Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 32

02 TIMES-ADVOCATE, Escondido, Monday, December 22. 1986 Chargors Notos We have to take it upon ourselves and work our butts off if we want to be like the Cleveland Browns and still be playing next week. You cant wait until minicamp (in the spring) and say, Oh, I better get to work. If you do, youre only fooling yourself. But, as McKnight was reminded, the Chargers will begin their offseason training program in six weeks, on Feb.

1. Why wait until February? McKnight responded. Unless youre injured, why not start now? As expected, Charlie Joiner had little to say Sunday regarding his future in football. Youll know pretty soon, Joiner told reporters after the game. It wont take long.

There has been much speculation that Joiner, 39, will retire before the 1987 season. Joiner has said that he has made no final decision. Joiner, the NFLs all-time leader in number of catches and yards receiving, had three receptions for 25 yards Sunday. He caught 34 passes for 440 yards this year to improve his career totals to 750 receptions and 12,146 yards. Injury report: Five Chargers will undergo surgery following the first of the year, team physician Dr.

Gary Losse said Sunday. Nose tackle Terry Unrein will have the most serious of the operations. The rookie will have the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee reconstructed. Linebacker Gary Plummer and Ken Taylor will both undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, while tight end Pete Holohan and defensive back John Hendy will have shoulder injuries repaired. Added injuries: The Chargers suffered no serious injuries Sunday.

Running back Gary Anderson was poked in the eye, but he returned to action and turned a short pass from Dan Fouts into a brilliant 65-yard scoring play. It was the Chargers longest gain of the season. Also, tight end Kellen Winslow sat out the second half after being weakened by the flu, while nose tackle Blaise Winter (sprained ankle) and safety Vencie Glenn (bruised ribs) were also injured. Guard Sam Claphan played the whole game despite a sprained knee, but guard Jim Leonard did day 24 of 32 for 357 yards, running the opponents six-quarter totals to 34 of 42 (81 percent) for 555 yards. Also, Cleveland was 7 of 12 on third-down conversions, giving opponents a 17-for-27 (63 percent) record against San Diego the last two weeks.

The previous two weeks, the Chargers had held Indianapolis and Houston to a 2-for-22 (9 percent) success rate. Billy Ray Smith and Dee Hardison each recorded a sack Sunday, giving the Chargers 62 for the season. That breaks the club record of 60 set in 1980. Other numbers from Sundays game: When Chargers rookie Jeff Walker blocked a point-after attempt by Mark Moseley, it marked Walkers fourth block this year, the most in the NFL. Wes Chandler had his most productive day of the season with six catches for 113 yards and one touchdown.

The Chargers 41 yards rushing tied a season low set in Week 2 against the New York Giants. The Browns 47 points, 345 net yards passing and average per not even suit up after waking up Sunday morning with a 104-degree fever. Leonard has been suffering from pneumonia. This years Stephone Paige Award for the best performance by an unknown receiver against the Chargers in the last regular-season game goes to Clevelands Brian Brennan. Brennan, who previously had not gained more than 104 yards receiving in a game, tallied 176 Sunday.

One of his seven receptions, a 57-yarder for a touchdown, matched the longest gain of his three-year career. Paige, youll remember, exploded out of obscurity one year ago today with eight catches for an NFL record 309 yards in Kansas Citys 38-34 victory over the Chargers. When Clevelands Bemie Ko-sar and Herman Fontenot combined to complete 14 of 17 pass attempts for 229 yards in the first half Sunday, it meant that in the last four quarters. Chargers opponents had completed 24 of 27 passes for 427 yards. Seattles Dave Krieg was 10 of 10 for 198 yards in the second half last week.

Cleveland passers finished the Fiberglass yacht declared legal for Cup semifinals play of 6.8 yards were season highs against the Chargers this year. Clevelands Kosar finished the year with an interception rate of 1.88 percent (10 interceptions in'; 531 attempts) to set a new team re- cord. Kosars season total of 3,854 yards is the third-best in team history. Former San Diego State star Brian Sipe has the top two seasons 4,132 in 1980 and 3,876 in 81. Moseleys two field goals gave him 300 for his career.

Only three other kickers have surpassed 300: George Blanda, Jan Stenerud and Jim Some numbers from the Chargers season: In addition to the sack record, the club set a new standard by covering 23 fumbles, breaking the-old mark of 19 set in 1979 and 80. Of the 45 players who started the season on the Chargers 30 finished the year on the list. A total of 59 players saw action for the Chargers, with just 23 playing: in all 16 games. Only six started each game Winslow, McKnight, tackle Gary Kowalski, defensive end Lee Williams, safety Jeffery Dale and linebacker Thomas Benson. ing at sea, and that the American skipper was 100 percent happy with the results.

Fay said New Zealands position since the challengers elimination began in October had been one of tolerance. Some of the comments have been lunatic and irresponsible and. very close to libel, Fay said, adding that further repetition could easily end up in court. Conner had tried unsuccessfully to enlist the other cup challengers to demand core samples of New Zealands hull. The resurvey and remeasure-i ment of New Zealand, Stars Stripes, San Francisco-based USA and French Kiss were completed Sunday and the results announced today by Commodore Gianfranco Alberini of the Costa Smeralda Yacht Club of Italy, which is con-( ducting the challenge series.

He said the remeasurement was done by Englands Tony Watts and the resurvey by Lloyds Registry. New Zealand, which lost only once in the three round-robin se- ries, faces French Kiss in the semi- finals, while USA meets Stars Stripes. the rest of the world. It thinks the worlds first plastic 12 is a break-through. Conner has strongly implied he thinks it is illegal.

He wanted core samples taken of New Zealands hull, but the er challengers chose not to support him. Sunday, those samples were tak- en, and New Zealand was found to be legal. Kookaburra III, owned by Perth millionaire Kevin Parry, leads the defender series. French Kiss, skippered by Pajot, 30, finished fourth in the final standings, recovering from eighth position at the end of the first of three round-robins. If I didnt think its possible to beat New Zealand, Id stop today, Pajot said.

New Zealand beat him all three times they met. Blackaller refers to Conner as, Big Dennis, but in their three meetings his improving USA won twice. His third-place 23-11 record earned 139 points. Conner was second, 22-7 with 154 points. a man like Jose Torres faces in his effort to make boxing cleaner and more responsible.

Not perfect, but just a little better. As for me, I reached the conclusion years ago that even the federal regulation I called for isnt enough. I believe boxing should be abol-' ished on medical grounds. Again, talk about a voice in the wilder-, ness. I have neither the power to regulate it, nor abolish it.

I did have the power, though, to stop covering it. And I did. I put my money where my mouth is. I wont be party to it, not anymore. Jose Torres is.

Its his world, and he loves it. I dont, though once I did. But I wish him well, despite our fundamental disagreement, and I support his efforts to do what he can, in his limited way, to help the sport he loves. I hope he gets the support he deserves from those who cover boxing and who claim to want boxing to be a clean, legiti-, mate, professional sport. On the Raiders ensuing posses- sion, Marcus Allen hobbled a handoff, linebacker Cliff Odom re- 1 covered and five plays later, Hoge-boom's 14-yard touchdown flip to tight end Mark Boyer boosted the Colts into their first lead, 20-17.

Dean Biasuccis 20-yard field goal upped the count to 23-17 be- fore Raiders backup quarterback Rusty Hilger, who played the entire second half in place of starter Jim Plunkett, drove Los Angeles' back into the lead. 87 season begins early for McKnight By Jay Posner Times-Advocate Sportswnter CLEVELAND For some Chargers, the offseason begins today. For guard Dennis McKnight, today is the start of the 1987 season. I hear guys talking about working for a bank, getting jobs selling insurance or working for stockbrokers, but thats not your job. Your jobs being a professional football player, McKnight said following Sundays season-ending 47-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Im dedicating the next six months of my life just for this team and I expect everybody else to do the same thing. There should be nobody worried about an offseason job, making money or this or that. Everybody on this team should do what Im going to do this offseason. Unless youre hurt, theres no need to take time off. Chargers Continued from page D1 both Saunders and Lnn disagreed.

Smith and Dale thought some members of the Chargers defense showed a lack of desire Sunday. There was a definite lack of intensity out there, Smith said. Not as a team, but in certain situations some players may have had mental lapses, a lack of intensity or concentration. Some people are going to say its natural, but the people who are going to do that are the ones who arent going to be around when the next training cimp starts. Said Dale: I sensed we were lacking some intensity going into the first half.

result of the mental lapses? Blown coverages, mental errors and missed tackles, Smith said. There were plenty of all three while the Browns were scoring 47 points, the most by a Cleveland team since Nov. 24, 1968. They finished with 462 total yards, including 345 through the air. Starting quarterback Bernie Kosar was 21 of 28 for 258 yards and two touchdowns.

You cant take anything away from those guys, Dale said of the AFC Central Division champions, but I dont think we should have helped them like we did. I dont think theyre a 40-point team. The charity began early with the Chargers falling for a halfback-option play that resulted in a 46-yard scoring pass from running back Herman Fontenot to a wide-open Webster Slaughter, the rookie receiver from San Diego State. The Browns were forced to drive 60 yards for their next touchdown, a 2 -yard run by Kevin Mack that made it 14-0 early in the second quarter, but the Chargers made it easy again late in the half. With the Browns margin having been trimmed to 14-10 with 1:01 remaining, a strong defensive effort could have given the Chargers momentum heading into the second half.

Instead, with the clock winding down, Brian Brennan got behind nickel back Kevin Wyatt to catch a long pass from Kosar. Brennan fell down at the 7 making the catch, but when Wyatt failed to touch him, Brennan got up and ran into the end zone to complete the 57-yard play. The clock read 0:06. Even Playoffs Continued from page D1 year. Under the NFLs scheduling formula, that meant Kansas City avoided the NFC East this season while other members of their division, the AFC West, were going up against that tough sector.

Then the Chiefs lost three straight and seemed out of contention. But they rallied with wins over Denver, the Los Angeles Raiders and the Steelers to make the playoffs for the first time since 1971, when they lost to Miami in an overtime game. Kansas Citys last postseason victory was a 23-7 defeat of the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. We find a way to win, said nose tackle Bill Maas, who blocked a field goal that Lloyd Burruss grabbed and returned 78 yards for a Kansas City touchdown. I was 10 years old the last time the Chiefs were in the playoffs.

That goes for a lot of guys here. Im glad for veterans who have gone through the lean years and now can be here when were in the playoffs. Tue Browns sneaked into the 1985 Super Bowl chase with an 8-8 record that was the worst of any division winner in NFL history. But they were the AFCs best team in the second half this year and are riding just the kind of momentum a team wants heading into the playoffs. They really played hard.

Marty Schottenheimer said. Browns Ozzie Newsome celebrates his teams easy victory over the Gary Anderson dropped a pitchout from Dan Fouts and Clevelands Chip Banks recovered at the Charger 19. Five plays later, Kosar tossed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Harry Holt. Cleveland scored 10 more third-quarter points, the first seven coming after a 41 -yard pass interference penalty on Ken Taylor. The other three were set up by Wes Chandler fumbling away his first kickoff return since 1981.

That made it 37-10 with just 8V2 minutes elapsed in the second half. Overall I think weve im Cosell Continued from page D1 are untrained and out of shape for their bouts. He wants managers and trainers suspended and fined for allowing their fighters to go into the ring unprepared, as so many others obviously are. Torres hopes the threat of fines and suspensions will scare a little sense into money-hungry, greedy managers and trainers. That might help, but the real problem with boxing and with what Torres hopes to accomplish is twofold: no federal regulation, and in this reporters opinion, the sports media itself.

I know, in this day of conservative contempt for the federal government and anything it might be able to accomplish, that Im crying down a well when I call for federal regulation of this sport. But, I ask you, what good does one Jose Tor Raiders Continued from page D1 ularly center Ray Donaldson, opened cracks with the enthusiasm of a toddler ripping into a pile of Christmas presents. They left a proud Raiders front line in disarray, like discarded wrapping paper. The Raiders have the reputation as a gang you wouldn't even want to go into a lighted alley to fight. Donaldson said the Colts ignored oo or The Associated Press Chargers.

proved, Byrd said, but in the last two weeks we did some things we havent done since Week 2 and Week 3. So thats very disheartening. I felt we were further along. I really thought if we got beat, it would be more from a physical mismatch rather than just blowing an assignment. Said Dale: Like Coach Lynn says, there are some things that happened out there that wouldnt be acceptable in high school.

We just played terrible, safety Vencie Glenn concluded. We just got whupped. res do, alone, in New York, when Carl King and Tony Tubbs can go across a state line and fight tomorrow? Torres disagrees with me on the question of federal regulation. He points to the Association of Boxing Commissions, a loosely organized, 28-state consortium of athletic commissions, which is supposed to honor the suspensions of any other member. Torres told me he believes his suspensions will be honored, that even Nevada will honor it, should they all be suspended for a lengthy period.

I think this is naive of Torres. If it were profitable, any and all of these suspended people would be dancing around the ring at Caesars Palace tomorrow night, and the New York State Athletic Commission, and Jose Torres, would be powerless to stop them. Thats the truth in this alleged sport of boxing. Deep down Jose knows this, just like I do. But as I that.

We just proved that reputation doesnt mean anything in this league anymore, he said. We figured if we got them on the ropes, the way things have been going for them, they might crack. Bentley, playing for injured Randy McMillan (bruised ribs in the first quarter) and flu-weakened George Wonsley, romped through every one of the cracks to the tune of a career-high 162 yards on 25 carries. FREMANTLE, Australia (AP) Following extensive testing, all four semifinal challengers for the Americas Cup, including New Zealands controversial fiberglass entry, were declared legal today. The testing included drilling an unspecified number of holes in the New Zealand boat.

Michael Fay, the Auckland investment banker who heads the New Zealand syndicate, said he agreed to the drilling somewhat against my better judgment to end all this lunatic and sometimes irresponsible talk about whether New Zealand was breaking the rules. Id like everyone to agree Lets go sailing, said Fay. Dennis Conner, skipper of the San Diego Yacht Clubs Stars Stripes, had said no one would build a fiberglass 12-meter Cup yacht unless he wanted to cheat. The other challengers are made of aluminum. Robert Hopkins, measurement representative for Stars stripes, said, I feel no aluminum or fiberglass boat is cheating.

He said news of the clearance of the semifinal yachts had been radioed to Conner, who was practic Cup Continued from page D1 And that may be Stars Stripes Achilles Heel. The wind will determine the Cup, said Warren Jones, manager for Alan Bonds Australia IV defender. We can have calm periods in summer, and Stars Stripes and French Kiss have a rather narrow wind range. Blackallers USA is a big question mark though recent changes have made it noticeably faster. He said he spent the earlier races in the two-month eliminations getting the hang of sailing with two rudders.

New Zealand, of course, is the exclamation mark of the races so far, skippered by 25-year-old Chris Dickson who only began racing in 12s two years ago. His only loss was to Conner. New Zealand never raced for the Cup before or even built a 12-me-ter. When it did, the boat was built of fiberglass, not aluminum like said, he tries. And it takes courage to try, especially when one is fighting not only the boxing establishment, but most of the boxing media as well.

Torres can suspend King, but hes helpless against the onslaught of publicity for every bout, no matter how meaningless, or. how ill-matthed the opponents are, provided by the boxing writers and by television, whether network or cable. On the one hand, theyll question the sincerity of Torres, but then theyll write about some schlock fight like its Ali vs. Frazier, or Dempsey vs. Firpo.

Yes, theyll question Torres as they file their stories from ringside, stand smiling with their mikes to feed the public some pointless quote from the fighter. Theyll hype a fight they know isnt good, and then castigate all the people involved after its over. Thats one of the biggest problems The biggest of those carries came on the Colts first possession of the second half. Trailing 17-6, the Colts took the second-half kickoff and faced a third-and-one at their own 30-yard line when Bentley carved his personal niche in the teams season highlight film. On a play appropriately titled 70 Lead.

Bentley shook through one tackle near the line of scrimmage and sped 70 yards for a touchdown. though the point-after attempt was blocked by Jeff Walker, Cleveland led 20-10. Theres no excuse for that, Wyatt said. I just lost my man. It was a mistake on my part, and I have to take full blame for it.

That was a killer. Smith said. That was a lack of concentration, not having your head in the game. Said Dale: Yeah, it was devastating, but at least you know youve got another half to play. Youve got a chance to make up for it.

Except on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, I think that quality about our football team is what gives us great excitement about what lies ahead. While the playoff teams think of what lies ahead on the road to Pasadena and the Super Bowl, the Seahawks can only dream of what might have been. I cant be distressed about it because thats the game, Coach Chuck Knox said. Those things happen unless you are a super, super football team. The Seahawks played as well as anybody in the league the last five weeks after a four-game losing streak which eventually cost them a playoff berth.

Were a pretty good football team right now. We really are, Knox said. Is Denver? If you had 41 points scored against you, wouldnt you be worried about your confidence? Denver Coach Dan Reeves asked. Ive never been more aggravated. But if we have the type of players that I think we are, well bounce back.

Can the Jets bounce back from their horrible slump, during which their offense has been almost nonexistent and their injury-ravaged defense a sieve? I think theres definitely a confidence problem, linebacker Bob Crable said. I think thats evident just by the progression of the games that have happened the last few weeks. I think weve got to go back out and more or less start from square one..