San Antonio Express from San Antonio, Texas • Page 151

Aualvsis Antonio abroad to places like London. Glasgow, Dublin. Frankfurt and Sydney." Lay continued. Much of that media response was to Bobby Moore'and Bobby Clark, internationally-known footballers. "There was no San Antonio could get such international publicity so quickly.

But apparently we never got through to the city about the international importance." Boston C. rips Army WEST BOINT, Y. (AP) Quarterback O'Brien and running back Anthony Brown recorded first-half touchdowns Saturday, starting Boston College to a 27-Id over Army in college football. O'Brien tallied on a four-yard keeper to give the Fugles a second quarter. Wide receiver Xumhach passed to Brown on a goal attempt with no time remaining in the first half to make it 11-3 and Boston College was never threatened after that.

Tim Moorman added field goals of 17 and yards "When we got the franchise, everyone said San Antonio would be another Portland, Seattle or San Lay said, referring to big-attendance North American Soccer League cities. "I thought so myself." Lay didn't realize that San Antonio ranked a poor third among major Texas cities (Houston. Dallas and San Antonio) in disposable incomes. "I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't draw this many a town of 50,000 like Stillwater. Oklahoma." Lay sighed after a lato-sea- son home game in 1970.

soev er now but it will be in the future. "Perhaps the city which had Hemisphere and the Spurs as its two biggest attractions in the last lew years doesn't know how to handle too many attractions at one time, "I could be bitter about it all but what good would it Lav stated "I went to Hawaii lor a vacation, was approached about the team and the next thing I know I get a call from the governor of Hawaii and mayor of Honolulu. "Hawaii doesn't have a major league team and maybe ready for one. The Thunder may become Spurs of Honolulu." "Maybe San Antonio isn't right for -3 lead in the Da 24 yards take field tiL 200 stock car race 5553 rHE W( )RI SERIES OF AUTO RACING 200 MILE INDY CAR RACE Searsj joskes THE DATEX CHALLENGE CAMPING AND LIV.E ON STAGE CONCERT RACE ACTIVITIES AM TICKETS'6 FOR TICKETS; TEXAS RACE OF CHAMPIONS the Age of Superstition San Antonio October 24 1976 pQge 7.5 By GERALD ESKENAZI Who would believe that a world champion boxer offered a baby goat as a sacrifice before every fight? Or that the greatest soccer player in the world is obsessed with his number 10. so much so that he has figured out that if you add the numbers in the circumference of the ball (28 inches) you come up with 10? And who would seriously believe that a basketball player, who is also a Rhodes scholar and the head of a bank, chases his trainer around the floor so he can place his sweat-soaked towel on his right shoulder after every timeout? You better believe it.

For this is the flowering of the Age of Superstition in the sports world. Obsession Long-time observers of the sporting scene do not recall so much obsession with the mysterious and occult. with attempts to overcome the forces of darkness and the unknown, as now. Players sit in front of their lockers, eyes closed, reciting their mantras. So many people see Pcle as a symbol of goodness that they want to protect him.

Or they meditate. They are all searching. Yes, mysticism has always been in sports. But in the last few years there have been dramatic changes in sports, especially in the ethnic makeup of the American athlete, and this has helped create new and wondrous superstitions. Every new culture that works its way into the mainstream gives us a part of that culture.

Baseball In baseball, the number of Latin Americans in the major leagues has increased by 50 per cent since the 1900s. With them has come voodoo and religious incantations. In football, the black athlete has come to virtually dominate the sport. Many are from the rural south, where colorful beliefs are part of the culture. But the trend to religion, or unearthly powers, goes beyond a country or a race.

The Western world is more aware of other religions and new ways of expanding the mind. There is the rise of transcendental meditation, yoga, the Indian cults. There are the movies we see about forces we are helpless to control: rhe And the athlete is part of this generation that has been exposed to TM and the movies. Traditionally, people who are subject to great risks have been the most superstitious: mineworkers. pilots, sailors or even those who acted on the stage or played games.

One actor's good luck wish to another actor before going out is "break a You ward off evil spirits by wishing the worst. Anxiety For risk creates anxiety, as Lawrence A. Pcrvin wrote in "Journal of Thus, the athlete would rather participate in an event he lias a chance of mastering, instead of being simply another team player "which leaves the person feeling a helpless ictim of inevitable events. This "helpless victim" syndrome is certainly true in team sports, in which the marginal player as a rule is more superstitious than the superstar. An observer of the sports scene, a psychiatrist named Dr.

Arthur Wachtel, sees this trend toward the unknown as an obvious part ot our times. He knows that before a game Joe Namath meditates, that some athletes stroke their lucky charms, that in France you wish a jockey good luck, but say "merde. "When we talk about a lucky coin or a lucky tie or a lucky shirt, we re saying been blessed by the gods, explains the doctor. at what's been happening in gambling the lust two years. The casinos in Monte Carlo and Las Vegas have been booming, bucking the national trends.

We see gambling as a denial that something disastrous is taking Even the most famous athletes, Pele and Muhammad Ali, are surrounded by superstition. In their ease, there is an even greater element at work For the hangers-on and fans who flock to them see them as a mirror for their own occult fantasies. Pele Because he plays a game that is the national sport in so many countries, Pele undoubtedly is the most admired athlete, probably seen in person by more people than any man who has ever lived He is so popular that 111 some countries the police have been known to charge children money to allow them to say hello to Pele. The man closest to him always is his bodyguard and confidant, Pedro Garay. You have never heard of Pedro Garay? Well, the next time you see Pele in a crowd, being ushered to safety, look for a man of roughly the EVEN THE most famous athletes, Pele and Muhammad AH, are surrounded by superstition.

Pele, the greatest soccer player in the world, is obsessed with the number 10. Ali, the world heavyweight boxing champion, has an aversion to getting to alight too early. Now he arrives an hour before, always with a lucky robe. in a athletes, despite their sophistication and big money, observe personal fetishes, rituals, incantations and obsessions with the mystical and occult. Stars like Muhammad Ali, Pele, Phil Esposito, Mike Cuellar, Joe Namath and O.J.

Simpson have joined the ranks of pilots, sailors and miners who traditionally have been the most superstitious groups. They are all in high-risk occupations, traditionally seeking ways to faith, comfort and security to see them safely through. same height, but thinner, standing next to Pele. Garay is accustomed to crowds. He was a leader in the Bay of Pigs invasion.

He is a career military man and taking care of Pele is a career in itself. Protection So many people see Pele as a symbol of goodness that they want to protect him. They bring him amulets and charms and religious symbols. He is also touched constantly. Once a Turkish Pepsi-Cola executive had to be restrained from embracing Pele and Pele was in Turkey on a goodwill tour for Pepsi.

But Garay has allowed a man to approach Pele with a rock in his hand. The man was in tears. have nothing to bring you," the man said, I give you a piece of my Perhaps if the house number had been 10, Pele would have seen it as an omen. For the number 10 means more to him than simply the number he wears on his back. is fascinated by the relates Giora Breil, his German-born business adviser who handles such incidentals as Pele's account with Pepsi.

"He always wore number 10 with Santos in Brazil. But in World Cup play you get your regular number they draw for numbers. And lie drew number 10 for his first World Cup in 1958 in Sweden. Then 111 1962. for the World Cup in Chile, they drew again and again he drew number 10.

The odds of getting your same number if you are one of 11 players is high enough. And on world cup teams there are 16 to 18 players. What are the odds of getting that exact number twice in a row? So Brazil decided that for third world cup it would give him the number 10 permanently. He was the only player in Brazil so honored. Then again, he also is the only player to be declared a by Brazil something like our redwood forests.

"You know when Pele gets a hotel room he finds himself with number 1010. The digits of my office number add up to 10 2008. And bis real name Nascimento lias 10 says Breil. The psychologist Carl Jung would have liked Pele. For he wrote that a in numbers is meaningful when the person affected by the number thinks it is meaningful.

In other words, if you think it matters, then it does. Freud suggested that under analysis a patient would always come up with a deep, concealed reason tor preferring a certain number. can be traced to an unexpected meaning," Freud rote. Perhaps. All Pele knows is that the digits on his second car.

the Khar- mann Ghia, add up to 10. And his first car, the Mercedes, has license plate number Always thinking of 10 is a good way for Pele to remember his room number, because he carry hotel keys. His pants are made without pockets. That, however, must have a logical explanation. Muhammad Ali.

on the other hand, would be lost without pockets. He is always digging down deep to come up with a $50 bill for someone with a hard-luck story, or he plucks out a ticket from the wad of a few hundred tickets he always carries. In his Yankee Stadium fight against Ken Norton. Ali knew that Norton had an unreasoning fear of black eats. So when the time for the usual pre-fight examination.

All did not ask that it be held at Ins training camp. Instead, he said he wanted to go to This caught people by surprise. Muhammad going to the camp? What was Ali planning? Ali was accompanied by the usual dozen members of his court, includ- ing Dick Sadler, one of Ins trainers. Sadler held a box, a little black box When Norton made his appearance. Sadler opened the box and a black cat leaped out.

Norton's eyes grew wide. Ali watched Norton and smiled He had exploited an weakness. This is not to sav the champ is perfect. He has an aversion to getting to a fight too earlj A few years ago he showed up 2 hours before the bout was scheduled. He warmed up in the dressing room throwing lefts and rights, and dancing around an imaginary opponent.

By the time fight started, recalls his trainer. Angelo Dundee, "he already had three lights in the room." Now Alt arrives an hour before, always with a lucky robe, lb- wears a different one every fight $5,000 robe Elv is Presley presented him with a $5.000 robe for All's fight in Las Vegas with Floyd Patterson. Before the bout Ali searched for the robe. He was frantic when he couldn't find it But when he got to the arena, the robe was Ins room, placed there by the I'ourt jester. Drew (Bundim) Brown Brown also insists 011 wearing a sweater on fight night that is the same color as All's trunks.

Brown, whose contribution to the arts is secure because of his phrase, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," has a superstition lie perpetuates on the champion alter every round, lie takes mouthpiece and licks it clean. Dundee also goes into the ring from the same side. But the most bizarre rituals belonged to some of his Latin fighters. "One guy set up an altar in a motel and burned down his motel room," recalls the trainer. "He had can lies all over the place.

Some guys allow mirrors on their walls. They have them all taken down before they move 111 In South and Central America they light candles, throw powders in the air, rub certain liquids on their skin And there was the guy who sacrificed the baby goat. Better not use his Right or left? There are some boxers who prefer their trainers to put the left glove on first, and then there are those who think it works better with the right one on "So I ask them automatically or Willie Pastrano would tie his wedding band to Ins shoelaces as did another cl Dundee's world champions, Willie Pep. But Pastrano also believed in astrology, and he had a fight postponed because the astrologist told him it was a bad time. So he rescheduled the fight with Gregorio Peralta of Argentina and Pastrano won.

Monday in the Express: The American sports and the international sports have their believers, too. Mario Andretti, Phil Esposito. Joe Namath, Bill Bradley and others discuss what makes superstitions work. Thunder move could hurt S.A. Bv JIM HUTTON OF THE EXPRESS NEWS STAFF Within three weeks San Antonio will likely lose hall' its major league sports image.

The Thunder soccer club appears headed for Honolulu and thus, the Spurs basketball franchise would be the only major league club in town. Linked with the Thunder's mobility is the fact the Brewers Texas League baseball club is up for sale. The only reasons the Brewers won move is (1) San Antonio is the largest city in the league and local point, and (2) there simply any Texas cities with enough population to support even minor league baseball. And the long-dead football Wings may have outlasted a dying World Football League but the death was imminent weeks earlier. Crucial move Now the The Thunder move is particularly crucial, since linked with the death and the instability, it means San Antonio reputation as a future professional sports market is in critical condition.

The soccer club suffered from three maladies an inability to spread knowledge of the game above the youth level; lack of any support from city government; and control of the few money-bag people of San Antonio. were among the top clubs 111 the nation in spending money on the youth market." Thunder owner Ward Lay told The Express-New s. "As it turned out, 1 believe many parents took the kids to the games But if we did nothing else in San Antonio, at least we gave the kids a start at learning the Meanwhile, the city turned its cheek to the Thunder on nearly every occasion. City turned cheek Certainly the city should hold a greater allegiance to the Spurs because of the local ownership and use of the Convention Center Arena, a city facility. "1 think it has to do a lot with the first kid on the theory." Lav added.

came second and 1 knew have to work harder. "1 also knew have to compete with the Spurs, thought we could but I guess we The Thunder had a City Employes Night and a Chamber of Commerce special event which added only about 1(H) extra fans per match. "It was like know here, what can we do, we want you to stay bui we can't do Lay said. "The school board (San Antonio School District) was the most cooperative of the three bodies. Even with the (Alamo) stadium problem (concessions) we bad a good Lay didn't ask the city to help sell season tickets.

He didn't complain that city employes could buy Spur season tickets through their payroll deduction plan No cit.s officials made visible efforts to assist 111 finding local to help the club remain in San Antonio. "We tried to impress on the city that we were taking the name of San.