sports
Video hoop is not
the same in the Pit
D. / nf/M/in
7 fnnLy VVCirVO
Of the Emerald
Closed-circuit Blazermania re
ceived a less-than-enthusiastic
welcome to Eugene Tuesday
night as three-fourths of Mac
Court’s seats were empty when
Portland opened its series with
Seattle.
Only 1,595 persons paid $4 or
$6 to watch the telecast. Max
imum capacity for the event was
6,500.
Those who came witnessed a
very different sort of Mac Court
basketball show. There were no
cheerleaders, no scoreboards
shaking from the stomping of a
massive crowd and no action on
the floor — the only part of the
darkened arena filled with $6 tick
ethoiders.
Instead, all eyes were glued to a
20’ by 15’ screen at the south end
of the floor. At 7:45, Portland as
sistant coach Jack McKinney
began a pre-game show by ex
plaining "our dosed drcuit rules to
you newcomers out there: pay
more attention to the game than
the usherettes, only go to the bath
room during halftime and follow
the coach’s example by never
disagreeing with the referees.”
momimmy men iaiK.ea sirategy,
but was gradually drowned out by
the small but noisy crowd as
zero-hour neared. "This is the
Pit!” someone yelled for no spe
cial reason. Yes, it was the Pit, but
it was not a typical Pit crowd:
middle-aged men, often compan
ionless, outnumbered students.
Still, the crowd acquitted itself
well in the early going. A roar of
approval went up when Bill Walton
was shown warming up. And
when the Blazers came out blister
ing hot, fast-breaking and back
dooring like they hadn’t in months,
the volume level was quite re
spectable. One almost felt as if he
were at the game, until people
started shouting “Turn up the
sound!”
As Bill Schonley’s piped-in
voice described the action, the
champions did everything right
and pulled away from the green
clad “villains from up north.” The
fans most certainly would have
voted the first half “Best Picture of
the Year.” Their biggest explo
sions of applause were reserved
for the sore-footed Walton, who
still waddled slowly rather'than
running, but hit all five of his first
half shots.
The fans quickly became a new
breed of audience adapted to the
unique setting. Many took advan
tage of the complete anonymity
afforded by the darkness to voice
their feelings in the most vile terms
imaginable.
What really infuriated the cus
sers in the crowd were slow
motion instant replays showing, in
graphic detail, the referees mak
ing a couple of terrible calls — in
favor of Seattle.
Replays were one of the few
advantages closed-circuit viewers
had over fans at Memorial Col
iseum. A more surprising feature
was the basketball rim noise.
Somehow, microphones were
placed close enough to the rims
so that the crisp, clear sounds of
swishers and slam dunks were
easily heard.
n«n.. r_i j
/mso easily heard were Blazer
coach Jack Ramsay's instructions
to his players during time-outs.
Surprisingly, most of his words
were in simple terms such as “we
need movement of the ball” and
“those passes have to pop.”
At halftime, some fans voiced
their complaints about the size of
the screen, the fuzziness of the
picture, the quality of the sound
and their own particular poor
views of the screen.
“The picture’s terrible,” said
one man as he cleaned his glas
ses. “I can’t see the passes. It’s
like watching a hockey game and
trying to find the puck.”
“It’s better than TV but only half
as good as being at a game," said
a young woman. “I’m a Blazer nut,
but I don’t think I’d come again for
$5.”
‘‘Something’s lacking,” said a
long-haired young man.
“No beers," said his compan
ion.
Many other fans indicated they
would come back for more
closed-circuit telecasts. “I’d come
out if it was a twelve-inch screen,”
said one.
The next possible date for a
closed-circuit game is May 2.
Each telecast costs the Oregon
athletic department between
$6,000 and $7,000, according to
events manager Steven McBride.
He believes the department made
a small profit on Tuesday’s game.
Most of the fans were satisfied
at half-time simply because the
Blazers led by seven. Unfortu
nately, the game turned into a
model of Portland’s season. After
a great start, the injury-plagued
Blazers’ lack of depth turned the
tide against them.
Often, the Pit seemed empty in
the second half as cheers turned
into disgusted silence. When
time-out was called with a minute
left and the Sonics up by seven,
many fans rose to leave. “Where’s
everybody going?” shouted a
loud-mouthed die-hard. “What’s
the matter with you people?"
But their early departure was fit
ting. The “Best Picture of the
Year” turned out to be a flop. Be
sides, who sticks around for the
credits?
Photo by Stave Schneider
Nothin’ doin’ at the swamp
Tuesday’s light rain cancelled a two-game day for Oregon baseball, but it was Wednesday’s torrential
downpour that turned Howe Field into a quagmire and cancelled a game with Lewis and Clark The rain
had effects elsewhere, too, as the Ducks’men’s tennis match with Portland was called. Still, some tried
to salvage what they could, as a few Oregon batters practiced in the background for the upcomina
three-game series with Oregon State.
Run scheduled
There will be an intramural
cross country run today at 4 p.m.
The race will cover two miles and
will start on the intramural track.
There will be two other cross
country runs later in the term.
SALE
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and tops for men and women.
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