News-Journal from Mansfield, Ohio • 21

Sunday, November 12, 1989 News Journal, Mansfield, O. Sports 3-c NFL may double Price lifts Cavaliers to first victory number of games for Sunday night I a By Joe Mener News Journal correspondent Hal I Lebovitz P' fh i. RICHFIELD, Ohio The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled out all stops in pursuit of their first victory of the season before 19,006 at the Coliseum last night. They suited up a gimp of a point guard in Mark Price, who had not played all year because of a sprained right ankle. They forked over $8,700 to charter a flight home following Friday's loss to Washington in Baltimore.

They even bused in the Boston Celtics. The result? Why a win, of course and a badly needed one at that. The 104-101 triumph was the Cavs' eighth in a row over the Celtics at the Coliseum since Lenny Wilkens became Cleveland's coach in 1985-86. The only difference this time was in the margin of victory. This game was close.

The Cavs won the previous seven games in the streak by an average of 17 points. It may have been Boston's fourth game in five nights, but the Cavs couldn't care less. After losing their first four games two in overtime they simply were happy to get a win. "We needed to get off this slide as quickly as possible," Wilkens said. "Every game we've played this season has been close, but if you keep losing those close ones, it can snowball on you.

"I kept saying if we got one key player back, just one, it would make a heck of a difference. And it did." Still, it took a 14-footer by John Williams with 10 seconds to go and a free throw by Harper at the 1.4 mark yes, that's 1.4 as in one second and four-tenths to make it official for the Cavs. Kevin Gamble's desperation shot for Boston at the final buzzer got nothing but glass. Earlier, Wilkens' decision to play Price seemed somewhat a move of similar desperation, since Price had been listed as doubtful. Yet it wasn't Wilkens' decision at all; it was Price's.

"He came up to me (yesterday morning) at the shootaround and said he was ready to play," Wilkens said. "I know if Mark says he's ready, he'll play hard." Added Price: "I've played better, but we won. That's what counts." Currently there are eight National Football League games on Sunday night television, all on ESPN. Look for 16, one every Sunday night, next season. There is certain to be lively bidding among both cable and network for those added eight.

Browns owner Art Modell, head of the NFL's TV committee, admits this is a strong possibility as "a natural evolution of what we are doing now." Modell and new commissioner Paul Tagliabue will be in Washington tomorrow to appear before a subcommittee of the Senate, headed by Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), which is now conducting hearings on cable TV for sports. Metzenbaum's fear is that so many sports events are now appearing on pay-TV viewers without cable will be shut out. Modell doesn't see this as a problem for the NFL. "Only 5 percent of our product is now on cable, so an increase of eight more games is minor. All the other major sports have much more cable TV than we do." HELLO THERE: On Tuesday, Modell and Tagliabue will visit a number of Senators, with the Browns' owner introducing the new commissioner to them.

The NFL's network contracts are up at the end of the year and Modell and Tag will do all the renegotiating, starting next month. Since the NBA just got a 341 percent hike from NBC, it's a cinch the NFL will get some excellent numbers. Says Modell, "If the networks want major sports and they do they have no alternatives. If a network wants to cancel Chicken Soup' it can replace it with Pea If it loses major league baseball, for example, there is no substitute for that kind of a telecast." LOW BLOW: Friends of Indians' owner Dick Jacobs say he took the defeat of George Forbes in the Cleveland mayor's race harder than Forbes did. Jacobs was a prime backer of Forbes who advocated a new ball park for the Indians.

Mayor-elect Mike White says that's not one of his priorities. Now Jacobs must find some other politico to push the project. I hear he is looking toward the state, which helped Cincinnati build Riverfront Stadium by issuing bonds. There also could be a push for a two-week sports lottery similar to the one recently held in Maryland to finance a new football-baseball complex. The Orioles will play in the new park.

Although disappointed by Forbes' defeat, the Jacobs brothers can take some consolation in the latest figures produced by a financial team for The Sporting News. It placed a value on the Indians of $75 million. Just three years ago the Jacobs bought the club for $35 million. What raised the value? The new TV contracts. REACHING OUT: Tribe pitcher Tom Candiotti just steered a substantial sum into a fund seeking to find Amy Mihaljevic, the 10-year old Bay Village girl missing since Oct.

27. Candy conducts a golf tournament each year in the San Francisco Bay area to raise money for a foundation which helps locate missing children. This year the tourney raised $37,000 and Tom directed a major portion of it to the search for Amy. Tom's pitching pal and look-alike Bud Black is moving from his Kansas City home into a new one he is building near Candy. WORRY, WORRY: Although the Browns' practices were spirited, I can't recall Coach Bud Carson appearing so outwardly nervous as he did the past week over today's encounter against Seattle.

He is especially concerned about Seattle's ability to block punts and place kicks. He orderd the specialty teams to hold three extra sessions to make sure of their blocking assignments. This is a must-win situation for the Seahawks, who almost always make the playoffs. They are 4-5 and another loss would end Coach Chuck Knox' hopes. Carson and the other defensive coaches have been asking themselves all week, "Will Knox return to his Ground Chuck offense?" In the past, Knox was successful by grinding out yards on the ground, getting five to six on first down, thus keeping the opposition from blitzing his quarterback.

This season his top running back, Curt Warner, hasn't been as productive, so Knox has gone to the passing game. Last week Kansas City blitzed Seattle's quarterback, Dave Krieg, so often he became a disaster area. Chiefs' coach Marty Schottenheimer isn't big on the blitz and he admitted surprise after the game that his defensive coordinator Bill Cowher blitzed so much. Ji 2 AS. iA.

Headed for semifinals Fredericktown's Bill Grubaugb (40) is being pursued by Steubenville Central Catholic's John Taylor on a first-half carry during the Freddies' 21-14 victory Saturday. The win puts Frederick-town into the Division IV state semf inals. (Pboto by Dick Brenneman) Miami's rally stuns struggling Pistons NBA Tht Auoclattd Pr MIAMI Kevin Edwards scored nine of Miami's final 14 points Saturday night and the Heat overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the struggling Detroit Pistons 88-84. Bulls 109, Sonics 102 CHICAGO Michael Jordan scored 25 points and Horace Grant added 23, leading the Bulls past the Sonics. 76ers 104rBucks 96 MILWAUKEE The 76ers, coming off a loss record-setting fashion by routing the expansion Magic.

Rockets 100, Jazz 92 HOUSTON Akeem Olajuwon had 24 points, 21 rebounds and a career-high 12 blocked shots the fourth triple-double of his career leading the Rockets to a victory over the Jazz. Spurs 122, Nuggets 108 SAN ANTONIO, Texas David Robinson scored 15 of his 28 points in the decisive third period and finished with 11 rebounds, leading the Spurs to a victory over the Nuggets. to the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves 24 hours earlier, got 23 points from Charles Barkley and 20 from Hersey Hawkins to beat the Bucks. Hawks 148, Magic 109 ATLANTA Moses Malone scored 28 points and led eight players in double figures as the Hawks won their first game of the season in August From Page 1-C American Conference team would win a Super Bowl. There's much to like about the Buffalo Bills, especially the talent on defense, and they're 6-3 despite the injury to quarterback Jim Kelly.

This might be the American Conference's team of the future, the one to restore balance and credibility, but so far the credentials are not in order. seemed to have toughened up some physically, becoming more aggressive defensively with an altered approach. Still, the Broncos don't seem to scare anybody. Memories are still fragrant of their two successive collapses in Super Bowls. that 1" while absorbing a beating from the revitalized Los Angeles Raiders.

So if the Bengals will not be available to match up against the National Conference in the Super Bowl, is anyone emerging that won't prove an embarrassment? If so, the team hasn't established its identity. After nine games, it appears the class is still in the National Conference. The 49ers and Giants are both 8-1 and operating at the level that has won them Super Bowls. Going into the weekend, the Denver Broncos have the American Conference's best record, at 7-2, and they 5AOHA AUTHENTIC SHIATSU MASSAGE Still, you wondered. The Bengals have been spectacularly unpredictable.

In the season before skyrocketing to the last Super Bowl, they finished last in the Central Division with a 4-11 record, despite ranking third in offense and fourth in defense in the conference. That takes some doing. This season injuries, rather than weird occurrences, threaten to frustrate the Bengals. Last Sunday they didn't look like a potential contender 524-6783 24 HOURS 7 DAVS 23 E. 4th St.

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