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The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 48

Publication:
The Vancouver Suni
Location:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Issue Date:
Page:
48
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

SPORTS The Vancouver Sun, Saturday, April 20, 1996 SPORTS NEWS Giants blown out as Cubs slam six homers IN BRIEF slam that lifted everybody. Then myself and Grace had good swings. It was just one of those days," Sandberg said. Marlins 5, Dodgers 0 Kurt Abbott hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run, two-out eighth inning that lifted Florida past Los Angeles. Pat Rapp, Jay Powell and Robb Nen combined on a three-hitter for Florida.

Powell (1-0) left the game in the ninth with an apparent back injury, and Nen retired the final three batters. Joe Orsulak led off the eighth with a single, his first hit for Florida, against reliever Darren Hall (0-1). Orsulak had beenO-for-15. Braves 7, Padres 1 John Smoltz, who one-hit San Diego in his last start, limited the Padres to three hits to lead Atlanta to a 7-1 win. Smoltz (3-1), whose no-hit bid last Sunday was ended by a controversial double by Tony Gwynn in the seventh inning, struck out sue and walked two in his first complete game since June 19, 1995 at Cincinnati.

In 17 innings spanning his last two starts, Smoltz has allowed one run and struck out 19. Indians 9, Red Sox 4 Albert Belle hit his 200th career home run as Cleveland extended its dominance of Boston. The Indians swept three games from Boston in the opening round of the playoffs last October and have won all five meetings so far this year. Sun News Services CHICAGO Call'em wind-blown, call'em well hit. It doesn't matter.

They're still homers and the Chicago Cubs had six of them Friday in a long ball derby with the San Francisco Giants. "I hate this place. They should burn it down, rd hate to be a Cubs pitcher, it's a joke here," said Giants left-hander Allen Watson, who gave up five homers in San Francisco's blustery 10-6 loss. "I don't think there were any cheap home runs hit off him," said Brian McRae, who smacked a go-ahead grand slam and finished 4-for-5. That's just the way it goes in this McRae, Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace hit consecutive homers in a six-run sixth inning on a day the wind was blowing out to left at around 40 kmh.

What really rankled Watson, however, were two homers he gave up to Sandberg. "Sandberg just popped it up twice. I'm not giving him credit for those home runs. Everyone else's were legit, but Sandberg hit popups. In any other park, those are outs and you can tell him that," Watson said.

And somebody did. That's all right. Til take the victory said Sandberg, who's hit three of his four homers this season off Watson. "Brian had the big hit with the grand Canadians blank Costa Rica SALTILLO, Mexico Steve Kindel of Burnaby scored both goals to give Canada a 2-0 victory Friday over Costa Rica, advancing the unbeaten Canadians to the championip round of the CON-CACAf under-20 regional soccer championship. The win also has unofficially qualified Canada for the 1997 world youth championship in Malaysia.

Under current qualifying rules, the top two teams from the CONCA-CAF championship round qualify for the world tournament. However, the International Soccer Federation's executive committee is expected to rubber stamp a move on May 31 to expand its world championship to 24 teams from 16. Sources have said the increase is a done deal since the federation already has signed a television contract involving a 24-team championship. Under such a move, CONCACAF could send all three championship-round teams Canada, Mexico and the United States along with a fourth team from a qualifying tournament involving the three runners-up in the regional preliminary round. Canadian Press Gaines added to Als' staff MONTREAL Canadian Football League legend Gene Gaines and one-time Ottawa Rough Rider Peter Vaas joined Montreal Alou-ettes on Friday as the recently revived club completed its coaching staff.

Gaines, who has spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach with B.C. Lions, was named the team's defensive backs coach. Vaas, most recently head coach at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts, was named offensive co-ordinator. With the Alouettes Gaines rejoins Dave Ritchie, the former head coach of the Lions who is now the Montreal defensive co-ordinator. Canadian Press Team loses pair to injuries As Canada tries to land a berth in the 1996 Olympic soccer tournament, it's without one and possibly both of its star strikers.

The bad news came this week ROBERT GALBRAITHCP PITTSBURGH'S Charlie Hayes is called safe at first base on a tag by Montreal's David Segui. Expos beat the Pirates 2-1 to improve their season record to 9-7. Future of world hockey tourney in doubt ROYMACGREGOR Southam Newspapers VIENNA Think of them as a Dancing Zamboni. They are Team Canada 1996, and Sunday afternoon in Vienna, Austria, they will open the world hockey championships against Slovakia, trusting they will end May 5 with at least a medal and a good shot back at those who would ridicule Canadians for their diminishing skills and slipping clout in the quick-changing world of international hockey. But there is much more to this game than what will take place in Vienna over taking at both the professional and international level.

They balk at going on the record, but they willingly express private fears that the World Championships may soon sink all but out of sight. Already hurt by the Stanley Cup playoffs, which prevent the top players from attending, the annual tournament will shortly be hit by the double whammy of the World Cup and the NHL-endorsed Olympic "Dream Teams." Despite the television numbers and the continuing interest in Europe, the true significance of the World Championships is already believed to lie somewhere back of the World Cup, the Olympics, the Stanley Cup and perhaps even the World Junior Championships. Many fear that once the rabid European fans wake up to how the champi- onships have been rendered all but meaningless elsewhere, the tournament will fade into obscurity thereby drying up the vital hockey development funds. No other tournament returns such money to hockey. The NHL gives nothing to hockey's roots.

"It's going to kill the funding," warns one official. 1 Canada's voice, unfortunately, has been largely silenced at the international level since 1994, when it was presumed that Canada's Gordon Renwick would be named president of the IIHF but was surprisingly defeated by unknown Swiss dentist Rene Fasel. OttawaCitizen ey frenzy are such that last year's host country, Sweden, cleared a profit of $15 million, much of which went back into hockey development. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) made another $15 million from board advertising. Few in Canada realize it, but significant funding for the CHA the body responsible for hockey development in Canada is directly tied to performance at these championships.

Last year's bronze medal meant Canada was one of the top four teams to receive 750,000 Swiss francs ($852,750) money which, again, goes directly into creating the players of tomorrow. It pays off twice. A good showing helps Canadian hockey. A good showing helps remind the world that Canada and hockey still fit, hand to glove. "It lets us show our hockey face to the world," says Costello.

This year's entry is, as usual, composed of NHLers whose teams did not make the playoffs, as well as a handful of players from the year-long Team Canada program, many of whom later move on to professional careers. This year, me World Championships will also offer goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Curtis Joseph the opportunity to begin preparing for the upcoming World Cup, which begins in August "This is key for them," says Bob Nicholson, the CHA's vice-president of hockey operations. TheyTl need the international experience." And this year will feature Paul Kariya, the Anaheim Might Ducks' star who previously played on Canada's 1995 world championship team and the 1994 Olympic silver medal team. "He agreed right away," says Nicholson. "He said, There's absolutely no way I could say no to this team after what the program has done for Kariya's addition was considered crucial, not only to give the Canadian team a chance, but to remind everyone Canada as well as the world that there is a connection between ing and skill.

Ayear after the last World Championships in Stockholm, Canadian players and officials are still stinging from the putdown of then-Swedish coach Curt Lundmark, who slammed the style of Canadian hockey by suggesting that, "Playing with Canada is like dancing with a Zamboni." That remark became a rallying point for a team that had, until then, under-performed both in exhibition play and the championships. Challenged, they all but put the Swedes out of the gold-1 medal round (eventually won by Fin- land) and surprised everyone by dumping the Czech Republic for the bronze medal. Canadian officials are hoping for similar inspiration this year -r but their unspoken concerns run far deeper than how the Canadian players might be motivated. Interviews with numerous Canadian hockey officials and observers over the past week reveal a profound worry over the direction the game is the next two weeks. The World Championships are themselves under some threat and with this comes a concern that reaches as far back in hockey as the atom team in Yorkton, and even the learn-to-skate program in Malmo, Sweden.

It is almost impossible for Canadians who will barely lift their eyes from the Stanley Cup playoffs to appreciate how big the world championships are. The television audience is approximately 10 times the size of the audience for the NHL playoffs. As many sets will be turned on in Germany to watch the German team play as there are Canadian citizens. The numbers are mind-boggling," says Murray Costello, the president of the Canadian Hockey Association. The profits from this two-week hock SOCCER from page 1 Size of MLS crowds exceeding everyone's expectations when it was learned flashy forward Tomasz Radzinski will be unavailable for next month's Olympic qualifier in Edmonton.

Midfielder Tom Kouzmanis may also be lost to the national under-23 team, but there's a slim chance he'll be able to resume play by the third game of the tournament. Radzinski, who plays for Germinal Ekeren of the Belgian first division, is expected to be out of action for up to six months with an injury to his pelvis. Kouzmanis hurt his ankle in a tournament tuneup game earlier this month. Canadian Press Sharks begin coaching search SAN JOSE, Calif. The San Jose Sharks announced Friday the start of their formal search for a new head coach.

The Sharks fired coach Kevin Constantine on Dec. 2, and named assistant Jim Wiley interim head coach for the balance of theseason. Constantine had only three wins before he was fired. The Sharks went on to finish 20-55-7, the second-worst record in the NHL behind Ottawa. General manager Dean Lombard! said he will narrow down a list of candidates to present to owner George Gund and team president Greg Jamison.

Associated Press Wamba loses WBC title PARIS Anaclet Wamba of France lost his WBC cruiserweight title Friday without taking a punch. Wamba was three pounds over the limit at the weigh-in for his title defence against Marcelo Dominguez of Argentina. Wamba and Dominguez were to meet today in Levallois, a suburb of Paris. Dominguez again was given the title as interim champion, which he held when Wamba was out of action for nearly 16 months and was unable to defend the crown. Associated Press Pepsi refreshes South Africa SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates South Africa, its fielding proving decisive, beat India by 38 runs Friday to capture the Pepsi Cup cricket title in its Sharjah debut.

The South Africans were domi- nant for most of the game, first scoring a challenging 287 for five in 50 overs and then restricting India to 249 for nine in reply. Pakistan, beaten twice by South Africa, was the tournament's third team. Associated Press Names The NBA plans to come down hard on players like the Los Angeles Lakers' Magic Johnson and New York Knicks' J.R. Reid for violence on the court, commissioner David Stern said Friday. "If it keeps occurring, we're prepared to cost games, seasons and careers over this," Stern said Scottish champion Glasgow Rangers are negotiating with Juventus soccer star Gianlu-ca Vialll in a $9-million transfer package that could wind up with the striker teaming up with former Lazio midfielder Paul Gascoigne.

Canadian Press Africa to play professionally in Zimbabwe before he belatedly settled into an acting career. His father, James, played at Harvard. A younger brother, John Shue, is a former soccer captain with the Crimson. The rookie-of-the-year-award at Dartmouth is named after Andrew's late brother, Will. And his sister, Academy Award nominee Elizabeth Shue, was a grassroots soccer star before a screen career beckoned.

During the month-long World Cup USA '94 tourney, Andrew went to all nine cities where the games were played as an official spokesperson. His message to Americans is that the world's most popular form of football is the one that is played without using hands. There was no American league in place to capitalize on the eye-opening success of World Cup "94, but now there are 10 teams spread around the United States, from the New England Revolution to the Kansas City Wiz to the San Jose Clash. And now Shue is making a last-chance run at a dream. "I don't have forever to do this," he says.

'Tm 29." That is why you find him here in Pasadena, snug up against the San Gabriel Mountains, at a practice field outside the Rose Bowl, trying to convince people he can play for the Los Angeles Galaxy. The ambition deserves to be recognized, though his ability to sustain a soccer career, on the basis of his first game, is still open to doubt. "It's definitely not a lark," Shue says. "It's something I've always wanted to do, and fve worked very hard to get into this position. I've played soccer all my life, rve only been acting for about four years now.

Most actors have been so deeply involved in acting their whole lives they never would have had time to be at a professional level in a sport I'm definitely kind of an odd case." FIFA, the sport's governing body, gave the 1994 World Cup to America in hopes it might turn the Excited States into soccer nutbars. On a balmy evening last Saturday, FIFA's bigwigs were able to see the fruits of their missionary efforts. Soccer may not be overtaking its iconoclastic cousin, American football, for a while yet but for one night at least, you couldn't tell. Hoping to average 20,000 fans in the cavernous Rose Bowl, Galaxy officials draped thousands of seats with colorful tarps and signs to close off the upper tiers and herd spectators closer to the field. But the Galaxy outdrew the baseball team by 25,000 on a night Hideo Nomo was pitching for the Dodgers.

They played to a crowd of 69,255 in a 2-1 victory over the New YorkNew Jersey MetroStars not counting the 10,000 others who got caught on the freeway when police closed down an off-ramp. The natives from Hollywood and Beverly Hills and the young suburban families from Orange County were there because their sons and daughters now play in a soccer league, and no doubt because midfielder Cobi Jones plays for the Galaxy. The dreadlocked Jones is U.S. soccer's reigning heartthrob, especially with teenaged girls. What Major League Soccer's knack has been is to understand that stardom is subjective: What counts in American sports is marketing and targeting.

"Soccer at this point, in its development in this country, can't afford to eliminate a single constituent or sector," says Danny Villaneuva the Galaxy's GM. L.A. has changed a lot since Walter O'Malley came west in the late 1950s and claimed Chavez Ravine, in the hills above Chinatown, for the Dodgers. Perhaps no other American city has the same ethnic and political complexity. Latino clout has increased, and Villaneuva, the son of former Los Angeles Rams punter Danny Villaneuva, sees soccer as a way of bridging racial divisions.

The Galaxy's lineup has been imum of four foreign players at one time. The rest of the roster consists of Americans like Jones and Shue who can be passed off as stars or celebrities. Kel-logg's is the official breakfast cereal of Major League Soccer, and homegrown heroes such as Alexi Lalas and Tab Ramos are already appearing on packages of Raisin Bran. Starsfrom overseas are no guarantee of success anyway: The North American Soccer League, with Pele, Beckenbauer and Cruyff, proved that. It still went bankrupt The financial structure in that league was totally irrational," says Osiander, who coached the NASL's California Surf.

"Now we pay half of what we did then and we get good players, and we get good American players. We now have parents who've been involved with the game. We have parents who've seen the World Cup. In the 70s, we didn't have that." Back in 1983, the player payroll of the NASL's New York Cosmos was $16 million US. Peter Bridgwater ran the Vancouver Whitecaps on a comparatively skimpy payroll of $2.4 million still considerably more than MLS's current ceiling of $1,135 million US per team.

By marketing the teams as a single product (the league owns seven teams outright), and by spreading talent and payroll costs equally, the MLS hopes to avoid mismatches and revenue dispari-ties. The MLS is really a large corporation with several branch offices," says Bridgwater, now GM of the Clash. "The strong support the weak. It's the wayof the future in North American sports." At scaled-down San Jose Stadium, a sellout crowd of 31,683 celebrants watched the Clash defeat D.C. United (Washington) 1-0 in their home open- er on April 6.

After the false promise of a generation ago, Bridgwater believes that the professional game is finally here to stay. The growth of soccer America's silent sporting revolution may be about to explode. DENIS P0ROYAP ANDREW SHUE, star of the television show Melrose Place, passes the ball during his first game with the Major Soccer League Los Angeles Galaxy. carefully crafted to tap into the region's diversity. Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, a surfer, fashion designer and national hero, is enough to incite a frenzy by his very appearance.

And Mauricio Cien-fuegos, a national team midfielder from El Salvador, is a natural drawing card among the area's 350,000 Salvadorans. "The Latin American crowd, they don't watch Melrose Place," says Galaxy coach Lothar Osiander. They don't care who Andrew Shue is, except whether he plays well or not His quality is judged as a player. If he grows like everybody else grows, he can play. If he falls off, he won't be on the squad." MLS teams are allowed to play a max.

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