European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 04, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Time to revamp nil playoffs  the cruellest moment of super sunday occurred not when the Dallas cowboys began piling up Points in a Blooper reel fourth Quarter but later when the Buffalo Bills Frank Reich suggested to interviewers that his club had the wherewithal to make it Back to a fourth straight super bowl. Reich is by All accounts a decent fellow but this was an act of unqualified sadism. The inno cent sporting Public was still choking on the lat est indigestible super Nugget featuring the Bills As the sour guacamole and he was already talk ing about feeding us More please. The Bills have lost the last three super by one 13 and 35 Points an ascending scale that Accord ing to my calculations Means they would lose next year by approximately 80, the exact figure depending on commentary How Many fumbles were returned for tips. The Only satisfied customers would be the Grid  for whom the Bills have remade the super bowl into a car race watched Only for the inevitable Gore. But there s a big problem. As obviously incapable As the Bills arc of Matching whatever the National football conference offers they re the studs of the Junior varsity. The rest of the Ameri can football conference still looks a Long Way up to them. Reich s jut Jawed prediction could easily come True Bills again. There Ougrita be a Law. How about it after nine straight pfc wins by an average score of 39-16, in t it time for a new format for the super bowl tournament divining the reasons for the pfc s superiority is strictly a guessing game but this much is cer Tain it s not just some random spin of the nil cycles As Many in the league contend. The acc s Ball is palpably inferior and there s no change in sight. The Pittsburgh St clerk and san Diego chargers Are the rising acc teams the Only ones with the Houston oilers who could unseat the Bills and they re pulp next to the cowboys san Francisco 49ers, new Orleans saints and even the crazy Philadelphia eagles. The Law of averages and vagaries of football Al ways will account for an occasionally close super bowl under the current format and maybe even a Fluke acc win one of these years but at age 27 the game has basically become an institutionalized Blowout. The nil can shrug if it chooses of course. The super bowl has become such a popular spec Tacle that the league will pocket its millions even if the Seattle sea Hawks play Slippery Rock. But in Terest will begin to dwindle if the game does t begin delivering More regularly. And it won t. What to do there Are several possibilities. The Best would be to do away with the conferences. Keep the divisions aligned As is so the Best rivalries remain intact. But at the end of the sea son just collect the teams with the 12 Best records seed them accordingly and let them play. Would anyone shed a tear at the demise of the conference championships they re barely two decades old so it s not like you re tearing Down some Century old tradition As the baseball owners arc threatening with their wild card talk. As is winning a conference title in t Worth a Nickel. Just ask the Bills if those three straight acc titles arc any Solace. Another solution would be to keep the current playoff format intact except for flip Flop Ping the four teams left at the end. In other words the top pfc team would play the second Best from the acc and vice versa. At the very least that would have led to a cowboys-49ers super bowl a matchup of the two Best teams. In t that what the championship game is supposed to be a More Radical idea Wou Uhny to realign the league entirely spreading the Power around. Hut the other ideas Are better. In any Case the league needs to Rico Gnu a that it has a problem and do something. The current format is just silly. Tha Baltimore Sun spurting spurs Roll into Midwest Lead san Antonio up1 the san Antonio spurs Riding a wave Ever since John Lucas took Over As head coach finally reached the highwater Mark tuesday night. The spurs Defeated the new Jersey nets 1.11-93, for their 12th win in their last 13 games and took Over sole Possession of first place in the Midwest division. San Antonio which started the season 10-11 before Jerry Tarkanian was fired moved one half game ahead of Idle Utah. The spurs improved to 173 under Lucas. The spurs Are for real new Jersey Center Sam Bowie declared. Other Aba games on p. 30 they Are one of the Best in the league and have a right to think about a  Dale Ellis scored 24 Points to Lead the attack against the nets. David Robinson contributed 17 Points and 12 rebounds and scan Elliott and . Reid each added 16 Points for san Antonio. Avery Johnson dished out 15 assists. Derrick Coleman had 22 Points and 12 rebounds and Chris mor Ris had 20 Points arid 10 rebounds for the nets. The stars and stripes ports february 4,1993 a Page 32 Hula Nate guard Nate Newton models a Hula skirt at pro bowl Media session tuesday in Honolulu. Newton is one of six cowboys selected for sunday s pro bowl. The others arc quarterback Troy ainian the super bowl map run Ning Buck eni Mitt Smith tight end Jay Novacek Center Mark Stepnoski and wide receiver Michael in in. Bills7 Thomas Kelly Wolf Ord quit pro bowl Honolulu up quarterback Jim Kelly and two other members of the american football Confer ence Champion Buffalo Bills pulled out of the pro bowl because of injuries tuesday. Kelly a Reserve for the pro bowl starting running Back Thurman Thomas and Reserve tackle will Wolford were injured in Buffalo s 52-17 super bowl loss to the Dallas cowboys sunday and will hot play in sunday s pro bowl. Kelly suffered a sprained right ankle in the second Quarter of sunday s game and did not return. Thomas has been bothered by a hip Pointer for the last month and aggravated the injury in sunday s game and Wolf Ord suffered a knee injury sunday. Neil o Donnell will replace a cloy As the backup quarterback to Dan Marino of Miami and Houston s Warren Moon on the acc team. Running Back Ronnie Harmon was named to replace Thomas. Barry Foster of Pittsburgh and either Harold Green of Cincinnati or Lorenzo White of Houston will Start at running Back for the acc team. Kansas City tackle John Alt was named As a Reserve tackle to replace Wolford. Richmond Webb of Miami and Howard Ballard of the Bills Are the starting tackles. Guard Jim Ritcher of Buffalo was named to replace injured starter Steve Wisniewski of the los Angeles raiders. Mike Munchak of Houston and Carlton Haselrig of Pittsburgh will Start at guard. Cowboys Johnson makes staff changes Irving Texas a even when Jimmy Johnson is in the Bahamas the Dallas cowboys world keep turning. While he relaxed with his family on a Beach Johnson named a new assistant head coach a new defensive coordinator and a new offensive line coach tuesday. Line coach Butch Davis was named defensive coordinator of the world champions replacing Dave Wannstedt who is head coach of the Chicago bears. It s a great feeling to be taking Over the league s top defense said Davis. In another move the cowboys promoted offensive coordinator Norv Turner to assistant coach replacing Wannstedt in that capacity. Turner will continue to be offensive coordinator. Offensive line coach Tony Wise who will leave the cowboys to go to Chicago with a Niestedt will be re placed by Hudson Houch Seattle s offensive line coach. R oli246850li00035r