European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 7, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 32 the stars and stripes sports tuesday. December 7,1993 rockets finish Strong to slip past Cavaliers by the associated press maybe this is Why the Houston Rock cts opened the season by winning 15 straight. On sunday night playing the Cleveland Cavaliers on the Road the rockets were beaten on the boards and were behind practically the whole Way. Their Ann Hymmi Center Hakeem Olajuwon  move without a swarm of players buzzing around him. But not Only did the rockets win �?99 98 a they expected to. Good teams Are like that. Quot we raised the intensity toward the end Quot said Olajuwon who had nine of his 22 Points in the last 2 33. Quot i knew wed have to make a run. I was still confident with Little  the rockets Are now 16-1, their opening run having ended with a 133-111 loss Friday night in Atlanta. Houston did t take its first Lead until Olajuwon kicked the Ball out and Vernon Maxwell hit a 3-Pointer with 31.9 seconds left. Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe each added a free throw before Gerald Wilkins of Cleveland stuck a Short jumper. Olajuwon a a slam with 4.7 seconds left sealed it. Quot they were doing a fantastic Job of triple teaming a Olajuwon said. Quot what i was doing was getting the Ball to the open Man but towards the end i still had to find one Way or another to get my shot  7 Kenny Smith added 19 Points for the rockets. Maxwells shooting was Way off with nine Points l-for-5 on 3-pointers. In other games sunday suns 117, Bucks 90 at Milwaukee Charles Barkley scored 23 Points and Kevin Johnson had 21 Points and 10 assists to carry Phoenix to its eighth Victory in nine games. The suns who had second half runs of 10-0 and 11-0, were also paced by Dan Majerle with 20 Points and . Green with 19. Ken Norman led Milwaukee 3-13 with 25 Points. Nuggets 115, Mavericks 110 at Denver Dike be Mutombo had 23 rebounds and nine blocks As Denver sent Dallas to its 12th straight loss. The nuggets got Strong play from Mahmoud Abdul Rauf 22 Points Reggie Williams 20 and Tom Hammonds 17. Jamal Mashburn scored 28 Points and Jim Jackson had 24 for the Mavericks. The nuggets were just 25-for-40 from the line an turned the Ball Over 21 times. Quot the big Fella Mutombo was really terrific Quot Denver coach Dan Issei Saio. Quot we have shown that we have some depth in the last two  Timber wolves 101, lakers 99 at Inglewood calif., Micheal Williams of Minnesota made a three Point play with 1.1 seconds left to win it. The lakers took a 99-98 Lead on Doug Christie a 16 the suns Kevin Johnson h double teamed by Bucks Frank Brickowski 40 and Eric Murdock during second half action sunday in Milwaukee. Phoenix won 117-98. Footer with 27 seconds left. Minnesota missed with four seconds left but the lakers knocked the Ball out of Bounds. Chuck person inbound cd to Williams who scored and was fouled by sedate Threatt. Williams had 21 Points and Christian laettner had 25 Points and 10 rebounds. Christie scored 21 for the Lak ers. "1 told Chuck if Threatt turns his head i m going to break for the Basket a Williams said. Quot and that a what  in football polls can be a heavy task by Danny Robbins the los Angeles time sit was after the third weekend in november that Loren Tate decided he had had enough a enough of the controversy of the anguish of the self doubt. Quot that was when i said a to hell with it a he said. There would be no turning Back. He would no longer serve As a voter in the associated press weekly College football poll. Quot it got to be too heavy for me a said Tate columnist Ana executive sports editor for the Champaign 1u. News Gazette How a Shea a a a task could picking the top 25 College football teams in the nation be for some members of the Media caught in the Middle of an increasingly difficult situation the Burden is not a Small one. The Only Mcaa sport without a playoff to determine its National Champion division 1-a football has Long been driven by the results of Media and coaches polls. The sport underwent a major overhaul last year when representatives of All the major bowls except the Rose formed a coalition designed to match teams with opponents based on their final regular season rankings increasing the likelihood of the National title being decided on the Field new years Day. A year ago the coalition relied on the rankings of the a Media poll. This years matchup will be based on a coalition poll a a combination of the votes from the a and Usa today can coaches polls. Either Way the Media is involved a dangerously some say a in a matter it is supposed to be covering. Quot its really a problem having sports writers playing such a Pivotal role in this process a said Rick Pullen who teaches a class in journalism ethics at Cal state Fullerton. A a you re talking big Bucks in schools bowl Revenue. It would be Nice if the writers could get out of the process but i done to see a better  Tate for one said he bailed out on the a poll after nearly two decades of voting because he Felt Quot tremendous pressure a some of which he said came from an executive at his newspaper. Quot a notre Dame Guy a he said f l think he considered his comments playful. 1 did no to appreciate them. 1 Quot mainly though i just kind of Felt like there were Loo Many things coming at me from too Many different directions and i did no to want to be picking the teams that would play for the National  Corky Simpson of the Tucson citizen who bucked conventional Wisdom by picking Alabama no. 1 throughout the 1992 season recalls receiving a a vicious phone Calls from University of Miami supporters. A they were just screaming at me a he said. Quot after you hear enough of that you become thoroughly disgusted. The whole thing was absurd. Ranking the teams took no skill. It was like pulling a ticket out of your  last june Simpson wrote a executives requesting that he not be included in future polls. The Wrath of the Miami faithful apparently is nothing however compared to the current outpouring of feeling from West Virginia where seemingly the entire state is up in arms Over a voters treatment of the mountaineers West Virginia is 11-0 and ranked second behind undefeated Nebraska in the coaches poll. However the mountaineers apparently have been locked out of the National championship picture because they Are third behind once beaten Florida state and Nebraska in the a poll a numbers that put them third in the coalition rankings As Well. Quot West Virginia has been kicked and maligned for years a the old dumb hillbilly portrayal a said George Manahan president of a Charleston w. A. Public relations firm and former press Secretary for West Virginia gov. Gaston Caperton. A there s an Opportunity for something positive on a National level and the Opportunity is taken away before we get the Chance to take advantage of  Manahane a firm is one of seven prominent West Virginia companies that two weeks ago paid for and distributed 30,000 Quot Why not West Virginia Quot postcards addressed to the 62 a voters. Terry Taylor a sports editor said her organization is unlikely to change its policy of publicizing poll participants and their ballots a we just  do it a she said. A accountability is tied directly to the credibility of that poll. We Don t believe it should be a secret  Usa today and can do not reveal the names of the 62 coaches who vote in their poll. As for the bowl coalition representatives from its bowls will meet in february to study the pros and cons of the systems year Way the coalition was set up in of  by disbanded after its third year. A i think everyone right now is committed to keeping the coalition a said Rick Baker executive Dirac of i l a Uon bowl and chairman of the coalition. But i think everyone also feels there a some Fine tuning that could make it  prominent in such a discussion he said would be the coalition s use of the polls to determine a its matchup. Quot i think the poll we have this year with voters versus 62� brings More balance Quot he said i know some of my colleagues May not agree but it was  pm a a us to use. Tif six a is this format should be the final thing. I think we should continue to look at it s a better Way we can come up with a selection process m a poll  one possible alternative comes from Mike Trang a fut he by Easl conference who nil sri a in. That would rank the teams Only Matiur regular season. Of course no part thl 1 direction the coalition representatives of no hav 1x1611 Tate of the Champaign news Gazette along for the ride coach p�1j the whole Hong is a joke he said. A i done to have an answer. But t know what we re doing is not