teams needed in Italy v1cenza, Italy men s and women s teams Are needed to compete in the annual labor Day softball tournament at a Derle Cavern in Vicen a Italy sept. 1-3. The entry fee is $95 per team. Camping Sites and sports billeting Are available. The deadline is Friday aug. 24. Point of Contact Doug Urner Jerry Douglas or . Moore at Antoum 634 7009 or 78h7