European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 34 the stars and stripes sports monday september 19,1994 men by Dan Barreiro Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune regrets Are As useless As the tiny men who have conspired to take away an american ritual for the first time in your lifetime my lifetime practically George Burns lifetime. Pompous sandlot odes to a game never shy about lavishing affection upon itself will get us nowhere but on the next Ken Burns pcs special. What a done is done. What the tiny men who sat on both sides of baseball a negotiating table do not get is what they have wrought. I have never been one to believe predictions that doom and gloom at the Box office will follow a strike. Time after time we have seen this knee Jerk notion shattered by fans who return to the ballparks in greater numbers and with greater passion than Ever before the fans always have loved the game More than they have hated those who try to tear it apart. But lire junkies toying with crack cocaine these tiny men have gone Over the Edge this time. They have tempted Fate once too often. This one is going to stick like a Randy Johnson fastball to the Chin. It is not going to kill the game but it is going to wound it More deeply than the tiny men could possibly imagine. In the past a strike has been met mostly with anger from the fans. Even As fans protested that they did no to care anymore the rage with which they expressed their frustration indicated something else. Do you know what is different this time this time there is As much indifference As there is anger. And to any game India Ferenee is a far More dangerous form of expression. If the tiny men at the negotiating table can be so indifferent to the richest american sports tradition that they walk away without an agreement then Why should the baseball fan be any different today these tiny men who time after time pretend to be talking about principle when they Are really talking about principal have finally worn people Down. When Jack Morris fled the twins for Toronto not Long after the 1991 world series noted baseball philosopher Tom Kelly offered this perspective to local fans who Felt betrayed by the pitchers departure think of baseball As a game Golf tournaments during the season Kelly said. Think of it. As a business once the season is Over. J but you can to keep asking people to turn it on and off like a faucet. The lines have become too blurred for any of the fans to see the distinction anymore. If Winter was the time to think of base fall As a business and the Spring summer and fall the time to think of it As a game then Why did baseball cease on aug. 12 and die on sept. 14? after anger comes indifference. Baseball will of course return and Many of its fans will come Back to the game. But will they Ever care for it As deeply As they once did i done to think so. For a Century the baseball season has always Given us a finish. No matter How Many times the players struck there always was an end. In 1981, there was the infamous split season. Quot no matter How contrived it seemed at the time it gave us a finish a conclusion. It gave us a world series a the dodgers Over the Yankees a arid something for baseball fans to talk about All Winter. With apologies to Kelly no other sports of season is a season in itself a season that even has a name. The proof is As irrefutable As the cliche a the hot stove league. J a baseball season builds in anticipation because of the trades rumours signings firings that have come before it. That too has now been taken away by the tiny men. Those kinds of transactions will be replaced by More cover your butt rhetoric from Bud Selig and arrogant monologues from Donald Fehr. In one sense those ode writing baseball guardians who Are now going to try to fill the void with their useless poetry have it exactly right. More than any other sport baseball is Given to the statistical quest. It is a part of the lore of the game a current players chasing the ghosts of excellence. Baseball is Lucky when it has one of those quests in a Given season. In 1994, it had three. We had Ken Griffey or. And Matt Williams chasing Roger Maris. Tony Gwynn chasing Ted Williams Frank Thomas chasing the triple Crown. All of this has been taken away by the anew York a Jackie Autry who runs the California Angels says she does no to like unions and Baltimore orioles owner Peter Angelos once told baseball a management negotiator Richard Ravitch he should resign according to a report in sundays new York times Magazine. Detroit Tiger owner Mike Ilitch said that if he had to do it again he  have purchased the team according to the Story by Ilitch Pat Jordan. A a in a no fan of unions a Autry the Angels executive vice president is quoted As saying. The wife of team owner Gene Autry also is quoted As saying that Media Are a a dumb the common Man is a sheep a and baseball owners Are sometimes a a jerks and  Angelos who is quoted As saying Union head Donald Fehr is a a competent Guy a said Ravitch once made a presentation on management losses. Angelos said he asked Ravitch to make the same presentation to the Union and said Ravitch refused saying a rational persuasion has no place in these  Angelos said he responded by telling Ravitch a then you ought to resign your  Angelos also said he a not a big fan of management a Revenue sharing plan. A a it a the Antithesis of the very is so Nee of this country a Competition a he is quoted As saying. A a it a a solution derived from desperation. I  come up with an alternative. But its Only an interim solution to stabilize franchises in danger of going  Ilitch who rarely has attended own Erst meetings said he rushed into buying the tigers and  have done it. A i should have done More research but i got excited a he said. While outgoing Senate majority Leader George Mitchell is the favorite to fill the vacant commissioners Job Ilitch said the next head of baseball should have different attributes. Quot we need a commissioner who a entertainment oriented with sports experience a Ilitch said. A a in a not sure How important the antitrust exemption is. A ill get in trouble for  he also said teams have to alter their marketing explaining his desire for a new stadium. A owners have been Lazy All these years a Ilitch is quoted As saying. A they thought they could just talk tradition open the door and the stadiums would be filled. Those old Staci urns served baseball Well in the past. But we need new stadiums that make it exciting for the fans prior to the  a. / v / a a \ tiny men who now give us Fehr chasing Selig. A \. A. A. Now All we can do is wait. Sooner or later there will be a settlement and there will be baseball. All we can do is wait for the next time a ballplayer or owner of a hot team looks up from the dugout or Down from a luxury Box sees empty seats and has the unmitigated Gall to whine that he can to figure out Why the local nine does not get the proper support. By cancelling the world series you be turned baseball into a 12-month-a-year business boys. When you come Back done to you dare try to Call it a game.  by Scrippa Howard Nawa Swvick. S Gainesville a. A just when it looked like the International team might return to Contention at the presidents gup the United states turned its Ryder cup experience into some breathing room. The foreign squad gained some ground saturday but not As much As it appeared it might. Consequently the International team went into sunday s 12 singles matches trailing 12-8 and needing to win eight matches to Force a sudden death playoff. The hero saturday was Corey Pavin a Ryder cup Veteran and his alternating shot partner Loren Roberts. They came from three Down with six holes to play to Lake their match against Craig Parry and Fulton allem and win one huge Point. A i think it was a very important match for us and for the team a Pavin said. Important it was. See Complete results on Page 28 see world notes next Page for More Golf news at one Point saturday afternoon when the International team led in four of the five matches it appeared the match would be tied 10-10 going into sundays play. But the americans came from behind to win two and take their 12-8 Lead. A when we were three Down with six to play i told Loren a let s just hang in there and play Tough a a a Pavin said. That a exactly what they did. Pavin brought his team to one Down when he holed a Sand shot on no. 15, made a 4-footer for Birdie on no. 17 to get them even and then hit his approach shot to 4 feet on no. 18 to win the Hole and the match and Blunt the internationals rally. Ners win trailing 71/2 to 2vz coming into saturdays play after a crushing 5-0 Start in fridays four Ball the internationals won 31/2 Points in saturdays four Ball. But it also lost Nick Price for the afternoon s foursome play when he came up ill after he and Steve Elkington halved their four Ball match against Pavin and Phil Mickelson in humid 89-degree weather. A i just have no strength at All a Price said. A tin beat in More ways than one. I think it showed in the Way i played the last few  Price who was expected to play sunday had Only one Point in his three matches. A what you saw this morning was the True professional character of these Guys a International team Captain David Graham said saturday about his teams recovery from fridays terrible Start. Afternoon hero Corey Pavin exits a Sand trap saturday morning