The Montana Standard from Butte, Montana • 12

12 The Montana Standard, Butte, February 18, 1990 oqged musher, 69, finishes nels of New Hampshire. It escalat Sportts off the Timos Prep-to-pro levels of plain tackiness N.V. Timaa News Service California school officials got it backward a week ago after a coach pulled his team off the court. Gil Ramirez withdrew his South Torrance High School team after Lisa Leslie of Morningside High had scored 101 points in the first half. Leslie had been given carte blanche by her coach, Frank Scott, in an attempt to break Cheryl Miller's national one-game record of 105 points.

Morningside took a 102-24 lead at halftime, with an injury and foul disqualifications dropping South Torrance to four players. By Tom Watts Associated Praaa Writer ELLISTON The faithful and the curious braved sub-zero temperatures Saturday to witness another side of 69-year-old musher David Armstrong one which he had never rehearsed himself. The tick of the clock said it took the "eternal optimist" 164 hours and 39 minutes to officially conclude Montana's 540-mile Race to the Sky sled dog race at Dog Creek, near the Continential Divide west of Helena. But time shouldn't be the only story: Armstrong had never finished Montana's grueling sled-dog race in his previous four attempts. Led by 10 sled dogs and cheered on by scores of supporters, Armstrong, of Helena, crossed the finish line at 10:42 a.m.

to officially place eighth in a field of 15. Seven mush-ers scratched, failing to finish. Alaskan Dean Osmar shattered the course record Thursday, winning in 120 hours 9 minutes. And while the final chapter transpired in Dog Creek, the story began to unfold 89 miles away in Lincoln where Armstrong realized he was going to finish his first 500-mile sled dog race. "I do it because I still can," Armstrong said in Lincoln, the last checkpoint before the finish line and, until Saturday, the farthest he had gone in the race.

"And as long as I can, I guess I will." Philosophy at its best, perhaps, but the reality of finishing a race was, for Armstrong, beyond mere words. "It's become more of an emotional thing," Armstrong said. "The feeling is totally different. I guess it's because we've never finished TIF Laserphoto Armstrong gives 'thumbs up' at finish line "Dave's always said his goal in any race is to finish," Alice said. "He's always said, 'I'm in competition with "Finishing means a lot to Dave.

His hobby is dog sled racing. I'd say he spends 90 percent of his time with his dogs. It's his life." It was 1937 when Armstrong first started sled-dog racing in the ken Same old rift hampers baseball negotiations Ramirez didn't think it was wise to continue, and he was right. Letting one player stage a point rampage is disrespectful not only of a weak opponent but also of the reserves on the strong team, who jusf might like to see how it feels to make a basket or two. This gesture by a coach suggests that selfishness is good, which is fine for students planning to be junk-bond hustlers or company-gobblers or deal-makers, our national heroes from the '80s.

A scoring frenzy against a hapless opponent is about what you might expect in an age when television promoters are setting up inter-regional grudge games as if these 17-year-olds were heavyweight contenders, and newspapers run national rankings just to raise the ante. At first, the authorities suspended Ramirez, but eventually they reinstated him. They had the right idea about suspension. They just had the wrong coach. Some are fightin' mad about Fighting Irish deal Speaking of selfishness, public contempt seems to be growing for Notre Dame since it abandoned the College Football Association to form its own $30 million, five-year television deal.

While Notre Dame has clearly shown it does not need partners or allies, it does, the last time we checked, still need opponents. NBC is not paying all those dollars to watch the green play the gold in an intrasquad game. Wouldn't it be delicious if NBC now gently "suggested" that Notre Dame forget its trivial objections to Miami and get the Hurricanes back on the schedule by 1991, in fact? And wasn't it delightful the way Kansas dumped Notre Dame from its basketball schedule in 1992 and 1993? What if nobody wanted to play the rogue elephant of college sports? This baseball game-of-the-month crock And speaking of television, major league baseball assured the public not to worry just because it cancelled the old NBC Game of the Week in favor of the new CBS game-of-the-month policy. There would still be plenty of Saturday afternoon games on the free channels, baseball claimed. Guess what? The Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox have scheduled a total of four Saturday afternoon games on free television this season.

Commercial trashing of slam-dunk competition The slam-dunk competition was fine as long as it was a relatively informal gig on Saturday afternoon, almost an anti-event, with the young guns measuring themselves against the standards set by Elgin Baylor, Connie Hawkins, and Julius Erving: dunks performed in real games, against live defenders. But now that the slam-dunk has been made the linchpin of a Saturday night television program, the activity has deteriorated into a trash sport. Even Dominique Wilkins, who won the slam-dunk this year, admitted: "How many different ways are there to dunk a ball?" Worse, the contest has become a blatant shill for sneakers. Wilkins, who was to play in the All-Star Game on Sunday, only agreed to participate in the dunk hype on Saturday when his sneaker sponsor told him it would be good for business. So Wilkins showed up, performed a few of the same old churning-windmill dunks, and was voted the winner in rather peculiar judging, one might add.

At the press conference afterward, an agent walked up to the dais, whispered something in Wilkins's ear, and the player then attributed his victory "to the extra lift in my pumps," a blatant plug for his brand. To his credit, Wilkins delivered the promotion with a broad wink, like David Letterman disassociating himself from a gross pun he is about to deliver from the cue cards. The reporters groaned and forgave Wilkins the plug. Some laced comments from an all-time great The dunk and the 3-point contests are not as much fun as the "legends" game, anyway. Younger fans can appreciate the vestigial skills of Hawkins, who still wears his 20-year-old canvas Chuck Taylor Converse low-cuts.

"I couldn't figure out how to lace up these new sneakers," Hawkins said the other night. "You need a Ph.D. for that. "Besides, there is something wrong with $163 sneakers. You've got kids killing kids for their sneakers.

I saw it on the news. I'm sticking with my old sneakers." The NBA should go back to basics, too. David Stern should clutch the slam-dunk contest in his hot little hands and perform a 360-degree-whirling-dervish-double-Darryl-Dawkins-downward stuff into the nearest dumpster. ed to his appointment in ww me War Dog Reception and Training Center in Montana and later with Search and Rescue. "Those were truly the real beginnings," Armstrong said.

The sport took off for the Armstrongs in 1966 when Alice purchased a family dog, and a couple of years later when Dave joined a sled dog club in Bozeman. By the early 1970s the Armstrongs were making a name for sled dog racing. By the early 80s, with the help of several miishers, including Kalis-pell's Jack Beckstrom, a long-distance race was established for the state of Montana. "This race evolved from The Last 170," Armstrong said. "That went from Lincoln to Ovando to Seeley and back.

We hope this race is here to stay." Armstrong has always been one to help his fellow mushers. In the early part of this year's race, he helped several competitors who had crashed at the north fork of Quartz Crir wpst of Helena. "Dean Osmar came down the hill with his head split open, his dogs running lose," he said. "Mark Klein's dogs were running lose on both sides of my team. Greg Beall had a loose dog that I caught with no harness or collar.

Then, while Mark and I tried to get untangled, Bob Lugo went screaming down the hill and never made the turn. About 30 minutes after all the excitement, I sat there and fixed my own sled." That's the eternal optimist for you. "I guess I was optimistic about finally making it," he said. "It means a lot. I have three dogs that have raced with me all five years.

It's just a team effort." AP Laserphoto this year. An arbitrator ruled in favor of Pittsburgh in a salary arbitration case with outfielder Barry Bonds, but Pirates outfielder Bill Hatcher won. Bonds will receive $850,000 in 1990, a raise of $490,000 over the previous season, arbitrator Raymond Goetz ruled. He had asked for $1.6 million. Bonds, who will turn 27 on Feb.

23, batted .248 with 19 home runs, 58 RBI and. a team-leading 32 stolen bases last season. Hatcher was awarded $690,000. The Pirates had offered $525,000. Hatcher, who made $495,000 last season, hit .231 with four homers and 51 RBIs for Houston and the Pirates in 1989.

Pendleton, who hit .264 with 13 homers and 74 RBIs, was awarded $1.85 million by arbitrator Stephen Goldberg. 10 fr.ltl.-G p.m. Road Great Falls, MT witncotiijvn MISSOURI RIVER MARINE (406)71-1857 NEW YORK (AP) Salary arbitration, which bothers some baseball owners even more than free agency, once again has become the battleground in negotiations between teams and the players' association. Management wants to put a 75 percent cap on salary increases in arbitration. The union wants to expand arbitration to players with between two and three years in the majors, a group that was eligible before the 1985 strike settlement.

With baseball shut down for the seventh time since 1972, negotiations took on more urgency in the last few days. When owners withdrew their revenue sharing and pay-for-performance proposals, they substituted the arbitration cap. The union complained long and loud. "The arbitration problem is a major problem to the ownership," Commissioner Fay Vincent said Friday night. "They feel strongly that it has got to be confronted." The average increase for the 134 players who filed for arbitration last year was 70 percent.

Some players, especially those eligible for the first time, have seen their salaries tripled and quadrupled. Outfielder Ruben Sierra and Texas agreed this week to $1,625,000 for 1990; he made $357,500 in 1989. First baseman Mark McGwire and Oakland agreed to $1.5 million; he made $455,000 last year. Both were eligible for arbitration for the first time. "The problem with arbitration is that the individual owner cannot control his own compensation program in the sense that what is done in the free-agent marketplace by other people has a spillover effect in arbitration," Vincent said.

Free agents, who must have at CHUCK BIGGS and his 4-year-old son, Charlie, leave, with disappointment, empty Diablo Stadium, the Seattle Mariners' training facility in Tempe, Saturday. Biggs, an avid baseball fan, has taken a month's vacation from work to attend spring training. But, an owners-imposed lockout of camps over contract talks has delayed the start of drills. Arbitration decisions see Pirates split doubleheader George Vecsey Kemkers and Bart Veldkamp, the European champion are in third and fourth place going into Sunday's final two events. Veldkamp, 22, the favorite in Sunday's 10,000 meters, appeared in strong shape to capture the world title after winning the 5,000 meters Saturday in a track-record 6:56.82.

Kemkers' point total was 81.095 and Veldkamp had 81.402. Michael Hadschieff of Austria was fifth with 82.117 points. Several competitors', including Olympic winner Tomas Gustavson of Sweden he was only 12th after Saturday's events were disadvantaged by an increasingly slow surface on the track in the Innsbruck Camara's corner men climbed into the ring and starting celebrating. But the referee took control and starting waving everyone out. Jackson recovered in the extra time needed to clear the ring, about 40 seconds, and held off Camara for the final seconds of the 11th round.

Between rounds, Camara's handlers protested the decision to let the fight continue after they thought Camara had won. The referee, the judges, the supervisor of the WBO and the president of the French Boxing Federation then left ringside to discuss the decision without going into a 12th round. After 40 minutes, the body ruled that the title was vacant and a rematch had to take place within three months. before. "It's a little bit of stubbornness in me.

But overall, I'd say it's a culmination of five tries." Alice Armstrong knows all about the heartaches, disappointments and triumphs during the 27 years she's been married to Dave, but one idea has always remained the same. least six years of service, sometimes get huge salaries because of bidding wars. A jetstream effect is created when five-year players compare their statistics and salaries with those of free agents, four-year players compare with five-year players and three-year players compare with four-year players. "That would be all right if the free-agent pricing were set just by an efficient market," Vincent said, "but there are distortions." By that he meant the different economic power of clubs in different cities and its effect in bidding wars. The players association says the free market is the best way to determine salaries.

It gave up a year of arbitration rights in 1985 when clubs pleaded economic distress. Now that business is booming, the union wants it back. "Clubs said they were going broke," union head Donald Fehr said. "Now they aren't saying that" In 1986, the last season two-plus players were eligible for arbitration, the group averaged $309,604, according to figures compiled the by the union. In 1987, when two-plus players had no leverage other than to hold out, the average dropped by more than a third to $191,703.

It fell to $185,673 in 1988 before rising to $219,114 last season, In contrast, three-plus players made $398,605 last year, four-plus players made $687,052 and five-plus players made $892,405. That's why owners complain, even when cases are settled. "The union," said Vincent, "has said, 'We will not discuss any form of limit on free agency and we will not discuss any kind of limit on arbitration. We simply will not dis-ucss That makes middle ground difficult." 39.72. 23.

Gelr Karlstad, Norway, 39.82. 24. Andrei Muratov, Soviet Union, 39.85 25. Michael Splelmann, East Germany, 39.97. 24.

Danny Kah, Austrialla 40.01. 27. Zsolt Zakar-las, Austria 40.03. 28. Dave Silk, United States 40.14.

29. Phlllpp Tahmlndlls, Australia 40.28. 30. Kazuhlro Sato, Japan 40.41. 31.

Frank Dittrlch, East Germany 40.45. 32. Timo Jaervlnen, Finland 40.65. 33. Christian Eminger, Austria 40.82.

34. Alexandr Trushin, Soviet Union, 40.97. 35. Jlrl Kyncl, Czechoslovakia 41.26. 36.

Martin Felgenwlnter, Switzerland, 43.40. Fell: Roberto Sighel, Italy. 5,000 meters 1. Bart Veldkamp, Netherlands, 6 minutes, 56.82 seconds. 2.

Johan Olaf Koss, Norway, 7: 00.50. 3. Ben van de Burg, Netherlands, 7:01.13. 4. Gerard Kemkers, Netherlands, 7:05.85.

5. Thomas Bos, Netherlands, 7:08.57. 6. Gelr Karlstad, Norway, 7:13.01. 7.

Danny Kah, Australia, 7:13.17. 8. Joaqulm Karlberg, Sweden, 7:14.10. 9. Michael Hadschieff, Austria, 7:15.07.

10. Christian Eminger, Austria, 7:15.37. 11. Kazumlro Sato, Japan, 7: 16.76. 12.

Tomas Gustafson, Sweden, 7:18.04. 13. Frank Dittrlch, East Germany, 7:18.51. 14. Masahlko Omura, Japan, 7:19.47.

15. Georg Herda. West Germany, 7:19.51. 16. Markus Troeger, West Germany, 7:19.73.

17. Timo Jaervlnen, Finland, 7:20.97. 18. Michael Splelmann, East Germany, 7:21.09. 19.

Adne Soendraal, Norway, 7:21.23. 20. Toru Aoyanagl, Japan, 7:21.80. 21. Peter Adeberg, East Germany, 7:22.39.

22. Alexandr Trushin, Soviet Union, 7:22.67. 23. Mariusz Maslanka, Poland, 7:23.47. 24.

Zsolt Zakarias, Austria, 7: 25.64. 25. Eric Flaim, United States, 7:28.22. 26. Naokl Kotake, Japan, 7:28.45.

27. Benolt La-marche, Canada, 7:28.51. 28. Jirl Kyncl, Czechoslovakia, 7:29.09. 29.

Phlllpp Tahmlndlls, Australia, 7:31.58. 30. Konstantln Kallstratov, Soviet Union, 7:31.97. 31. Andrei Muratov, Soviet Union, 7:33.16.

32. Kl Tae Bae, South Korea, 7:35.67. 33. Martin Felgenwlnter, Switzerland, 7:36.27. 34.

Klrlll Kllsho, Soviet Union, 7:41.41. 35. Liu Wei, China, 7:48.86. 36. Dave Silk, United States, 7:54.15.

Standings (After two events) 1. Ben van de Burg, Netherlands, 80.903 points. 2. Johan Olaf Koss, Norway, 80.910. 3.

Gerard Kemkers, Netherlands, 81.095. 4. Bart Veldkamp, Netherlands, 81.402. 5. Michael Hadschieff, Austria, 82.117.

6. Soendraal, 82.183. 7. Bos, 82.517. 8.

Karlberg, 82.690. 9. Herda, 82.771. 10. Adeberg, 82.929.

11. Bae, 82.937. 12. Flaim, 82.982. 13.

Aoyanagl, 82.990. 14. Gustafson, 83.024. 15. Karlstad, 83.121.

16. Omura, 83.177. 83.267. 18. Kah, 83.327.

19. Troeger, 83.373. 20. Kotake, 83.705. 21.

La merche, 83.731. 22. Splelmann, 84.079. 23. Sato, 84.086.

24. Dittrlch, 84.301. 25. Eminger, 84.375. 26.

Kallstratov, 84.397. 27. Zakarias, 84.594. 28. Jaervlnen, 84.747.

29. Kllsho, 84.978. 30. Trushin, 85.237. 31.

Muratov, 85.266. 32. Tahmlndlls, 85.4M. 33. Kyncl, 86.169.

34. Wei, 86.206. 35. Silk, 87.555. 36.

Felgenwlnter, 89.027. Van de Burg leads world speedskating Flaim third in 500: Fall, slip stymie Silk INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) -With some 10,000 Dutch fans cheering him on, Ben van de Burg of the Netherlands took the lead Saturday SPEED SKATING after the first two events in the four-event World Speedskating Championship. Van de Burg led the field with 80.903 points, with Norway's Johan Olaf Kos a close second, only 0.007 points behind. Two other Dutchmen Gerard By The Associated Press The Pittsburgh Pirates got a split in two arbitration cases and Cleveland outfielder Cory Snyder avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal for $700,000 on Saturday. Three other arbitration cases were also announced on Saturday.

St. Louis third baseman Terry Pen-delton won his case, while Atlanta's Lonnie Smith and Ivan Calderon of the Chicago White Sox lost. There are eight cases pending in arbitration. Snyder was the last of the Indians scheduled to go to arbitration. He had sought $810,000, and the Indians offered $600,000.

In 1989, he hit .215 with 18 home runs and 59 RBIs. He walked 23 times and struck out 134 times. Snyder's attorney, Jeffrey Moo-rad, said Snyder will contribute $100 to Rainbow Babies' and Children's Hospital for each home run he hits FEB. 23-2C-25 Lower Missouri River Coupon vaiid ftrs et drawing ror manna accessories won on wrw r. or fortune spin.

happy Trir wttn coupon laJH ivoWitfters-5)! irg.215 HOW CjiJ White Bear Island Marin fry (406) 761-1851 Title's vacant following draw stadium. American skaters Eric Flaim of Pembroke, and Dave Silk of Butte, first and third, respectively, in the 1988 world champions at Medeo, Soviet Union, both had sub-par days. Silk finished 28th in the 500 meters in 40.14 and was 36th in the 5,000 meters in 7:54.15. He slipped in the 500 and regained his balance, but wasn't as fortunate in the 5,000 when he clicked a skate and fell. Flaim placed third in the 500 in 38.16, but faltered to 25th in the' 5,000, crossing the line in 7:28.22.

His questionable left knee didn't affect his performance in the 5,000, said U.S. Coach Mike Crowe of Buttev Overall, Flaim is in 12th place with 82.982 points and Silk is 35th at 87.555. Organizers interrupted the competition after the first eight pairs when the refrigerated surface "melted" under the sun. After shadows fell across the track, allowing the ice to firm up, racing was resumed. The results: 500 mtttrs 1.

Kl Tm Baa, South Korea, 37.70 seconds. 2. Adne Soendraal, Norway, 1. Eric Flaim, United States, 38.14 4. Gerard Kemkera, Netherlands 51.

S. Michael HadKhletl, Austria, el. 6. Peter Adeberg, East Germany, M. 7.

(Ben van de Burg, Netherlands, M.79. (. Toru 'Ayoanagl, Japan, il. 9. Georg Herda, West Germany, Ml.

10. Klrlll Kllsho, Soviet Union, M. 11 (tie) Johan Olat Koss, Norway, and Naokl Kotake, Japan, M. 13. Benolt Lemarche, Canada, M.

14. Ma-rlusz Maslanka, Poland, MM. 15. Konstantln Kallstratov, Soviet Union, 39.20. Is.

Tomas Gustation, Sweden, 39.32. 17. Masahlko Omura, Japan, 39.21. It. Joaqulm Karlberg, Sweden, 39 21 19.

Liu Wei, China, 39.32. 20. Markus Troeger, West Germany, 39.40. 21. Thomas Bos, Netherlands, 394.

22. Bart Veldkamp, Netherlands, DEAUVILLE, France (AP) -John David Jackson and France's Martin Camara fought to a controversial draw in a World Boxing Organization super welterweight title bout Saturday night, leaving the Jackson's championship vacant. Jackson, after dominating the fight through 10 rounds, was almost counted out in the 11th which resulted in confusion that led to the bout ending without a 12th round. 1 Near the end of the 11th round, Camara suddenly took advantage of a tired Jackson and connected with a left and right in the center of the ring. Jackson went down for an apparent nine count, coming up in time.

As the boxers were ready to resume, the time-keeper was waving his arms, signaling as if Jackson had been counted out. 1.