The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 22

18 'Superbrat' a fresh face among net set By Martin Lader NEW YORK Brash, bright and oh-o-talented, John McEnroe is ready to remove the chips from both his shoulders and challenge the world in the new decade. In his first full year as a pro in 1979, McEnroe achieved the unthinkable, upsetting Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors in the WCT championships and then storming his way to the U.S. Open crown. Only 20 years old, McEnroe played almost a non-stop schedule of tournaments, usually competing in doubles as well as singles, and pocketed close to $600,000. Only challenger But proving himself the only legitimate challenger to Borg as the world's ranking player may have been easy compared with the job McEnroe faces in brightening his image.

Temperamental and testy, with a penchant for baiting officials and -arousing the passions of fans, McEnroe travelled the globe with a scowl on his face and earned such sobriquets as "Superbrat." He is honest enough to admit that his reputation displeases him and he would rather be loved than jeered. "Sure it hurts me when the fans are against me," said McEnroe, who couldn't even win over the crowd in his home town of New York when he was winning the Open. U.S. Open eludes In the meantime, Borg continues to reign as the best tennis player in the world, with the exception of New York City. In Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, Borg is almost invincible.

He has won Wimbledon four years in a row, taken the French Open four times and even his egotistical rivals consider him in a class by himself. But for all his talent and glory, the stoic Swede has been unable to win the U.S. Open, the one major title that continues to elude him. In 1979, he was blown out in the quarterfinals by Roscoe Tanner, the man he barely edged in the Wimbledon final. At the age of 23, Borg has reached such a level of performance that Vitas Gerulaitis, the losing finalist in the U.S.

Open, says "He's so far and above anyone else in the game" and Chris Evert Lloyd commented: "He is invincible. Sometimes I don't think he's human the way he plays." Simple ambition Borg, whose simple ambition is to be regarded as the best player who ever lived, says of himself: "It's difficult if I can improve more. My ambition now is to stay on the same level. To improve myself would be very difficult." Borg, playing far less of a demanding schedule than McEnroe, also earned well more than $500,000, capturing both the French and Wimbledon crowns, while Connors, whose biggest wins came when he successfully defended his titles in the U.S. clay court, and U.S.

pro indoor championships, was third on the earnings list with about $450,000. A new order seems to be on hand in the women's ranks with 16-year-old high school girl Tracy Austin, nicknamed "Babycakes" by Billie Jean King, leading a charge of youngsters who no longer are awed by the names or reputations of their established rivals. Austin, like McEnroe in her first full year as a pro, won the Italian championship early in 1979, beating OTTAWA JOURNAL THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27. 1979 Expos behind folding of Ottawa ball league By Bill Hunt JOURNAL REPORTER The World Football League couldn't do it. Nor could the World Hockey Association and the American Basketball Association.

And although it looked promising, nor could APBA baseball. The eight-team Ottawa computerized baseball card league had as much trouble garnering support as any of Its forerunners In the late stages of its third year and decided to abandon the 162-game schedule. The league's eight "general managers" draft, manage and trade the computerized cards representing major league ball players. Used in combination with game boards and dice, they recreate the player's statistics from the previous year with amazing authenticity. But the death knell was sounded when Montreal Expos remained solidly In the race for the divisional pennant through September.

All eight owners were diverted from their own problems by the success of their favorite major league squad. "That was a big part of it," says Bill Hunt, who had his New Orleans Mardi Gras in second place after a sixth-place finish last year. "These guys had been suffering for a long time." "I couldn't care less, but everybody else got pennant fever. We also had a guy who was Just too far behind to reasonably expect him to make it up. He had no interest in playing and we couldn't find anybody to step in.

We can't horsewhip the guy, so we won't finish this season." Another franchise owner moved but didn't take his team with him. The team was taken over by assorted girl friends. They had no knowledge of statistics or the game Itself. Their interest waned and seemingly set the tone for the other six teams. Whether the league will be resurrected next year remains to be seen.

"I hope so," said Pontiac Pistons owner Barry O'Connor. "There are a lot of good guys available." "But we don't know how many will be in, we haven't declared our protected picks and nobody has even talked about the draft." Each league member is allowed to "protect" one player from the previous year's roster. That removes such plums as Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Mike Schmidt and Bobby Horner What the players now are doing NEW YORK (AP) 1968, St. Louis Blues defeated New York 3-1 for their only National Hockey League victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Here Is a list of the players who were In that 1968 game and what they are doing now: St.

Louis Goalies Glenn Hall owns a farm In near Edmonton; Robbie Irons, plays for Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League; Jacques Plante, spends some time as goallt coach with Philadelphia Fivers, the rest living at bis chalet in Defencemen Doug Harvey lives in Montreal; Al Arbour coaches New York Islanders; Noel Picard owns a restaurant In Missouri; Jim Roberts assistant coach with Buffalo Sabres; Barclay Plager ex-coach and now scout for the Blues. Forwards Jean-Guy Talbot works for a brewery In Montreal; Red Berenson coach with the Blues; Frank St. Marseille assistant coach with Los Angeles Kings; Ron Schock plays tor Rochester of the American Hockey League; Gary Sabourln lives in Britt, Terry Crisp coaches Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of 4he Ontario Major Junior Hockey League; Tim Ecclestone assistant coach with Atlanta Flames; Bill McCreary sells real estate in Cleveland; Craig Cameron lives in Edmonton; Ab McDonald rents tools, lives In Winnipeg; Camille Henry doing a talk show on a Quebec City radio station. Coach Scotty Bowman general manager-head coach of Buffalo Sabres.

New York Goalie Ed Giacomin lives In Detroit. Defencemen Harry Howell chief scout for Minnesota North Stars; Amie Brown lives In Vancouver; Rod Selling assistant coach of OMJHL Kitchener Rangers; Alan Hamilton plays for Edmonton Oilers; Jim Neilson scouts for Edmonton Oilers. Forwards Rod Gilbert assistant to the president of the Rangers; Bob Nevln lives In Toronto; Reggie Fleming works for a candy company in Chicago; Larry Jeffrey worked for central scouting division of NHL until last year; Vic Hadfield scouts for the Rangers; Ron Stewart In the fast-food business, lives in Calgary; Dave Balon coaches Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League; Walt Tkaczuk plays for the Rangers; Jean Ratelle plays for Boston Bruins; Phil Goyette works for a customs broker in Montreal; Don-nle Marshall works for the CBC. from this year's crop of eligibles. The remainder are drafted by teams in reverse order of regular season standings.

The National League's most valuable player, Keith Hernandez, was tossed back into the pool, but "he might be a second-rounder, the crop is so good this year," said James Harvey, whose Tacoma Cavalier was in first place when APBA waved the white flag this year. "We need at least six teams to make It worthwhile," he said. "We can count out two and maybe as many as four right now." The future would seem to hinge on 1 I ui.iu.mh 1,111 "'JI'Jl 'V' ST 'i i f- "A AVy 'W Jjy iL "1 Linda Siegel of the United States caused a stir during a match at Wimbledon this year when part of her anatomy was exposed by her low-cut outfit. Sylvia Hanika in the final, then became the youngest winner ever of the U.S. Open by beating Martina Navratilova in the semi-finals and Evert in the final, both in consecutive sets.

Evert had been seeking a record fifth consecutive Open crown but her loss to Austin was just another disappointment in what proved to be the most tumultuous year of her career. Early in the year she was distracted by her forthcoming marriage to British player John Lloyd, then she had to reassess the commitment she was prepared to make to tennis. Evert, just turning 25, did win the French crown for the third time, her ninth major championship, and earned well in excess of $400,000, second among the women only to Navratilova, who exceeded $500,000. Navratilova beat Evert in the Wimbledon final for the second consecutive time, winning five of seven decisions against her during the year (Evert still leads 25-11 lifetime) and also defeated Austin in the final of the women's indoor championship. Undoubtedly, Navratilova will achieve one of her ambitions by gaining the No.

1 ranking for 1980, a position Evert has held for the last four years. But Evert has added a little steam to the new year by proclaiming her intention of fighting to regain the crown. "I think I have learned a lot from the last 12 months," she said. "I have to be single-minded to be No. 1 again and I really want to be No.

1." One of the happier moments of 1979 was achieved when Billie Jean King teamed with Navratilova to win the doubles title at Wimbledon, giving her a record 20th championship at the tennis shrine. The night that Plante saved the day By Frank Brown NEW YORK Centre Walt Tkac-zuk doesn't remember a thing about the game, which is forgivable, because it was played Nov. 13, 1968, and there have been hundreds of games since. He doesn't remember the score, which was 3-1 in favor of the second-year St. Louis Blues.

He doesn't remember that St. Louis used three goalies Glenn Hall, Robbie Irons and Jacques Plante. He wasn't aware the victory was the only one in 32 tries the Blues have recorded at Madison Square Garden. Crazy contest Tkaczuk had to be reminded that he's the only fellow still with the team for which he played in that crazy contest. Others remember it well.

Emile Francis, for example. He was coach of the Rangers then; now he's the president of the Blues. "Glenn Hall started in goal for St. Louis and it was the first game he ever wore a face mask," Francis recalled. "The Blues had a little backup goalie by the name of Robbie Irons and Plante was in the broadcast booth doing color for radio probably making $25 for it." In the first minute of the game, Vic Hadfield (New York left winger) went in just over the blue line and fired a high shot that went in and out of the goal real fast.

The referee (Vern Buffey) ruled it a goal and Glenn chased him to the scorer's bench to argue about it. "Glenn gave Buffey a little push and, with that, Vern threw him out of the game." Hall remembers it differently. "I wasn't happy that they used the hooked stick in hockey," said Hall, who lives now on a farm near Edmonton. "That stick, if a guy worked it right, made the puck rise or drop." "Hadfield perfected that shot. He took one that was coming high, then it dropped and the ref said it went in.

We got a penalty (to Noel Picard) right after that and I certainly questioned that call. "Then there was a faceoff and the puck went back to the blue line. Buffey got tangled in a bad position and screened my view which I didn't particularly appreciate by my team-mates, much less a referee." "Every game I was quite nervous, thinking all the time about how I would react if something like that happened," said Irons, who now plays for Fort Wayne Komets of the International League. "It was uncharacteristic of Glenn to act that way, but nobody knew he was out of the game until Buffey came over and said 'He's out of 'Fool around' "Scotty came over to me on the bench and said: 'Take your time, delay as long as you can, fool around in the warmup, then come back and see There was a reason behind Bowman's manoeuvre. He had to get word to Plante, lounging in the broadcast booth, to hurry down and get dressed and into the game.

The Blues were one point ahead of the second-place Los Angeles Kings in the West Division race and he wanted to keep the game close. Irons did what he could. He even "hurt" his leg in the warmup to cause an even longer delay. "But then the ref came over and said: 'That's enough. Let's get So nearly half an hour after the game began, but after only 2:01 had been played, the contest resumed.

"I know my mouth was awful dry," Irons recalled. "The main thing I was thinking was: 'If they're gonna score, let it be a good goal not a soft Irons said. The only shot "By Ron Stewart, I believe" was a soft one from long range. He stopped it, survived exactly two minutes and 59 seconds until Plante was in uniform, then left the game. "If there was any disappointment, it was that I had to come out," Irons said.

"Just getting into the net in an NHL game is the biggest step in a goalie's life. And when it was over, I said to myself: 'Well, It wasn't that It wasn't that hard and it didn't NEW YEAR WEEK SPECIALS ON DAILY RENTALS 1980 WTHUNDERBIRDS FULLY EQUIPPED $9850 weekly 875 KM flflMu-erj 142OgllvieRoad 741-37201 the success of the Montreal Expos next season. "That's what did us in," Hunt said, "and I would have won it this year, too." Whether or not there will be a successor to Alabama Bombers, who won the Macdonald Trophy as league champions last year, remains to be seen. But the answers will have to be known soon. League brass indicates at least two and possibly more franchises are available.

If you're interested, call James Harvey at 733-8076. Seeds wither away seem that significant at the time. Plante blanked the Rangers the next 55 minutes and St. Louis got goals from Bill McCreary, Ron Schock and Frank St. Marseille to record the win the only win they have managed on Madison Square Garden ice.

Some after-effects But there were some interesting after-effects. The NHL rules were changed to read as follows: "A list of names and numbers of all eligible players and goalkeepers must be handed to the referee or official scorer before the game and no change shall be permitted in the list after the commencement of the game." In other words, no goalies rushing out of the broadcast booth. Another thing: The 40-year-old Plante and 37-year-old Hall shared the Vezina Trophy that year as the leading goalies in the league. The Blues went to the Stanley Cup finals and were beaten by Montreal Canadiens, whom Bowman later coached. THC ASSOCIATED PRESS MELBOURNE, Australia (UPI) American Rick Fisher upset second-seeded John Alexander of Australia 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 yesterday to highlight a flurry of upsets in the second day of the $440,000 Australian Open tennis championships.

The 28-year-old Fisher, from Palo Alto, took the opening set tie-breaker 7-5 and then won a 7-4 decision in the second set tie-breaker en route to eliminating Australia's top-ranked player. Fisher, a left-hander ranked No. 180 in the world, said he was keyed up for his match against Alexander, rated 18th in the world. "I've been preparing for this match for four days," Fisher said. "It was a big match for me but just another match for Alexander." Other seeded players eliminated were Australia's Ross Case and Austria's Ppter Feipl Top seeded Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, beat Chris Lewis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in opening defence of the title he won last year.

The Kid wins his first race Down Under PERTH, Australia (AP) Steve Cauthen, 19, in his first race in Australia, rode Latin Saint to a five-length victory yesterday in the Bolton Handicap at Asoct racetrack. The U.S. teenager, competing in the opener in a series of invitation races for jockeys from various parts of the world, got his mount off to a quick start, then, after losing the lead, put him back in front heading into the final turn. RENT-A-CAR OUINCAILLCRIt THEJEJCn. HARDWARE COMPANY "The Storr of Penoml Servkr" OPEN OAILV to 5:30 FW.

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