Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 38

Section 4 (fhicaflO (Tribune Sunday, September 2, 1984 The Greening of the Cubs in full bloom Cubs' record lor the 3 years before Dallas Green fe Boh Year Place Pet. GB T979 Fifth 80 82 494 1980 Slxlh 64 98 .395 27 1981' Sixth 38 65 .369 21 V4 1982 Filth 73 89 .451 19 1983 Fifth 71 91 .438 19 1984" First 81 54 .600 zation. Now, not three years later, the Cubs have the second best record in baseball. Still, Dallas Green puts the definitive answer on hold. It leads an interrogator to believe that something gnaws at the man, and it's not the New York Mets.

But He stops short of saying that happiness for him will be Chicago in the rear-view mirror. "I've had some disappointments here," Green said. "But the way things are going with the ballclub, which I feel real good about, now is no time to discuss them or think about them. I don't think it's that important now, and I don't think it's right. "None of what I'm going to do has been decided by a long stretch.

I have a contract that goes for two more years, and 1 intend to honor it. But if you're asking me to give you a percentage on what I'm going to do, I can t. That's too hypothetical, like I said. "I can't say there's a 10 percent chance I won't be Chicago Tr-buno i ATLANTA How about this scenario to complete a bizarre 1984? The Cubs win the National League East, then the pennant, then the World Series, then Dallas Green leaves Chicago. Impossible? In spring training, one would have thought so on all counts.

Now, none of those propositions is off the board. Hardly a day goes by without somebody in baseball praising the job that Green has done. But hardly a day goes by without somebody in baseball hinting that Green might quit the job. The Cubs general manager is unhappy, homesick for Philadelphia, being wooed by the Phillies, or pondering a more relaxed lifestyle back on the farm. Pick one of the above, if you will, then pick up the phone.

Hold the receiver no less than one foot from your earlobe. "For cripes sake," Green howled from his Wrigley Field office, "that's all hypothetical, all speculation. It's just like trade rumors in the newspapers. When Strike-shortened season. Through 135 games.

they get printed enough, soon they become true. How can I answer a bunch of what-ifs if the what-ifs aren even there?" AND YET, THE brutally honest Green will not put the issue to bed with a simple, declarative no. He could be the proverbial pig in slop. When he took over, the Cubs were the game's worst and most primitive organi here next year, or anything like that. That's where you get into all those what-ifs.

I didn't think I'd leave the Phillies in 1981, but I did, didn't Here I am in Continued on page 11, col. 3 In the wake of the news Bernie Lincicome Sf Cubs win on Matthews hit 1 :2 By Fred Mitchell Chicago Tribune ATLANTA The Sarge says he has just begun to fight. "Now that it's September, I intend to start contributing more, said left-fielder Gary Matthews, who delivered his 14th game-winning RBI Saturday in the Cubs' 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. "In September, you're able to get raises for next year. This is the time to turn the pressure into fun." Adhering to their winning script this season, the Cubs rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to break a 1-1 tie in front of 28,821 fans.

It was the 16th time they've won this year in their final at-bat. IVYNE SANDBERG sparked the rally with a leadoff infield single. When Braves second baseman Jerry Royster threw wildly to first, Sandberg hesitated, then took off for second and slid in under the tag. "I just felt like 1 had a shot at it," said Sandberg, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games. 1 checked to see if anyone was backing up first base, or if the ball might go into the dugout, then I took dff." Matthews followed by crushing a fast ball from Braves reliever Craig McMurlry 8-14 for a double over the head of left-fielder Albert Hall.

Sandberg scored easily for a 2-1 lead. Henry Cotto then ran for Matthews. "Sarge likes to have guys on base and in scoring position," said Sandberg. "That's the key to his hitting, it seems." "Seems like six weeks now that Sarge has been on a roll," said Cubs manager Jim Frey. 'He's Continued on page 11, col.

1 IP' lii Mike White does Illini some favor ADVICE, LIKE PAKSLEY, is always unwanted and commonly unnoticed. It takes no special strength of character nor an insensitive stomach to ignore it. Therefore, there need to be better reasons to admire Mike White for showing up on the sidelines to coach Illinois' football opener against Northwestern than the prevailing opinion, offered from nearly every Big 10 outpost, that White should be someplace else, in a confessional perhaps, or with lawyers. One imagines such critics, even if they share the same profession as White and are under the same pressures, to be cruel, unreasonable oafs who would amputate a hand to cure a paper cut. White's punishment for being responsible for the Illini recruiting sins has been determined by wise and stern judges.

He shall not get a raise this year. Promise. That should be enough to satisfy the most heartless outsider. The important thing here is not the severity of White's censure, but the unseen guilt that White must endure for having caused the integrity of his university to be considered along with that of bootleggers and vacuum cleaner salesmen. WELL, NOW.

Any football conch who would do that to his school shows more courage for staying on than for leaving town, even if asked. The way these things usually work, any coach who befouls a program, and gets caught, bails out early, leaving the mess to be cleaned up by a successor, who then has to cheat even more energetically to stay alive. The other alternative is to coach the New England Patriots. White's options, as you can see, were limitless. A coincidental case in point, a parallel to White in fact, is Charley Pell of Florida.

Pell took the coward's way out. He hung around until the inquisitors from the National Collegiate Athletic Association were taking the handcuffs off their belts, and then he quit. No, that's not entirely true. Pell didn't actually clean out his desk and turn in his whistle, though his contract did apparently contain a clause that permitted Florida to lop him off should he ever bring his school under disrepute. He resigned at some future time, to be determined by convenience or inertia, sort of like' postdating a bad check.

BUT PELL DID cleanse himself, which was easier for him to do than White, who waited to be washed by someone else's soap. Pell could face his team's opening game against national champion Miami with none of the remorse that must be eating away at the honorable coach from Champaign. Pell only lost his job and his future. White lost respect and, of course, his raise. Oh, sure.

Illinois could have done the sensible thing and not' stood behind the man who had embarrassed it. But that would have been begging, beneath a Rose. Bowl loser. The NCAA most probably will be more lenient on Florida in its final accounting because Pell has removed himself, which is the most transparent of gestures. White did not try to make things easier on his school.

He took the blame and the heat. He took the NCAA's best shot and stuck around to explain to any young man who might want to join his program why the Illini cannot go to Pasadena and, to the ones who were there last year, why they should want to. Pell, in contrast, did no favors for present or future Gators. The next coach in Gainesville will be able to assign every difficulty to Pell, as Pell did to Doug Dickey, who was fired for being pure. With Pell gone, or going, Florida is free.

trial is over. Not so at Illinois. The jury is only in recess, awaiting new evidence. AS LONG AS White remains at Illinois, so does suspicion. White must continue to function under an enormous burden, required to be not only clean but also impeccable.

White has accepted the Hester Prynne punishment by the Big 10, a scarlet if you will. It doesn't really matter if he does, as long as1 everyone thinks he does. It is very nearly impossible to conduct a quality, top-level college football program without breaking the rules, written, of course, by tweedy academic types who have no idea how much a decent high school linebacker costs these days. White is now at a tremendous disadvantage in trying to maintain Illinois football at the level to which he has raised it, however it was he got it there. And, not to be forgotten, at last year's salary.

Tribunci pholo by Pliil Greor NIU flies high in opener Northern Illinois flanker Curt Pardridge is upended De Kalb. Northern scored with-10 seconds left to by West Texas State's Don Carpenter Saturday in pull out a 40-33 victory. Story on page 5. Illini rally to topple NU Illini to a standstill. In the third quarter, Northwestern held a 16-7 lead and was driving for another touchdown that surely would have plunged a stake into the heart of Illinois ambition's.

Then African Grant, playing in place of troubled safety Craig' Swoope, stepped in front of a Sandy Schwab pass near the goal line and the crisis was over. Quarterback Jack Trudeau, seasoned a year ago in the fires of Big 10 competition, led an immediate retaliatory strike that cut Northwestern's lead to 16-14 before the quarter ended. Then Trudeau hit all seven of his passes in the drive to the winning Continued page 4, col. 2 think some people are going to express disappointment, but I'm just happy to win. A lot of credit has to go to NU coach Denny Green, They took it to us and we were fortunate to win it.

"Who are we kidding, really? We haven't played the kind of football we need to play since, the Michigan game last year. We kind of popped corks a year ago. We've got to play better and execute. We can't drop passes." A LONG TIME AGO, a reporter wrote about a Northwestern team that scrapped "like a bunch of Wildcats" and thus a name was born. The Wildcats have not always lived up to that heritage, but Saturday night they did.

They played the By Robert Markus Chicago Tribune CHAMPAIGN Kockv doesn't always win. The underdog Northwestern Wildcats had Illinois hanging on the ropes Saturday night, but couldn't put away the Big 10 champions. The Illini seemed headed for the scrap heap, but they came swinging back to win 24-10 over a scratching, clawing Northwestern team that more than lived up to its nickname. The victory before a crowd of 75,753 was the llth conference win in a row for the Illini. For the next few weeks, at least, they are once again on top of the Big 10 standings.

Noting the closeness of the game, Illinois coach Mike White said: "I Ready or not, football's here BYU has a new star Brigham Young's upset of Pitt showcases another fine QB. Page 4. Irish have 'foundation' Running back Allen Pinkett right is among 17 returning starters. Page 5. Full prep report Riverside-Brookfield wins to highlight Saturday's action.

Page 7. Pro football '84 A special section on the Bears and the NFL season. Section 18. McMahon in spotlight The Bears decide to end their game of musical quarterbacks. Page 6.

Shhh NFL in progress No strikes, no suits, lew holdouts everybody's ready. Page 6. AP Lasorpholo Cubs pitcher Dennis Eokersley talks things over with catcher Jody Davis during Saturday's 4-1 victory over the Braves. Inside Hoyt, Sox turn back Royals LaMarr Hoyt paces a 6-1 victory. Page 3, The lights that almost were A Wrigley saga.

Jerome Holtzman page 3. 4 It.