The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 54

54 The Sydney Morning Herald SPORT Saturday, January 28 1995 -V 112? Ill Lisa Olson Their fans have a liking for clean, pressed underwear, but will that be enough for the low-key, low-cal San Diego Chargers when they meet the brash, loud San Francisco 49ers in the gridiron Super Bowl in Miami? Not likely! A tale of two cities with nothing in common -1 1 i MUST start with the loud XTRA, the all- a sports radio station of San Diego, but located for this week in the 4- pinned to his side, but that doesn't stop him from closing in on ballcarriers like a rabid pitbull, ending each play with a punched fist and acting hke a man who's been mainlining ginseng. The Chargers have an abundance of heart and character, a good running game and a fine defence. They also have no chance. Rumour has it they are not preparing a game plan against the Niners as much as they are a plea bargain. They are feisty and scrappy, but feisty and scrappy won't hold up under the weight of Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ricky Watters, Deion Sanders and a quick, mobile 49ers offensive line.

Chargers won their first six games and say they are better than everyone thinks. For a while you start to believe maybe this game will be more exciting than the World Cup final. Then they start doing that cocky rap thing again and you can see why the men on XTRA call them the No-Cals. Like much of America, the 49ers are all emotion and swagger. San Francisco's William Floyd answers to the name "Bar None" because, in his words, he's the "best fullback on the planet, bar Cornerback Deion Sanders is a fellow with so much talent and ambition, he figures he needs two nicknames "Prime Time" and "Neon" to make optimum use of all his gifts.

The Chargers are more of a low-key, low-cal taste of Americana. They are capable, efficient and absolutely positive they can pull off the impossible. Niners fans wear red bandanas and drip gold jewellery and put their players on pedestals; Chargers fans wear clean, pressed underwear and put their players on surfboards. That way, when they fall off, it doesn't hurt as much. Or sound as loud.

will be feeling fresh and, um, tidy. Presumably this need for clean underwear had nothing to do with the events two weekends a 20 when 66,000 fans 6,000 more than capacity shoehorned into San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium to welcome home the Chargers after they clinched their first Super Bowl berth. The Murph was stormed by spontaneous San Die-gans, all so exiled, all overcome, all lapping up one of the city's sporting moments. Loud? The demented and delirious Diegos acted as if the Second Coming was near, leaving their vehicles on the side of Interstate 15 when The Murph's carparks become filled, and walking the remaining kilometres was as rare as a blizzard in June. San Diego likes to bill itself as the US's Finest City, but aside from a mild climate, decent zoo, lots of sailors and nice scenery, it doesn't have much to offer, especially if you're a sports nut.

The city has lost two National Basketball Association teams; its baseball team has been crummy if not downright embarrassing; its ice hockey team is called the Gulls. And since practically no-one in America cares about the America's Cup, the Diegos no longer have to pretend they do, either. After 35 years, the Chargers are in the Super Bowl, and that means San Diego can finally elbow its way out of the shadows of Los Angeles, San Francisco and all those other high-falutin' places across the country. Until now, the biggest moment in recent San Diego sports history was when Roseanne botched the national anthem at a baseball game. She screeched and scratched and spat, and that was the last we heard of San Diego.

Until now. Until Stan Humphries, the barrel of chunky gumbo who quarterbacks the Chargers, started proving you can have love handles and still heave perfect spirals that hit moving targets. The funny thing about him is that people start talking about his gut, but they end up discussing his guts. The book on Humphries: bad body, great arm, character tough as nails. Until Junior Seau, the Samoan who spent his childhood in Ocean-side, California, dodging gang bullets and sleeping in the garage on concrete between the washing machine and cleaning supplies, started showing why he's the best inside linebacker in the NFL.

A pinched nerve in his neck forces him to play with his left arm middle of the Marriott Hotel in Miami, the hub of South Florida. It has been doing a non-stop tap dance on those hated No-Cals for days now, trashing San Francisco and its chardonnay, its caviar and brie, indeed the whole limp-wristed politically correct world of Northern California. The No-Cals are brash, the men on XTRA have been shouting. The No-Cals are overconfident fools with heads as big as fire hydrants. The No-Cals are the hated San Francisco 49ers and they are just too well, too much of everything the good folk in laid-back Southern California love to hate.

This is the same radio station that carries the commercial, "Get your Chargers underwear cleaned and More than 5,000 souls showed up at a San Diego dry cleaners the other day, blue and gold underwear in hand, looking to take advantage of the odd offer. The San Diego Chargers are expected to get whipped by the 49ers in Monday's Super Bowl XXIX, but at least their fans I HE point spread has taken rn 'on the characteristics of the Niners themselves, getting 1 I louder and louder until it's practically unbearable. What is it now? Twenty three points? One Hundred? Four Hundred? The 49ers are angry at the "idiots" in Las Vegas who establish the point spread and have bestowed upon the Chargers a wonderful motivational tool. The 49ers say the spread is stupid, like something cooked up by Forrest Gump: They remind you the The 49ers' Deion Sanders so talented he needs two nicknames. rime Time and his pizza-hungry mates get ready to perform Bills before them) blame it on the moon's whacky alignment every January.

lisa Olson looks at all those little things you wanted to know about the Super Bowl and some of the things you didn't. Prime Time Shootout on Wednesday night, and after showing off his trademark behind-the-back pass, he declared the 49ers unbeatable. Also taking part in the charity hoop game: Out-of-work baseballers Ken Griffey jr, Gary Sheffield and Otis Nixon. Luther Campbell from 2 Live Crew, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Hammer provided the sideline entertainment Terms and trends The Bolts Another name for the Chargers, taken from the lightning bolt on their helmets. Fly pattern What Chargers wide receiver Tony Martin hopes to run, in which he plans to use his speed and a little shoulder fake to beat the cornerback, probably the Niners' Eric Davis.

Red zone The area within The 49ers' Steve Young is the third left-handed starting quarterback in die Super Bowl. He's also the only NFL player who spends the off-season living in a condemned shack in Provo, Utah, with no kitchen and no stove. His one vice: sneaking sips of Dr Pepper, a soft drink loaded with caffeine. Because of his, shall we say, generous girth, Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries is called "Michelin Man" by his teammates. "Stan hangs out with the offensive linemen all the time because he knows there's always food around," says San Diego tackle Stan Brock, himself a svelte 2m, 133kg.

"He eats more pizza than anyone I've ever seen." The Super Bowl doesn't just mean football. Magic Johnson played in the Deion Sanders Super the 20-yard line. Behind Young's passing and leadership, the 49ers were more successful than any team in the league when in the opposition's red zone this season. The kava' dance Alfred Pupunu's gift to the NFL. The San Diego tightend brought it from his native Tonga and hopes to introduce it to the football-viewing world during the Super Bowl.

He performs this ritual after he scores, which is probably why few people have seen it Pupunu is used mainly as an H-back, meaning he lines up in various positions in the backfield and blocks for running back Natrone Means. Still, the dance is as profound as any in recent memory. It goes something like this Once he crosses the goal line, Pupunu flexes his muscles, does a step or two, then takes the football, acts like he's cracking open the top and pretends to drink a beverage from it Then, after a few gulps, he spikes the ball. Slant passes The 49ers' bread and butter. Watch for Steve Young to throw to Jerry Rice on the fly, or Brent Jones on an intermediate out, or Ricky Watters in the right flat.

The Chargers tend to have trouble with these quick, over-the-middle passes. The woeful, pitiful AFC The team from the American Football Conference hasn't won a Super Bowl in 1 0 years. Why? Why does the phone always ring when you're in the shower? National Football Conference teams say it is because they have better coaches, better managers, better players. AFC teams like the San Diego Chargers (and the Buffalo cameras on the goal posts, and 20 videotape machines. The quarterbacks will wear radios in their helmets so they can communicate with their coaches on the sidelines.

On the 49ers charter flight from San Francisco to Miami, enough food was served to feed a normal human being for a week. Goody bags were waiting in every seat before takeoff. They contained a giant submarine sandwich, a brownie, several biscuits, five candy bars, a large box of chocolate lollies, sultanas, two packages of nuts, a piece of fruit, assorted cheeses and two bags of chips. Then, an hour into the flight, came the real meal: a choice of seafood or steak with all the trimmings, accompanied by a prawn cocktail plate. Dessert was an ice cream bar, or three.

Money matters and other trivia Sponsors are paying SUS1 million for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl telecast. Given that the game is historically a blowout after the first quarter, most fans continue watching for one reason: to see which gaudy, over-hyped commercial is the dumbest. Our bet: either Shaquille O'Neal or Dennis Hopper will star and it will have something to do with shoes'. The game telecast will include 1 8 cameras' (including three super slow-motions), five hand-held cameras, two blimp cameras, tilt Names and faces The San Diego Chargers have a player named Natrone Means. They also have a player named Deems May.

We haven't figured out what this may mean, but we do know Natrone must carry the ball 20-30 times and pick up over 100 yards for the Chargers to go from being the biggest underdogs in Super Bowl history to household names. San Francisco cornerback Deion Sanders bought a black Lamborghini as a Christmas pres ent. He also owns more than 400 dress shoes and nearly 200 suits, the words "Prime Time" stitched inside each jacket. He never wears anything twice and has a huge walk-in closet filled with nothing but Nike gear. San Diego linebacker Junior Seau is his team's only star, being the first Charger to appear on The Tonight Show, and last week a rare pygmy chimp born at San Diego Zoo was named after him.

His clothing line is called Say Ow Gear, after the pronunciation of his name. Goete: France: Off with his head E0L ttli ILE- fTiri) Q)11 JxJ 5 over Gmtoea attack ii. iii Jim riirtfii mimmriii iiiti(Vif i fi MARSEILLES, Friday: Eric Cantona's assault on a soccer spectator has aroused almost as much shock, fury and comment in France as it has in Britain. "Indefensible," screamed a headline in 'Equipe, the national daily sports paper. "Eric Cantona's Battle of Trafalgar," says another.

The TV footage of Cantona vaulting into the crowd is played over and over on half-hourly TV bulletins. Again and again thelip was followed by French football president Claude Simonet, pronouncing himself "dumbfounded" by the national team captain's behaviour. He would wait for the British authorities' dossier on the incident, but had to consider that Cantona's action seemed incompatible with the role of French captain, he said. Marseilles is a footballing city, passionate for its team Olympique, for which Eric's brother Joel plays. But it has long tired of the antics of its prodigal son.

"Nothing surprises us from Eric Cantona any longer," Alain Pecheral writes in local paper Le Provencal. "Truly, we are no longer interested in his escapades, his pseudo-philosophical bragging, his crudeness and the state of his soul," Pecheral said. "He lives his life and we live ours. And we don't miss him." The French commentaries were filled with a distinct air of "we told you Wrote France Soir, the nearest equivalent of a tabloid, "in his own way, Cantona has avenged if not Joan of Arc, at least the national LONDON, Friday: Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons, victim of Eric Cantona's Kung Fu-style lunge, says he has no idea why the Manchester United star singled him out. "I don't know why he picked on me," the 23-year-old glazier said of the amazing scenes after Cantona was sent off in United's match against Palace at Selhurst Park on Wednesday: "Everyone was screaming and shouting.

The whole crowd was taunting him. I swore and the next thing 1 knew he was flying over the hoardings feet-first at me. "I had to hit back to defend myself. Anyone would have done the same. "People are trying to blame me for what has happened.

But Cantona's a professional and I never expected he would react like that." His friend Michael Pickett said Simmons had run to the front of the stand from his seat 1 1 rows back to taunt the player, but Pickett was "amazed" by Cantona's reaction. "I have never seen anything like it," he said. "The first I knew anything was going to happen was when Cantona stepped back and he was over the fence, punching and kicking Matty, who wasn't giving him any resistance." Picket agreed his friend had been giving Cantona "a bit of verbal" but added: "It was no worse than you hear at any football Some newspapers said Simmons had shouted obscene and racial abuse. Kathy Churchman, 40, who was at the match with her 1 2-year-old daughter was standing next to Simmons at the time of the attack. She said Cantona was being verbally abused and struck out with a "karate "His eyes were half closed and menacing," she added.

"That stare will be with me all my life." and got himself banned from international soccer for a year. Then he insulted officials at a disciplinary hearing, walking up to each one in turn and yelling "idiot" in their faces. He announced his retirement. But he "missed the smells and feel of the dressing room" and came to England. He lasted less than a month at Sheffield Wednesday, storming out after a row with manager Trevor Francis, before moving to Leeds in February 1992.

He became a hero with the fans and spearheaded the team to its first championship for 18 years. Eight months later the love affair was over and, after falling out with manager Howard Wilkinson, he moved to Manchester for 1.2 million ($2.5 million). At Old Trafford he worked his magic again. His sublime skills helped United win the league title for the first time for 26 years in 1993 and the Cup and league double last season. He was not booked during his first 40 matches for United, but the old demons started to return in Novem- ber 1993 when he was sent off at the end of United's European Cup match against Galatasaray in Turkey, for which he earned a four-match European ban.

Last March he was sent off in successive matches, earning a five-match suspension. During the World Cup finals in the United States he was briefly arrested after being involved in a punch-up in the media stands before the Brazil Sweden semi-final, and in August he was sent off in a pre-season friendly against Glasgow Rangers, leading to another three-match ban at the start of this season. While most soccer players may quote Rambo as a hero, Cantona quotes from the poet Arthur Rimbaud. While his teammates go off to play snooker, he prefers to spend his free time painting and walking in the woods. French Federation official Jacques Riolacci once told him: "You can't be judged like any other player.

Behind you there is a trail of the smell of sulphur." This time Cantona may have fired just one shot too many. Soon after Cantona joined Manchester United, manager Alex Ferguson said: "I was told I was taking a risk, but you gamble on every player. You may as well gamble on one who lifts people out of their seats." He probably never imagined he was buying a player who attacked people in their seats as well. Ferguson was well aware that he was buying a mercurial talent, a flawed genius whose wonderful, mesmerising skills were matched in almost equal part by an appalling lack of discipline. Cantona has often crossed the line between his good and bad halves, but until Wednesday night, all his misdemeanours were football-related.

During his early years in France he was hailed as a gifted individualist, but as long ago as 1987 he was in trouble for punching his own goalkeeper at Auxerre. He charged around French clubs like a raging bull: Auxerre, Martigues, Auxerre again, Marseille, Bordeaux, Mont-pellier and Marseille again. All by the time he was 27. He insulted the national manager I i Kvi- i if I Jk Eric Cantona wasn't the only foreign soccer player in hot water this week. On the same night, Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, playing for Aston Villa flew through the air at Villa Park, collecting Tottenham Hotspur's $4.2 million German import Jurgen Klinsmann on the way.

Klinsmann was knocked unconscious with a suspected broken nose..