Albany Democrat-Herald from Albany, Oregon • 17

i I Also in this section: NATIONAL NEWS COMICS TV SCHEDULE ALBANY DEMOCRAT HEHALD FRIDAY MAY 16, 1980 17 Can L.A, find a way to win sans Jabbar? SPORTS COLUMNIST f.V"5 JIM If MURRAY Lc-i -7 7 i Lakers awaro of Karedm's absence: 'He's our offense, ho's our defense' Death of baseball? Check the turnstiles fed- Lr LOS ANGELES In the year 1932, one out of every two baseball fans who went to an American League game went to see the Yankees. One out of three went to see them In Yankee Stadium. By 1972, only about one out of every 11 league fans went to see the Yankees. Last year, the Yankees drew an astonishing 4,762,147 fans at borne and on the road, but this was barely one-fifth of the league total. In 1933, American League baseball drew a total of only 2,926,210 to the ballpark.

Total. In 1978, the Los Angeles Dodgers at home drew 3,347,845 customers. They drew an additional 2,146,323 on the road for a total draw of 5,494,168. That was more people than any entire league drew prior to the war. Even in Babe Ruth's heydey, major league baseball rarely drew 10 million.

It drew 43.5 million last year. Two television networks and two dozen local radio and TV outlets paid big bucks for broadcast rights. The clubs sell their fences to advertising. It's well known that people at ballparks eat their fool beads off and buy bobblehead dolls and miniature bats with pennants on them by the gross. So, what's the big deal about a strike? Why don't they just give old Swats Stakarsky that $10 million and get on with it? I mean, you're going to tamper with the affections of millions of kids over Gams Six; Ch.

8. 6 p.m. Th Aaaoelatcd PrM PHILADELPHIA Can the Los Angeles Lakers win without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? "He's our offense, he's our defense," said Lakers guard Earvln "Magic" Johnson. "He's the man we go to when we're In trouble." But the Lakers won't have the 7 foot 2 Abdul-Jabbar to go to tonight when they take on the Philadelphia 76ers In the sixth game of the National Basketball Association championship series. Abdul-Jabbar Is back In Los Angeles nursing the sprained left ankle he suffered In Wednesday night's 108103 victory that gave Los Angeles a 3 2 lead In the best -of seven playoff finals.

Postgame rays were negative and Abdul Jabbar was supposed to accompany the team here, but when the Lakors' flight took off Thursday afternoon, It took off without Abdul-Jabbar. "It Is extremely doubtful that Kareem would be able to play," said Dr. Robert Kerlan, the Lakers' team physician, who reported the ankle had swolen and become stiff overnight, "By keeping him In Los Angeles and treating him here, he will be much better prepared to play on Sunday If that game is necessary But Kerlan said the odds of Abdul-Jabbar playing on Sunday are only SO 50 at this point. A win tonight and the Lakers don't have to worry about Sunday -they'd be wearing th NBA crown for th first time since 1972 -7 -1 1 But winning without Abdul-Jabbar, a five-time most valuable player and the most 1 1 dominating force In power forward as well as backup plvotman this season, will open at center In place of Abdul-Jabbar. Mark Landsberger, a forward acquired from Chicago In mldseason who Is a tough rebounder but not a scoring threat, figures to start In Chones' forward position.

Westhead will also probably make more use of his "slim" lineup, with sixth man Michael Cooper at guard with Norm Nixon, and guard Earvln "Magic" Johnson moving to forward with Jamaal Wilkes. The Lakers have outrebounded the Sixers 256-187 In this series, but without Abdul-Jabbar around, Philadelphia's "Gruesome Twosome" of 7-footer Caldwell Jones and 6-11 Darryl Dawklns figures to be more effective. The lane should also be open more often for the drives of Julius Erving, the Sixers' brilliant forward who has been double and triple-teamed throughout the series. Abdul-Jabbar hurt his ankle In a strange way. He had Just rolled across the lane and put In a short flip shot when he lost his balance and began to stumble.

Philadelphia guard Lionel Holllns reached out to keep him from falling, but Abdul Jabbar stepped on Holllns' foot and turned his ankle. The Injury to Abdul-Jabbar presents a scenario that Is eerily familiar to followers of the Lakers, bringing back memories of the 1970 championship series against the New York Knicks, The injured center In that series was New York's Willis Reed. He hobbled off the floor with a leg Injury during the fifth game, but 6-7 forward Dave Stallworth came off the bench to battle the Lakers' mammoth Wilt Chamberlain and the Inspired Knicks held on to win that fifth game 107 100. Reed sat out the sixth game and the Knicks got blasted 135 113. But he limped onto the court Just before the start of the seventh game, scored the first two baskets and New York went on to win 1 13 99 for Its first championship.

The Lakers can only hope Abdul Jabbar can play the Reed role this time around. Laker's owner Jerry Bust: Life on a magnificent scale LOS ANGELES A complex man, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss has managed to simplify life to fun and games on a magnificent scale. Buss now finds himself involved on the highest scale of National Basketball Association play the championship series. His Lakers lead the Philadelphia 76ers 3 2 in the best -of seven series, which resumes tonight In Philadelphia. Buss, a hard-working and aggressive businessman, parlayed a (1.000 Investment Into a real estate empire.

A sports fan, last year he paid Jack Kent Cooke $G7 5 million for the Lakers and Kings, the Forum, and a ranch. He tries to make everything he does fun, says he wants his employees to have fun, his players to have fun. "If It's not fun, it's not worthwhile," he philosophized In a recent interview. His personal accoutrements In the pursuit of pleasure Include fancy cars, ornate surroundings, and "the ladies" lots of ladies, mostly youngish, model-types. Buss, 46, considers about 70 ladies the perfect number in his active file, and keeps a scrapbook.

To fill In Idle moments when he's not running his sports teams, his huge real estate empire (in partnership with Frank Mariani), mastering the latest board game (he can play a com- be v-VlT- I the game, won't A easy. AP UMipkou There'll be no Dr. v. Jabbar duel tonight: Jabbar is out. it's i Especially since a must win situation for the Sixers, who will have a noisy crowd of 18,276 at the Spectrum rooting them on.

"There's, no tomorrow for us," said Philadelphia guard Henry Bibby. "Either we win or else. And we're not ready for JERHY BUSS a few lousy million bucks? Well, the baseball strike is unique in the annals of labor strife. The argument is not over wages, hours and working conditions. The ballplayers are not bargaining for seven-innin games, no doubleheaders, or the night off whenever James Rodney Richard is pitching.

The owners? Well, one labor writer thinks the owners are simply trying to restrain themselves by union agreement from throwing their money around like a guy just off a whaler. They're like the guy who says, "Take this key to my safe and, no matter what I say during the poker game, don't give it to me! Not even if I threaten to kill you." The owners know that they're going to start to drool and lose control whenever a glamor players comes on the free agent market. So they want to be bound legally to have to turn over quid pro quo to get him. If the Dodgers covet, say, Fred Lynn, they can have him if they'll turn over Steve Garvey. Naturally, under these circumstances, the wallet goes right back in the pocket.

The players, naturally, don't want this, it severely limits their bargaining power. But the union shouldn't have to fight over this point. The concept has already been ruled unconstitutional in pro football. Any storefront lawyer could probably get it broken by injunction in an hour-and-a-half in baseball. Tbe players would like to reduce the time period to achieve free agency, from six down to two years.

But that appears to be a highly nogotiable demand. In the first place, only a handful of phenoms are going to get good enough in two years to have anybody fighting over them, and a club's investment in a player's development would seem to argue that it get a couple of years to recoup on that Investment. What is really at issue here is a difference in philosophy. Owners believe sincerely that runaway free agency will destroy the fabric of the game. The players disagree.

Back in the days when a ballplayer belonged to the club he signed with forever, or until death or a sore arm did them pajt, an entire league attendance of 3.9 million was considered good. The Dodgers would move back to Brooklyn if that's all they drew now. And, back in the good old days, the only way you made money was to get in the World Series or play the Yankees. Free agency may indeed be bad for baseball. But you can't prove it by the turnstiles.

In fact, you wonder ii some owner shouldn't put a clause In there barring them from killing the free agent clause by arguing for compensation. You picture them going to the negotiation table and pleading "Listen! No matter what I say or how hard I scream, for God sakes don't listen to me Don't let me kill the free agent clause! In six years of free agency, attendance has risen 26 percent. If that's destruction, it's hard to prove. Baseball management rejects today's offer NEW YORK (AP) Management negotiators today rejected the major league players association offer to settle the baseball contract dispute and it appeared that talks would remain deadlocked with the strike deadline just six days away. Earlier story, p.

18 plete game of Monoply in his head), watching Charlie Chan movies or squiring "10s" around Beverly Hills, Buss collects art, antiques, custom autos, rare coins, stamps and literature; listens with an educated ear to the classics; and shoots a wicked game of pool. "I have always liked to be doing something all the time," Buss said. "It's a practiced habit Involving self-discipline. I organize my time and I hate to waste 15 minutes." From the tiny mining and ranching town of Kemmerer, where he spent much of his youth hustling pool and working at odd jobs, through the University of Wyoming, where he completed his bachelor's degree in 21 years, to Southern Cal, where he received his doctorate in chemistry and eventually taught, to his initial ventures in real estate some 20 years ago Buss has succeeded. He wears his success casually, dressing in frayed bottom Jeans and open necked shirts for all but the most formal occasions.

And, amiable, attentive and soft-spoken, he hardly fits the Image of the business dynamo that be in fact is. Feet propped on a massive wooden desk in his Forum office, a Jar of ever-present Jelly beans among the clutter, Buss, who owned the Los Angeles Strings of the defunct World Team Tennis, talked about his new teams. The National Hockey League Kings have been a disappointment, but the Lakers have not disappointed him. "I see maybe 100 games a year, hockey and basketball, but not counting USC football," he said. "I enjoy It immensely.

Buss, who tries to keep all his employees happy, has renegoiated all the Lakers' contracts, giving most including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hefty raises. "I don't want anybody to feel slighted," he said, "and I believe people should be paid what they're worth." He said he doesn't mind the prospects of trading away players he once traded his son's fiance, Dianne Fromholtz, to San Diego back in the WTT days but hates to fire anybody. "If it's absolutely necessary, I have somebody else fire assistant clerks," he said. Buss said he's emotionally involved with the Kings and the Lakers "I hope to express myself through their style of play" but that he looks at wins and losses in a different perspective than he used to. "I woke up one morning feeling bad because we'd lost the night before and said to myself, 'Hey, it's a beautiful morning, I'm healthy, I have a lot of money, why should I be depressed just because we lost a game." Buss said be hopes to have champions in both basketball and hockey in the near future, and added that if his sports ventures ultimately didn't work out, his life won't be completely bleak.

"I figure the worst that could happen would be that I'd have to give it up, go live on the beach in Waikiki and have $10 or $12 million to spend and a lot of ladies around," he said with a bemused smile. "That would be the 'bottom' for me." anything else yet Los Angeles survived without Abdul-Jabbar for the final 3 58 of the third period Wednesday night, even extending Its lead from two points to eight, "But It's a completely different thing to be without him for 48 minutes Instead of just four," observed Doug Collins, the Sixers' Injured guard. "They need his scoring and his presence Inside." That was apparent In Game Five, when Abdul Jabbar came back onto the court for the final period and scored 14 of his 40 points as the Lakers held off a Philadelphia rally. With the score tied and the game on the line, he scored a three point play with 33 seconds left that proved decisive. The Injury to Abdul-Jabbar.

coming after last week's suspension of forward Spencer Haywood, leaves Los Angeles with nine players In uniform tonight. And since Marty Byrnes. Butch Lee and Brad Holland hardly ever get off the bench, Coach Paul Westhead may use only six players against the Sixers. Jim Chones, who played much of his career at center but has been the Lakers' starting -A At Lebanon, the playoffs vanished SPORTS WRITER Rain curbs LBCC's baseball, track action ONTARIO, Ore. Thursday's thunderstorms in Eastern Oregon moved back the scheduled 9 a.m.

(PDT) Region 18 baseball playoff game involving Linn-Benton Community College and College of Southern Idaho until 3 o'clock this afternoon, weather permitting. "There is standing water on the field." L-B Coach Dave Dangler said this morning. "What will probably happen is that we'll try to get in a game today and move the championship to Sunday from Saturday night) The 31-14 Roadrunners are co-favored with Umpqua in the Regionals; Umpqua is to play host Treasure Valley Community College, 23-10 In the first round. L-B's for, CSI, is just 17-15. The winner plays in the Juco World Series in Grand Junction, next weekend.

AW JEFF KING better than I did." While the Warriors lose an outstanding pitcher In Sweet, the outlook for next year, and two or three beyond, is exceptional. Lebanon returns a solid infield with Patty Palmer at third, sophomore Debbie Weisbrodt at short, Julie Hinrichs at second, sophomore Barb Alexy at first. Sheri Shriver, a Junior catcher, led the team in hitting at .440, sophomore Lisa -Bradley hit .379. "Patty Palmer was like a vaccuum cleaner, she had only two throwing errors all season," Rees said, "Debbie Weisbrodt is only 5-feet 2 and her glove is the same size as she is, but she's very steady. Alexy only made two errors this season, very dependable." To replace Sweet on the mound, Lebanon will have the services of Jamie Hlnes (Rees: "the third best pitcher in who was 4-1 this year, Palmer, and Renee Garrison up from the Junior varsity.

"We'll be a factor In league next year," Rees said, "our pitching will be good enough to make us a factor." Sweet ended the season at 8-4 with a 2.42 earned run average; she also had 67 strikeouts and Issued 49 walks. "Sherrl really came Into her own this year. Her pitch would curve to the outside, then inside," Rees said. "She could pull a string on her changeup. She also has a drop ball, and she hits the comers consistently." Rees, for one, is going to miss Sherri Sweet.

And miss seeing a team that meant the world to her not reach the state playoffs. "These girls are going to play softball in a summer league," she said, "they'll be able to qualify for state In another tournament. So their softball season Is just beginning." After a very painful finish. LEBANON Had you suggested to Lebanon's girls' softball team back in March that its season would be terminated the second week of May they would've checked your breath cr asked If Sherrl Sweet had been kidnapped. At the very least the Warriors expected to qualify for the league playoffs.

It did. But there was a catch. There weren't any playoffs. Period. Because the Valley League's powers-that-be didn't allow enough calendar days to carry out the playoffs prior to the state's cutoff date, they were none; dropped at the last minute, And what It meant was that Sprague and Corvallis annexed state playoff berths since they finished In a first place tie with 14-4 records.

Lebanon, the defending champion which dropped from first place Tuesday on the last day of the season after a 34 loss to Corvallis, finished 13-5 and was ignored. "I feel the two best teams were us and Corvallis," said Peg Rees, the Lebanon coach. "I know we could do well In the state tournament but we don't have the opportunity. "It's Just so frustrating. We played 24 games and averaged less than three errors per game, and had a couple errorless games.

Our Infield was so strong. What's disappointing is that they won't have a chance to go against some quality teams In the state playoffs." Moreover, It cut short an outstanding season by pitcher Sherrl Sweet, the only senior on the team, of whom Rees speaks of In superlatives. "She's one of the top four pitchers In state," Rees said. "Dick (Lebanon Athletic Director) Weisbrodt and I have talk- LBCC TRACK: MORE RAIN SAN ANGELO, Tex. Violent thunderstorms postponed many of Thursday's opening day events in the National Junior College track and field meet here.

Just two Linn-Benton performers competed Thursday. Phoenix, hurdler Tim Bright qualified for the semifinals with a 14.63. He'll run in the semis today. Lebanon's Debbie Prince clocked a 2:25.2 in the 800 meters trials, not good enough to qualify for today's semifinals. The other L-B athletes at the meet include Jean Melson, Linda Friesen and Trina Marvin.

ed about the situation with the playoffs and I'm sure something Is going to happen next year, but that doesn't help Sherrl Sweet this year." Lebanon finished in a third-place tie with McNary and South Salem at 13-5. Last year the Warriors tied for first, won a playoff game with Corvallis to become the No.l team, and finished in the top eight at state. "We hurt ourselves this year by losing a couple of games early that we shouldn't have," Rees said, "that way it wouldn't have been a do-or-die situation this week." Finishing a game out of first place was little consolation for a team that figured to be in the top five at state. It ended all too soon. "I don't want to go home from school at 3:30," said Rees, forcing a smile.

"The kids would like to be practicing, and so would I. We had expected to be playing up until the end of May." Now they can only sit back and wait 12 months for another chance. A new start. They have a season full of memories, and a season full of unfulfilled dreams. "They (her players) are an experienced group, they held their heads up after losing that last game," Rees said, "they handled it Carter reaffirms Olympic stand WASHINGTON (AP) President Carter met Friday with Lord Killanin, president of the International Olympic Committee, and reaf: firmed that the United States would not send a team to the Summer Games in Moscow.

Lebanon High softball Coach Peg Rees.