The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 231

Sunday November 27 1883 Page 24 SPORTS Ugly overtones at core of next fight THE a dais act I would like to say thank you to all of the St parents and alumni who supported the Trojans from game one right down to the final game of the season against And thanks to the Celtics truly one of the finest football programs in the state for showing such good sportsmanship Paul Monteil and the Celtics are a class act Rick Link Independence Sick of the Cowboys I want everyone to know how heartily sick I am of hearing about the so-called Team" the Dallas Cowboys tired of hearing about the perfect coach Tom Landry (Is his face frozen?) tired of seeing them on television every Sunday But most of all Match with South African may be racially explosive By Jonathan Rand sporlswntef Las Vegas If Larry Holmes fights again fight Gerrie Coetzee in a heavyweight title bout Holmes the World Boxing Council champion doesn't seem worried about taking on Coetzee the World Boxing Association champion Apparently he respects Coetzee no more than he does Marvis Fra zier who failed by 3 seconds to last one round Friday night against Holmes Coetzee last long every time he hits somebody his hand falls Holmes said referring to the 15 operations on Coetzee right hand which has been broken seven times Holmes generally recognized as the top heavyweight seems far more certain he can handle Coetzee than the political and racial pressures that are certain to accompany the fight Holmes is a black American Coetzee a white native of South Africa A black white matchup for the heavyweight title inevitably brings out more bigotry than any other sports event in the world and a Holmes -Coetzee fight probably would bring it out even more than usual South policy of apartheid a racial caste system has made that country an outcast in the eyes of much of the world Holmes understands that a fight against Coetzee particularly in South Africa would be viewed by some as lending credibility to apartheid Holmes is acutely aware of the implications of being heavyweight champion and need a state department briefing to tell him the implications of fighting Coetzee in South Africa where the earning power probably would be maximized When in an Atlantic City NJ casino recently Holmes refused to meet and be photographed with Coetzee who had asked for an introduction Coetzee who has said he advocate apartheid and lives in Huntington Beach Calif was offended Holmes however envisioned letters telegrams and phone calls from angry people who would have equated his posing for the picture with being insensitive to apartheid 'They been all over Holmes said By fighting Coetzee in South Africa Holmes would face a damned if -he-does situation The reaction he has received to the prospects of a fight with Coetzee confirm that been getting a lot of negative response and positive Holmes said He said a letter from someone claiming to represent a black underground group in South Africa asked him not to fight there because be giving the government credibility Holmes said another letter told him he would be treated like a God and attract a crowd of 100000 The Congress of Racial Equality has encouraged Tony Dorsett of America 's Team Larry Holmes had no trouble handling Marvis Frazier but he might have difficulty with the circumstances surrounding a fight with Gerrie Coetzee Associated Press datory defense have no fights on the Holmes said though committed to fight Page going to take a vacation with my wife I probably going to come back and do some exhibitions and wait and see what offers they want to bring me to fight Coetzee fight again unless they pay the $100 million With all the white folks around the world who want to see this nigger get his tail whipped they probably What should Holmes do? Take the money and run? Turn down Coetzee and avoid Take the fight only if held outside South Africa Holmes will have to make the decision based on his own sense of decency which once you get past the bombast is as convincing as his fists were Friday night The man who twice asked the referee to stop Frazier from taking a beating want to hurt anybody outside the ring either Holmes to fight Coetzee anywhere citing the symbolic and emotional importance that American blacks traditionally have attached to the heavyweight championship Holmes knows this predicament be solved with his fists kids have to go to he said 15-year -old daughter got in a fight the other day because somebody said Your dad going to happen with Holmes probably will find out because co-promoters Don King and Cedric Kushner seem determined to promote a Holmes-Coetzee fight in the spring Kushner listened to Holmes ask for a $100 million purse Saturday morning and said: has a marvelous sense of humor $100 million is asinine Asking $10 million is asinine Holmes owes the WBC a mandatory defense against top-ranked contender Greg Page but gave no indication he plans to fight him A champion has little bargaining power with a promoter for a man tired of hearing biased announcers and seeing obviously near-sighted referees It seems to me that Dallas usually plays at home (wearing of course their favorite white jerseys) and seems to have the easiest schedule Last Sunday Pete Axthelm on "NFL said anyone who was a Cowboys hater must be a communist I know any communists but of all the people 1 do know only two are fans Mary Haworth Ottawa Norbome deserves coverage Picture this: a nearby high-school football team with the best Class 1A record in the state of Missouri It wins its semifinal playoff game on Saturday and the Sunday Star on page 22 permits l'h inches of column space for coverage an outrage Shame on the Star Good luck to the Nor borne Pirates at the Show-Me Bowl in St Louis James A Scanlon Grandview NAIA favors Jewel Why is the NAIA such good friends with William Jewell Why did Jewell get to play at home last weekend while Baker University which was much higher ranked had to travel to Tacoma Wash for its game with Pacific Nearly the same thing happened two years ago when the playoff game between Baker and Jewell was played in Liberty even though Baker was higher ranked going into the game If the NAIA believes in fairness then it should start being fair to all members of the organization Mike Ward Kearney Mo Bowl selections ridiculous New TV station committed to Big Eight basketball ballgame we are in That KEKR could even acquire the rights to broadcast Big Eight games is something of a coup Cless said it is the first step in providing Channel 62 an identity "When 1 got on board the Big Eight package was still available Cless said think it will be a terrific thing for us Our proximity to the Big Eight schools is very good and 1 think there is a real affinity for Big Eight basketball in this area own perspective of it is that because of cable television American sports viewers are getting a better appreciation of college basketball every year Before you could only watch the teams in your area But with cable every night there are games from the East Coast West Coast ACC that are being brought into your home Ratings on the NCAA basketball tournament flames have reached art all-time even the irst-round games that not so long ago were not that popular why Botwinik understand the reluctance of Kansas City stations to carry the entire package of Big Eight games got one of the top teams in the nation right there in your back Botwinik said everything I hear Kansas is going to be one of the better teams in the country and certainly next year with the recruits that they have maybe even a top five team But no one (else) was really interested My guess is talk a year from now and all probably be beating down my door But not going to worry about that now very happy with the station we have" to establish an Cless said are looking for event kind of programming sports and entertainment Another thing we have is the Liberty Bowl game Boston College and Notre Dame on the 29th 5 KEKR is one of a number of stations being built from scratch by Media Central Inc a Chattanooga Tenn company The other stations are located in Columbus Ga Canton Ohio and Cape Girardeau Mo The target date to go on the air in Kansas City is Dec 1 may depend on the weather a little bit" Cless said have all the equipment in Kansas City The tower is up and some of the equipment is up But we still have to get some things on the tower and then get everything all hooked up But none of that seems to concern Botwinik Once they are on the air Botwinik said people will find the station and the signal will be good have a track Botwinik said our research finds that if someone wants to see something they are not tied to any one station They are tied to the event Nowadays new stations have a good signal so that be a problem The signal will be as strong as that emitted by Channel 41 The only disadvantage facing KEKR at this point is that it is not available to some cable systems in the six -state Big Eight area so its signal won get to the outer region The FCC regulations have a rule that cable companies within a 35-mile radius (of the station) have to carry our signal so it will be on the local cable hookups" Clesssaid it hurt in getting us on others The more circulation we have the better By Kent Pulliam spurtwrito So you want to check out this new television station that is going to carry Big Eight basketball games Well you not just yet But if a basketball fan you might thank your lucky stars that KEKR TV Channel 62 is going on the air around the first of December because no other station in the Kansas City area was interested in carrying 33 Big Eight basketball games this season That was the biggest reason we went with the said Fred Botwinik president of Katz Sports the company that bought and holds (for three years) the television rights to Big Eight basketball games Katz then sold the rights to 33 games for this season to KEKR TV Channel 62 Most of the stations in Kansas City were not that interested in carrying all the games Most want the mid-week games "We are trying to bring Big Eight basketball into Kansas City and if a station can only clear space for 18 games then we are not brihging Big Eight basketball We are only bringing a portion of Big Eight basketball to the area But Gene Cless program director of KEKR had no problem with clearing the time and in fact added six additional University of Missouri games to the package the station is offering bringing the number of games involving Big Eight teams the station is carrying to 39 are an independent station and in getting on the air every station tries to do something different sports Coaches should treat athletes with fairness concern It is ridiculous that football bowl committees are allowed to make premature selections before the regular season has been completed and then stick with the arrangements even though a team has just lost its last game In this case Missouri lost to a less-intriguing team the Kansas Jayhawks It should have been so embarrassing to the Tigers that they probably wished they could turn down the invitation If they made such a poor showing against the Jayhawks and Frank Seurer what right have they playing Brigham Young in the Holiday Bowl? Birgham quarterback Steve Young is one of the best passing quarterbacks in the nation There are other cases like simply because the bowl committees are playing cutthroat trying to get the better team for their respective bowls Floyd Troutner Edgerton Kan Thanks for coverage The Silver Blades Figure Skating Club of Greater Kansas City host of the United States Figure Skating Association's 1964 Southwestern Regional Figure Skating Championships is most appreciative of the complete and total coverage given the event by the Kansas City Times and Star sports department The sports department did not just report the event but became involved in the competition with stories on skaters judges and coaches They were there when a top-seeded skater suddenly became ill and had to withdraw from the competition and they were there when a Grandview boy took an exciting first place on his own ice We are very grateful for your interest and proud of the support given to figure skating and this event Larry Schilb Silver Blades Figure Skating Club Overland Parke The View appears each Sunday in The Kansas City Star Contributions which must be signed and accompanied by the address and phone number should be mailed to: The View The Kansas City Star Sports desk 1729 Grand Ave Kansas City Mo 64108 Phone numbers are used only for verification Please keep letters short letters may be condensed to meet space requirements or edited for clarity Pat Mclnally 30 is the punter for the Cincinnati Bengals Mclnally a graduate of Harvard made All-Pro in 1961 Address your questions to: Pat Mclnally Kansas City Star Sports Department 1729 Grand Ave Kansas City Mo 64106 rn lnvia Word came from Olympic race By Pete Enich special to The Star For the first 13 Olympiads the competition consisted of a single race of 200 yards about the length of the stadium The race Was called the from which our word was derived That means the total time for the first 52 years of the Olympics was about 1196 seconds or 3986 minutes based on 23 seconds a race has never been any violence in the National Hockey League Campbell president of the NHL in 1974 after studying a government-sponsored report called Inquiry into Violence in Amateur which accused the NHL of setting a bad example for Canadian youngsters The sport of enjoys moderate popularity in Wales Here are the rules Two opponents stand face to face grasping each other by the shoulders At the starting signal they begin kicking each other in the shins with shoes reinforced with metal toeplates The first to let go of the shoulders is declared the loser West Claudia Kohde at 6 feet 2 inches is the tallest player in women's professional tennis A pole vaulter when he lands may absorb up to 20000 pounds of pressure per square inch on the joints of his thigh bones Pete Enich is one of the top trivia experts in the Midwest By Pat Mclnally special to The Star QUESTION: Do you think it's fair or right that a new coach comes to a school and plays underclassmen instead of seniors in order to build for the future This is happening to my son and I don 't like it one bit DB Massachusetts ANSWER: I know exactly what you and your son are going through My senior year in high school I had new coaches in both football and basketball Although my playing time directly affected several of my classmates lost their positions to juniors and sophomores when they have I remember how bitter some of them became and many simply quit Their parents some of whom were very active in the booster club stopped going to the meetings and boycotted the games It was sad that these were the same people that had pushed so hard to get a to coach our high school They just counted on their children being sacrificed for the future good of the program Since receiving this letter spoken with a number of coaches and asked them how they had handled similar circumstances All of them were a little uneasy and obviously found this a very difficult topic to deal with They all however stood firm in their belief that the best players should be on the field regardless of their class Some did add though that this might change if the season weren't a winning one At that point the coach might start slipping in underclasmen in dace of seniors for experience Other coaches felt it was important to win in the first and played seniors throughout the year in of gaining some extra victories I think a job besides just keeping it is to teach and select fairly the best players and put them on the field To turn their backs on seniors simply to ensure better records for themselves in future years is irresponsible and unfair Think about the kids who toiled on junior varsity and ran the other team's plays for two years working and waiting for their chance to play varsity their senior year Should all their hard work and dreams just go down the drain because a new coach comes into town? I think so I ve thought about this a lot and I guess it could be argued that this happens in the business world all the time A new boss comes in fires some people both fairly and unfairly and tries to build for the future good of the company "But I honestly believe this is applicable to high-school sports At this level the athletes should be treated with fairness and concern Part of coaching is teaching respect for authority and values such as honesty and trust These are destroyed when a coach plays underclassmen for the long-range good of the program I say let the seniors who deserve to play play and enjoy what might be their last season of competition Even if it does cost the coach a win or two down the road the players will have been treated fairly That should be the greatest concern anyway LISTS Vi TV OaW Tropfc ka baa 1946 to tV wni' top foBty (ootWl atartor Itoraian TW icViiU haw fritmni tto Boto Oattond Tropfc wtoawr: SCHOOL WINNERS 4 4 Tru Vir Itotor 3 Okie Stole 3 LAST WINNER Dart Kitoiaptaa IW Gag Rafccrte 1978 177 17 JohaNfeU 1973.