European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january,16, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 23commentary it Ever so by Jim litre what Little Dorothy kept repeating on her Way out of of has become a kind of mantra for the nil there a no place like Home. There a no place like Home. There a no place like Home. It seems Clear now that the regular season could have been called off the moment each of the league s four surviving teams a the 49ers, giants Bills Quot and raiders a clinched the Home Field for the duration of the playoffs. A the stumbling and bumbling and Gru Ihling that beset that quartet in the weeks that followed filled reporters notebooks and yielded some much needed footage for somebody else a highlight films. But the truth is they already had what they wanted most. A some kind of letdown at the end of the regular season is inevitable a Chicago linebacker Ron Rivera said after the bears were hammered 313 sunday by the giants. A you play with such intensity for the 11 or 12 weeks it takes to get the Home Field advantage then you spend the rest of the time trying to adjust to whatever cards you re dealt. A a in a not saying that us being Home would have had any bearing on this game a he added. A but i sure would have liked to find  How difficult is it to win on the Road come playoff / time the Best indicator might be the fact that 56 wild card teams have been shuffled into the playoff deck since 1970, and since then exactly one a the 1980 Oakland raiders a has won the super bowl. Over the past 15 years a wild card team has reached the super bowl every five years a 1976, 1981, and 1986 but with Washington and Miami getting bounced this weekend none will make it to 1991. And it does t figure to get any easier. As if the somebodies needed another advantaged when the nil added a Thirdkild card entrant in each conference it balanced the number of games in the tournament by giving the two divisional winners with the Best records in each conference two weeks off. Little Surprise then when crunch Lime rolled around that the better rested Thun usual hosts provided their harried guests with a Holiday inn Stylc visit no surprises. A a sure miked our chances going in but 1 find it hard to believe that we could have done this Well a new York defensive tackle Erik Howard said Quot in Chi  a a a.  ./.= a a a a a a at first clan of the giants and bears appeared to be Mirror images of one at Uhei Rock ribbed defences and grinding offences featuring running backs named Anderson each reflecting the personality of its my Way or the Highway coach. Both had lost a no. 1 quarterback by the time the regular season had been rendered nearly meaningless and were supposed to have been rendered even More inc dimensional As a result. By any measure the giants is. Bears figured to be the closest of the four matchup offered and just the opposite turned out to be True. A we saw film of everything they be done the entire season a said new York defensive end John Washington. A the extra time off gave us a Chance to come together again to get focused in a Way you really can to be during the regular  to also gave the giants time to Send defensive coordinator Bill Belichick to Soldier Field the previous weekend and study the bears during their 16-6 win Over new Orleans in the opening round of the playoff f. Belichick devised the eight Man front that sunday Home is it limited the Chicago running game second Best in the league with a 152.3-Yards per game average to a grand total of 27/ i was like the bears already bruised by the saints showed up with brass Knuckles and found the giants wielding crowbars. And everywhere you looked throughout the weekend the Story was not that Meh different. The san Francisco secondary was supposed to be porous but the respite gave Ronnie Lott a Chance to return healthy and the unit suddenly returned to form. As a result the Best Laid plans of the redskins went awry quarterback Mark Rypien got picked Oft three times in the second half twice in the end one dooming any chances of an upset there. Similarly Jim Kelly an i his Gimpy knee made it Back in time to take the font vols in Buffalo neutralizing Dan Marino and the dolphins Only Chance of prevailing in an Aerial Battle it marked the Bills ninth win at Home this season. The bengals. Meanwhile managed just 10 poems against the raiders literally limping inti los Angeles without the services of starting left guard Brice re imers and All pro tackle Anthony Munoz. Both were shredded in the previous week s wild card game against the Houston oilers. Interestingly the giants now return to san Francis co and the raiders to Buffalo where each has lost previously this season. A after we lost that game we started talking about playing them again while we were leaving the Field a the giants Howard said sunday. A the Way things were taking shape at the time we thought we might have an Opportunity to get them Here. Its too bad it did no to work out that  too bad is right. The associated or Museles Lendl Breeze to Victory Melbourne Australia apr a Monica Seles breezed into the second round of the australian open on tuesday making Quick work of a bewildered Ger Man who  get a break. Seles the women a second seed took just 37 minutes to eliminate Sabine Flack 6-0, 6-0. The 17-year-old with the two syllable grunts and the two listed ground strokes allowed just 14 Points in the match including three in the Only game Hack came close to winning. It was the 16th time a women s singles match at the australian open has ended 6-0, 6-0. The last time was last years first round when Dinky Van Rensburg beat Petra Ritter without losing a game. With the Tail of his foreign legion Cap flapping in the wind Ivall Lendl blew through the first round too. The defending menus Champion used the usual strategy of ground strokes and attacking Tennis to beat tank Ben Habile a ranked 109th in the world 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in less than two hours. Top ranked Stefan Edberg also won in straight sets surviving a second set assault by qualifier Dimitri Poliakov 6-1,7-6,6-2. -. Jimmy Arias of the United states overcame leg cramps and a 2-0 deficit in the final set to Post one of the Days upsets beating ninth seeded Andrei Chesno Kov last year s italian open Champion 6-0,6-3,4-6,2-6, 6-4. A. A 1 australian open in a rematch of the near Brawl at last months grand slam cup seventh seeded Brad Gilbert the top ranked . Player in the menus draw beat David Wheaton 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 7-5. Gilbert served 21 aces to Wheaton s 16. A. Aby. Although both players questioned Calls there was no repeat of the confrontation at the $6 million tournament in Munich Germany where Gilbert and Wheaton nearly came to blows during an argument Over a Call. Each player was fined $5,000 for the run in. At the end of this match which took 3/i hours they Shook hands at the net before Gilbert pumped his fists in Victory to the crowd. Jim courier of the United states seeded 16th, beat Jan Gunnarson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, and Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia the fifth seed beat Sergi Brugeras of Spain 6-4,0-6,6-1,6-4. \ 2 y Mary Joe Fernandez of the United states the women a third seed and runner up to Steffi Graf Here a year ago opened with a 6-1, 6-0 Victory Over Sara Gomer of Britain. M Arantha Sanchez Vicario of Spain seeded sixth also had a Quick and easy first round Victory 6-0, 6-2 Over Natalia Medvedeva of the soviet Union. Seles playing Here for the first time and seeking Hersee Lendl on Page 25 Ivan Lendl wipes his face in route to easy Triumph. A Indian from Page 21 Tennessee state past the Citadel in the 12thi straight Victory for the buccaneers 13-1,3-0. Villanova 65, no. 19 Georgetown 56 Philadelphia Lance Miller scored 18 Points and Villanova made 10 consecutive free throws in the final 2 04 As the wildcats Defeated Georgetown. Villanova improved to 9-6 and 2-3. Dike be Mut Orabo had 18 Points nine rebounds and six blocked shots for the hoyas he was 8 of 8 from the Field. Adel Boden Switzerland a Marc Girardelli overwhelmed the Competition in a world cup giant slalom tuesday winning his second straight race and widening his Lead in the season standings. Austrian born Girardelli a three time Overall cup Champion racing for Luxembourg finished in a two heat total of 2 05.72 seconds. He beat italian rival Alberto Tomba the olympic giant slalom Champion by 1.56 seconds. World Champion Rudolf Nierlich of Austria was third 1.69 behind at 2 07.41. Girardelli was fastest in both 44-eate runs of the seasons fourth giant slalom. Flis unrivalled performance toll tory in a special slalom allowed Vic special slalom and combined at Kitz Bushel on sunday. It confirmed Girardelli a rising form and stamped him among the lop giant slalom favourites at the world championships starting in Austria next week. Injury ruined his last season and he got off to a slow Start in 1990-91. A Superior second run put Girardelli beyond reach tuesday. Nierlich second fastest in the first run with a .38-second deficit was edged by Tomba i the wrap up. The italian who won the seasons previous two Giani slalom was third after the morning run. Girardelli the reigning world Champion in the combined gained 25 world cup Points for the win increasing his total to 176.franz hemp or of Switzerland a downhill specialist remained second in the standings with 129 Points. Tomba kept his Lead in the giant slalom table. A a amp a. A. A weekend downhill and slalom arc scheduled at Wengen Switzerland before the menus circuit Breaks for the world championship