Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 57

'76 1-D here Are 9 if? DETROIT FREE PRES 09 the Cloivns In the Wi Commentary 5 el BY DICK YOUNG New York News MUNICH I must be losing my mind, I mean, this can't all be happening, can it? Not seriously. It must be some enormous put-on. It's a vaudeville act, a circus, the Comedie Ali. Bring on the clowns. Where are the clowns? For a long moment Monday night, they were in the prize ring at Olympiahalle, disguised as the heavyweight champion of the entire world and his straight man.

Here's what you saw if you were watching on NBC on the night of May 24, Monday night. Here's what I saw, simultaneously, watching at ringside in the wee morning of May 25, Tuesday, shortly before 4 a.m., in Munich, Germany: Ali and Richard Dunn have fallen into a half-clinch on the ropes just above me. Suddenly, Dunn's right arm is whipping behind his back, crossing over to the other side, creeping around the corner and under his raised left to punch Ali, bent over, in the face. I think the last time I saw that was with Charlie Chaplin. Then, it was All's turn.

He hit Richard Dunn on the chin. Richard did a Leon Errol of a half-lap around the ring, pitched forward on his knees, and started bouncing up and down. Every time he'd get up, Ali would knock him down. And while the referee was counting, Ali was standing a few steps off to the side, whipping his right arm in huge windmill circles, faster and "Do you know that one-third cf all the dog food and cat food consumed in America is eaten by human beings who can't afford the price of regular food?" Bunk. ALI IS WONDERFUL.

He just tosses off these outrageous statements and everybody nods. His entourage, having just signed his name to their tabs for caviar and venison in the best hotel in Munich, frown about the terrible state of things in America. The fawning limousine liberals accept that baloney, foster it. The European reporters take notes eagerly, happy for the opportunity to put the rap on America, their own miserable people that they have company. They don't seem to realize that poverty in America is a black and white TV set and a phone bill that hasn't been paid this month.

Nobody knows the power of words, of the big lie, better than Ali. He told the reporters they had just seen a great fight, and they wrote it down. They had just seen a great fight. To evaluate an Ali fight, you must know what he was capable of, what he can't do now that he did then. You must perceive how much slower the hands move, how much more he misses.

You must take note how sluggish the legs aer, those once beautiful legs that could have danced all night. faster, the way the guy used to crank up for a haymaker in the Mack Sennett two-reelers. Or maybe it was Joe E. Brown doing a takeoff on Dizzy Dean. Or vice versa.

FOR THIS NONSENSE, Ali picked up $1.3 million, American, put on his white terrycloth robe, walked to the interview room in the rear of the arena and told the international press: "I wasn't fighting for me. I wasn't fighting for money. I was fighting for Allah." Sure, champ. And you're going to Tokyo next month just to spread the wonders of Western civilization throughout the Orient. And the fact that they are making as you take $6 million, American, to clown it up with a Japanese rassler is just a happy coincidence.

But first, before Japan, he must go to Spain for a few days to promote the sale of his book. Then back to the states, to St. Louis or nearby, where he will pick up Dick Gregory's cross-country run, which is dramatizing the high cost of gasoline or something. "Do you know that 45 million people in America go to bed hungry every night?" Ali said solemnly. Crap.

ffhrl5i Jit1 AP AP Photo Richard Dunn, conscious again, listens as Ali holds court after bout LeFLORE'S STREAK REACHES 27 'wwwjim i iuwwwm'W i mi --l) Tiant Tames the 2-0 11 Wharton Run MSU Grid Program? BOSTON ab bi RiMiller If Doyle Lvm cl Fisk 4 0 0 0 4 0 10 4 0 10 3 10 0 DETROIT ab bl LeFlore cf 4 0 10 AJohnson It 4 0 10 Staub rf 4 0 10 Horlon db 4 0 0 0 JThmosn lb 4 0 10 ARodroez 3b 4 0 1 0 4 117 Yslrmski lb 3 0 10 3 0 10 Rice an nFvarn rf Veryjer ss 4 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 PetroceUi 3b 2 0 0 0 Burleson ss 3 0 10 Tiant 0 0 0 0 Kimm Mever ph Manuel. 2b Fidrych 10 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 35 0 7 0 Total. 30 2 a 2 Detroit 000 000 000- 0 Boston 000 200 00X-2 Fisk, Burleson, Manuel, Pelrocelli. LOB Detroit 8, Boslon 6. 2B LeFlore, D.Evans.

HR Yslrzemski (8). SB A.Johnson. IP ER BB SO Fldrvch (L.l-l) 8 6 2 2 2 1 Tiant (W.6-2) 9 7 0 0 0 8 A 21,033. he recovered from Yaz's home run and gave up but one single the rest of the game. But this time, that wasn't good enough.

Only one Tiger got as far as third base against Tiant and that was in the fjrst inning when Alex Johnson singled, stole second and advanced on catcher Carlton Fisk's throwing error. The rest of the night, the twisting, turning Boston righthander had the Tigers baffled, retiring the last eight batters he faced. The Tigers proved it is, indeed, possible to be shut out twice in a row in this hitters' paradise known as Fenway THEIR ONLY EXTRA-BASE 'hit belonged to Ron LeFlore a two-out, fifth-inning double to right that extended his season-long hitting streak to a sensational 27 games. That's the longest in the American League since Boston's Dom DiMaggio also connected in 27 consecutive games in 1951 and the longest in the major leagues since Willie Davis of Los Angeles put together a 31-game streak in 1969. The major league record, of course, is 5G games, set by Joe DiMaggio in 1941.

LeFlore, who was l-for-4 against Tiant, con-Please turn to Page 2D, Col. 3 BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON The flake is no fluke but Mark Fidrych is not unbeatable, either. The Boston Red Sox demonstrated that Tuesday night as they spoiled the rookie right-hander's, previously unblemished record, 3-0, much to the chagrin of the two busloads of Fidrych fans who drove down from his hometwon of nearby Northboro. Once again, Fidrych spent the evening talking to the baseball, telling each pitch where to go. He should have said a word or two to the Tigers' bats, too.

Boston's Luis Tiant had the Tigers talking to themselves as he carefully dispensed six well-spaced singles and a double to register his 17th shoutout since joining the Red Sox after he supposedly was all washed up. And with the support like that, Fidrych didn't stand a chance, no matter what he said to the ball. It was Detroit's eighth failure in the last nine tries and the club's second scoreless evening in a row. BUT FIDRYCH Wasn't entirely to blame. The curly-haired, 21-year-old pitcher they call One Man's Opinion: Michigan State Didn't you find it a little strange when Clifton Wharton said that MSU's new football coach, Darryl Rogers, would report directly to the president of the school.

It wasn't too long ago that Dr. Wharton admitted he knew next to nothing about football. Now he is putting himself right in the middle of the football program. It is easy to understand Dr. Wharton's concern about the program in view of the mess that has been created at MSU.

But what does Dr. Wharton's move do to MSU's new athletic director, Joe Kearney. Does Roger tell Wharton what's going on and then Wharton tells Kearney. It just seems that Dr. Wharton should have enough confidence in his new AD to permit him to be Rogers' closest contact, the way it's done at other major schools.

Could you imagine Bo Schembechler reporting directly to Robben Fleming at the University of Michigan. How long would Don Canham tolerate such nonsense. Baseball Did you also get a strange feeling watching Reggie Jackson perform for the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend knowing full well he doesn't want to be in Baltimore and as soon as the season is over, he will try to make adeaj himself with another club, probably the New York Yankees. "The Bird," permitted the Bosox but six only one of which actually mattered. That'was Carl Yastrzemski's towering, two-run homer into the ieftfield net, high above the wall, in the bottom of the fourth.

Although Fidrych wasn't nearly as effective as he was in his dramatic two-hit debut against the Cleveland Indians a few days ago, Tigers centerfielder Ron LeFlore now has the longest hitting streak in the American League in 25 years 27 consecutive games. LeFlore is batting .402 to lead the major leagues. wmmmmwm pi 'f tfjt -i Nicklam Goofs, His Team Cards 97 How can anyone tne kids relate to these players if they begin jumping around at will. My own son's i favorite players happen ba Aie Jpckson and Vida Blue (he's even got two Oakland jerseys with their names on the back) but what is a 10-year-old kid to think when he sees one of his favorites playing for Oakland one season, Baltimore the next and New York the season after that. How can a kid even keep his bubble gum cards straightened out.

Careful, guys, or you're going to ruin the old game. Games All Start Looking Alike Tennis It seems that every time I turn on my TV set on the weekends, some big tennis star is playing some other big tennis star. It can bT singles or doubles or mixed doubles but it seems they're always giving us Jimmy Connors, Ren Laver, Chris Evert and Yvonno All of this is fine, but when they give us so many "great" matches I just don't knot' vt is "great" anymore. They're going to ruin it, too, if they're not careful. Pro Basketball I have just about had my fill of the game.

You can't knock the playoffs when they sell out for every game, as they're doing Jack Nicklaus in Boston and Phoenix. I suppose they could fill the house all summer long if they played a best of 77 series. So you can't say the season runs too long when so much money is being DUBLIN, O. (AP) Jack Nicklaus' pro-amateur team finished with a 25-over-par 97 Tuesday, an astounding 40 shots behind the winning fivesome, thanks to a major error by golf's all-time money winner. Nicklaus served as his group's storekeeper and penciled in a 34 instead of a par four in the block for the 18th-hole score.

Under the game's 34 stood as the team's score for No. 18. So instead of an actual five-under-par 67, Nicklaus' team who filled in for the ailing Bing Crosby. "I can't believe it. I signed the card, too," said former Ohio State quarterbacking great Pandel Savic, a member of Nicklaus' team who filled in for the aliing Bing Crosby.

A fivesome headed by Bob Murphy dipped 15 under par for a winning 57 in the event that served as a prelude to the $200,000 Memorial golf tournament opening Thursday over Nicklaus' Muirfeld Village course. Lee Trevino, considered one of the major threats to Nicklaus in the new tour tournament, led the pros with a two-under-par 70 over the rolling, tree-lined 7,072 yards. Trevino birdied four of the first eight holes and carded five birds in all. He also had a trio of bogeys. made.

It's just that from the outside the games all start looking alike after awhile. In, fact, the pro game seems to be nothing more than trying to set up plays to see who can get the best shots. Pro basketball is in danger of becoming as stereotyped as pro football. Almost all the pro football teams do the same thing and it's getting that way in pro basketball. This is why the college game both football and basketball seems so iSM 4 AAA SifS W4 TJ if If wJ I A 1 Ml iff Hwk i KC Has 10 Days To Save Scouts IMlOWarnves at the perfect sport shirt.

fhe business of dressing means a shirt' and tie most of the time, but you need a shirt for the times when it doesn't. Arrow gets the point and comes up with the perfect spoil and leisure shirt for you. The true comfort of woven polyestercotton in a short-sleeved shirt for summer. Fully cut for a man like you in sizes M-L-XL. A selection of plaids and checks in a host of colors.

Designed by-Arrow and only $12 in Hie Sportsman at all of our stores. that Hudson's man much more appealing. All the teams seem to have a special character of their own, as in the NCAA basketball finals in Philadelphia. The four finalists Indiana, Michigan, UCLA and Rutgers each had its own personality and that made for interesting matchups and interesting games. No one could really predict what was going to happen and this should still be One of- the great lures of sport the unpredictable.

Wings Should Bid for Aivrey Baseball Are you enjoying the collapse of the Oakland A's as much as I am. Charlie Finley finally seems to have overstepped his authority by all but trading away his chances to win again. You may say Reggie Jackson could have gone elsewhere at the end of this season and be right. But he would have played out this season in Oakland. Anyway, it is amusing to see the publicity-mad Finley hire on that gal astrologist and now his team is seeing stars.

Hockey If the Red Wings are looking for help and heaven help us if they aren't how about defenseman Don Awrey of the Montreal Canadiens. He is on the outs up there and there is no way he is ever going to play for the Frenchmen again, not after they kept him out of thp cni'iv. Stanley Cup, and especially so since they have three of the strongest defensemen in the league in Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe. Awrey is as good as any defenseman the Red Wings have and they should make a bid for him. Add Hockey And if you're still wonderin? about the Marcel Dionne trade, let me give you one passage out of Stan Fischler's column in The Sporting News: "1 watched in awe and contempt at Boston Garden during the fifth and seventh games of the Kings-Bruins series as overpaid Marcel Dionne skated for Los Angeles as if he really were under contract with San Diego of the WHA.

"In more than 25 years of watching NHL hockey I have never seen a player seemingly dog it in a seventh game of the Stanley Cup round the way Dionne did against Boston. He galumped around the ice like an elephant and displayed all the inspiration of a mouse." CHICAGO (AP) The National Hockey League "served notice" Tuesday that the financially troubled franchise of the Kansas City Scouts is set to be terminated, but gave city officials 10 days to come up with an acceptable plan to keep hockey there. President Clarence Campbell said the Scouts had received a complaint note from the league informing the club that it had failed to pay dues and also had failed to repay a $300,000 loan secured from the league to complete the 1975-76 season. Campbell said that Kansas City owner Edwin Thompson had informed the league that the present ownership of the club is "unable to conlinue operations and that it has no desire to try to reorganize its finances." Campbell added that the league had no desire to take over the Scouts. The NHL official said the 10-day extension was granted to Kansas City officials who appeared before the NHL's board of governors to "express their desire to keep the team in Kansas City.

"Mayor Charle Wheeler (of Kansas City) said he is interested in taking whatever action is necessary to help to retain the club," Campbell said. "He didn't say he and his staff would be successful, but he said he felt the people of Kansas City want hockey." After the meeting, Wheeler said he was happy with the way the board of governors responded to his request and said he is confident that the city will keep the franchise..