The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 29

Only 12,000 Expected For East Division Battle At T-Rowl Larry Guest Blazers Bell Slight Favorite To Ring Numbers Game Making Farce Of Baseball Probable Lineups BELL BLAZERS fecntinel Orlando, Florida SECTION M.Carter (110) D. Lozii (255) B. Rickenbach (J55) R. gecman (245) C. Schaukowitch (140) P.

Horosiko (ISO) R. Holliday (US) D. Shanklin (US) K. Corcoran (20!) J. Land (10) C.

Watti (21S) (250) (137) (254) (241) (255) (lit) 1'5) (202) (191) (213) M. Maslowskf M. Johnson T. Brannan D. Peiffer R.

Anthony R. Buiin G. Latta E. Richardson B. Davit T.

Reemon J. Stroni By GREG BOECK Sentinel Star Stiff The Blazers, who have been playing chess with their personnel this week, play football with the Philadelphia Bell here tonight. Four old faces have been replaced with five new ones on a reinforced roster as the Orlandoans hope to checkmate a slump that has produced three losses in the last four games. "We've got to turn things around. And we've got to start now.

This is a must game," Coach Jack Pardee said on the eve of the East Divison game that is vital to both clubs. In an effort to do just that, Pardee has made room for four veterans and a rookie kicker on a team that has lost to Memphis, Birmingham and Detroit in the last three weeks and fallen into a tie for first place with New York in the WFL East. The newcomers are cornerback Larry Willis, guard Del Williams, defensive end Richard Amman, kicker Dave Strock and running back Clifford McClain. None are expected to start but all should play in tonight's 8 o'clock Tangerine Bowl game. A SLIM CROWD of around 12,000 is expected.

The Blazers are slight favorites. Sports STEVE VAUGHN, EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR Although Philadelphia has juggled its roster all year long the Bell tried five different placekickers and seven different punters Coach Ron Waller has made no wholesale changes since last Wednesday's 41-22 overtime victory over Jacksonville. In fact, this marks the first time this season that Waller will field virtually the same team for the second game in a row. The win over the Sharks, coupled with Florida's stunning 15-14 loss to then winless Detroit, pulled the Pennsylvanians to within two of the Blazers with a 5-6 record. THIS IS the first regular season game between the two teams who face each other again in two weeks at Philadelphia but the division rivals are not complete strangers.

The two met in a pre-season controlled scrimmage that saw the Blazers outscore the Bell, 21-7. Tonight's game will pit the WFL's No. 1 defense against a thrid-ranked Philadelphia offense that features a line averaging just 23 years of age, more formations than the Blue Angels and, of course, the legendary King Corcoran. (Continued On Page 3-C, Col. 3) Offense WR LT LO RO RT TE WR 08 RB RB Defense LE LT RT RE LLB MLB RLB LCB RCB LS RS CLASSIFIED Sept.

18, 1974 (259) (250) (248) (251) (224) (220) (221) (192) (181) (184) (199) L. Rose P. Vellano M. McBath J. Rlcca E.

Shuts L. Ely B. Hobbi M. Fair B. Hayet R.

Karris C. BiaHy 5. Parmenter (250) T. Laputtca (255) $. Chomywak (270) L.

Pettisrew (240) 6. Chatio (220) T. Rossovich (240) M. Mansfield (225) M.Shaw (195) B. Johnson 082) R.Mabra (170) E.

Hayei (170) 1'" -m jf i. i em- am v- a mi fa wiiiiii i-ta mm mm iwiilitiiWiriiimiri-i jt-A III liflM iXlll.l Ml (Sentinel Star Photo by Dennis Wall) Prc'Scason Sledding With The Jones Boys Perched atop the sled is Tiger line coach Nat Williams, also the basketball boss at Jones, who is credited by head coach Razzie Smith for greatly improving the offensive front. For more on Jones, see the preview story on Page 6C. Jones High offensive linemen strain through power sled workouts in preparation for Friday's opening game against Edgewater in the Tangerine Bowl. That offensive line could pave the way for an explosive ground attack led by halfbacks Derrick Harris, Gregory Brown and fullback Rickey Fourth In Rote Sharks Sell, Siatjiny Put For Season For Courageous Billie Jean Erratic, Irate In Barnett Classic Victory Somewhere I've read that Mark Twain once said, "What do you want the truth or statistics?" I bring it up because it seems to me that even with the advent of two pennant races in each league, statistics are still running away with baseball.

I've often wondered whether it's really a sport or an algebra problem with hot dogs and hook slides. It's a multiplication table with foul lines. The 1980 World Series, I'm sure, will be a best-of-series playoff between two banks of computers. It'll be covered not by writers, but by certified public accountants. The problem was spawned back in the days before the leagues were subdivided.

After the Yankees clinched the pennant in early June, there was nothing left for publicists to publicize or the writers to write except Bob Feller closing in on the career record for striking out right handed batters on three-and-two counts during overcast day games. Or Stan Musial's approaching record number of two base hits to the opposite field off lefthanded knuckleballers. THROUGH NO fault of their own, there have been many players whose statistics have become larger than life. These guys are drafted as public monuments with the efforts of their team and teammates dragged anonymously along two paces to the rear. I thought that when the leagues were split into divisions (which tends to prolong and amplify the pennant races), the emphasis would return to the matter of whether a team won or lost its games.

How foolish of me. When they come to town, the billing is Hammerin' Hank Aaron AND his Atlanta Braves, almost as if the Atlanta Braves were just a group of jugglers brought in off the reservation' to fill in the dull spots. When he hit that coveted 714th on opening day, they stopped the game on the spot and conducted a four-alarm ceremony in which the microphone was handed to Commish Bowie Kuhn, Aaron, Hank's first Little League coach and doorman at his apartment I thought surely a helicopter, was about to land at second base to fetclv Henry and fly him to a direct appearance on the Johnny Carson Show or at least Sesame Street. ONLY BECAUSE Cincinnati pitcher Jack Billingham and a few thousand fans had the audacity to hang around was the remainder of the 'game reluctantly played to conclusion. Still, few people remember who won, not that it matters.

And every Aaron homer since is announced in bold, black headlines with the score of the game showing up in about the sixth paragraph. Then there was the recent World War III ignited in Houston Astros Manager Preston Gomez lifted pitcher Don Wilson who was working on his third no-hitter for a pinch batter in the eighth. Large segments of the press and fandom immediately frothed at the mouth and expressed a near certainty that the earth would stop spinning on its axis. Of course, Houston was trailing 2-1 at the time despite the fine pitching of Wilson, whose anemic lifetime batting average resembles the miniscule numbers used to gauge the spacing of spark plug gaps. Gomez, at the doorstep of statistical history, was trying to win the game.

The nerve. I wanted to stand up and cheer the next day when Wilson refreshingly said he was not disturbed with the turn of events aid applauded his manager's gond judgment. DON'S POINT was that baseball is a team game, and not an exercise in addition. I take my hat off. There are too many pitchers who can tell you down to the last third-inning what their own earned-run average is but wouldn't have the foggiest how many games their team trails the Dodgers.

The numbers mania has even afflicted some of baseball's longtime, low-key stalwarts genuinely humble guys like 40-year-old Al Kaline of Detroit, where the big daily news is not whether the Tigers win or lose but how many more hits Kaline needs to reach 3,000. If he doesn't get the necessary few hits in the remaining 1974 games, Kaline says he'll postpone his planned retirement until sometime next season. The Ivt, though, would not be Al's only reason for suiting up again. He says he wants X-number of doubles to pass somebody; he could use two dozen or so more walks and a handful of one-handed catches during fungocs to break into the top ten. Or some suc nonsense.

Way down at the bottom of the list of things he wanted to do was maybe help the Tigers win some games. I was surprised he even thought of it. Wraps Dp Cup V'K-'V y.v.. if if I i By JIM WARTERS Sentnel Star Staff It definitely wasn't the same Billie Jean King who won the U.S. Open at Forest Hills a week ago.

And she was the first to admit it after going the' limit in defeating a bespectacled, pig-tailed Ann Kiya-mura, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 Tuesday night. "I could have lost tonight," said the diminutive King of tennis after her first round match in the $50,000 Barnett Banks Classic. "I wasn't sharp at all. I'm very dissatisfied with the way I played," continued the 30-year-old women's liberation advocate. She might not have won at all if Miss Kiyamura hadn't injured her leg in the middle of the third and deciding set.

Kiyamura was behind, 3-0, but she had just pulled the fourth game to deuce with a shot down the left alley that caught the base-line. i I i 4 By Sentinel Star Services JACKSONVILLE A group of investors headed by William Pease of New York City Tuesday bought controlling interest in the World Football League's financially-plagued Jacksonville Sharks. Fran Monaco, sole owner until dwindling attendance put a squeeze on the Sharks' finances, said he will remain president and general manager. Monaco, of DeLand, said the team will finish the season in Jacksonville. The deal was reportedly in excess of $2.5 million, and gave the Pease group stock control.

Monaco also reportedly re-invested in the team. By terms of the agreement, a spokesman said, other investors with Pease will not be identified until Sept. 27. The spokesman said Pease will become a club officer, but his post will not be revealed until that date. MONACO'S WIFE will no longer be a vice president, a spokesman said.

The spokesman said players and coaches who are three games behind in their pay will receive their money before tonight's home game against Portland. Jacksonville, 4-7, will have six new faces on its rosters three of them bolstering a spotty offensive line. The n'ew linemen are Mike Haggerty, cut by the Detroit Lions, Howard Kindig, former reserve center for the Miami Dolphins, and rookie Buck Baker recently cut by the New York Jets. The Sharks will be quarterbacked by rookie Reggie Oliver of Marshall. Portland, 2-8-1, another team plagued by attendance and financial difficulties, has picked up eight new players, headed by quarterback Pete Beathard, a 12-year NFL veteran who will get the starling nod tonight.

Si (Sentinel Star Photo by Red Huber) FRANCOISE DURR WATCHES INTENTLY AFTER RETURNING SHOT During 6-3, 6-1 victory over Sally Greer of Miami NEWPORT, R.I. (UPI) U.S. defender Courageous, whose owners had second thoughts about building her, smoothly whipped Southern Cross by 7:19 Tuesday for a fourth straight win, ending Australia's best financed, best organized challenge for the elusive America's Cup. It was the widest margin of victory in the 1974 series. Courageous won by 4:54 in the first race, 1:11 in.

the second and 5:27 in the twice-delayed third race. The final race in the best-of-seveti series was no contest after the start in winds under 10 knots. Courageous got a 20 second advantage across the line and outsailed the cross on every leg of the 24.5-mile course. Southern Cross, floated, by Australian land developer Alan Bond in a $9 million effort that began four years ago, ironically was defeated by a boat whose backers almost scuttled plans to build her last winner, but decided to proceed. The Southern Cross effort was the fourth unsuccessful Australian bid to win the bottomless trophy that no nation has been able to wrestle from the New York Yacht Club since the Schooner American beat a fleet: of rivals around the Isle of Wight; in 1851.

With starting helmsman Dennis Conner outmaneuverinj the Aussies before the gun, Courageous was first across the starting line by 20 seconds. COURAGEOUS LED by 1:19 at the first windward mark, or 4.5 miles into the race. Courageous picked up another 30 seconds on the two reaching offwind legs, leading by 1:49 midway to the finish. At that point, Ted the Marblehead a i 1 a played it conservative, avoiding any chance of a tacking duel with Australian skipper Jim Hardy, but the lead continued to grow. At the end of the second windward leg, the Aussie 12 trailed by 4:02.

Southern Cross had a pre-race reputation for going well in 16-18 knot winds but the unpredictable weather off Newport was not the usual September fare. Winds were light to moderate throughout the week, providing the air in which Courageous has excelled all summer in her trials against the two-time defender Intrepid. Tuesday's Results Inqrid Bentier d. Wendy Overton, -J, 5-7, 41 (retired); Marcie Louie d. Robin Tennev, 7-6, 4-2; liana Klo d.

Zenda Leiss, default; Julie Heldman d. Susan Maharai, 6 3, 6-3; Diane Franzholz d. Laura Tenney, 1, 7-5; Tma Zwann d. Jeanne Evert, default; Katny Kuvkendall d. Sue Slap, e-3, 6-1; Francoise Durr d.

Sally Greer, 6-3, 6-1; Laura DuPont d. Donna Gam, 6 3, 6-4; Janet Newberry d. Betsy Naqelsen. 6-0, 5-7, 4-3; Rosemary Casals d. Cecl Martinez, 6-1, 6-3; Betty Stove d.

Terry Holloday, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Tory Fretz d. Barbara Downs, 7-6, 6-0; Laura and Robin Tenney d. Terry Holiday and Sally Grier, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Billie Joan Kinq d. Ann Kiyramura, 6 2, 4-6, 6-0; Martina Navratilova d.

Kona Schallan, 6-3, 7-6. Today's Matches 1 p.m., center court Heldman vs. Harler; Slove vs. Fretz; DuPont vs. Navratilova.

Court No. 7 Louie vs. Kloss; Franholt vs. Zwaan; Maharai-Haas vs. Harter-Loule.

7 p.m., center court Bentzer vs. Kin9; Durr vs. Kaykendall; Newberry vs. Casals. AFTER A 10-minute delay for temporary treatment, Kiyamura returned to the court to the applause of between 1,500 and 2,000 Orlando Racquet Club fans, But she obviously was suffering.

Billie Jean closed out the match with little difficulty. "I'm sorry that Ann hurt herself," said Ms. King whose next opponent is scrappy Ingrid Bentzer of Sweden at 7 tonight. It was only a ago a Billie Jean won her third U.S. Open title in a come-from-behind, cliff-hanging duel with Australia's Evonne Goolagong.

Admittedly she has experienced a letdown from that match "especially the way I had to win it." She was behind 3-0 in the third set w'th the game at love-40 and rallied to win, 7-5. "I DON'T KNOW how I'll ever get over that one," said the 120 pounder who stands just slightly above 5-4. "It was one of the most gratifying wins I've ever had." After taking Miss Kiyamura to task to the tune of 6-3 in the first set, the chunky San Mateo, resident broke Ms. King's opening serve. She held her advantage throughout the rest of tha set.

So perturbed at her game was Ms. HIGHLIGHT of the afternoon session was Ingrid Bentzer's win over Ormond Beach's Wendy Overton in a 2:30 gruelling match in which Miss Overton finally defaulted with leg cramps. It was a fantastic feat for the attractive Scandanavian who is returning to action for the first time since suffering a broken ankle last February. "I was in Stockholm just outside my home when I slipped on ice in the street," said Ingrid. "They had to put a pin in the ankle and I was in bed three months." Miss Rentzer protects the right ankle with several layers of tape.

"The more I play the better it gets. But it's awfully hard to stand the pain and I lose all mobility in the ankle after I play. Best thing is couple of Scotches." It was hard to notice her handicap in her first round match against Miss Overton, the one-time Rollins College ace. Her ubiquitous court coverage and refusal to give up proved the difference in the marathon. (Continued On Page 4-C, Col.

1) Vor Late Results, Call IHal-A-Svovc King that, at one point, she slammed a ball skyward and completely out of the playing area. "I had trouble seeing under those lights," said Billie Jean, adding that "that's just a copout." "I finally had to change my strategy and hit to her forehand." But before she did, Billie Jean handed Miss Kiyamura the set-deciding game by missing two overhead slams in a row and miss-hitting a routine shot that was wide of the outside tape by more than a foot. 843-3435 2 1 Hours A.