The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 17

Th Dolph in fan is rapped in the switch JOHN CRITTENDEN Sporfs Edifcr is 6in8 to look out for the interests of the Nat.onal Football League. Especially the owners. If you've been taken in by the recent hoorah about how the enforced change in television policy is going to endanger the future the grand old game, you'd better go back and read between the lines. Any NFL owner who is con-sidenng bankrupcy, I want to see his books. W.lth anti-blackout legislation, Congress has shown that It Is going to take care of the home television viewer, and you-can read that voter if you want to.

All the talk about shut-ins and the handicapped is interesting, but the people that the Congressional pitch was aimed at are those who can get up and run to the ballot box. But who's going to look out for the fan? The ticket-buying fan, the guy who sit? out In the his wife and family if he can "afford it, the guy who keeps the concessions stands open, at increasing.prices, who fights the traffic and pays the parking charges, as well as the babysitter and all those other costs which go with a Sunday trip to the Orange Bowl. Who's taking care of him is nobody. The fan is asked, to take it as it comes and increasingly it is coming tough. As the New York Mets won the National League East baseball championship yesterday, another wad of consideration was thrown in the face of the ticket-buying fan, this time the Miami fan in particular.

Now that the Mets are in the playoffs, and will be using Shea Stadium, Sunday's Miami-Jets game will be switched from New York to the Orange Bowl, the NFL Commissioner's office announced. And the Nov. 4 appointment between the Jets and Dolphins is switched to Shea Stadium. Bring your ticket for game No. eight to the Orange Bowl for admission on Sunday, please.

What if you don't like that? When the Dolphin home-and-away schedule was an- were people at the Orange Bowl last Sunday trying to push tickets four-for-a-buck and getting laughed at. Once the game's on TV, you can't give tickets away. What if it's not on TV, what if it isn't a sellout? Tfcen you can take your tickets down to the Orange Bowl on game day and peddle them, probably, but that's such an inconvenience that you might as will cancel your plans and go to the football game. Refunds? Maybe you could go to the court and get a refund, but it hardly seems economically reasonable, not unless you have 100 tickets. Maybe the Dolphins would give you a refund, out of the fullness of their hearts.

But that isn't the point. The point is that Miami's season ticket holders bought live entertainment for Nov. 4 and now they are being told that if they want it, they can just come out Oct. 7. Or go whistle.

And how will this late shift alter the prospects of getting the game on home television in South Florida? It's not going to help the game's home TV chances, that's for sure. If people had known a couple of weeks ago that the Jet game was being played at the Orange Bowl on Oct. 7, they might have bought tickets. On short notice, that could change. It has to be a sellout by Thursday at 1 p.m.

or no home TV. Is the NFL going to offer Miami a special dispensation because of the late switch of sites? Don't hold your breath. The new blackout policy has put the season ticket holder in a changed and awkward position. If he goes to the game, puts out all that money for the fringe expenses and gets baked in the sun, there are people who call him sucker. He paid the money and they stayed at home and watched the same show with instant replay for nothing.

A season ticket buyer is not a privileged character any more, but rather an unlucky guy who invested unwisely when nounced months ago, what if you made plans to take a trip into the Keys on Oct. 7 with five of your old World War II buddies and play poker'and watch the Jets play the Dolphins on television? What if you've been getting ready' for months for your daughter's wedding at 4 p.m. on Oct. 7, and the time was set -especially so the people coming to the wedding could watch the Jet game on television and still get to the church for the ceremony? What if you simply have other plans for Sunday, and don't want to change them to go to the football game? Tough luck, You can take it or leave it. The Dolphins were scheduled to play at Oakland last month when the Raiders got bumped out of their ballpark by the A's.

That game wasn't moved to Miami. The Raiders found another park to play iri. Let the Jets find another park to play 'in. So what if they have to take it to Philadelphia. But that's not the way it's going to be.

The NFL has decided that Sunday's game will be at the Orange Bowl. Even if the Miami ticketholders weren't asked what they thought of the last-week change, that's it. Everybody's always looking out for the fan. If you don't want to go to the game on Sunday, you can just throw away your tickets. Sell them? Slim chance.

There Tuesday, Oct. 2, 1973 Section i he could have waited and saved his money. On the other hand, if the same guy, who paid for his ticket back in March, doesn't go to the ball park, but stays at home and watches on TV with everybody else, all of a sudden he's a creep. He's a no-show. According 'to the propaganda machine of the NFL, no-shows, whose empty chairs are an embarrassment and who don't pay the side money which keeps the concessions and the parking lots going, are going to kill the golden goose.

Furthermore, maybe next year some of the no-shows won't buy season tickets. That'll really ruin everything. Instead sti making $1,000,000 profit, the owners will have to set-tbo? $900,000 profit. And that's a tragedy. Instead of having their yachts painted every six months, they'll only be able to afford a new paint job once a year.

Well, sacrifice is good for everybody. The fans are sacrificing. Let the owners sacrifice. Powell plays jffW' i '--Rsr'' I y- -w; Ji Willi pain silence in I mm mm wmmmm I 1 ft i By CHARLIE NOBLES Miami News Reporter You may have heard of the toe problems of Howard Twilleynd Larry Csonka; Jim Kiick's back ailment; the gall baldder trouble of Bill Stanfill. They are well-known Dolphins whose health is watched as closely as the stock market.

Be a -w 1 "jrm If But there is a Dolphin with a chronic injury heretofore known only by his teammates and few friends and relatives. He's Jesse Powell, who might fit as well as anyone as the Anonymous Dolphin. Powell is not a starter, nor has ha been one in his five pro seasons. He is the fifth linebacker on a six linebacker team. He earns his money every Sunday on the special teams, racing downfield with suicidal zeal to tackle the kickoff or punt-return man, just as he did Sunday in Miami's 44-23 whipping of New England.

Powell's problem is this: for lieved Tom Seaver in the seventh inning and held Chicago to one hit as the Mets defeated the Cubs 8-4 to win the National League East Division title yesterday at Wrigley Field. Associated Prisi Wirtphotos TUG'S DAY: 'Relief pitcher Tug McGraw of the New York Mets blows a bubble while biding his time in the bullpen (above), rejoices as the last out is made (above right) and swigs champagne during clubhouse celebration (bottom light). McGraw re JESSE POWELL Like distance runner, Mets saved a final kick every 100 yards he runs, his knea gathers a certain amount of fluid. That might make 6ome men swear off jogging, much less running, but not Jesse. When the knee fills up with fluid "it gets puffy, like a balloon" ha has it drained and starts again.

The procedure has become as routine for Powell as cutting the grass. Since training camp opened in July, he's been in and out of a doctor's office almost enough to wear out a pair of shoes. "It's just one of those things I have to live with," Powell said yesterday. "I had surgery on the knee in the off-season and some friction developed in the joint. It hasn't worked back yet.

So much work causes so much irritation, and that activates the membrane in the knee. But I only drain it now when it restricts the motion. I'm used to it being a little full." He might need another operation after the Mets had wrapped up an amazing race that saw five teams still alive on the last day of the regular season. "They had us for dead, but we jumped over five clubs and that's pretty hard to do." The Mets were iri last place, a dozen games behind, in July and battling a seemingly endless string of injuries. At various times, catcher Grote, shortstop Bud Harrelson, left-fielder Cleon Jones and first baseman John Milner spent terms on the di-abled list.

It was their ability to overcome that kind of adversity which seemed to capture the imagination of their fans. bubbly stuff and passing out. Jerry Grote got the press -award for emptying four buckets of water over the sports writers. When the Mets' plane landed, Berra was the first one out and he was greeted by chants of "We're No. 1." Berra was presented with a key to the city by Walter J.

P. Curley, Commissioner of Public Events, who called the Mets, 'The greatest heroes this city has seen in many years." "I'm not very good at speeches," said Berra, a huge smile creasing his face. "But we're back as No. 1." At that, the crowd roared again. You've got to give the players credit," said Berra, at the end.

"You've got to save a little so you have that last kick," he added. A crowd estimated by police at 1,000 gathered at La-Guardia, Airport's remote Marine Air Terminal to welcome home the Mets last night. It "was a young crowd that came equipped with tape 4 for entertainment while they waited. The team's flight was delayed two hours on the ground in Chicago. During the.

delay, relief ace McGraw entertained the team party with a series of awards. Willie Mays won the champagne contest after taking only three swigs of the flf I Associated Press CHICAGO The New York Mets are champions of the National League East and they did it in Chicago, as if to flaunt their success in the face of the failure-ridden Cubs. The Mets clinched it yesterday in a 6-4 victory over the Cubs, who once were eight games ahead of the field in the East but then did their customary fold. Mets third baseman Wayne Garrett told newsmen in the champagne-drenched dressing room afterward he never was discouraged when the Cubs were so far ahead. has always done it," he said, referring to the Cubs' propensity for running out of steam.

"Three out of five years I've been here the Cubs have gotten way out in front at the start then all of a sudden they hit the wall. -v "But I'll, admit back jn June when they had the best record in the majors I thought they had a lot better chance than we did," Garrett said. The Mets clinched their title in a morning game, the first of a' scheduled Fifteen minutes after it was over, the meaningless second contest was called off and the champagne was uncorked. got splattered, from the batboy to manager Yogi Berra. Powell might need another operation to correct his problem, but he has no thought of yielding to the knife before the 1973 season is history.

Don Shula, the coach, makes things easier for him by restricting him to light work the Tuesday after a game. "I do no cutting drills," he said. 'That gives the joint a little rest." It is evident that Shula admires the perseverance of Powell, whom he considers a valuable special teams performer. "Not many people could be doing what he is doing," Shula said recently. Powell says it's no great act of courage.

"I really don't go around thinking about the knee," he said. "And right now, it's really not that much of a factor. It's come a long way since training camp started. I just can't overwork it. "Actually, my weight is down abo'ut four pounds from last season (he's 218) and I think that's helped the knee, I feel like I move a little better than I did a year ago.

Didn't look over shoulder The knee could have been a mental strain on. him In training camp, inasmuch as he needed to play this season to qualify for a National Football League pension as a five-year man. But he says he didn't fret about Shula replacing him. "I was just concerned about getting myself ready to play," he said. "I wasn't looking over my shoulder.

I think if a person is looking over his shoulder, he can't see what's ahead of him." Powell doesn't have to worry about the pension now. He's already gotten into enough games this season three to qualify. So ha can concentrate on having his balloon-knee deflated when the New York Jets visit the Orange Bowl Sunday. Powell expects a typical Jets-Dolphins brawl. "You have to have a lot of respect for them," he said.

"They have a lot of good football players and through the years they've given us a lot of trouble." About as much as the knee has given him this season. Nobody's laughing at Yogi now ciency, yet it was the apparent awkwardness that people paid attention to. He joined the Yankees in September, 1946. He was 21 years old, having been born May 12, 1925. The Yankees had a star outfielder, big-chested Charlie Keller, named King Kong because he moved and swung a bat with gorilla-like power.

They dubbed Yogi Little King Kong, and although the nickname was soon forgotten, the attitude toward him persisted. Those who liked Yogi considered him funny and lovable; those who didn't called him inarticulate and dumb, unsociable and selfish. In reality, Yogi is not a humorist, although his unpolished speech his formal education Continued on 5B, Col. 1 Yogi Bear. He has played in more World Series games than anyone else.

He won an American League pennant as manager of the Yankees in 1964, and now having guided the Mets to-the National League playoff, has the rare opportunity to be a pennant-winning manager in both leagues, something achieved only by Joe McCarthy. Through all the years in the spotlight, Berra has carried a stubbornly persistent public image that is distinctly different from his private nature. The baseball world has focused, from the beginning, on his clownish aspects, His occasional malapropisms have been exaggerted by Garagiola not the least among them. Yogi's unclassic facial features and his dumpy build seemed to contradict his athletic effi By LEONARD KOPPETT Trie New York Times Newt Service CHICAGO When Lawrence Peter Berra was a small boy in the Hill section of St. Louis, he devoted almost all his waking hours to playing some sort of sport, and even began a series of ex- ercises he thought would increase his already considerable athletic prowess.

Without knowing the exact nature of the exercises, his friends, who included a quick-witted kid named Joe Garagiola, started calling him Yogi. He's been Yogi Berra ever since, and although not yet 50 years old, he has reached the status of an institution. His name alone, made famous by his batting exploits with the New York Yankees, inspired an enormously "popular cartoon character, Mew film receives mixed reviews at -Miami ve got to oeiieve, exclaimed relief pitcher Tug McGraw, uncorking his champagne. Rusty Staub, who hammered out four hits in leading the way into the pennant playoff against Cincinnati, declared: "I came here to play." i "A rnnnlo fF mnnlho bra The Hurricanes By JONATHAN RAND Miami Newt Reporter Bob Herndon has been watching a chilling film. 'Return of Wishbone' came to the University of Miami coaching staff directly from Los Angeles.

"Oklahoma moved the ball almost at will," said U-M's defensive coordinator, reviewing last Saturday night's 7-7 tie with top-ranked Southern California. "They seldom had a third (down) and long. Sometimes there wasn't even a second down. The only weakness I saw is that they fumbled four times." That sounds like terback Steve Davis ran the option for 112 in his first varsity game. "A team that scores and plays as much as Oklahoma gets a lot of experience for their second team," said U-M offensive coordinator Carl Selmer who at Nebraska coached against Oklahoma during each of the past 1 1 years.

The line, despite inexperience, is a typical Oklahoma line. "They have exceptional quickness," Herndon said. "One thing that's different is they're a little bigger than usual." The line averages 233, four pounds less than U-M's five-man defensive front. Herndon's kind of wishbone team. The Texas wishbone lost five fumbles, most of them forced, in its upset loss to U-M two weeks ago.

With just a week's intermission for Florida State, the Hurricanes' defense is back to practicing for the wishbone. They will visit the Sooners at Norman this Saturday. The sequel is a little more like The Fly and a little less like Godzilla. "I don't think they're as strong, but they run the wishbone faster than said head coach Pete Elliott. Texas gained 287 yards rushing against U-M while Oklahoma has gained 810 in two games, including 330 against use.

"They both try to do what they do best," Herndon said. "At Texas, with a big back like Roosevelt Leaks, they're gonna run inside. They're gonna try to get you to adjust to their inside game, then burn you outside. "Oklahoma has faster backs. They're not going to pound you inside as much, but they're more of a threat to score on any play.

Number one, you've-got to stop Oklahoma's option play and then be strong enough to stop their inside game. It's the op-p i philosophy from Texas. I hope it works steps and a full head, of steam. "That was a big factor for Southern Cal. They got right up on those linemen nose to nose.

You have to hit and move, hit and move. If you can just hook them inside and force the quarterback to pitch or hand off, you've pretty well got the problem solved. Our tackles will have containing responsibilities. We'll try to keep them inside and hopefully I'll be able to get them along with our line-backers." If Oklahoma's backs get outside, it will be up to the rest of the defense to stop Continued on 2B, Col. 3 "We're gonna have to learn to be much more physical than we were against Texas to stop them.

We did get handled, to an extent," said nose guard Tony Cristianti. Pushing around a line like Oklahoma's, Herndon says, can be a problem. "Any time you have to play a wishbone team, you have to sit and read so much, you can't overpower anybody." "But we can come up and make initial contact and then read," Cristtani said. "You try to stop their movement right away. That's where Baylor made a mistake.

Baylor let them get their two we-were out of if," he said. "Then we put it all togeth-er" Berra said that only once during the season did he think the Mets might not mafce it. 'Jthsu's when were about 12 games out," Berra, said, "and had all those injuries." 'l guess th'e'haseball race is like a distamw runner," Garrett said. "If yu give it all-you've got at the beginning, you've got nothing left because we didn't stop them inside all night." That Oklahoma has been so strong so early in the season has been surprising. It has lost from last year its entire starting backfield and all but two of the starting interior linemen.

Yet in their opener, the Sooners rolled over Baylor, 42-14 as running backs Joe Washington and Waymon Clark each gained 113 yards and quar.