Press-Telegram from Long Beach, California • 71

Lon9 Beach Calif Sun June l77 INDEPENDENT 5-3 Fans unhappy with part-time status tef a If you like Scully you like baseball tuned into the game by fans who are sitting right there watching the action on the field a sight unparalleled in baseball guess the fans bringing their radios really began back when the Dodgers were playing in the Scully recalled team was playing in what was actally a football stadium people wgre so far away from the field it was often difficult to tell what was happening and on top of that the team was bad we began trying to sell the product the game the just as the saying goes that the Indians hated the cowboys from another movie' how a ground ball is "backhanded by that vacuum at third base or how a line drive is by an infielder whether the player be for the Dodgers or the opposing team: and how a ball is to right lifted" to left or into center And he does it all with enthusiasm giving equal credit to members of both teams for good plays despite the fact that it sometimes difficult because: "It is my team It is my life By Kris Sherman Staff Writer Tommy Lasorda may not realize it but the Dodgers have been playing most of their road games minus one of their most popular and effective team members i And the fact that the team is leading the National League West by a comfortable games is of little consolation to the legions of Vin Scully fans who miss his voice on road game radio broadcasts as much as Lasorda might miss Steve bat in the lineup The 49-year-old Scully a veteran of 27 seasons as the Atlanta and four more in San Francisco be gone for 13 days Sure I miss the road trips at times the camaraderie that you feel on the road But I miss the long absences from home For the past several years been a war going on inside me I loved doing the games but I hated the In contrast to the long road trips as a baseball announcer Scully said his commitments with CBS usually consume only weekends can get on a plane on Saturday do a football game on Sunday and be home Sunday do it for the money or the network exposure I made the change only for my family is my team It is my life I like to see the team win like to see Walter and Kay O'Malley win another pennant 1 feel like I'm part of the Dodger family Walter O'Malley has always been a sort of father image to me because I started so young VIN SCULLY Hi there come accustomed to the change Nevertheless there is a lingering sense of loss among many Dodger fans who miss familiar everybody! And a very pleasant good evening (morning or afternoon) to you wherever you may when the team is on the road In a fan survey once conducted to determine the most admired Dodger name was at the top of the list The fact is the terms and Scully" are inexorably tied together in Southern California and the marriage was up accident Scully a ruddy-faced red-haired Irishman who in 1950 at age 22 joined the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcasting team under the tutorship of Red Barber has worked hard at the union "Baseball is such a great he explained with a hint of pride in his association with it a game that most people can relate to because played it in one form or another be it softball or stickball or whatever TRIED as har as 1 could to be as accurate as possible and to present pertinent information to the fans" he said think it's a great tribute to the game that after all the games i have seen and broadcast there still are games there still are plays that give me goosebumps I would rather broadcast a good baseball game than anything else a a pretty-good but what it all boils down to is the product you have to sell" he said been very fortunate to have had an extremely good product both in baseball and in the Dodgers" But Scully probably as much as anyone or anything has helped sell the Dodgers and baseball to Southern Califor nians His campaign began when the team moved west in 1958 and evidence it has been successful can bo viewed during any Dodger home game as Scully 's voice booms out of thou sands of transistor radios brought to the ballpark and there rs evrdence that he is missed by dedicated and disappointed fans come into contact with a lot of fans and the mail has gotten so out of hand that answered in the Scully saidRausing to make a few notations in his scorebook But ocasionally see a fan who will say we missed you when the team was in Atlanta or Chicago or wherever Voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers has limited his baseball duties to the broadcasting of home games and televised road games this year Between games he will describe a variety of sports action on television for CBS his part tinif employer for two years For Scully the decision tennis and golf for CBS agonizing didn't do it for the money or for the network exposure Scully explained during an interview in the Dodger Stadium press box "I made the change only for my family SCULLY and his wife Sandra have six children ranging in age from l7V- to 2 Three are his from a previous marriage this first wife died in 1972) two are his present wife's from a former marriage and the 2M year old is theirs older you get with children" he said with a touch of sadness more you realize how you are destroying a very precious commodity when you kill time I have missed a lot of my lives 1 can still travel for two or three days but I ever again want to be away from home for two weeks at a time instance" he said before the Dodgers-Cardinals game Tuesday team leaves Thursday for four games in Cincinatti four games in he explained just can do that in SCULLY'S arrangement with the Dodgers allows him to broadcast the home games and anchor the telecasts of- the road contests as long as they do not interfere with his CBS commitments One such scafiipL'oapMt this weekend when Scully had to be in Chicago for the Western Open golf tournament But Scully who said he would rather broadcast baseball than any other sport flew into Cincinatti for Friday night's Dodger game against the Reds and Tom Seaver 1 usually do something like Scully explained only a two-hour flight to Cincinatti and I want to see debut as a Red at Riverfront Scully added that missing the road games makes his job more difficult because he has more homework to do on the box scores and newspaper clippings from games he has missed "But Jerry (Doggett) and Ross (Porter) (the other two members of the Dodger broadcasting team) help fill the void and after I've missed some road games I can get them broken down in my head so it's almost as if I'd actually seen While Scully is happy in his new arrangement as a part-time player on the Dodger team I'd like to see the team win I'd like to see Walter and Kay O'Malley win another pennant I feel like a part of the Dodger family Walter O'Malley has always been a sort of father image to me because I started to young My association with the Dodgers has always been a family thing'' AT TIMES Scully admits the so-called cough button that allow's an announcer to say-something that will not be heard over the air comes in handy as a release It doesn't happen he said there are times during an important game w'hen I might hit the button after a play and say to myself Gee I wish that had been a But no matter how hard Scully may try to hide his pleasure when a Dodger hitter knocks one over the fence an unmistakable note of enthusiasm as he describes the play And there's a high drive into deep right field back goes Griffey away back to the wall gone1 And it is that enthusiasm as much as anything else that Dodger fans have come to love and this season dearly miss on those long road trips opposing players And we tried to put some human elements in our broadcasts I don't like numbers I love words and I would much rather tell one thumbnail sketch about a ball player about his roots rather than RBIs batting averages and other statistics THE RESULTANT anecdotes which the announcer sprinkles throughout his broad casts about as often as the Dodgers get on base have become a Vin Scully trademark It is those anecdotes combined with the picturesque phrases Scully turns more often than the team turns double plays and the restrained enthusiasm with which he describes the action that has prompted more than one fan to call him the best broadcaster in baseball From Scully you are likely to hear how a pitcher got his dart in baseball from a father who spent his lunch hour playing catch with his son: how a player got his nickname: that it's the birthday of a player coach or umpire how the Dodger stadium crowd hates relief pitcher Rawley Eastwick for merly with the Reds and now with the Cardinals almost any player from another team BILL SHl'MARD a Dodger public relations spokesman said while there has not been "a great deal of negative reaction (to part-time status) the fans have let us know they're disappointed" Shumard added though that fan reaction to Ross Porter who along with Jerry Dogget fills the gap -when Scully is not at the mike "has been very-positive And Scully himself who said Porter "is doing a fine believes the fans will accept the new face of the Dodger broadcasting team once be bhi TUCKER Planners say it cost the taxpayers Will LA land Olympics? James Harris trade a slice of soap opera i of an extavaganza which planners say cost the taxpayers Californians are somewhat leery of Olympics since the Winter Games at Squaw Valley in 1980 resulted in huge losses and the 1970 Summer Games at Montreal will be paid for by the citizenry of Canada for the next decade or more think it will cost anything" declares John Argue who is president of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games He means the revenue from a Los Angeles event will more than offset the losses just as it did in 1932 when the Olympiad in Los Angeles wound up $15 in the black ink The main arena would be the same as in the Coliseum where such football teams as the By Jack Stevenson issneiated Press In this era when cities of the world fear billion dollar losses in staging Olympic Games Los Angeles bids for the 1984 international sports spectacular with expectations of at least breaking even Reports from the latest sessions of the International Olympic Com mittee indicate this California city ranks as the favorite to be awarded the Games for the summer seven years hence First Los Angeles must gain the nod of the Oluympic group over the bids of other cities in this nation Then it must gain international approval next May at Athens Greece Still plans already are being made for the Los Angeles staging Rams UCLA and Southern California play their home games Most of the venues for the coin petition already are in existence and a matter of choosing which will be utilized for what Argue says there has been no decision yet solving the problem of an Olympic Village for the housing of the athletes but adds can build a village for two weeks tear it down and throw it away So you use something you already have or build something that has lasting utility and rent it a month for Olympic Games use "We have alternative plans but the most probable thing that will happen is that a private investor will build an Olympic Village with some government money in terms of helping the financing Then they Tracy draws critical raves will lease it to the Organizing Committee for the period of a month at a very handsome rental At the end of the games they will do their thing with their private moderate prieed housing re not going to use the housing situations at Munich or Montreal as guides They had problems with crowding and it doesn't appear they had the lasting utility that we want to see They were built more for Olympic Villages than for permanent Argue estimated that capital expenses for Los Angeles would be $33 5 million although some other estimates have gone as high as $72 million Operating expenses were pegged at $150 million I say if Montreal took in $339 million we sure as heck can take in $200 million to take care that kind of expenditure And we ll take in more than Argue de dared Montreal estimates on what it would take in were pretty accurate They estimated they would take in dtound $350 mtllion and actually took in $359 million THEIR operating expenses were about what they thought they would be namely $150 million "So why the bad problem1 Be cause of capital expenditures They spent a billion 68 million Of that they spent $800 million on their stadium Take Los Angeles you can scratch million right way" The planners figure to use the Coliseum LA Sports Arena Convention Center Pauley Pavilion the Forum the Rose Bowl Griffith Park Cal State Los Angeles Rancho Cienega Whittier Narrows Elysian Park the Long Beach Arena Shnne Auditorium and the Marina del Rev AU are existing facilities and there are several alternates if some should not be available Seating capacities will be greater than at MMmL He says to keep in mind the committee talking of 1964 but there already are tentative plans to price tickets from S10 to C5 depending on the events Figuring that our revenues run to $74 million on tickets Then there wdl be revenue from teievtskm concessions franchises a ad sponsorships "the 45-year-okl attorney points out As you know the most soap-operaish incident to unfold in our town in quite some time was the trading of James Harris by the Los Angeles Rams to the San Diego Chargers Only the incumbent Super Bowl quarterback is immune from being supported by one faction and despised by another Therefore when Harris was unloaded by the Rams the factions were heard from What the hell are they doing1" demanded one "What the hell took them so long1" asked the other The significant thing is however that Harris was held in low regard by faction number three This is ownership and management which in an ordinary area of society would be considered to be something like the third sex Professional football ownership is a consumed collection of creatures embarked on an incredible crusade It is hardly likely there is a more confounding journey than the one from here to the Super Bowl and time spent on it does things to the character of wen THE MOST DRAMATIC thing that happens to them is that they become impatient to a point of frenzy When the record of James Harris was examined in the throne room of the Rams it was noted only that he had not delivered a Super Bowl The reasons were neither here nor there The Ram people are convinced Joe Na-math is the answer They think they know Harris will never get it done Therefore it is the uncluttered view from here that Harris is better off in San Diego The Chargers are not pursuing a Super Bowl They go forth each autumn in hopes oi rising to mediocrity and this is a climate in which a quarterback'can sometimes survive From a personality standpoint it is also likely Harris will be more comfortable in San Diego James is a man who guards his life from outside influences and this caused him some anguish with the press of Southern California HARRIS AND HIS sufferers often ex pressed dismay that the sporting authors did not present his side of the story If this was cfgStlh party true however the foremost reason was that James would not tell it An example of the defensive manner he adopted regarding his private life was the fact he continually refused to divulge how he came by the nickname of Harris will find the San Die literary corps to be more lenient in their demands for information This has to do with the clientele served by the San Diego writers The residents of the town dd not become excited over such things and may get worked up only in the event somebody removed the Pacific Ocean San Diego is a remarkable study in athletic apathy It is the graveyard of professional sports franchises and the next guy to move a team into San Diego will do so only in the interests of setting a new record AT ANY RATE James Harris has to be in a happier position regardless of the manner in which events transpire In fact a romance could blossom inasmuch as the ownership of the Chargers rejoices "We now have a team" says Barron Hilton who speaks for 30 per cent of the Charger stock We have Johnny Rogers and Joe Washington and now a top quarterback Look out' See1 This is bow a proprietor sounds when he is happy about his quarterback When owners are unhappy they look around for a buyer This time James Harris was sent to a peaceful place and he may one day appreciate San Diego No Apple Valley mind you but pro football will never know a Shangri La Ian Brancs of Daily Express called her Marvel" and said hits the double-fisted on the backhand and ferociously on the like the champion she will surely be in the 1980s" Laurie Pignon of the Daily Mail had his story headlined "Tomorrow Girl reporting: "Tracy Austin gave tennis a glimpse into Tracy shared block-letter headlines with the announce ment that tlie Duchess of Kent was expecting another child at age 44 "Ta-Ta Tracy But You'll Be said one 72-point streamer "A Shirley Temple in tennis shoes" added a caption Lance Tingas of the Daily Telegraph wrote: rigour of Miss Austin's game was awesome in view of the slight body from which it came One can only assume that in the normal course of events she is likely to he a champion because already she is phenomenal David Irvine of the Manchester Guardian said the crowd convinced that as surely as Wimbledon is 100 years old they had seen a future women champion And from the pen of the Times' Geoffrey Green who referred to Chris Evert as the spider who frightened little Miss Muffet away" came this comment "Unless one is widely wrong this little Miss Muffett with her coltish legs her Hair bunched and her teeth in braces has the future in her hands her time will come it may not he too far distant" By Will Orimsiey Hm kmW Press WIMBLEDON England (API "Alice in Wonderland "Super Miss Marvel British journalists pulled out all literary stops Saturday in singing the praises of tennis's 14-year-old wonder child who became the youngest ever to play in the 100-year-old Wimbledon championships Attired in a too-big white dress with a blue bow tied the back wee Tracy Austin of Rolling Hills Calif bowed 6-1 6-1 to defending champion Chris Evert on center court Friday The fragile-looking 90-pound twig of a giri lost the match but won the centenary Wimbledon It's been years since anyone created a greater sensation or a stronger ovation Everybody loved her but none more than the purple phrase makers of the English press 1 Alice in Wonderland came to the centre court yesterday at centenarjrWimbledon" wrote Peter Wilson of the Daily Mirror "It was as though one of the original Tenniel illustrations to Alice had stepped out of its frame mev AUSTIN Little Mbs Marvel.