The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 15

0 mum INSIDE 1 6 Tech wins, LSU loses 1 7 Times prep polls 19-25 Classified (The dimes Tuesday, January 13, 1987 MORNING LINE Kent Heitholt SEC race is stranger than fiction I Ml a 3 fa Reeves has no time for looking back- By JEFF HOLYFIELD AP Sports Writer DENVER On the day after his Broncos won a Super Bowl berth, Denver Coach Dan Reeves had just one wish. "I wish you could slow it down so you could enjoy it," Reeves said. "Everything happens so fast." If he could control time, Reeves would still be savoring the instant when he saw Friends now rivals, Page 19 a referee signal that a 33-yard Rich Karlis field goal was good, giving the Broncos the AFC title and a 23-20 overtime victory over the Cleveland Browns. "I remember standing on the sideline and thinking to myself, 'Should I look at this thing or You knew that since you are a coach, somebody is going to watch you, and so I said, 'I'm going to, stand here and watch it. I'm going to see it go through or I'm going to see him miss "I really felt like if he missed it, we were still going to win it.

So I was going to watch it, and I was hoping that it was going to go through. "When he raised his hands, it was the greatest feeling in the world. It was over, and it was for real. "I wish I could go back to that, because that was such a great feeling and you wish it could last forever. You wish you could be there and just slow it down; where you could really digest it and taste" See REEVES.

Page 19; Parcells still remembers loss to Bears By TOM CANAVAN AP Sports Writer EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. There are a lot of reasons the New York Giants are heading to Pasadena, for Super Bowl XXI against the Denver Broncos, but maybe none is as important in Coach Bill Parcells' mind as what happened at the end of last season. The date was Jan. 5, 1986. The place Chicago.

The opponent the Bears. And Vegas likes Giants, Page 19 the score in the NFC semifinal was 21-0, and it wasn't in New York's favor. "Some of you guys wondered in Chicago last year why I was so mad after the game," he said Monday, the day after the Giants' 17-0 NFC title victory over the Washington Redskins. "It was real simple. I just never knew if I was ever going to get another chance to compete for this.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait for this more than one year. That's what it's about." Parcells said he had a clear message for his players on that afternoon in Chicago. "I told them basically that when you get to that stage of the season that you are on such a fine line that you cannot afford to make any mistakes," he said. "You cannot afford to let up for one play. Every play is important, special teams, everything.

If you give into fatigue or give in to the things that affect in the course of athletic competition and slow you down, you are going to lose the game." So far in the two playoff games, the Giants have outscored San Francisco and See PARCELLS, Page 19 Alabama and Florida are undefeated and in first place. Kentucky is 1-3 and wallowing near the bottom. The Southeastern Conference football standings, right? Hardly. It's basketball season and weird things are happening in the SEC. If you thought 1986 was a strange year, keep your eye on the SEC basketball standings.

You'll see strange. Just two weeks into the conference season, all but two SEC teams have lost home games. Seven teams have won road games. What's going on here? Kentucky, that bastion of basketball, has lost two home games in conference play. So has Louisiana State, a member of last year's Final Four.

Tennessee, loser of 14 straight SEC road games, actually won away from home. That stuff just doesn't happen. In recent seasons, the SEC has produced some of the game's most talented and colorful individuals. Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, John Williams, Jeff Malone and Dale Ellis can be seen almost daily in the NBA highlights. This year the stars have names like Will Perdue, Mark Gottfried, Rex Chapman, Joe Lawrence and Dwayne Schintzius.

What is this, a church league? Is the moon in a strange rotation this year? Or has Dale Brown's 15-year association with the 3 AP LoserPholo league finally affected the others? Already some are writing off teams like LSU and Kentucky and handing the crown to either the Tide or Gators. That could be a major mistake because the onlv i New York Gionts Coach Bill Parcells would gladly trade the pregame hype in a New York minute for the Super Bowl trophy. fft ij thing certain about a NFL receiving whiz Charlie Joiner exits scasuii tine UU3 13 mab nothing is for certain. What the SEC is going thrnnph is a rhanpinir nf The Associated Press SAN DIEGO San Diego Chargers wide receiver Charlie Joiner, saying he was getting too old for a young man's game, announced his retirement Monday after 18 NFL seasons. The former Grambling star leaves the game as the record-holder in career receptions (750), yardage (12,146) and number of games played by a wide receiver (239).

Joiner, who at 39 is the same age as Chargers Head Coach Al Saunders, will remain with San Diego as an assistant receivers coach. "I'd thought about it (retirement) for about eight or nine years and I finally did it," Joiner said. "I'm 39 and that's too old to be playing football for a wide receiver. I've played 18 years in this league. I've had a great career, I think, and I'm just proud of the fact that I finished No.

1, even though it probably won't last that long." Seattle's Steve Largent is 57 catches and 1,018 yards shy of breaking Joiner's career reception and yardage marks. "Anytime you end a career, it's a hard decision," said Joiner, a favorite receiver of Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts. Fouts called Joiner his "security blanket." A two-time all-pro, Joiner finished with 27 1 00-yard receiving games. He became the NFL's all-time leading receiver Nov. 25, 1 984 in Pittsburgh, catching is 650th career pass to surpass Charley Taylor.

Last Oct. 6 in Seattle, he surpassed Don Maynard's 1 1,834 yards to become the receiving yardage leader. "I'm going to miss playing the game," said Joiner, the oldest player ever to play wide receiver in the NFL. I prepared myself for retirement pretty well so it's not going to be a shock. There's got to be a time when you've got toquit and I prepared myself to quit after this season." Joiner was born in Many and attended O.

Boston High School in Lake Charles before entering Grambling. He was drafted by the Oilers in the fourth round ft AS Dale Brown the guard and that takes time. Last season, four SEC teams made it to the 'NCAA's Sweet 16. Another made it to the NIT's Final Four. Four SEC players were selected in the first round of the NBA draft.

The last time the SEC had to follow that kind of show was in the 1982-83 season. Kentucky won the conference and Florida finished last, but in between, eight teams were separated by a mere two games. Georgia, a 9-9 team in conference play, stoked up at the season's end and made it to the Final Four with a string of upsets. This year is following suit. Digest these quirks: Georgia loses three starters, including leading scorer Toney Mack, but plays two overtime games on the road, winning at LSU, without them.

Kentucky beats defending national champ Louisville on the Cards' home court, but loses home games to Georgia (in Louisville) and Alabama. In between, the Wildcats win at Auburn. Tennessee ends its SEC road losing streak, follows with a loss at home to LSU and then whips Kentucky. Vanderbilt beats Indiana and wins at LSU for the first time in a decade, then loses three straight games. Ole Miss, periennial doormat, loses its coach less than two months before the season starts, but new coach Ed Murphy has the Rebels playing the league's best defense and contending.

LSU loses four starters from last year's team, then loses two starters before the season starts. Now, the Tiger lineup includes four newcomers and it shows. Someone bound to get hot What all that means is that somewhere in the SEC, teams will likely find themselves and turn the league on its ear. The real burden will then fall on the computer that helps make the picks for the NCAA Tournament field. How will the tournament selection committee look at all this in March? Will committee members remember what the SEC proved last year that it was one of the three strongest conferences or will it again swallow the media hype from the Big East and Big Ten Conferences? And Steven Spielberg thought he had all the amazing stories.

File photo Ex-Grambling star Charlie Joiner became the NFL's all-time receiving leader with this catch. He was to make many more. of the 1969 NFL draft and played about ing to San Diego in 1976 in the deal that a year at defensive back before sent defensive tackle Coy Bacon to the switching to wide receiver. He was Bengals. traded in 1 972 to Cincinnati before com- Joiner's career statistics, Page 1 8 Robinson: Joiner was a coach's dream what we've been doing all 'Anyone else vou want to go I ask him.

he says. 'Let the rest So Charlie goes just far enough for the first down and turns out. The defender never catches up, Charlie makes the first and we win; Ladd's standing over there beside himself, and he says to Harris and Joiner when they come off the field, 'I don't know whether to slap you or kiss Robinson said he was going to San Diego Saturday for a dinner honoring Joiner, who will become the receivers coach for the Chargers. Robinson, who should know, felt he would be a good one. "He has that patience, and he knows how to teach and demonstrate" Robinson said.

They were playing Southern, and Ernie Ladd and Buch Buchanan, who were both at Kansas City then, had a week off and were on the sidelines, Robinson recalled. "We were coming down the field, down by two, and Ladd's standing there telling me, 'Coach, you've got to kick a field goal. That's what they would do in the pros. But Southern's kid had kicked three field goals that day, so I didn't feel good about being up just one." It's fourth-and-11 at the Southern 20. Quarterback James Harris naturally wants to pass.

Ladd wants a field goal. "I say to Harris, 'What do you want to Robinson said. "He says 'Throw to Charlie. That's By BRIAN McNICOLL Times Sports Writer The main thing Grambling Coach Eddie Robinson remembers about Charlie Joiner is that there wasn't much to remember. "About all you could ever say to him was 'Attaboy, Robinson said Monday, reacting to the announcement that Joiner had retired as a player from the NFL's San Diego Chargers.

"He was always doing things right. You never had to correct him. He worked hard at execution." It carried over. After leaving Grambling, Joiner played for three teams and was the NFL's all- time leading receiver with 750 catches for 12,146 yards and 65 touchdowns. Joiner was a frequent visitor to the Grambling campus after graduation, coming back to help teach younger receivers and to keep some old classmates sharp.

"Willie Brown used to work with him when they came back," Robinson recalled. "He'd tell me 'If I can cover Charlie, I can cover anybody. Brown played for Denver and Oakland in a Hall of Fame pro career, retiring in 1978. Former Grambling players make a habit of coming back to games and practices and one of Robinson's fondest memories of Joiner involves this. Dixie college tournament is born Felony charges filed against Mets' Gooden 1977.

went 54-13 last year, including a 30-game winning streak. The original idea was to bring the Oklahoma State in to play LSU in a game to benefit the Bossier City Dixie leagues, which Elkins is in charge of. The date was set on a weekend that LSU had a break from Southeastern Conference action, but the Tigers backed out, leaving Oklahoma State as the main and only attraction. Washington State agreed to come, said Elkins, if the school could put together an entire road trip to make it worth the trip from Pullman, Wash. So the Cougars, 35-24 last season, will play Texas, Baylor, TCU and Texas AIM before coming here, then play Arkansas, Oral Roberts, Oklahoma State again in Stillwater, and Okla-hor i in Norman before returning to the Maine, which comes in off the winningest season in Black Bears history and a College World Series appearance, will fly in from Miami then return there after the tourney for more games against the Hurricanes.

North Carolina, 33-22 in 1986, comes to town after games in Memphis. "A lot of them said they would be interested next year, depending on how we do this year," Elkins said. "I didn't realize when I got into this that the schedules were made so far in Elkins said the teams would be paid $1,000 per day for the 3-day tournament Games are scned uled for 5 and 8 pm, Friday, 4 and 7 pm, Saturday and 1 and 4 p.m., on Sunday. Three-day passes cost $12 for box seats, $3 for general mission and $5 for students. Single-day tickets! will be $5, $3 and $2 for students By BRIAN McNICOLL Times Sports Writer Jim Elkins raised the art of name-dropping a few notches in putting together the Dixie College Baseball Tournament Using an early commitment from Oklahoma State, he lured Maine, Washington State and North Carolina here for the March 13-15 event at Fair Grounds Field.

"I would call people, introduce myself, tell them what I wanted and tell them Oklahoma State was already coming," said Elkins. "A lot of them worried because we didn't have a university sponsoring us, but having Oklahoma State lent us a lot of legitimacy. And we know we can put on a good tournament." The Cowboys, perennial College World Series participants since Gary Ward became coach in ment officer Each third-degree felony could carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine with conviction. Three other adults were arrested with the 1985 National League Cy Young Award winner, Facing arraignment Jan. 22 with Gooden will be his nephew, Milwaukee Brewers prospect Gary Sheffield, 18; Vance Lovelace, 23, of the California Angels organization, and Phillip Walker 23 The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla.

The Hillsborough County state attorney filed two third-degree felony charges of resisting arrest Monday against New York Mets pitching star Dwight Gooden, involved in a Dec. 13 scuffle with police that the prosecutor pledged would be dealt with in "a very stern fashion." Gooden, 22, was charged with resisting a police officer with violence and battery on a la enforce.