Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 21

i mi -rr Trouble's brewing Nuggets, 76ers have backs to wall in baseball paradise I 175 The Pensacola Journal ednesday, May 22, 1 985 Free agency tests owners' concern By DICK YOUNG Syndicated Columnist RENO, Nev. Any day now, baseball's big Pittsburgh Pusher Case will blow sky high, naming, but not indicting, numerous big-league ballplayers. In generations past, such public disgrace would have sent the infamous offenders running into their holes, banished from baseball, frowned upon by society. Today, they will be proclaimed celebrities. Some Flyers trample Oilers for 4-1 win The win gave the Flyers an 8-0-1 record in their last nine meetings with the Oilers.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 15:05 of the first period when Ilkka Sinisalo scored with Philadelphia holding a two-man advantage. Todd Bergen passed across the crease to Tim Kerr. Fuhr got his skates on Kerr's wrist shot, then Sinisalo knocked the rebound into Fuhr's leg. But Sinisalo got another chance as the puck squirted free and he put a backhander in over Fuhr. The Flyers stretched their lead by scoring twice in a span of 2:11 of the third period.

Ron Sutter, who did a masterful job of checking Wayne Gretzky all night, stole a pass from Paul Coffey at the Oilers' blue line. Sutter beat Fuhr with a backhander on a breakaway. Kerr, who missed all but the opening minutes of the Flyers' six-game victory over Quebec in the semifinals with a knee injury, made it 3-0 at 8:07. Fuhr dropped the puck near Philadelphia's Dave Poulin and Poulin's pass was knocked in by Kerr. Poulin scored into an empty net with 21 seconds remaining.

If not for the spectacular work of Fuhr, who had 37 saves, the Flyers would have jumped to a big lead in the first period. Fuhr, who struggled in the semifinal series against Chicago, made a fine glove save on Rick Tocchet early in the first period and an even better stick save against Derrick Smith a few minutes later. Fuhr then foiled Peter Zezel on a breakaway at 12:40. But he did as much as he could on Sinisalo's goal. The Flyers were just as dominant in the second peri- od, outshooting Edmonton 12-4 after holding a 17-8 edge in the opening session.

Lindbergh turned away 25 shots in the Flyers' net. PHILADELPHIA (AP) Third-period goals by Ron Sutter and Tim Kerr led the Philadelphia Flyers to a onesided 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the first game of the Stanley Cup finals Tuesday night. The Flyers, who went 149 minutes and 50 seconds without being scored on, will host the Oilers Thursday night in the second game of the best-of seven series. Philadelphia had not been scored on since the second period of the fifth game of its semifinal series with Quebec until Willy Lindstrom put a backhander past goalie Pelle Lindbergh with 3:08 left in the game. The Oilers were averaging just under six goals a game in these playoffs.

But the Flyers, beating Edmonton for every loose puck and throwing a defensive blanket over the National Hockey League's best offense, completely shut down the defending champions. will demand higher pay. Satire, you say? Ridiculous? Not at all. Even now one of baseball's more prominent druggies has declared his intention to go free-agent at the end of this season unless his team comes up with bigger pay. The poor guy is being exploited at $323,000.

Young Holmes looking ahead Gannett News Service Illustration RENO, Nev. (AP) While Larry Holmes ponders about who to' fight next, he's also thinking about whether he should fight at all. 1 "What I want to do Is really sit back and look at myself," Holmes said after scoring a 15-round unan-' imous decision over Carl "The Truth" Williams Monday night. "I'm happy with what I've done. If I don't fight again, I'm happy," said Holmes, who was a very tired warrior at the end of his International Boxing Federation heavyweight title defense.

"The fights are not getting easier, they're getting harder," Holmes said. "The opponents are not getting older, they're getting younger." His mouth was bleeding; his left eye was nearly closed; exhaustion was etched in his face. He skipped the postfight news conference, but talked to several reporters later In his hotel suite, then attended a victory party. "We'll take a long look and see where we're going, then I'll take a long rest," said Holmes, who left' for his home at Eastern, early Tuesday. Holmes had said before and indicated after stopping David Bey in the 10th round March 15 at Las Vegas, that he would retire.

He then decided to try and break Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0, and was paid $2.3 million to take another step in that direction against the 6-foot 4 Williams, who had a 16-0 record with 12 knockouts. Marciano has been the only heavywight champion to retire without having lost. Should Holmes retire now, he would leave with a 48-0 mark, with 34 knockouts. "I'll have to sit and talk with Larry and see where his head's at," veteran trainer Eddie Futch said; "I've been recommending time after time that he should quit." Before the fight; Holmes had said that he wanted to fight twice more before his 36th birthday Nov. 3 in a bid to surpass Marciano's record.

Marciano quit boxing at age 33 in 1956. It now seems that Holmes might not fight more than once more this year, but many boxing observer feel he will fight again to at least try and tie Marciano's record. One thing is certain. Holmes' has had enough of The Truth, College football has hit low ratings and dipping revenues largely due to oversaturation. Ironically, extra sports coverage killing television 's golden goose I hope Steve Howe, Dodger relief pitcher, does go free-agent.

Then we will see which clubowners really want to clean up the insidious condition that is eating away their game, by abstaining from bidding, and how many will hire anyone who can help win a few ballgames right now. It is incomprehensible to me that any ballclub would attempt to sign a re-entry free-agent who has been in and out of drug clinics and has just come off a year's suspension. Not only would such a ballclub be picking up a potential major problem, it would be hiring one of the world's prize ingrates. LA. 's approach fair The Dodgers, forbidden from paying Howe his salary in 1984 while he was suspended for drugs, asked and received permission from the commissioner to pay Howe $40,000 to cover his living expenses.

They also paid his medical expenses while he was trying, not too successfully, to kick the habit. Finally, after being out the entire 1984 season, Steve Howe tested negatively and was taken back by the Dodgers. They signed him for the same paltry $325,000 called for in his '84 contract, with the stipulation that there would be a renegotiation when Howe's performance so warranted. To date, Howe's agent has not asked to renegotiate. Perhaps it is because Steve Howe has, to date, apppeared in nine games, saved two, won zero, lost one, and has an ERA of 5.19 for 8 innings.

"We have to see some better stats," says James Hawkins, his realistic agent attorney. This might be a good time for Dodger management to ask to renegotiate Steve Howe's contract, just to drive home some reality to the young man, if nothing more. Why must renegotiations be done always at a time favorable to the ballplayer? "Steve," Fred Claire, Dodger veep in charge of salaries, can say, "we agreed to renegotiate your contract during the season, and we think this is as good a time as any. On the basis of your performance so far, we think you are worth the salary minimum. Therefore, we will pay you $40,000.

To show how magnanimous we are, we will not make this retroactive. You may keep the money ($60,000 total) we have overpaid you so far." This would be a much more considerate approach, I would think, than Steve Howe and his agent have taken. Howe believes he owes the Dodgers nothing for giving him a second and third chance. "We think their intentions were good and we give them credit for standing by Steve," says agent Hawkins. "Certainly, they gave him financial support, especially in their willingness to defray medical expenses.

But in his mind, when Steve signed his 1985 contract, he satisfied any legal, moral or other obligation he had." Ingratitude encouraged Hawkins said something else that may fascinate you. "Steve has no grudge that I know of against the Dodgers." Now, that's nice of him, isn't it? I'll bet he isn't even sore at Dave Stewart, a former teammate, for having stood in front of him in the bullpen in 1983 so that he could sniff coke without being detected while the game was going on. This brazenness is, sadly enough, encouraged by the Dodgers. They accept, at least publicly, his ingratitude. "Steve owes us no more than a good performance," Claire said.

"That's all anybody owes." That statement is an example of how the front offices of baseball have been beaten down, how helpless ballclubs must feel they are to combat the destructive drug situation. Certainly Steve Howe appears to feel no remorse and less appreciation. "The bottom line is whether I produce on the field," he said. "It doesn't have to do with drugs, but whether I do my job on the baseball field, period." He seems to be telling baseball where it can go with its attitudes, as long as he gets out batters, and the most deplorable part is that baseball apparently will accept him on those terms. Update Prosecutor says probe will identify bookies MEMPHIS, Tenn.

(AP) A grand jury investigation into sports gambling in the Memphis area will lead to indictments against alleged bookmakers, U.S. Attorney Hickman Ewing Jr. predicted Tuesday. But Ewing refused to say when the indictments can be expected. Published reports have suggested a connection between professional gambling and the Memphis State basketball team which finished last season with a 31-4 record and a trip to the semifinals of the NCAA playoffs.

Only one MSU employee, former Athletic Director Billy "Spook" Murphy, has testified before the grand jury, however. Murphy, who is now an assistant to the MSU president. Dr. Thomas Carpenter, also is a member of the Colonial Country Club, and the jury has subpoenaed other members and employees of the club. heated in recent years for more and more money to pour into TV sports from the corporate giants.

General Motors, Philip Morris, Anheuser-Busch, They have all come by the networks with swollen money bags, convinced the fastest way to the consumers' minds and wallets is through sports on television. In 1979, the three major networks sold $491 million worth of advertising. In 1984, it was $1.4 billion. Plus $158 million on Ted Turner's WTBS. Plus $55 million on ESPN.

It is easy to follow the trail of green. It goes from the advertisers to the networks to the sports to the athletes. The money to pay those player contracts that now are somewhere over the rainbow? TV dough. Second in a series By MIKE LOPRESTI Gannett News Service This was sports on television before the big money hit: In 1960, CBS was the first network to show the Olympics, the Winter Games from Squaw Valley, Calif. It paid $50,000.

ABC paid $309 million for the Calgary Winter Games in 1988. That $50,000 CBS forked over in 1960? Factoring in inflation, it would buy 2 minutes and 30 seconds of air time for Calgary. One good giant slalom. Such is the gold-gilded arena in which we now find our games. In the televising of sports, the language is not English but decimals, numbers, millions.

Like a fourth-quarter rally, the momentum has The baseball salary structure shot up 26 percent from 1976-83. But the TV revenues went up 22 percent to cushion most of it. The NFL got $4.6 million from the networks for the 1962 season. Twcnly years later, the NFL got $2.1 billion for five seasons. But there are changes coming in this wonderland.

As TV ratings drop for nearly every sport, mostly because of so much of it being on, advertisers are starting to balk, looking elsewhere for cheaper ways to tell their tale. "It's natural for them to say, 'Hey wait a minute, this ain't working; I'm paying more and getting said Peter Lund, president of CBS Sports. See TELEVISION, Page 5B Walk-on King brings relief to MSU baseball team 4f 4 ft i j. a ft. if i- i ri and that experience will come in handy.

"When you're a starter you have to keep it even all through the game," King said. "But I seem to excel in pressure situations. It's a lot easier to get pumped up about pitching three or four innings than nine innings. And right now I'd rather be a reliever." He had fewer options four years ago. He watched his hopes for a collegiate baseball career diminish after suffering a stress fracture in the right elbow during a Boston Red Sox baseball camp in his senior year at Woodham.

With a future in baseball doubtful at best, it was his academic interests that led him to Mississippi State. "You couldn't find a better place near here to study petroleum engineering," King said. "And they had a good baseball program. 1 still had some hopes of playing ball." Redshirted his freshman year due to a stomach virus, King carried those hopes over into the following year. He worked out on the mound with pitching coach Pat McMahon before giving it one more try.

See KING, Page 5B By BERNELL TRIPP Journal Staff Writer Mississippi State University has found a king-size solution to the question of relief pitching Steve King. "Steve is a good addition to our program," said MSU baseball coach Ron Polk. "Ever since he walked on here at Mississippi State, he has continued to get better and better. He's in the top five in our rotation of pitchers." "He (Polk) likes me to come out of the bullpen because I'm more of a strikeout pitcher," said the Woodham High graduate. "I come out in relief and try to shut them down when they get a rally going." But when difficulties started with the Bulldogs' No.

3 pitcher, it was King who stepped into a starting role behind seniors Jeff Brantley and Gene Morgan. The 6-foot-2. 190 pound junior is 7-2 this season in his role as starter-reliever for the No. 4-ranked Bulldogs. MSU will be host of the NCAA Division 1 South I Regional tournament this weekend with a first-round game against West Viriginia Friday at 7:30 p.m.

King has pitched 64.1 innings for a 3.92 ERA for the Bulldogs, jvtv; fc 4 Associated Press photo Break it up Chicago Cubs' Brian Dayette is forced out at second as Cincinnati Reds' shortstop Dave Concepcion leaps the break-up attempt. The Reds won 5-2. Story, 3B..