The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 7

BUSINESS OH 5S DAVID WTTKE, executive sports editor, 515-284-8130 Tuesday, October 16, 1990 Auooated Press MPT3 li Pun Mine HANSEN fi At the i World Series jm Reds pitcher has incentive against A's Rijo played for Oakland until traded to Cincinnati 3 4, JLa f-, A's too good to be true CINCINNATI, OHIO It is pre. LA rrrrfV 1 Pizzzt 1 'igrrrr A 3WT. fx WW! Once-lowly Virginia gets view from fop Cavaliers ranked No. 1 in college football poll CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (AP) Coach George Welsh, who rescued-Virginia's program from college football's skid row and moved it to the high-rent district, got a look from the penthouse Monday.

The Cavaliers were elevated to the' No. 1 spot in The Associated Press poll of college football teams. "Maybe it's like Andy Maybe this is our 15 minutes of fame," Welsh said. Iowa moved up from 25th to a tie-for 22nd. Virginia, which had only two winning seasons in 29 years before Welsh took over the program in 1982, is in the top spot for the first time.

Before this season, Virginia had never been ranked higher than ninth. Virginia, No. 2 last week, was a 31-0 winner over North Carolina, State and moved up when No. 1 Mich-1 igan lost, 28-27, to Michigan State. "Maybe this will help us," said Welsh, who then added that maybe it won't.

He expressed concern about how the players would respond. "I don't think it's anything they should dwell on," he said. "I plan on talking to them about it. If they have anything to say, they better talk' about it today, then forget about it." If they don't, Welsh said, they could suffer the same fate as Miami of Florida, Notre Dame and Michigan all previous occupants of the No. 1 spot this season.

"This may last only a week," said the Welsh, whose team will be a heavy favorite Saturday when it plays Wake Forest. Virginia, leading the nation with averages of 48 points and 540 yards a game, has outscored its opponents, 288-66, in building a 6-0 record. "I think we had respect nationally before this year," Welsh said. "But Oakland Athletics Manager Tony La Russa, left, and On- Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, where their teams cinnati Reds Manager Lou Piniella converse at worked out on Monday. The World Series opens tonight.

CINCINNATI, OHIO (AP) In a way, Jose Rijo made a big contribution to the Oakland A's pennant parade. The Athletics, looking for a left-handed power hitter, traded Rijo and pitcher Tim Birtsas to Cincinnati for Dave Parker before the 1988 season. Parker helped the A's win two American League pennants and a World Series title before he signed with Milwaukee. Rijo gets his chance tonight to show the A's were wrong to let him go. He will be Cincinnati's starting pitcher in the first game of the World Series.

He said he thinks he knows why he was traded, and that Manager Tony LaRussa of the athletics does, too. Smile Caused Trouble "I remember being called up from the minor leagues and pitching against Kansas City," Rijo said. "I got beat, 4-0. Two of the hits scored all four runs. Both were by George Brett.

The signs came from the bench. One was for a change-up, one a curveball, and I hadn't even developed confidence in those pitches yet. "The next day, I was carrying the bucket of batting practice baseballs out behind the mound and I was smiling, like always. Tony saw me and said, 'Why are you smiling? Didn't you read the paper? Didn't you see the next to your Rijo still likes to smile and talk. It got him into trouble during the National League playoffs.

After the Reds took a 3-1 series lead against Pittsburgh, Rijo proclaimed the playoffs over, much to the dismay of his teammates. Not Saying Anything "People got on me for that," Rijo said, "so I'm not going to say anything about anyone. Let the Series begin." After years of promise, Rijo set career highs this season with 14 victories, 29 games started, 197 innings pitched and 152 strikeouts. Rijo was rushed to the major leagues at the age of 18 in 1984 by the New York Yankees because 19-year-old Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets was grabbing headlines away Playoff ratings slump causes CBS concern CINCINNATI, OHIO (AP) Players aren't the only people with World Series butterflies. CBS is nervous, too.

The network is practically a rookie when it comes to the World Series; it hasn't broadcast one since 1950. And ratings were down a bit for the playoffs. "We had only a four-game (American League) series," said Jeremy Handel-man, CBS vice president for program planning. "The (National League playoffs were) good but started a little slow. Generally speaking, we're pleased." The six prime-time playoff games averaged a 13.5 rating, down 10 percent from last year's night games on NBC.

CBS paid $1.08 billion for the rights to four years of baseball and that's one of the reasons it announced last week that third-quarter earnings were down 30 percent to $43.5 million. CBS producer Ric LaCivita and pregame producer Ed Goren weren't thinking about that as they paced around Riverfront Stadium at 9 a.m. Monday. LaCivita, who was in charge of videotape replays during the 1977 World Series on ABC, has quite a task, managing about 165 people. There will be 15 cameras in the stadium, compared with the regular-season set of eight.

That's more than one for every player on the field even with the bases loaded. When most people think of television, they think of pictures. But one distinction of CBS's playoff coverage was the audio. CBS will have four microphones pointed at the infield, two in the right-field bullpen, four in the outfield and another in the left-field bullpen. Several replay cameras have adjacent mikes.

How good is the sound equipment? LaCivita said CBS has the now-famous discussion between Boston pitcher Roger Clemens and umpire Terry Cooney that led to Clemens' ejection in the final game of the A.L. playoffs on tape, but doesn't dare put it on the air. "There are FCC regulations," he said. "We want to show the viewer as much as we can," Goren said. The major question: Are there enough viewers who will be tuned in? '4 4 i ent if he were a senior.

But I couldn't tolerate a freshman questioning my strategy." Gundy played the entire second half of the Oklahoma State game two weeks ago, and was the quarterback in the last three quarters against Texas. He has completed 16 of 34 passes for 236 yards and one touchdown. He's been intercepted twice. Gundy is a 6-foot 1-inch, 185-pound-er who was playing high school football in Midwest City, last season when Oklahoma survived a huge scare from Iowa State before protecting a 28-year unbeaten streak against the Cyclones with a 43-40 victory. Those who specialize in rating recruits said Gundy was among the top five high school quarterbacks in the nation after he passed for 2,347 yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior.

What made it interesting was that Gundy's brother, Mike, became the Big Eight Conference's career passing leader while playing for archrival Oklahoma State. Adding to the drama at Oklahoma was that Larry Coker, who was Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator during the time the elder Gundy OKLAHOMA Pleose turn to Page 3S the polls don't mean that much to me. They don't mean anything, really. They don't mean anything until the bowls are over." Virginia is the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to be ranked No. 1 during the season since Clemson reached that spot in November 1981.

The Cavaliers also are one of three teams in its conference in the rankings this week. Georgia Tech, which meets Virginia in Charlottesville on Nov. 3, climbed from 18th to No. 11 after beating Clemson, 21-19. That also dropped Clemson from 13th to a tie for 22nd with Iowa.

Tennessee moved from fifth to third this week. Nebraska is next, followed by Auburn, Notre Dame, Florida State, Illinois, Houston and Michigan at No. 10. Other Big Ten teams in the top 25 are Indiana at No. 20 and Michigan State at No.

24. Other ranked Big Eight teams are Colorado at No. 14 and Oklahoma at No. 16. Gundy hopes Oklahoma converts to passing game destined.

The Oakland Athletics will lose another game. Probably not tonight when Dave Stewart opens the World Series against Jose Rijo. Maybe not in the second game against the Reds when Bob Welch faces Danny Jackson. Possibly not in this lifetime. But someday.

Count on it. As sure as the 49ers eventually will slide from the NFL mountaintop, the A's will lose another postseason game. They aren't perfect. They didn't win all 162 games on their schedule, They didn't go undefeated like the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The A's actually lost 59 games in 1990.

The Reds have to stop them only four times. Someday Stewart and Welch will patch together consecutive bad outings. Between them this year they The A's lost 59 games. The Reds have to stop them only four times. lost 17 games.

The Reds will settle for one or two. You might have heard differently, but Tony La Russa, the legal-beagle bilingual computerized managerial genius, fills out his lineup cards one floppy disk at a time. He is only human. In 1983, before everyone realized La Russa was lead ing the White Sox to a division title, the fans actually thought he was too human. Whenever he so much as popped his head out of the dugout, they booed.

From the broadcast booth, Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall criticized his every move. Just because he's a lawyer, they said, doesn't mean he can manage. They were right. What they neglected to mention, however, was just because he's a lawyer doesn't mean he can't manage. Anyway, now that Whitey Herzog is on leave, La Russa is generally con sidered the game's best manager.

Which means he fits right in with Sandy Alderson, the game's best gen eral manager, and Rickey Hender son, the best everyday player, and Stewart, the best starting pitcher, and Dennis Eckersley, the best relief pitcher, and Jose Canseco, the best paid and most muscular player. The A's also possess the National League batting champion, who lately hasn't even been a full-time starter. In the playoffs, Willie McGee shared center field with Dave Henderson, one of the clutch postseason perform ers of our time. If I were trying to console a pessi mistic Reds' fan, here's what I'd say: "Forget about the fact that Eric Davis, your star player, would be just another pretty face on the A's "Forget about the fact that Eckersley has more saves than the Nasty Boys combined. "Forget about the fact that the Reds haven't been much more than a .500 ballclub since their torrid April and May start.

"Forget about all that and look on the bright side. If something seems too good to be true something like the Oakland ballclub it usually is. "Besides, Canseco has been slowed by a bad back and a sore finger. He's slumping and the rest of the offense has been playing a baseball version of bing-bango-bongo. "Walt Weiss, one of the top shortstops in the American League, has been injured.

"Welch doesn't have much of a record in postseason play "Mike Moore, Oakland's third starter, hasn't exactly been mowing them down lately "The 1990 Reds are probably better than the 1988 Dodgers, who whipped the A's in five games. If the Reds only had Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson, they'd be a cinch. "And look at recent history. Upsets happen all the time. In 1985, the Cardinals were favored to beat the Royals.

The Royals won. In '87, the Cardinals were favored to beat the Twins. The Twins won. "That should tell you something, other than the Reds would be better off playing the Cardinals. "And don't forget how hard it is to repeat.

True, the Pistons and 49ers broke the no-repeat rule. But this is baseball, which hasn't given us a World Series double since the Yankees won in '77 and 78." Yea, verily, the A can and will be beat. Our great-grandchildren might be around to see it. 19S0 WORLD SERIES WHAT: American League champion Oakland Athletics vs. National League champion Cincinnati Reds.

WHEN, WHERE: First game of best-of-seven series at 7:30 p.m. CDT tonight, Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati. TV: CBS network: KCCI, Des Moines: KGAN, Cedar Rapids; KIMT, Mason City; WHBF, Rock Island, KHQA, Hannibal, WKBT, La Crosse, KEYC, Mankato, KMTV, Omaha; KMEG, Sioux City; KELP, Sioux Falls, S.D. RADIO: CBS network: KRNT, Des Moines; WMT, Cedar Rapids; KKAR, Omaha; KDTH Dubuque; KOAK, Red Oak. from George Steinbrenner.

Rijo wasn't ready and his career hit a major snag. Rijo has yet to learn the fine art of pitching. He's still a thrower. "No curveball, no change-up," Rijo said. "I don't need those pitches, and I don't need them now." Playoff Record Rijo started two games in the National League playoffs.

He gave up WORLD SERIES Please turn to Page 2S Gary Moeller Receives apology for blown call and Sunday. "They made a mistake and have got a brand that will take awhile to get The crew, headed by referee John Nealon, was the same that worked the Illinois-Ohio State game a week earlier. Illinois won when no flag was thrown on an apparent forward lateral that went for a touchdown. "The thing I worry about with officials is if you don't have something, don't call it," Moeller said. "So if you don't throw the flag, then you never saw anything.

"Something's got to be done, obviously, but I don't know what. I don't think it's a matter of people trying to cheat." 3 Washington 1 West Des Moines shot a w5y tie for fourth place to 64 today and match Nadia Comaneci, cyclist Willa McGuirk Cook Sports Han ot ame Monday. A FOYT A.J. Foyt and headed legs his brakes Elkhart Lake, NAME newest bowl a sponsorship place it among teams, Dec. 28 at Joe BACK champion retirement 54, rode upset favored riding in winners on In 1987, while to declare Michigan coach gets an apology from Big Ten ANN ARBOR, MICH.

(AP) Dave Parry, the supervisor of Big Ten officials, has apologized to Michigan Coach Gary Moeller for a blown call that sealed the Wolverines' 28-27 loss to Michigan State, costing them the No. 1 ranking. "He was just calling up to say how he felt about the matter, that they had talked to the officials," Moeller said. "He told me they blew it. He said they missed it on the pass interference." The play in question came with 6 seconds left in Saturday's game.

Michigan, which had just scored to pull within a point of the Spartans, tried to win the game with a two-point conversion. Receiver Desmond Howard was bumped and knocked down by defend er Eddie Brown, then dropped a pass from Elvis Grbac after hitting the ground. There was no flag from the offi cials indicating interference and no signal indicating Howard had possession long enough for a catch. Moeller said Parry assured him that tapes of the play have been sent to every Big Ten officiating crew. "The guys who did not make the call are sick and as down as you could be," said Parry, who called Moeller MORIIIHG REPORT Football By RON MALY Rttlttor Staff Wrlttr It's not exactly "Air Oklahoma" yet.

But you strongly get the idea Cale Gundy wishes that time would come. And, who knows, maybe the time will come Saturday when the Sooners play Iowa State in Norman, Okla. Gundy is the quarterback who questioned the Sooners' strategy in Saturday's 14-13 loss to Texas their first defeat in six games. To win the No. 1 ranking, he said, "you have to throw the ball down the field.

You can't run dives up the middle." Pretty strong stuff from a freshman. But there's still more. "We throw 250 to 300 passes in practice, then we get in the game and don't throw at all," Gundy said. "I guess I'm just not accustomed to that." Oklahoma Coach Gary Gibbs said he'll decide later in the week whether to open with Steve Collins, who has been his starter in all six previous games, against Iowa State, or Gundy, who has been playing more than Collins in recent games. But Iowa State Coach Jim Walden, whose team is a three-touchdown underdog Saturday, knows who he would start.

"I'd go with Collins," Walden said Monday. "I'd put that freshman (Gundy) down a notch. It would be differ THE AP TOP 25 (First-place votes in parentheses with record, points and previous ranking) 1 Virginia (38) (6-O-0) 1.454 2 2 Miami(Fla )(15)(4-l-0) 1.414 3 3 Tennessee (2) (4-0-2) 1 .354 5 4 Nebraska (3) (6-0-0) 1.258 7 5 Auburn(4 0-1) 1.238 6 6 Notre Darned) (4-1-0) 1.208 8 7 Florida State (4-1-0) 1.046 10 8 Illinois (4-1-0) 971 11 9 Houston(l)(5-0-O) 963 12 10 Michigan (3 2-0) 939 1 11 Georgia Tech (5-0-0) 835 18 12 BnghamYoung(5 1-0) 830 13 13 Washington (5-1-0) 786 17 14 Colorado(5-1-1) 762 14 15 SouthernCalitornia(5-l-0) 761 16 16 Oklahoma(5-l-0) 724 4 17 Florida (5-1-0) 485 9 18 Mississippi(5-l-0) 374 24 19 Texas (3-1-0) 354 20 Indiana (4-0-1) 312 22 21 Wyoming (7-0-0) 291 23 22 Clemson (5-2-0) 278 15 low (4-1-0) 278 23 24 Michigan State (2 2-1) 193 25 Texas AlM(4-2-0) 116 20 Othen receiving vote Texas Christian 89. Oregon 83. South Carolina 36.

Ohio State 1 5. California 1 4. Penn State 1 2. Arizona 11. Louisville 5.

Toledo 5. Southern Mississippi 4. UCLA 2. Hockey NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Minnesota at Philadelphia Montreal I IOWA SENIORS. Ken Whitehead of 4-over-oar 76 Monday and was in a four after the first round of the U.S.

Senior Amateur golf tournament at Carefree, Ariz. Gene Hagen of Sioux City opened with an 80 GOES HOME. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner was released from an Indianapolis hospital Monday home to Houston to begin rehabilitation of his injured and feet. Foyt, 55, was injured in a race Sept. 23 when failed and his car slammed into a mound of dirt at Wis.

CHANGE. The Sunshine Classic, college football's game, will be renamed the Blockbuster Bowl under agreement with Blockbuster Video. The deal will the top six bowl games in money paid to participating promoters said. The first game will be played Robbie Stadium in Miami. IN SADDLE.

Lester Piggott, an 11 -time British jockey, returned to riding Monday after a five-year and a three-year prison term for tax fraud. Piggott, Lupescu in a race at Leicester, England, and nearly Sumonda, losing in a photo finish. Piggott started 1948. Before his retirement in 1985, he rode 4,349 British tracks, winning the Epsom Derby nine times. he was a trainer, he was sent to prison for failing some $6 million in income.

TV Today Noon (tSH)Tennis Seiko Super Series, men's singles final. (Tape) 2 p.m. (Kg) Golf Dunhill Cup, third round (Tape) 7 p.m. CLbJ) Baseball 1990 World Series, game one: Oakland at Cincinnati (Live)Q 8 p.m. (IjSjD Boxing Fred Pendleton vs.

Steve Larrimore, lightweights, (live) p.m. dSNJDrag Racing NHRA Quaker State Northstar Nationals. (Tape) 1 1:30 p.m. (ESpBateball National Old-Timers Classic (R) Quote of the Day "Sure, everybody wants to gamble, but they want to gamble with my money. I did at the time what I felt was the best for our football team.

Given the same situation, I would make the same decision again. Period." Ohio State football coach John Cooper, defending his decision to run the ball in the final minute of a 27-27 tie with Illinois in a Big Ten game Saturday Ohio State's last possession began at its 20-yard line with 1 minute 4 seconds left. Quarterback Greg Frey's first-down pass was-incomplete. Running plays on second and third down gained 3 yards. Then the Buckeyes punted.

and George Turner of Des Moines shot an 86. Ld HopKins jr. oi Whitney, Texas, took the lead with a 74. William Godden of Med-ford, and Jim McMurtrey of Danville, trailed Hopkins by one shot. Whitehead was tied with Daniel Murray of La Verne.

Dean Dauehertv of Sisters, and Rick Jones of Youngstown, Ohio. The field will be play will start Wednesday. I WOMEN HONORED. Gymnast Connie Carpenter Phinney and water were named to the International Women by the Women's Sports Foundation on cut skier.