The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 35

SPORTS flfi CCtPart III wv I-- V--iSS I Tuesday, October 6, 1981 Jim Murray Kareem Doesn't Get Any Respect "h-J. luteal I Game 1: Cy Young vs. Cy Young Dodgers, Astros Lead With Aces: Valenzuela and Ryan By MARK HEISLER, Times Staff Writer PALM SPRINGS-Los Angeles has had its share of sports stars from Charley Paddock to Fernando Valenzuela, with pauses in between for such as Sandy Koufax, or O.J. Simpson or Cotton War-burton. By and large, they are heralded in their own time in story and song.

You can still bring tears to an old-timer's eyes just by mentioning Jigger Statz. Steve Bilko was an authentic folk hero. Which makes it all the more mystifying that the most extraordinary athlete in the city's history, a man who should be a legend in his own time, is as overlooked by the area's sports fans as the Huntington Library. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar may be the best basketball player who ever lived. It's for sure he was the best collegiate player.

Almost his entire career has been spent on hardwood floors in L.A. Yet, when was the last time you heard anybody brag about him? Mention Jerry West or Elgin Baylor in this town and a Laker fan gets this glaze over his eyes and he'll do 10 minutes of rhapsody for you. Bring up Magic Johnson and he may cry. Guys who don't have half Abdul -Jabbar's points-per-game average get on magazine covers. Abdul-Jabbar can toss in 34 points, grab 15 rebounds, block 10 shots and steal 5 and the fan at courtside shrugs and complains he doesn't get back fast enough on defense.

When the team loses, Abdul-Jabbar gets the blame even though he played more minutes more effectively than anyone on the floor. There is a remoteness about Kareem, what he calls "an otherness," that tends to awe others. It's almost as if rooting for him would be like sending up a cheer for Mt. Everest or shouting, "Let's hear it for the North Pole!" Part of it is what Wilt Chamberlain called the Goliath Complex, but seven-footers are not that uncommon anymore under the boards. No, there's less to it than that.

There is an impression abroad that Kareem doesn't care, that he goes about his job with the impersonal detachment of a guy who reads meters for a living. Other people are lauded for their "hustle." Kareem is just supposed to succeed. That's his job, you see. Anyone watching Abdul-Jabbar readying himself for the coming season at the College of the Desert gym here these afternoons would be disabused in a hurry in the hectic two-a-day sessions. It is hard to imagine a superstar in any other sport working as enthusiastically, listening as gravely to coaches' instructions, as if he had not played more than 40,000 minutes and 1,000 games in his professional career.

TODAY Oakland at Kansas City, 12:10 p.m., Channel 7 Los Angeles at Houston, 5:15 p.m., Channels 4 and 11 WEDNESDAY Los Angeles at Houston, 10:05 a.m.. Channels 4 and 1 1 Oakland at Kansas City, 1:10 p.m., Channel 7 New York at Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m., Channel 7 THURSDAY New York at Milwaukee, 12:10 p.m., Channel 7 Philadelphia at Montreal, 5:15 p.m., Channel 4 FRIDAY Houston at Los Angeles, 1 :05 p.m., Channels 4 and 1 1 Kansas City at Oakland, 5:10 p.m., Channel 7 Additional playoff details on Page 10. someone asked his catcher, Mike Sci-oscia. "No," Scioscia said, "it's about the same." "I just saw him talking with Reg-gie. "Yeah," Scioscia said, laughing, in Spanish.

If you understand Spanish, great. Otherwise, learn Spanish. What you should be asking is, are we picking up any Spanish?" Tonight at 7:15 (5:15 PDT) the Dodgers meet the Astros. It's Nolan Ryan, a country boy from nearby Al-vin, 34 years old now, who has been everywhere and seen everything, against Valenzuela, the country boy from Etchohuaquila, Mexico, who ain't seen nothing yet. It's the first game of this first and probably last-time-ever National League West best-of-five playoffs, brought to you courtesy of the strike and the split schedule by which the 1981 season HOUSTON-Twenty-four hours before he was to pitch the opening game of the division playoffs, 20-year-old Fernando Valenzuela bounced around the Astrodome in a blue rubber shirt, looking as unconcerned as always.

The pressure was supposed to be choking him by now, but Valenzuela's reaction to such things is that favored by Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, reputed author of the slogan, "What, me worry?" Valenzuela juggled baseballs with his feet and knee, soccer-style; a drill he has introduced to the rest of the Dodger pitching staff, which can be seen flailing away at it in the outfield during batting practice. He shook hands with some kids who called him over. He laughed and joked with teammates. He talked to Reggie Smith.

"Fernando's English improving?" will always be chiefly remembered. What this series is is a matchup of two teams who'd rather be playing the Reds. The Dodgers fear and loathe playing in the Astrodome, with its 900-foot power alleys. And the Astros aren't wild about cozy little Dodger Stadium, where they've lost 11 of the last 12 games that meant anything. With that in mind, Astros Manager Bill Virdon said a two-game sweep in the 'Dome by the Astros is a "necessity." To get that, the Astros have to go through Valenzuela and Jerry Reuss.

Valenzuela shut them out twice this season before Ryan finally beat him last week. All it took was a no-hitter and Valenzuela was only behind, 1-0, in the seventh. Reuss was 4-0 against the Astros a year ago and is 1-1 in '81. His victory was a four-hitter last week. His loss was by a 1-0 score to Please see DODGERS, Page 8 VS?" A 1 The ALWest It's Not Only Royals vs.

A's, It's Martin vs. About Everybody By ROSS NEWHAN, Times Staff Writer KANSAS CITY-Billy Martin, the Oakland manager, sat at a hotel bar here Monday afternoon, swapping stories with friends while waiting for A's equipment man Frank Ciensczyk, listening via radio in the hotel lobby, to bring him reports on the first game of Kansas City's rescheduled doubleheader in Cleveland. Ciensczyk said, sticking his head "Four-zip in the fourth," into the bar. The NL West A Winning Combination: Astros Keep Low Profiles and Earned-Run Averages By MIKE LITTWIN, Times Staff Writer HOUSTON Quick, who plays third base for the Houston Astros? It doesn't have to be third base. "Who's on first?" is just as good a question.

The point is that the Astros, the most successful team in the National League West for the past three seasons, are hardly household names. Even in their own households. Once you get past their pitching staff, the Astros have the same kind of star quality as dinner theater in Dubuque. You didn't miss the issue of this year's Sporting News with an Astro on the cover. There wasn't one.

Even in the local papers the Astros run second to the Oilers this time of year. How overlooked are the Astros? When baseball resumed after the strike, Art Howe, the third baseman, whose name probably slipped your mind, was hitting .344. His name slipped Dallas Green's mind, too. Green was managing the National League All-Stars and might have picked Howe as a reserve. "Dallas had to call Art up and tell him he was sorry," Houston relief pitcher Joe Sambito said.

"He had just overlooked him. Now if Art Howe played in New York or Los Angeles, you think he'd have been overlooked?" Maybe. The Astros are a bunch of guys who sit in the back of the room and try to blend in. They probably raise their hands before speaking at team meetings. "Imagine a collection of Burt Hootons and Bill Russells," said Don Sutton, the ex-Dodger turned Astro turned invalid.

"There are no egos on this team. No big shots. Nobody's worried about how much attention they're getting." Please see ASTROS, Page 8 Kareem is aware of his glacial image. What bothers him is the impression that he cultivates it, welcomes it, in fact. "Do you feel unappreciated in L.A.?" a reporter asked him.

Kareen smiled a rare expression for him. "I don't know," he said. "There was a time when I did. That was just before the playoffs two years ago when we were demeaned in the press. It said we were poor on the court and that I didn't show the necessary leadership.

Then, a TV sportscaster (it was Ted Dawson) urged the fans, if they disagreed, to send Mailgrams to the team. When we arrived in Seattle for the next series, there were hundreds of encouraging wires from fans we didn't know we had. It was an eye-opener for me. I was beginning to think no one cared." Abdul-Jabbar concedes that part of his aloof image was due to insufficient penetration on the part of the media. "They would approach me tentatively, ask awkward questions which were really unanswerable, and I couldn't answer them and then they would go back and write that I was That changed when the glamour figure on the team came to be Magic Johnson.

"They would come in to interview Earvin, he was the star, and Please see MURRAY, Page 6 Martin absorbed the news, then slid a tongue into his cheek and said, "Makes you mad to think that Kansas City had the chance to go to Cleveland today and play a couple games while we're forced to sit here relaxing, drinking a beer or two." The atmosphere around Billy Martin seldom stays relaxed for long, this occasion being no exception. He was soon talking about having been lied to by American League President Lee MacPhail and saying they could shove the best-of-five series for the AL West championship, that it wouldn't start until Kansas City played two more makeup games because the Royals hadn't won anything yet. Martin's anger didn't stem so much from the fact that the Royals, via their 9-0 win over Cleveland, had clinched the second seaon title. Nor did it seem to stem from the fact that Oakland, the first half titlist and possessor of the second best overall record in baseball (64-45 compared to Cincinnati's 66-42) would now play two games here instead of just one. The first of those games is scheduled for 12:10 (PDT) today with Mike Norris (12-9) of the A's opposing Dennis Leonard (13-11), twice a shutout winner against Oakland in the last three weeks.

Please see A.L. WEST, Page 7 Smh mmmwwmmm Billy Martin is in midsea-son form on the eve of the playoffs, furious because the Kansas City Royals had to play only one makeup game Monday. This Time the Eagles Get a Little Lucky, 16-13 Inside USC and UCLA Under Investigation by the NCAA By MAL FLORENCE, Times Staff Writer USC, UCLA, Oregon and Arizona have been advised officially that the NCAA is investigating possible rules violations in their athletic programs. The NCAA allegations stem, in part, from infractions of academic rules that led to Pacific 10 penalties last year against five member schools. USC, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona State and Oregon State were declared ineligible to compete for the 1980 conference football championship or play in any postseason game.

And it's possible that the NCAA could penalize some schools under investigation for rules violations other than those already determined by the Pac-10. USC Athletic Director Dick Perry confirmed Monday that the NCAA has informed the university that an official inquiry is being conducted "to determine the policies and practices of the university in certain areas of athletic administration." Perry wouldn't divulge the subject matter of the NCAA investigation, saying only: "By and large it's Please see NCAA, Page 6 And This Time Falcons Run Out of Big Finishes By RICHARD HOFFER, Times Staff Writer PHILADELPHIA The attraction of Monday night's matchup, beyond the fact that one team went into it undefeated and the other just once-defeated, was the recent and quirky history of the series. In each of the last three seasons, the Atlanta Falcons had come from behind in the fourth quarter to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. This kind of fourth-quarter dominance in fact any kind of dominance is rare in the NFL. Few teams can make a living in this league warming up for dramatic finishes.

Not against the Eagles. Not, anyway, forever. So it was that a Veterans Stadium record crowd of 71,488, along with a nationwide TV audience, approached' this game with a certain sense of inevitability. Well, some did. Maybe others, including the Falcons, expected to see this series extended as in previous fashion, qualifying it for Hall of Fame status.

But this rivalry isn't ready for Canton yet The Eagles, hardly the dominant team in any quarter, much less the fourth, ended the Falcons' little streak with a 16-13 victory. And so the volume in this strange history was closed. The Eagles needed every break in the world to do it Playing uncanny or just lucky defense, the Eagles overrode every statistical advantage the Falcons managed. Atlanta, now 3-2 with two straight defeats, outrushed Philadelphia, 112-107, and outpassed the Eagles, 227-161. The Falcons did everything, as they say, but win.

Oh, they fumbled some. And got intercepted. Jlljf Ply Assodstcd Press Eagles' Jerry Robinson just misses a flying tackle on Falcon quarterback Steve Bartkowski. NHL Preview Herb Brooks, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey coach, makes his National Hockey League debut tonight as the New York Rangers play Detroit in one of five openers.

For a look at how the teams figure this year, see Page 4. And each time the Eagles capitalized. Atlanta quarterback Steve Bartkowski capped a 64-yard drive, the first of the game, by throwing into Eagle Al Chesley's arms. Philadelphia's Tony Franklin kicked a 36-yard field goal five plays later. On the next series, Bartkowski threw a pass that ricocheted off defensive end Carl Hairston's helmet Linebacker Reggie Wilkes one-handed it juggled it and gathered it in, finally.

Franklin kicked a 34-yard field goal this time. Then on the final play of the third quarter, just when the Falcons figured to get something going, Bartkowski's pass to Alfred Jenkins was stripped by Bernard Wilson and recovered by Greg Please see EAGLES, Page 5 I.