Belvidere Daily Republican from Belvidere, Illinois • Page 5

1 r- Belvldere Daily Republican, Oct. 3. 1372- (Or JOHN SMITH Mick This is tale of two linebacker One plays for the Detroit Lions under the name of Mike Lucci. The other, often called 'Super Crunch', plays for the Chicago Bean under the heading of Dick "The book? The book?" the words fumbled out of his mouth. "What are you guys trying to do? You guys did witch the game didn't you? Didn't you watch the game? HelL the book didn't I I 61 beat us.

did." Do you think that your calling Lucci a jerk and Flanagan a crybaby might have incensed them into giving an extra effort in playing against you? "I don't know," were the words of wisdom uttered Incoherently. He began to put his clothes on rapidly now. "I have nothing to say. Landry scored the points and that's it. You guys created all this crap so why don't you just go off and write what you want I know you guys need something to fill your columns so why don't you go off and make up something?" Speaking On Sports V.Y Butkus.

Both men are very disagreeable, hate reporters and have a penchant for hurling barbs at each other. Take, for example, a segment of Dick Butkus' new book entitled 'Stop In the book Bukus has found it necessary to label the Lions and linebacker Luddi and center Ed Flanagan "nothing but a bunch of Jerks and crybabies." Following Sunday's game, one which the Lions mauled the Bears to the tune of 38-24, another reporter and I thought we would have a little fun with Butkus' comments. We approached both Lucci and Flanagan in the Lions' locker room. "Great game Ed," we said going up to Flanagan. "Say, did Butkus' book and his comments that you guys were a bunch of jerks have any bearing on the game?" "Not really," Flanagan said at his diplomatic best.

"Oh, we joked a lot about it this week but it didn't bother us that much. We don't have to read anything to get fired up to play the Bears." Was it satisfying to throw the key block on Butkus that enabled quarterback Greg Landry to score the final TD of the game? "Yeah. It felt damn good to throw that block," he replied. "But he is a great linebacker, no doubt about it. I'm not going to take anything away from him.

I'm just glad that I made his All-World Jerk Team." What happened on the block? "It wasn't a tough block to make but it was a satisfying block," Flanagan said again diplomatically. Butkus called you a crybaby in his book. Wasjthefe any exchanges out there today? "Naw, it was a pretty quiet afternoon. He played a nice game. There was no swearing or yellrngSikehe used to do.

When (George) Seals was in there last year the whole game was one another great linebacker in, the NFC. "Only a jerk would write like that," was Lucci's reaction to 'Stop "Butkus should just keep his mouth shut and play football." JDid the book have anything to do with your performance? Did it key you up for the game and make you want to prove that you weren't a 'jerky' linebacker? "Listen you guys. .1 don't have to prove myself to you or anyone else," Lucci snapped. "Listen, I've been playing 11 years now and A reporter bumped into him and Butkus turned sharply and thrust a finger in the reporters' face and screamed: "Back off." A reporter from Detroit, not knowing that Butkus can hurl reporters over benches and into lockers when angered, tried to get cute and said: "You're going to stand there and tell me that you and Lucci are great friends? Is that right, Dickie? Butkus gave a menacing smile and forced a laugh, "That's right. We're great friends." "Would you take him out to dinner, Dickie?" the reporter pushed his luck again.

The high-stepper I don have to prove myself to anyone. I get steamed up just knowing that we're playing the Bears." The 'jerk' tab administered by Butkus had nothing to do with the way you played out there? "No. .1 just considered the source," Lucci fired back and added, "Why don't you leave. If you stay any longer you'll be able to write a book." So we left and scrambled across the field to the Bears' locker room to talk to Butkus. This proved to be a little tougher than expected.

On entering the room we discovered that Butkus was nowhere in sight. His defensive cohort Doug Buff one pointed to the shower room. This was at 4: 10. at 4:30 Butkus walked out of the shower, saw a large group of reporters huddled around his locker and decided to shave. It took him 15 minutes to cut the stubble from his chin and finally he resigned himself to be interviewed.

He pushed three reporters out of his way and slowly started to put his clothes on. Did the book have any bearing on the game? When Dick Butkus isn't missing tackles on the likes of Greg Landry he turns into a running terror on fourth-down-and-long situations as shown here. Butkus took the snap, cut up the middle and rambled 28 yards before being halted. It did no good as the Lions still won, 38-24. BDR Photo Hetland "That's right," bellowed the man known as 'Super Crunch.

"I'll take him to my place for dinner." "What are you going to feed him, Dickie?" replied the reporter, as he watched as Butkus made a fist and promptly retreated out of the locker room. Things quieted down now, Butkus was finished dressing and he was asked about his decent performances of two unassisted tackles and 13 assists. "Whenever I lose I don't think I did anything good," was all he would say and he pushed his way past us. Great guy that Dick Butkus. He makes a reporter's job uncomfortable.

He makes you want to duck everytime you ask him a question. He makes you want to study his language called "incoherent mumbling." There's easier things in life to do than interviewing him. like petting a piranha or kissing a cobra. Junior varsity, frosh gridders topple -Hawks swearing and yelling match but not so today. What about the toss of the coin? You guys didn't shake hands? "We just didn't shake hands.

That's all there was to it." And then there was Mike Lucci, super-jerk in the eyes of Butkus, and a man who last year put Chicago on notice that there was DAN MANNING Rip Boys dub, Ken Rock On the Sports Scene ff Junior Tacklers win ROCKFORD Belvidere's Junior Tackle lightweights kept their record unblemished last weekend when they rallied in the final seconds of the fourth quarter to dump Rockford Boys Club, 20-18. The victory pushed their season record to 3-0-1 with only three defensive unit, added a five-yard tally and again added the point after to give the Bucs a 16-0 lead before the half. Belvidere took an 8-0 lead in the first quarter on a Ladewig TD run and came back with two more scores, both by Ladewig, in the second stanza to take a comfortable 24-8 lead. The third quarter found Grover hitting the scoring column on a touchdown run and the Bucs' defensive unit added a safety to make it 34-8. Mike Fish made it 40-8 early in the fourth quarter when he intercepted a pass and turned it into another touchdown.

Ken Rock came back with two TD's in the final eight minutes of the game but it proved to be too little and too late. Quarterback Greg Voiles also connected on five of seven passes in the contest for an additional 26 yards. pass to him that covered 60 yards down to the Rockford five-yard, line. With seven seconds remaining, Bob Woolsey cut off-tackle for the touchdown and Nelson carried four tacklers on his back into the endzone for the two-point conversion for the Belvidere victory. The heavyweight comest was another Belvidere runaway as Michael Grover.

of Capron again led the way with one TD, two conversions and his fourth-consecutive 100-plus rushing outing in as many games with 189 yards. The big scorer for the day was Mike Ladewig who rambled into the endzone on three different occasions, added one conversion and ripped off 140 yards rushing. With just seconds remaining in the half, Rockford used a reverse that covered 70-yards and the score to put them up, 18-12. Neither team could move the ball in the second half and Belvidere found themselves in an almost impossible situation to win with Rockford having possession of the ball at their own 35 with a fourth-and-one and only 39 seconds remaining in the game. Fate stepped in on the try for the first down when Mark Nelson nailed the runner and the Buccos took over with 30 seconds to go.

On the Bucs first play from scrimmage, Wallace found Carpenter all alone on the sidelines and fired a perfect An 'official' mistake In 1954 Jim Phelan led his Techusma Indians to a lopsided 210-0 win over the Wonder Point King Pins and thus recorded the most lopsided victory in football history. True or False? False. The most lopsided football game in the history of football was a game between Georgia Tech and Cumberland in 1916. George Allen was the quarterback for the Cumberland team and after he had suffered through a game of outlandish mistakes he fumbled once more in the fourth quarter. He shouted to a nearby teammate: "Pick it up." "Pick it up, heck! shouted back the teammate.

"I didn't drop it." And his team went on to suffer a 220-0 defeat to the Tech team on a fall day at Georgia Tech field. Herman Masin told the fore story. The story of the most one-sided game in football history. Jefferson's Junior Holliman, who also started on Friday night with the varsity, put the J-Hawks on the board in the third quarter with a 60-yard touchdown run but the Bucs came right back with a 30-yard tally by Chuck Pete. Pete also added the conversion to give the Buccos' a 24-8 victory.

ROCKFORD Belvidere's junior varsity football squad took a lesson from their varsity counterparts last weekend when they pounded Jefferson, 24-8. Following a 20-6 loss last week at the hands of Harlem, the Bucs' offensive unit came to life and only minor infractions kept them from keeping the scorekeeper any busier. Jim Lamont started things rolling for Belvidere when he rambled around end for a 45-yard touchdown early in the game. Bob White added the conversion and the Bucs led, 8-0. White, who also topped the Meanwhile, Belvidere's freshman began to hit a type of consistency they showed last year as they ripped Jefferson by a 20-0 margin.

Newspapers deliver massive coverage of ALL income brackets on an average weekday One might think that a game of this sort definitely had something to do with poor officiating. In those days officials were often wrestled out of the stands and the truth might be that the game was a little one-sided. One-sided football games weren't necessarily a facet of that era. In the Oakland-Green Bay game earlier this year it was apparent that at least one official blew a call concerning the record touchdown run of 104 yards by Jack Tatum on the recovered "fumble" in the Raiders end zone. Actually a close interpretation of the rules book reveals that the "fumble" wasn't a fumble at all.

Rather, it was a muff, (IHSA 1972 rule book, same as the pro rule, rule 2 section 10; article 2 a muff is the touching of a loose ball by a player in a unsuccessful attempt to secure possession.) something, according to the rules, that cannot be picked up and forewarded by the opposing team. Green Bay was on the Oakland 8 yard line at the origin of the play and most probably would have scored during that series of downs. As it turned out, Oakland scored on the play (a total difference of 14 points) and the Raiders ended up winning the game by 6 points. As of this time the officials have been backed in their call of the "fumble" True, it was a judgment call, but instant replay sure put a lot of doubt in the minds of sports fans across the country. Kinda reminds me of the famous 'five play series of downs' a few years ago in the game between the Bears and the Los Angeles Rams.

The officials involved in that call were, later in the year relieved of their duties for the remainder of the season. more games remaining in regular season play. Belvidere's heavyweight squad also hit the winning column following an 8-6 setback last week as they annihilated Ken Rock by a 40-20 margin. The heavyweights are now 3-1 for the year. In the lightweight contest, Boys Club took the opening kickoff and marched 85 yards in 10 plays for a 6-0 lead.

Belvidere came right back with an 80-yard drive that found Allen Wallace getting the TD on a 1-yard plunge. Rockford made it 12-6 on their next series of plays on a 43-yard touchdown run around end but Wallace tied it up again when he connected with a pop-pass over the middle to Mike Carpenter that covered 60-yards and the TD. Giants blast Eagles PHILADELPHIA (AP) New York Giants Quarterback Norm Snead, with a big assist from running back Ron Johnson, made the Philadelphia Eagles and their owner, Leonard Tose, eat humble pie Monday night. Snead rubbed it in by doing his thing on national television ABC. His thing was 12 of 19 pass completions for 164 yards and three touchdowns.

He led the Giants to a 27-12 victory over the winless Eagles. Johnson, the 205-pound running back who sat out most of last season with an injured knee, caught all three of Snead's TD passes, and ran the ball 36 times for 128 yards and the fourth touchdown. It was the first victory for New York in three games. Tose, the wealthy trucking firm owner, put his foot in his mouth early last week, when in defense of head coach Khayat, he "guaranteed" the Eagles would beat the Giants. Tose has little or no respect for Snead as a quarterback.

He led the move to trade Snead from the Eagles to the Minnesota Vikings after the 1970 season. Under $3,000 59 1 70 79 1 I 88 $10,000 over I 89 It's not an easy chore becoming a registered official in a given sport. Even on the local level you have to be registered with the State High Association, an affiliate of the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations, and the road to success only goes up hill from there. If it ever entered your mind to become a referee of a given sport let this be a lesson to you. Then again, let this be a lesson also.

A football official who makes it tdlhe pro level is pretty well rewarded for his life-of misery. A "rookie" pro football official makes, in addition to all the expenses involved in getting to the game, lodging and meals, 250 dollars a game. You say, rookie? That's right. And a seasoned veteran. Well, he's good for the expense total, plus 600 dollars a game.

Six hundred dollars. A nice piece of candy for a three hour job. That's almost enough to gain the interest of a fledgling sports writer Source: Opinion Research Corporation Btlvidtrt 401 Whitney Blvd..