The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 57

SPORTS The Vancouver Sun, Friday, May 7, 1993 B17 SOCCER Davis starting over in management end of APSL's Salsa Tlie NASL was really a wannabe. It wanted to be anotlier pro football, or on the same level as pro baseball. That type of thing is just totally out of reach. I don 't think soccer will ever become that popular in the U.S. RICKY DAVIS 33 lllllIlP1! Initially, Davis was looking at coaching, but after further talks with De La Pena "it just appeared my interests were more along the lines of management." Davis said Los Angeles' ethnic diversity will help in selling the game and the Salsa will be aggressive in bringing in club teams from around the world, particularly Mexico, for exhibition games.

With former Brazilian national Paulinho and ex-El Salvador national Salvador Coreas in the lineup, the Salsa figure to be as competitive as any club in the seven-team APSL. Last Saturday, they ran roughshod over the Toronto Blizzard, winning 5-0 as both Paulinho and Coreas each scored twice. The previous night, the Blizzard had lost 2-1 in Vancouver. "We actually missed more chances than we made," said Davis. "It could have easily been an even more embarrassing score." The Salsa should get a sterner test from the 86ers, although Vancouver will be missing half-a-dozen key performers who are currently with the Canadian national team as it attempts to qualify for the Wrorld Cup.

"Vancouver's so deep a team, my heart doesn't bleed a bit," said Davis. "They're still going to be a tough team to beat." GARY KINGSTON Vancouver Sun Fifteen years ago, Ricky Davis was the all-American poster boy for the run-before-you-walk North American Soccer League. He was a homegrown hero on the star-studded New York Cosmos, a mom 'n' apple pie kid who, with a little help from some of the game's greats, would turn Americans on to football as the world knew it. He played before 60,000 at Giants Stadium and alongside such international stalwarts as Pele, Franz Beck-enbauer and Johan Neeskins. But those halcyon days of pro soccer in the Excited States soon faded in a morass of financial mismanagement and misguided visions.

And so, at age 34, Kick Davis finds himself starting anew. Not as a player, but as a first-time general manager on a first-year team in the walk-before-you-run American Professional Soccer League. This time, there are no Peles. No Beckenbauers. No big crowds.

When Davis's Los Angeles Salsa opened the season at home last Sunday, there were only 3,865 fans in the Fullerton Soccer Stadium. But Davis is hardly discouraged. "The NASL was really a wan- while building a long-range business plan for the future. "With the APSL we're looking at what we're going to be doing in the year 2000. The NASL only thought of what they were doing the next game." Davis, who captained the U.S.

national team for close to a decade, closed out his competitive career a year-and-a-half ago with the Tacoma Stars of the now-defunct Major Indoor Soccer League. Since then, he has been involved in promotional soccer ventures with adidas and Chiquita, as well as his own T-shirt company and a string of nabe," says Davis, who will be here with the Salsa on Sunday when they take on the Vancouver 86ers at Swangard Stadium. "It wanted to be another pro football, or on the same level as pro baseball. "That type of thing is just totally out of reach. I don't think soccer will ever become that popular in the U.S.

"The advantage now is that people have somewhat learned their lessons. They're all wiser, more attuned with what is a realistic says Davis, is a low-budget, low-salary league that can play in seat stadiums soccer camps. But when the Los Angeles job opened up, he jumped. "I grew up in this area, so it's like coming home," he said in a phone interview. "I have had opportunities in the past to get into soccer management, but for one reason or another, they, weren't worth considering.

"This one was appealing. I've got a particular belief and philosophy about what should happen with a pro soccer organization and the owner (Dr. William De La Pena, the director of one of the largest opthal-mology practices in the U.S.) thinks along the same lines." GOLF Startled Lowery sees himself atop after first round Olympians honored with service awards Six Canadian Olympic athletes have received meritorious service awards from Gov. Gen. Ray Hnatyshyn.

Synchronized swimmer Sylvie Frechette, rower Silken Lau-mann and rowing coach Mike Spracklen were awarded the meritorious service cross. The slightly less prestigious meritorious service medal went to biathlete Myriam Bedard, skier Kerrin Lee-Gartner and swimmer Mark Tewksbury. It's the first time athletes have been decorated with the civilian awards that were created in 1991. Frechette won a silver medal at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, performing with great dignity despite the suicide of her boyfriend just before the games and a technical error by one judge that cost her the gold medal. Laumann overcame a potentially career-ending leg injury to win a bronze medal in the women's single sculls, while Spracklen helped deliver Lau-mann's bronze and a gold in the men's eight.

Bedard picked up a bronze medal in the biathlon at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France, Lee-Gartner won the '92 Olympic downhill gold, and Tewksbury claimed the gold medal at Barcelona in the 100- metre backstroke. Seatbelt removed Sprinter Jillian Richardson-Briscoe had removed her seat-belt moments before the truck she was riding in overturned, putting one of Canada's top track athletes in hospital with critical injuries, police said Thursday. Richardson-Briscoe, 28, remained in critical condition at the Bow Valley Centre of the Calgary General Hospital. The Olympic silver medalist suffered head and internal injuries in an accident Tuesday afternoon. Schott cites gender Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott insists her one-year ban from baseball would never have happened "if I was a man." Schott, banished for one year and fined $25,000 by major-league baseball for her use of racial and ethnic slurs, told a Toronto newspaper she's a victim of a conspiracy by the "boy's network that runs baseball." Defender moves up Defending champion Tony Rominger of Switzerland won Thursday's 11th stage of the Tour of Spain, overpowering his rivals in an exhausting special-category climb to the finish line to pull within 18 seconds of overall leader Alex Zulle.

Zulle, also of Switzerland, kept the overall lead for the 11th straight day but saw his lead slip from 65 seconds entering the day to 18 when he could not stay with Rominger in the final climb. Rings feature horse The Calgary Stampeders unveiled their Grey Cup ring on Thursday. The 10-karat gold ring is adorned with 27 diamonds totalling one karat. But the dominant feature is a galloping horse the Stampeder's familiar logo. About 60 rings, valued at between $8,000 and $10,000 each, will be made for the players, coaches and senior administration.

Associated Press life, I 1 WlSlIlitlili MARIETTA, Ga. No one was more surprised than Steve Lowery to see Steve Lowery atop the leader board after the first round of the Atlanta Golf Classic on Thursday. "It's surprising," Lowery said, after carding a seven-under-par 65 for the early lead. "The round just kind of came together. "I wasn't all that confident when the day began." Lowery, who fired four straight birdies at one point, has a one-shot lead over Dillard Pruitt, Mike Hul-bert and Mark Carnevale.

"I've had some good rounds on this course," said Lowery, who in five previous seasons has never finished higher than 143rd on the money list. His best finish was a tie for third in the 1991 Chattanooga Classic. This year he's 84th on the money list, his best finish being a tie for 11th in the Phoenix Open. Lowery had shared the first-round lead here two years ago with a 66 on the hilly Atlanta Country Club course. He never broke par he rest of the week and tied for 34th.

Lowery's only bogey came on the 421-yard ninth hole his last of the day when he missed the green and failed to make a 10-foot par putt. He had four birdies on the back side. Hulbert was in position to share the lead until he his final hole, the ninth, when he missed the green. "This was the most solid round REINHARD KRAUSEReuter TOUGH LOSS: Boris Becker gestures after losing match to Bernd Karbacher TENNIS STEVE LOWERY: seven under par I've played all year," Hulbert said. Pruitt played a bogey-free round, moving into a tie for second when he made an eight-foot birdie putt on No.

18. Carnevale also had a bogey-free round that turned into his best of the year. Seven players were at 67, including Larry Nelson, who sank a 35-foot putt for an eagle-three on the final hole. Nelson's home is on the 18th fairway. Dave Barr, of Richmond, who won the 1987 Atlanta event when he had a record-tying 265, was in a group at 68.

Becker's clay-court revival abruptly ends Three share lead in International Associated Press So did Italian qualifier Francesca Bentivoglio, 16, who upset 15th-seeded Natalia Zvereva 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in a match that took nearly three hours. Bentivoglio, ranked 329th in the world, had earlier defeated seventh-seeded Jana Novotna after gaining entry to the tournament through the qualifying round. Navratilova, playing her first tournament after a 10-week layoff because of an ankle injury, defeated Japan's Naoko Sawamatsu 6-4, 6-4 in a match that was interrupted for three hours by rain. Sanchez Vicario easily advanced, defeating Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-0. In other matches, fourth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez downed Mary Pierce 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3); Jennifer Capriati, the fifth seed, beat Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-2; sixth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain defeated Nathalie Herreman of France 6-1, 6-0; and Anke Huber of Germany, the eighth seed, eliminated Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina 1-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Defending champion Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina had advanced to the quarter-finals Wednesday night. Navratilova entered the Italian Open to sharpen her game for another assault on Wimbledon, which she has won nine times. "I need work," Navratilova said earlier in the week. Associated Press HAMBURG, Germany Boris Becker's revival came to an abrupt end Thursday when he and top-seeded Stefan Edberg were upset at the German Open tennis championship. Fellow German Bernd Karbacher beat Becker 6-3, 6-4, while Emilio Sanchez of Spain came from behind to oust Edberg, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Richard Krajicek, the seventh seed from the Netherlands, reached the quarter-finals of the $2.2 million Cdn tournament by beating Jaime Oncins of Brazil 6-2, 6-4. Horatio de la Pena of Argentina, a qualifier, advanced by beating Francisco Clavet of Spain 6-2, 6-4. Marc Goellner of Germany also was eliminated, beaten 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 by Russia's Andrei Chesnokov. After defeating fellow German Carl-Uwe Steeb in two sets on Wednesday, Becker said his clay-court crisis was over. The world's fourth-ranked player had been unable to get past his opening match in three previous clay-court tournaments.

Top seeds Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Martina Navratilova advanced to the quarter-finals of the Italian Open in Rome. SPORTS GADGETS 9 Virginia penalized PLYMOUTH, England Rookie Sven Struver of Germany, Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain and Scotsman Gordon Brand Jr. fired 5-under-par 65s on Thursday and tied for the first-round lead in the Benson and Hedges International. Brand, seeking his first tour win since 1989, said he played the St Mellion course with care. "Every shot can be a disaster here," said Brand, whose worst hole was a bogey 5 on the 404-yard 13th.

Behind the co-leaders were England's Mark James and Fiji's Vijay Singh, who both shot 68. Singh had the lead until the last hole where he had a triple bogey 7. The lone Canadian at the tournament, Danny Mijovic of Toronto, shot a 78. British Open champion Nick Faldo shot a 70. The University of Virginia was placed on two year's probation Thursday by the NCAA for making improper loans to student-athletes.

The school will lose two football scholarships during each of the next two years and was directed to develop and implement a program to educate athletic department personnel about NCAA rules. Hick batters Aussies Garage clutter in the '90s from air pumps to Zambonis? Graeme Hick, bidding for a place on the England cricket team for this summer's Ashes series, battered Australia's bowling attack for 161 runs Thursday to rescue Worcestershire from almost certain defeat on day two of a three-day match. Worcestershire finished the day at 311 for three, placing it 139 runs ahead of Australia's first innings total of 262. The third and final cricket test match between Pakistan and the West Indies was abandoned as a draw Thursday after umpire Dickie Bird declared heavy overnight and morning rain had made the outfield unplayable. The abandonment made little difference to the outcome of the match, which was heading for a draw, case someone gets stuck within and is in need of rescue.

Skis, ski poles, saddlebags and enough strollers to wheel half of Wcstboro to the park. Toboggan, tent, and a trailer for hauling child behind bike. Trailer is big enough for child to have picnic inside and invite several of his closest friends. Underwear. The kind that gets banned from the house.

Victory. What this place doesn't smell like. Weights, wineskins, water bottles, waxes. X-cnuntry assortment. I'm not sure what it's all for and it doesn't help that some of the instructions are in Norwegian.

Yo-yo, YM-YWCA literature. Yacht (just checking to see if you're still paying attention). Yoke. I take my gardening seriously. Zamboni.

Zamtmni? So that's where the water came from that froze my hockey bag. Golf clubs, golf cart. Dents from most recent tantrum barely show. Hockey sticks, hockey puck. Hey, I'm Canadian, eh.

I Inventory. A painful undertaking in the room the heavens forgot. Journals (hockey, football, baseball) and Junk. i glue-like wax that continues to drip off my skis. Lawnmower.

An outnumbered four-wheel vehicle. Mosquito netting, for the bug-free baby. No more room. Oil. An Indian Ocean of oil.

Oil for bikes, oil for ball gloves, oil from a do-it-myself oil change. Oil for the well-lubricated sports gadget. the Pack of an erstwhile world-traveller, before he settled down to raise a garage full of gadgets. the Queen would never set foot in this place. the Rack to carry skis, bikes.

Rope, in cle. I am the modern sports parent and I live with this daily fear: what will this place look like if we ever have more than one child and they're old enough to actually play sports? Does your garage look like mine? Is there a support group for people like us? Here is an A-to-Z inventory of the sports-type gadgets in my life, in my garage: A Air pump. For a guy who has slowed down but still has the wheels. Bikes (3), bike tools (as if I've ever used them), bike carriers, bike saddlebags. Bikes and strollers are the dominant form of transportation here.

I believe I'm the only one on the block with a 36-wheeler in the garage. Cobwebs and cleats (wasn't there a song about Cleats for cycling, baseball, rugby. Do-dads. Mostly leftover nuts and bolts from recent toy assemblies by-dad. Equipment bag, featuring a three-piece Cooper helmet that makes Butch Goring's relic look like the cutting edge of headgear technology.

Flashlight, to find your way. WAYNE SCANLAN Ottawa Citizen I used to be able to park a car in my garage. I thought that's what it was for. Oxford even says so, garage a building in which to keep a motor vehicle or vehicles. But now I know better.

The modern garage's main purpose is to store sports gadgets. Really. I have sports and recreation gadgets coming out of my arrears. I have sports gadgets parked on two wheels and 12, gadgets on walls, gadgets hung by the chimney with care. I have a bag of hockey equipment 1 couldn't lift for two months this winter because water got underneath and froze it to the ground.

I have an item called a baby glider that resembles a rocket ship, a bike trailer worth more than my car (no snickering, please, from those who have actually seen my car) and enough golf equipment to fool somebody into thinking I know how to play. I could lose a kindergarten class in this place designed to house a single, four-wheeled vehi i.