The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 221

SIM SPORTS Sunday October 23 1983 Page 17 SPORTS Some Bum deals left the Oilers nothing but memories Houston slid to the bottom in three years Chiefs can boost record to 500 today against worst Houston High School in San Antonio and guard Brad Budde was a 14-year old watching his Dad on Sunday afternoons The year was 1972 In consecutive victories over New Orleans (20-17) Denver (45-24) and Cleveland (31-7) the Chiefs offense produced points think our offense is perhaps feeling that St Louis was not a fluke that it can in fact score some points and move the ball down the Chiefs Coach John Mackovic said feel it as much in practice just the way our fellows have gone out and practiced No better indication has come than the way the team prepared for the New York Giants The line was a patchwork unit with two tackles out of the lineup See Chiefs pg 19 col 5 going to come in here feeling they can beat today will be the 0-7 Oilers in a 12:01 pm game in the Astrodome At 3-4 the Chiefs exactly world beaters But the mini-boom of points in the last three weeks has been the highest production in the pro-football lifetime of any player on the roster The 96 points in their last three games 38 against both the Cardinals and New York Giants in victories and 20 against the Raiders in a loss is a bonanza nearly unheard of in Kansas City The last time the Chiefs scored 96 points in three games Tom Condon the only double-digit veteran with 10 years in the National Football League was blocking for Boston College Gary Green was playing at Sam By Kent Pulliam sportswritor The last time Coach Chuck Studley faced the Chiefs his defense shut them down Now not sure any defense can thing that disturbs me most about Kansas City Ls I think they are on a roll right said Studley who has become the Houston interim head coach since he faced the Chiefs last year as defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers started rather slowly but in the last three ball-games offensively they have improved dramatically scored 38 points a couple of times and 20 against the Raiders in a losing cause think they are feeling very goad about themselves right now They are seen since the formative years of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who lost an NFL-record 26 straight The Oilers are playing the kind of football that should give the Chiefs little difficulty in bringing their record to 500 this afternoon at the Astrodome (12:01 kickoff) get used to change in this business because people are always coming and going part of the Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile said you look at what has happened here in such a short time and you are still left shaking your head I believe how quickly we In the NFL when a good team dies there oftpn is no exact time of death to carve onto the tombstone The decline of a team more often is a slow torturous series of events not instigated by a single person or decision In Houston though they think they know the exact date the Oilers perished as an NFL contender: Dec 31 1980 That was the day Bum Phillips was fired as head coach As a Houston bumper sticker puts it: "Bum went to the Saints and the Oilers went to hell Phillips took over for Sid Gillman in 1975 as the ninth head coach in 16 years and he had a 55-35 record in five seasons making the playoffs three times Everyone likes to point to fir- ByBobGretz sportswritor Houston It was only three years ago that the Houston Oilers were part of the National Football League playoffs and it just a year previous to that they were a heartbeat and maybe an call away from playing in Super Bowl XIV They were a football team with a folksy head coach one of the most powerful running backs in history a weathered quarterback with a touch and and a defense that always seemed to arrive in ill-humor And all of this begs the question: What became of the Houston Oilers There will be no playoffs this year for the Oilers Heck so far this season there even been a victory not even an exhibition-game for a struggling bunch of young faces many of whom were attending their first fraternity party when the battle of south Texas was Ya They now are playing games like last 34-14 loss when the Minnesota Vikings blocked a punt intercepted two passes recovered five fumbles and had six quarterback sacks Running back Earl Campbell said: wish I could stop this snowball rolling downhill and headed for hell Houston is 0-7 on a 14-game losing streak the likes of which the NFL ing as the point we went belly linebacker Gregg Bingham said it is true that not much good has happened to us since but it started before And indeed although the Oilers have won just eight of 32 games since Phillips was fired the decline started before owner Bud Adams presented him with his pink slip In fact it started with desire to beat one the Pittsburgh Steel-ers Remember in 1978-79 when the Oil kick in the door To do that he acquired some veteran quarterback Ken Stabler tight end Dave Casper and safety Jack Tatum from the then-Oakland Raiders All three had a history of great success against Pittsburgh the Raiders had beaten the Steelers twice in the playoffs the only team to do so To get those players Phillips traded See Oilers pg 19 col 1 ers lost back-to-back AFC championship games to the Steelers in Pittsburgh? In that second game an apparent touchdown pass from Dan Pastorini to Mike Renfro was ruled to have been caught out of bounds by official Donald Orr Replays showed the catch was good and the tying touchdown should have been scored When the Oilers arrived back in Houston after that game 70000 people had jammed the Astrodome to welcome them when Phillips promised to Once again being treated like a King MARK NBA CAREER STATISTICS Selected as an undergraduate in the American Basketball Association draft by the San Antonio Spurs Traded before the season to the Chicago Bulls Olberding knew his role then Set a few picks elbow the opposing power forward corral a few rebounds hit the bars and go to bed Never a bad word to say Go about his job pick up his pay-check and pick up the tab had all kinds of friends said Dave Corzine a teammate with the Spurs and the Bulls was his town and his team He felt he was part of the During his seventh and last year in San Antonio Olberding was at a hotel in Oakland waiting for his team to play the Golden State Warriors Spurs President Angelo Drossos wanted to talk to him Drossos said he liked 12-point and nine-rebound averages Though Olberding had three years left on his contract Drossos wanted to tear it up and give him a raise not until the end of the Drossos said sour Olberding said wanted to keep me happy and be part of the Spurs for my entire career A strange thing happened at the end of the season Olberding was traded to Chicago with Corzine and cash for center Artis Gilmore was Olberding said The Spurs after making the playoffs for seven straight seasons and always finishing as a bridesmaid were convinced they needed a quality center When Corzine signed a large offer sheet with New Jersey San Antonio looked for a trade and Chicago's Gilmore was available They offered Corzine and swingman Gene Banks Chicago said no The Bulls wanted Olberding and Corzine Period San Antonio wanted Gilmore so bad- Olberding has seen good and bad in NBA By Tom Friend sportswritor Want to know what kind of mood Mark Olberding is in Give him a beer Now get the wrong idea The not an alcoholic Not even close But a blue-collar kind of guy You know the type He puts in a long day at the office setting picks throwing elbows and hurling outlet passes He works up a man-sizied sweat And after work he saunters to the local pub and grabs a brew or two But the key is how he drinks that beer With a With a pout Well these days as a member of the Kings Olberding does his chugging while hugging his teammates He loves these guys Slaps them on the back all the time Talk about turnarounds A year ago in Chicago he was the hulk with the incredible sulk was he said But no longer Olberding is born again He has been to a National Basketball Association heaven (San Antonio) and an NBA hell (Chicago) and lived to tell about it He says glad to be in Kansas City that like being back in heaven a total Olberding said Thursday A change I welcome Basketball all of a sudden is fun again How bad was it last year in the Windy City Olberding went into those fashionable Lakeshore bars hoping he had a mistaken identity do you do for a living?" the bartender would ask an athlete Olberding said "What I play pro basketball Midwest uh Yes I guess poor guy the bartender said see Olberding said later He had to drag it out of me riot his fault but Olberding a 6-foot-8 power forward (emphasis on power) has been spoiled He grew up in Melrose Minn and played near home at the University of Minnesota on the same front line with Mychal Thompson and Mark Landsberger Olberding was Big Ten freshman of the year but he turned pro after one year because the Gophers faced a three-year probation He ended up playing for the San Antonio Spur an NBA franchise that has a love affair with its city left my heart in San Olberding said I really was spoiled there in the NBA but in San Antonio so not really in the NBA not shopped around They treated you like kings the only show in town not a team like that in the And Olberding prospered in Alamo-land He was a charter member of the the massive rebounders who dealt out more elbows than assists ly it let Olberding go (the trade) just took the wind out of my Olberding said was sacred anymore It blew my mind It took me six months to regroup First there was a contract squabble Olberding had an incentive clause in his San Antonio contract that called for bonus money for every victory Chicago wouldn honor it Olberding missed almost all of training camp and reported out of shape After 20 games of misery and losses Olberding and Corzine would rush to the locker room after a game sip beer and ponder the situation 20 games we didn't know whether to laugh or Olberding said nobody cared It was a very selfish team and everybody went for stats make the outlet pass and (guard) Reggie Theas would shoot it from 25 on a one-on-three fast break I play like that have to be on a team I have to be with a system not a one-on-one player I do what the coach wants You've got to have role players on a team players that sacrifice their bodies and do what it takes to win had the worse frame of mind I ever had I care I was immature in my thinking but I think a lot of things contributed to that I ready to play ball in 1982 But by the end of the season Olberding had recovered from the shock of the trade He realized at age 27 had some good times He had to accept the bad times too He spoke out after the season saying the whole organization needed a facelift and he wanted to lie the first to be lifted On draft day in June he got his wish when he was traded to the Kings with the rights to Larry Micheaux for the rights to Ennis Whatley Chris McNealy and a 1984 second-round choice The Kings say they wanted him all along to fill a void at power forward And Olberding wanted Kansas City He knows his role is to play defense and rebound to score on occasion and set picks know what he can Kings Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said What can he do? He helps on defense and plays with intelligence the new starting power forward Everyone from Fitzsimmons to rookie guard Dane Suttle raves about him A playoff expert he knows how to win And he likes the Kansas City bars do you do for a the bartenders ask play for the Kansas City Kings and I love Olberding says Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons (right foreground) is depending on seven-year NBA veteran forward Mark Olberding (left to help the Kings with scoring production as well as providing rebounding muscle (file Mark Olberding Pan Am weightlifters get 2 -year suspensions for using banned substances of others who left after the crackdown began caused a major stir in the sports world The US Olympic Committee has ordered mandatory drug tests for American athletes participating in Olympic trials It has said drug-testing crews may show up unannounced at other athletic events besides the Olympic Trials The Soviet official Tass news agency announced Saturday that in keeping with International Olympic Committee regulations competitors in the weightlifting championships will undergo strict drug testing in Moscow Tass said samples will be analyzed by a Moscow laboratory and at IOC-recognized labs in East Germany and Britain being accused of using steroids The others: Alberto Blanco of Cuba Michael Viau and Guy Greavette of Canada Jose Adarmes Paez of Venezuela Enrique Montiel of Nicaragua Jaques Oliger of Chile Jose Ixxsada of Puerto Rico Caballero Dolcey of Colombia and Guillermo Lopez of Argentina The action was revealed at opening of the World and European Weightlifting Championships Michels could not be reached for comment Murray president of the US Weightlifting Federation said from his office in Boca Raton Fla that he had not been notified of any suspensions St Cyr said the use of proscribed drugs was a major issue for the executive board and for the IWF Congress which met Friday in connection with the weightlifting championships executive board discussed it for 5-6 hours St Cyr said had a long agenda but they devoted most of the day to this one issue because this (use of drugs) is getting really serious It gives all sports in a bad He said the two-year suspension was a harsh and that he believed violations of drug-use rules would bring even stiffer punishments in the future from athletic governing bodies The disqualification of athletes from the Caracas games and the withdraws By The Associated Press The 11 weightlifters disqualified from the Pan American Games including American Jeff Michels were suspended from competition for two years by the International Weightlifting Federation officials said Saturday The suspeasion Is effective from Aug 14 1983 the day after the Pan Am Games began through Aug 13 1985 and precludes the 11 from competing at the 1984 Olympics in Las Angeles according to Philip St Cyr the Canadian delegate to the federation's executive board which met last week in Moscow Tamas Ajan secretary of the interna- i tional federation confirmed that the suspension was agaiasl the same 11 athletes who were disqualifed in Caracas Venezuela Sixteen athletes including the 11 weightlifters were cited at the Pan Am Games and stripped of medals and records they earned after tests revealed banned substances in their systems ranging from eye drops to anabolic steroids Michels of Chicago had three gold medals taken from him after laboratory tests indicated abnormal amounts of testosterone a male growth hormone Michels competed in the 116 kilogram class Also disqualified was Daniel Nunez a Cuban who had set a world record in the snatch and lost three gold medals after.