St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 35

mm SECTION BUSINESSPages 7-11 Sept. 12, 1986 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH DoDp Ms Toll Tilley, however, was sidelined for a month with a pulled hamstring. The back flared up when he resumed practicing two weeks ago. "It just started getting worse and worse," Tilley said.

Tilley said there is really nothing he can do except rest. In a few weeks he'll have a better Idea about bis future. "It comes down to when it will feel normal again," he said. "Hopefully it will feel normal again. So you Just hang around, take it easy, and don't put any stress on your back and see if the disc problem persists." The news was the latest setback to a Cardinals offense that is being ripped apart by injuries.

Lomax is limping with a bad ankle, running back Ottis Anderson has been downgraded to doubtful for Sunday's game because of a pulled hamstring and guard Doug Dawson is out for the See TILLEY, Page By Bernie Miklasz Of tht Post-Dis patch Stiff Wide receiver Pat Tilley, one of the more Indestructible players ever to wear the uniform of the football Cardinals, has been sidelined by a back injury that may threaten his career. Tilley, in his 11th season with the Cardinals, had a CAT scan performed Wednesday. The test results arrived Thursday and showed that Tilley, 33, has a bulging disc in his back and that the disc Is rubbing against a spinal nerve. It is the same kind of injury that recently forced Los Angeles Rams cornerback Gary Green to announce a premature retirement at 30. Tilley, however, said he isn't considering retirement at this stage.

He wants to see how the back responds to treatment. saddening to me about Pat What a great guy he is. He's obviously the team's favorite type of person. Everybody loves him. He has a speclql place in my heart for, what he's meant to me throughout my short career.

Hearing that kind of news is a big letdown. "If he comes back in four weeks the word I get from the doctors and Pat and he hasn't improved, he won't play this year. This is already his 10th or 11th year and he's no spring chicken. He could try to play next year if he wanted but he's not a young guy." Tilley said he's been bothered by back pain for the past several years, but the problem recently became more persistent. "I've had a back problem forever, it seems like," he said.

"It started bothering me really bad during the last year and a half. In training camp it was bothering me, and I thought it was from starting training again." "I really have to go week by week to see how It feels," he said. "I'm concerned, the doctors are concerned, and there's not anything I can tell you. It could be a week, 10 days, two weeks, or seven years. I just don't know.

The best I can do, according to the doctors, is give it a rest and see if the Irritation goes away." Tiiley will be placed on injured reserve, possibly today, and will remain there a minimum of four weeks. When Tilley misses Sunday's game in Atlanta, his string of consecutive starts will be snapped at 119. With 468 catches, Tilley needs only 13 to break Jackie Smith's team record of 480 career receptions. Some Cardinals fear that Tilley may not get the chance to break the record. "It's frustrating," said quarterback Nell Lomax.

"Not just because he can't play today or Sunday, but because he might not ever play again. That's the thing that is ullies Red Pumei1 On Trial Sn NHL Takes Dead Aim At Wm crnei? 1 J' A if 1 Evan Arapostathis Looking for an angle NFL AP Cards manager Whitey Herzog, in looking ahead to 1987, generally likes what he sees. By Jeff Gordon Of the Post-Dispatch Staff VANCOUVER, British Columbia For owners of National Hockey League teams, perhaps the fourth game of the Stanley Cup finals last season was the last straw. The game, a 1-0 victory for the Montreal Canadiens that gave them a 3-1 lead over the Calgary Flames in the best-of-seven series, ended with the Flames surrounding Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy, leading to a full-scale brawl. "It was disgraceful," said Blues owner Harry Ornest, long a No Dukes proponent.

"There was nothing the referees could do about it. Montreal was (going) up three games to one and Calgary wanted to get even." Ornest said more than one participant brought up the incident at the Board of Governors meeting here this week and the governors voted to crack down on the fighting that pervades their sport. "A small number of the players are getting a high percentage of major penalties," Ornest said. "There are one or two players on every team who are known as policemen, or enforcers, ostensibly to protect the quality players on their team from being put upon by the goon on the other team. "They are hooligans on ice," he said.

"They are cowards, in essence. They are bullies. Twenty-five players spoil the game for the other 450. Why should Wayne Gretzky have to fight Tiger Williams? Walter Payton doesn't have to fight Lyle Alzado." NHL President John Ziegler agrees for the most part, but he picks his words carefully. After all, no NHL official wants this sport to become the Ice Capades.

"I think there was close to unanimity as to getting something done about somebody going out on the ice just to pick a fight," Ziegler said. "There was concern that fighting as a tactic or method of team intimidation was creeping back into the sport. Hopefully, we can eliminate that as a tactic." The league started the crackdown last year, but "instigator" penalties were called after less than 20 percent of the fights. In the preseason, the NHL will ask its referees to do the following: Whenever one player obviously starts a fight with another player, he should be given an additional two- or five-minute penalty creating a power play for the victim's team. In severe cases, the offending player should receive a game misconduct.

When the offending player twice receives a five-minute instigator penalty in addition to a five-minute fighting penalty, he also will receive a game misconduct. When the offending player twice receives a five-min- See NHL, Page 6 BLUES SIGN No. 1 draft choice Jocelyn Lemieux Page 60 By John Sonderegger Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Evan Arapostathis says his name "probably will be misspelled on my gravestone," but he began to etch it into Big Red lore with his coffin-corner kicks in Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams. Three of his punts placed the Rams in a hole in the first half one going out of bounds at the 2, another going out at the 3 and another at the 12. Whereas former Big Red punter Carl Birdsong was a "poocher" who kicked the ball high in hopes that it would bounce and roll toward the end zone, Arapostathis goes for directional kicks that he hopes will sneak out of bounds rather than cross the goal line.

"He could hit 10 of those, and eight of them could go Into the end zone for touchbacks," said special teams coach Marv Braden. "A great deal of that is luck." Arapostathis (pronounced Ah-wrap-po-sta-tis) admits that "you've got to get lucky" on coffin-corner kicks but that he doesn't carry a rabbit's foot in his shoe. Planning and preparation put him in position to get the lucky bounce. After checking out the wind, the position of the hash marks and the distance to the end zone, Arapostathis looks for the best angle and lets fly. As a punter for Eastern Illinois University last fall, three of his punts against Indiana State wound up at the 1-yard line.

Two of them went out of bounds, and one was Because of a dismal effort on a windy day at homecoming last fall in Charleston, 111., eight kicks for an average of 22.8 yards his season average dropped to 37.8. So he didn't get a call in the National Football League draft but signed with the Cardinals as a free agent. "I hope the other teams look at that average and play up close, and then I bomb one over them," said Arapostathis, who boomed a punt 75 yards last season against Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. So who is this Wonder Foot and how did he find at least a temporary home at 200 Stadium Plaza? When he first heard of Eastern Illinois University, after a two-year stint at Grossmont Junior College in his hometown of San Diego, he figured he was heading to the East Coast. "I thought St.

Louis was in Illinois. I thought Chicago was in the middle of the state and I thought Illinois was on the East Coast," he said. "I thought Eastern Illinois must be somewhere near North Carolina." 3efore flying to St. Louis and making the 160-mile drive to Charleston, Arapostathis talked things over with his mother. Her parents were born in See PUNTER, Page 5 Herzog Wants Slugger, Full Bullpen Patriots Pass Over Jets 20-6 Compiled From News Services EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.

Tony Collins caught two touchdown passes, one on an option pass from fellow running back Craig James, as the New England Patriots beat the New York Jets 20-6 Thursday night. The Patriots are 2-0 and atop the American Football Conference Eastern Division. They have allowed just nine points and no touchdowns in the two games. The Jets, who lost star running back Freeman McNeil because of an injury to his right elbow, are 1-1. Collins caught a 6-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Tony Eason in the first quarter.

He and James combined to clinch the victory at 6 minutes 25 seconds of the third period on a gutsy fourth-and-1 call from New York's 10. The Patriots called a timeout before Eason pitched to James, who was sweeping to the right. James stopped and lofted a pass over two defenders to Collins, standing alone at the goal line. Tony Franklin added a 45-yard field goal at the end of the third quarter and a 42-yarder with 3:12 remaining. The Jets got two field goals from See NFL, Page 5 First bass "We have a lot of guys who can play there, but we don't have Jack Clark." Herzog considers the signing of Clark something that has to be done before any other major personnel move.

"We don't know anything. And we won't until we get that resolved." Second bas Herzog thought that Tom Herr was not as toned physically as he should have been early in the season. "I think he played himself into shape. He's a solid guy." Herzog thought that despite Heir's offensive problems this year, he remained one of the best in the league at turning the double play because of his strong arm. He also said fans might not have seen the last time Herr will hit .300, as he did last year when he finished at .302.

"He has come a long way in two months. I didn't think he'd hit .230. "Last year might have been a career year for him in RBIs, but I think he can hit .300. It depends on what the people do around him. "His lifetime average is .282, so last year wasn't that much higher.

That's 10 hits difference in 500 at-bats. If Willie (McGee) and Vince (Coleman) are hitting well ahead of him, that's no big deal." Shortstop Herzog thinks that he has the best tandem in the league in regular Ozzie Smith and Jose Oquendo, the .300 hitting extra man who could be a regular if Smith weren't here. Third bass A question mark is that flashy fielding Terry Pendleton does not supply the power statis- See CARDS, Page 2 By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Based on what he has seen since mid-July and on what he projects, manager Whitey Herzog likes his Cardinals team for next season. The starting pitching seems solid, especially with the expected addition of prize lefthander Joe Magrane. The defense could be baseball's best, and the speed is nonpareil.

Few question marks remain in Herzog's mind, although one is the balance of the bullpen if lefthander Ken Dayley does not come back from an arm injury. A larger question is posed by the offense, which has been the National League's worst this season. "We've got to find a guy who can hit with some pop," said Herzog, who meant somebody in addition to first baseman Jack Clark. Hitters of this ilk aren't easy to find or trade for, and Herzog is aware of that. "I don't know what position he would be, or where we would get him, or who we would give up to get him.

"We've got to shop. Maxie is going to have a lot of phone calls," Herzog said, referring to general manager Dal Maxvill. "He's going to have a cauliflower ear by the winter meetings. "But we might not do anything. You know a lot of clubs won't deal.

They'll say they're waiting for free agency. And then they'll say they'll wait until spring to deal. It's always amazing to me why ball clubs that finish bad don't do anything." Pending offseason deals, here is how Herzog assesses his team, both present and future: Antics if MFL wGDeirs Provide Mhs Fen Writers Kevin Horrigan Sports Editor (AW the owners' boxes, reaping the fruits of free enterprise. In his book, Harris maintains that the heyday of the NFL is over. The first 20 years of Rozelle's rule were an uninterrupted joy ride.

The game's popularity boomed, television ratings and rights fees spiraled ever upward. Rozelle fostered "League Think," Harris says, meaning one for all and all for one. On March 1, 1980, Al Davis ruined everything. He announced that he was moving his team from Oakland to Los Angeles. Rozelle made his big mistake, challenging Davis in the courts.

It took two years, but Davis won, ending League Think forever and ending Rozelle's Golden Era. Since then, Harris argues, Rozelle has been like a boxer past his prime, fighting one battle after another, taking it on the chin, time and again. The players' strike. Declining TV ratings. Congressional refusal to exempt the league from antitrust laws.

Franchise battles in Baltimore, Philadelphia and St. Louis, where Bill Bidwill has sued the league to make sure his rights to move the Cardinals aren't interfered with. The very fact of BtdwiU's suit Indicates the depths to which Rozelle has fallen, Harris says. "In the old days," he writes, "Pete Rozelle could have handled a relative non-entity like Billy Bidwill with a minimum of effort." Non-entity? Well, he may not be Bob Irsay or Georgia Rosenbloom, he may not be Al Davis or Tex Schramm, but he's the only owner we've got, and he fills up the sports pages and I'll thank David Harris to stop picking on him. That's my job.

trouble to which the moguls have gone to provide fodder for sports columnists. All that greed, all that avarice, just for me. Harris book is a reminder that very often, what goes on off the field in the NFL is a lot more interesting than the games. Where on the field, for example, do we find a personality as colorful and bizarre as Robert Irsay? Here's a man who traded one franchise, the LA Rams, for another, the Baltimore Colts, Then he began shopping the Colts around, to Jacksonville, to LA, to Phoenix, finally taking them, in the dead of night, to Indianapolis, where at a public welcoming ceremony he graciously told 17,000 panting Hoo-siers, "It's not your ball team. It's mine and my family's ball team and I paid for it and I earned It." Here's Bob Irsay, hiring and firing coaches, calling plays.

Here he Is overstating his educational accomplishments, bragging about his Marine combat record when he never got overseas. Where on the field do we find the likes of Bob Irsay? Or the likes of Georgia Rosenbloom, for that matter? After the mysterious drowning death of her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, she staged a Hollywood-tacky memorial service and assumed control of the LA Rams, firing the front office executives and making the decisions herself, despite a certain lack of knowledge of the business. Told that the team would have a problem with a player if he took free agency, Georgia suggested that the team should get him a professional agent instead. Those who say the characters are gone from the NFL are just looking In the wrong places. They're In I This bureau has, from time to time, caused foul and loathsome deprecations of the National Football League to appear in the public prints, comments that have caused some citizens to call and complain, "Smatterwichyew? You don't like pro fuhball?" To which this bureau would issue its usual restrained, reasoned reply: "I love pro football, the game and the players and the people.

It's the league I can't stand. All that self-important bushwa. "There are, you see, two NFLs. One is made up of athletes and their coaches and their fans. The other is made up of lawyers and businessmen and politicians and public-relations men who control the first NFL.

It's them I can't stand." However, there's a new book out that is making me rethink my position. David Harris' "The League The Rise and Decline of the NFL" (Bantam, $21.95) is a chronicle of everything that's gone right or wrong for the NFL since Pete Rozelle became commissioner In 1960. Zany ownership. Financial turmoil. Franchise skulduggery.

Passions and hatreds. Lawsuits and multimillion-dollar judgments. It's wonderful stuff. When you see all these wonders in one place, between hard covers, it makes you appreciate all the Pete Rozelle A boxer past his prime?.