Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 39

I So Get Ready, Baby, Exhibition Season Opens Friday Baseball 'Entitled to Its License to Bore' During Spring the general manager, who at this very moment is investigating the real possibilities of playing 16 home games in Samoa. "I have never in my life seen such enthusiasm in a pre-season camp," the manager will say. What the manager is really saying is that the line for the whirlpool bath is two blocks long, the traveling secretary is under constant assault for meal money and advances, and if he could only get a piece of any one of the local nightclubs, he could retire before the team heads north and save himself the embarrassment of getting fired. Nevertheless, it has to begin somewhere. It still remains a game for recapturing youth without violence, for enjoying the sunshine (on these rare days when the schedule-makers have not made after-dark moles of us all) and for reasonable relaxation at least until that point when we realize that the season is no longer than the Hundred Years War.

One word of caution. Do not follow the lineup cards too closely for most of spring training. The guy on first base in February may be the guy at your neighborhood gas forgotten what that potential was all about: "We have strengthened our bench," the manager will say. Unless he is referring to the fact that the dugout back home has been repainted, what he is really telling you is that the cheap front office picked up two utility infielders over the off-season when the poor manager already has four utility infielders and they are already taking up space in his starting lineup. "We are an improved ball club," the manager will say.

"We have helped ourselves. Of course you must realize that every team in this league is improved." This last usually comes from malingers who, in their hearts, believe the club has every ingredient necessary to narrow the gap between itself and first place from 38V2 to games. "I think our fans have been more than patient," the manager will say. "We owe them a debt and we are going to really move for them this season." What the manager is really saying is that the team is not going to move "for" them at all. It is going to move "away" from them.

This knowledge i3 based upon a conversation he had in the club's comfort station with -By JERRY IZENBERG Well, Friday is the big day. Never mind the fact that Bobby Fischer is still planning his Knight's gambit to be turned loose upon generations of Russian chess masters as yet unborn. Never mind that we are still several months removed from the spectacle of two sea-going snails trying to yawn each othef to death in the blood and guts competition which is the America's Cup yacht races. Never mind that we must wait patiently while Joe Frazier and Muhammad AH sweep through life fighting opponents who come to you directly from the yellow pages. Friday is action time, baby.

Friday is where the pulse quickens, and let he who is without courage among us cry, "pass the suntan lotion." On Friday, major league baseball opens its exhibition season. There is a certain charm about this. If you happen to be in either Florida or Arizona, for example, for a reduced price, you can, indeed, get a seat closer to the players than you have ever been before. You can enjoy the vacationland sunshine. All right, that's enough.

If you expect to witness competitive baseball, then you are just a greedy slob. Granted a strong favoring wind, you can get to see a 17-12 pitchers' duel in which people who will figure prominently in Valdosta, move for the pennant in whatever league Valdosta resides in these days will be on display in Various borrowed major league uniforms. If you cau get close enough and this is a distinct possibility you can also hear what you rarely hear in toe big league parks during the summer, that colorful literate Anglo-Saxon vocabulary, which served to keep America and Jacqueline Susann great. In fairness to baseball's pre-season conditioning program, it ought to be said, however, that at no time do the managers or the managements try to imitate the fraud of professional football. The football people have a positive passion about their practice games which, apparently under the pain of confiscating all the club's typewriters, must be billed as pre-season contests rather than exhibition games.

This enables them to get more money from the ticket-buyers, more money from the television people and, in general, keep alive the myth that every time 22 men step on a 100-yard slice of greensward, the instant replay of Rome vs. Carthage is about to transpire. Lincoln, Neb, March 1, 1972 39 Baseball, to its credit, doesn't do that. During the spring, therefore, it is entitled to its license to bore. It also lies a little bit, but who doesn't these days? Where, for example, in Florida or Arizona or California are you going to find the manager who will say that "this club couldn't climb out of last place if it sat on a Saturn The following handy-dandy guide to interpretative spring-training watching is, therefore, offered free of charge.

"If (fill in any name you want) plays up to the potential of his rookie year," the manager will tell you, "then we are going to have solved a very large problem and we will be vastly improved." He is, of course, speaking about a guy who was a rookie five years; ago and even his mother has pump oy April. (c) Publishers-Hall Syndicate NCAA Rummel, Westside Gain Revenge in District Berths I By VIRGIL PARKER Prep Sports Writer Omaha It was "reversal" time at the UNO Fieldhouse here Tuesay night when four of the state's top-rated Class A high school basketball teams clashed in the opening round of a district basketball tournament. No. 4 rated Omaha Rummel, which had been edged twice this season by No. 1 ranked Omaha Central 66-62 in overtime and 60-58 found out that the third time can be the charm.

Ruiramel reversed the previous outcomes by surging from behind in the second half to claim a 55-53 victory. And No. 2 rated Omaha Westside, though dumped by fifth-ranked Boys Town ten deliberate attack. After a full Central, behind six straight night, we should have the ad-five minutes of play the score points by Tim Williams, pushed vantage of going to the state was tied at 4-4, and then the in front by nine at 27-18. tournament in Lincoln next lights went out! Ed Burns, Rummel's junior week with the feeling that we When they came back on, a had sat out most of the can beat anyone, full half hour later, Westside im half after picking up three "But the shame is that you came to life behind the play of early fouls- know that Central with their 18- Jeff Seume, Rick Walstrom and Burns returned after in- 3 record and Boys Town at 16-5 Rick Berkshire to build a 20- termission to bombard the are better teams, sitting at point lead at 43-23 early in the basket for 21 points, leading the home, than some of the clubs final frame.

Raiders (to a 32-30 advantage who will get a post in the state early in the third period. meet." But Boys Town refused to Pr nn fold and fought back ta within Westside 52' Bys Town 40 eight at 48-40. Then time ran wuas five times and the ead West5lde 7 ,852 ant changed hands on 11 occasions Boys Town 7 v-n hffnrp Rtirn? nut Rnmmfll Westside Sloan 9, Seume 8. Th most plerftlifvinff evPJlf Vu KUrnmf 1 Andrews 7, Walstrom 16. Berkshire U.

xne mosx eiecmnying eveni ahead to stay with a minute bovs Town Anzures 15, Heatev of the night more than the jeft Hi" 4 Kellev Hurlev thflffi m- ml ''lVs a Sharae t0 have four Rummel 55' CentraI 53 fummSycomeback leTs II 'i ifcg trinmnh district," WeStSlde mentor Hall central Brown 9. Hunter 4. Forres. inumpn- observed. "It's a good thing for AsS 2 Dillard Parker 5l The game was tight until late the winner.

I know that if we Rummei -wheeler t. McFarim s. in the second quarter when can get past Rummel Thursday 2' Burnt ,6, Nelson days ago, 55-51, also turned things round by sidelining the Cowboys, 52-40. Westwide coach Tom Hall gave lincoln Southeast mentor Waflly McNaught some of the credit. "Southeast beat Boys Town in their final regular season game by using a 1-3-1 zone against them," Hall related.

"I talked to McNaught about it Sunday and decided we'd use the same defensive approach, though we hadn't used a zone but once all year. You sure can't argue with the result when You hold a potent team like Boys Town to just 40 points." At the outset of the game it didn't look like either team would get that many. Boys Town used a slow, i Mark Spitz Honored by AAU Spitz Sullivan Winner Non-Starter Payne1 Boosts Pius 72-69 1 1 INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP)-Mark Spitz, Indiana University Olympic gold medalist and world record holding swimmer, was named winner Wednesday of the Amateur Athletic Union's Sullivan Award for 1971. Spitz, a 21-year-old senior from Carmichael, is the second straight IU swimmer to receive the Sullivan trophy.

John Kin sella, an IU sophomore from Oak Park, 111., won the award last year. The award has been presented each year since 1930 to the amateur athlete who best combines outstanding achievement with qualities of character, sportsmanship and leadership. It honors James Sullivan, a pioneer in AAU and Olympic development. To Eight Kansas City l) Marquette University, 23-1 and winner of 63 of its last 65 games, and seven other teams have been named to fill at-large berths in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's University Division basketball tournament, an NCAA spokesman said. Nine of the 25 starting spots in the tournament will be at-large schools.

The last berth was expected to be filled by a West Coast school late Wednesday. Besides Marquette, ranked fifth in the nation, other Top Ten schools that will fill at-large positions in the tournament are No. 8 South Carolina, 23-1; No. 9 Marshall, 23-2 and No. 10 Florida State, 23-4.

Others were No. 11 Southwest Louisiana, 22-3; No. 13 Houston, 19-6; Providence, 17-5 and Villanova, 18-6. Pairings and sites were expected to be announced late Wednesday the NCAA spokesman said, although Marquette said its invitation was for the Mideast regional tourney at Knoxville, March 11. Five Get JVIT Bids NEW YORK (UPI)-The National Invitation Basketball Tournament committee today selected high -scoring Jacksonville, Syracuse, Niagara and local schools St.

John's and Fordham to compete in the 35th annual postseason! classic at Madison Square Garden, March 17-25. The NIT still has 11 more teams to choose to complete its 16-team field, but no more announcements are expected today. Jacksonville, which has been ranked among the top 20 earlier this season, will be making its first NIT appearance. The Dolphins are 17-6 on the season with one game remaining and have beaten Lincoln to Host Women Cagers Wayne State, making its first appearance in the state tournament competition, is the top-seeded entry in the third annual Nebraska Women's Intercollegiate Basketball tournament to be held Friday and Saturday in Lincoln. First round games Friday in the competition at the University of Nebraska Women's P.E.

Building pit Wayne against Concordia and defending champion Midland against UNO at 4:30 p.m. The 7:30 p.m. round sends Nebraska against Nebraska Wesleyan and Kearney against College of St. Mary's. Two courts will be utilized until the tournament reaches the final round in the consolation and championship brackets.

Friday losers return at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and the winners are matched at 10. Tournament director June Decker of Nebraska Wesleyan indicates all teams are assured of at least three games' in the tournament. The winner of the Nebraska tournament is eligible for regional play in Springfield, March 10-11. The sponsoring Nebraska Women's Intercollegiate Sports Council is the state arm of the Division for Girls and Women's Sports.

The national organization's goal is that results of competition for girls and women should be judged in terms of benefit to the participants rather than by the winning of championships of athletic or commercial advantage to the schools or organizations entered. The state group now sponsors competition in field hockey, volleyball, basketball, softball, swimming, tennis and track and field. The basketball rules for women are similar to those for the men's game, with a 30-second shot rule and elimination of the backcourt line being the primary differences. Irv Peterson At NWU 22 Years Peterson Honored who was assessed his third personal foul. Aldrich did most of the ball handling and set up the Pius offense.

Payne was expected to handle Aldrich's responsibilities and he did with so much savy, it appeared foe had been playing most of the game. Later in the fourth quarter, when Falls City was making an attempted comeback, Payne entered the game again. This time Rich Jaiblonski had fouled out and again Payne helped his team stave off the Tigers. Pius now 10-9 will face Plattsmouth, now 10-10, here Thursday in a semifinal game. The Blue Devils used a ten-cious defense in eliminating Syracuse in the opener Tuesday.

The Rockets could not penetrate the Plattsmouth combination zone and man-fer-man defense. In addition coach Ron Wagner's team did not have good shooting from the field and the Blue Devils usually came up with the rebound on missed shots. Sports Briefs Auburn District basketball games may feature opposing pep clubs and pep bands, competing against each other to see who can cheer or play the loudest. Sometimes district tournaments feature a non-starter coming into a game at a crucial point to help turn a grfne around. And that was the case of Lincoln Pius substitute Nicky Payne here Tuesday night in the Class B-l district basketball tournament.

Payne, who watched his teammates fall behind in the first two quarters and part of the third, got his chance with 2:06 left in the third period. At, the time he entered the game the Thunderbolts were trailing, 46-38, but not for long. Coach Don Kelley's Capital City team scored nine consecutive points and went on to take a 72-69 win over Falls City. In an earlier game here Tuesday Plattsmouth beat Syracuse, 64-47. What Payne did when he entered the game was turn the tempo of the game around in Pius' favor.

The 5-10 senior guard headed a full-court press that bothered the Tigers. He intimidated the Falls City guards enough they made several bad passes which the 'Bolts intercepted. After those turnovers Payne set up his teammates for several easy Then Payne stole the ball twice and scored on both plays. Kelley was quick to credit Payne with reversing the Wednesday Nebraska Wesleyan basketball coach Irv Peterson will be among the honorees this year at the United States National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) convention Mar. 24 at Los Angeles.

Peterson, who completed his 22nd year at NWU last Satur-day, will be a merit award winner, according to NABC executive secretary Cliff Wells. One of the requirements for the award is to have been a coach for 25 or more years. In addition to 22 at Wesleyan, Peterson coached in the prep ranks for eight years. Prior to this season, he was listed as the 25th winningest coach in the United States with 324 collegiate wins. He has had only three losing years at Wesleyan and one of those was due to an eligibility misunderstanding.

Peterson has been named State College Coach of the Year twice by the Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star. Nicky Payne Energizes Thunderbolts momentum of the game. "Nick gave the team a real lift when we really needed it," Kelley said. "We looked tight before Nick went into the game but he got things going and we loosened up," added Kelley. Payne was sent into the game to relieve M'l-e Aldrich NU-Missouri Game Sold Out University of Nebraska ticket manager Jim Pittenger reports that all reserved seats for Saturday night's Nebraska-Missouri basketball game have been sold.

Some 800 general admission tickets remain available for the showdown game which could help determine the 1972 Big Eight champion. Channel in Falls City 69 Pius 72, PIUS (72) 6 Aldrch 1 9.1 FALLS CITY (69) 4 6 25 J. Jones 5 4- 14 PJblnskl 111 3-6 R. Jblnskl 5 0-1 10 Scrbnr fl R. Jnn 20 Dnbar 6-11 24 1-3 S-7 15 1-2 7 OO 4 n.n Lien 4 04 McEnrv 7 4-13 Pavne 2 1-2 Eisner 0 0-0 Totals 30 12-26 Lincoln Plus Falls City Fnulerf nut OFaller Axier 72 Totals 18 10 26 17-29 69 21 23-72 16 23 69 10 20 All vnts fret uimtt followed by Wednesday Local High School Basketball District playoff, Northeast v.

Southeast, 7:30 p.m. Thursday Local High School Basketball District playoff, Lincoln High v. East, 7:30 p.m. Regional Swimming Big Eight meet at Missouri. Jablonski, Plus High School Basketball District playoffs, Northeast v.

Southeast, Pershing Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. (KLIN, KFOR). jjfysjg Thursday Channel in High School Basketball District playoffs, Lincoln High v. East, Pershing Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. (KLIN, KFOR).

R. Cltv. Koenlq, Falls Plattsmouth 64, Syracuse 47 Syracuse 12 11 9 15-47 Plattsmouth 15 22 7 1964 Syracuse Hallstrom 5, Metzger 2, Sautter 2, Sauberzweig 14, Mohller 4, Rohl 11, Beach 9. Plattsmouth Gradovllle 10, Panter 7, Rhylander 15, Spanqler 9, Stettep 16 Tuls 1, Linder 4, McShane 2. McDowell Staunch Believer in Acupuncture Baseball Brooks Robinson has signed an estimated $110,000 contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

Football The Dallas Cowboys have hired former San Diego Charger head coach Sid Gillman to head a new department that will scout other league teams. John David Crow and Bob Tyler are leaving Paul (Bear) Bryant's coaching staff at Alabama. Crow has been hired by the Cleveland Browns as offensive backfield coach and Tyler went to Mississippi State as offensive coordinator. Basketball North Dakota State has fired coach Lyle Belk who had missed the school's last eight games due to exhaustion. Health reasons were given for the dismissal.

Track Marty Liquori has withdrawn from his scheduled mile showdown against Jim Ryun Saturday at Los Angeles because of a foot injury. Hueser Honored Kearney Kearney State College basketball coach Jerry Hueser has been selected by his fellow coaches as NAIA District 11 Coach of the Year. District 11 chairman Mack Peyton of Chadron made the announcement. Hueser has guided the Antelopes to the winningest seasons in Kearney's history' with a 17-8 record last year and a 15-6 mark so far this season. The Antelopes had experienced only one-winning season in 10 years before Hueser took over two years ago when Wayne Samuelson tock leave to earn a doctorate degree.

Florida State and Houston, two teams that earlier in the day were selected to play in the NCAA tournament. Jacksonville boasts two bonafide All-America didates in 6-foot-7 forward Ernie Fleming and 6-2 guard Harold Fox, both of whom are averaging better than 20 points a game. Syracuse, which does not have a starting player taller than 6-5, has a 19-5 record with one game remaining. Dean To Speak At Comhusker Basketball Fete Joe Dean, former LSU standout and a member of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, has been named speaker at the annual University of Nebraska basketball awards banquet March 12.

The banquet, sonsored by Lincoln Elks Lodge No. 80, will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Elks Club. Dean, a three-time all-Southeastern Conference selection and a member of the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame, played four years with the Phillips 66 Oilers. He's still associated with basketball, serving as analyst for the televised game of the week in the Southeastern Conference.

i I '1 fl! 3 Dr, C. Sailer, the Giants' team physician, is cognizant of acupuncture, but admits his knowledge of it is very small. But he does not dismiss it as a gimmick not worthy of study. "The AMA," said Sailer, "is studying it. Because of our more relaxed relationships with China, certain men in the field of medicine in America have been given visas to visit China and explore the method and practice of acupuncture.

"The belief among most medical men in America is that hypnosis has something to do with the success of acupuncture in the Orient: that" the needle isn't the lone basic of the treatment. But, we're aware of it. are studying it, and if it is for real and actually cures and has the same value of the more widely used methods of producing anathesia, there is no reason why we should not learn it and practice it," Sailer "there are 4,000 nerve centers in the human body, and for openers hut makes the theory of acupuncture interesting. It is strictly an Oriental art, widely practiced throughout the Far East, and right now is being seriously studied by the American Medical Association." McDowell, who will be the number two starting rotation man for the Giants behind Juan Marichal, dis covered acupuncture both by accident and necessity. It happened last spring when he was training with Cleveland in Tucson, Ariz.

"Because I held out," explained "I arrived in Tucson real late last year (Mar. 3). It didn't leave' me much time to get ready for the opening of the season. I was concerned about that because it takes me two to three weeks to break down the adhesions in my left shoulder that form over Casa Grande, Ariz. (UP!) -Acupuncture, the centuries old Chinese method of curing everything from rheumatism to the common cold, may be the next great influence in the care and repair of expensive bodies of the American athlete, according to Sudden Sam McDowell, the new San Francisco Giant southpaw.

"Sudden," who was acquired by the Giants last winter in the trade that sent Gaylord Perry to Cleveland, has submitted to acupuncture, been benefited by it and readily would yield to the needle deal again if necessary, he said as the Giants rolled warm and smoothly through another day of spring training Tuesday. Acupuncture is the art of jabbing slender silver needles into nerve centers to relax and mend muscles among a myriad of other things. -I think," said McDowell, how to use acupuncture and was willing to try it on any player who wanted to give it a shot. 'I'd read, a little, about this mysterious method of treatment. The trainer, Tsu-jino, was here, and the Orions were in Tucson to play us, so, what the heck! I needed help.

I gave it a try. "You won't believe this, but, honest, the next morning my shoulder was as loose as it can be and I needed only a little running to get ready for the opener. My arm was READY." McDowell said the treatment is painless. "Except for a slight burning sensation when the needle, about a six inch job. is thrust home," he said, "you feci nothing.

They jab all around the problem area, oeedle in to the hilt, and then they go away. "It helped me, I know that. I'm a believer." Sam McDowell Likes Chinese Method the winter. I didn't have the time, and I knew it "However, just about that time the Lotte Orions, a Japanese team from Tokyo, was touring the Cactus League and I heard their trainer knew.