Maybe I’m just a bit sentimental. But for some reason
this seemed like a pretty special year for sports, espe
cially here at Oregon.
I think many of us who followed the Ducks will breathe a
sigh of collective relief come the end of the school year —
and that has been extended somewhat with the NCAA
Golf Championships here in a couple of weeks.
We were exposed to more ups and downs this year
than any group of spectators should be allowed to face. If
you’ve ever ridden in the Big Dipper in Santa Cruz, Calif.,
then you’ll know what I mean when I say we started out in
the dark — and it got hairier soon afterwards.
In most sports, we were presented with relative un
knowns and expected to welcome them with open arms.
This was the year of optimism, to be sure, but it was
optimism based on many unknown qualities —too many,
I think, to keep from being skeptical.
•The Dawning of a New Day. To the football-starved
populus, a break from the failures of the past was seen as
one with the coming of Rich Brooks and the “new”
Oregon. There was a genuine feeling of excitement when
the season began. Brooks and his staff were bringing in a
new attitude, a new spirit, and a new way of looking at
things.
And, indeed, after the Ducks’ first road swing there
was no dulling of the hope. Remember the Ducks opening
play against Georgia? Collectively, Oregon fans must
have been taken by surprise when the Ducks pulled a
reverse to Ken Page. It gained only eight yards (it
sounded more exciting on the radio than it looked on film),
but who cared if it lost eight? No one in years had tried that
in green and gold. #
•The Running Kamikaze Kids. That was only too
hard to swallow. Dick Harter team run? No way. But sure
enough, at the beginning of the basketball season there
they were, inexperienced and young to boot, running up
and down the court like “real” basketball. When, in early
December, Oregon undressed Oregon State in Portland
with an embarrassingly easy win, we all figured that Har
ter was a genius, and, by those same tricky means he had
used in the past, would provide a thorn for the rosy UCLA.
That would change.
•Women’s basketball. For the first time, the gals
' * ■ ■ *— — V' ” / » » IV# WVUIU«
SuperSonics are home, and they
have no intention of leaving.
“Our plan was to win the opener
at home, get a split of the two
games at Washington and then
come back here and wrap it up,”
said Sonics guard Fred Brown.
"I'd say we’re right on schedule.”
The Sonics took a 2-1 lead in
the best-of-seven National Bas
ketball Association championship
series by beating the Bullets
93-92 Sunday at Washington.
It's a commanding lead, since
three of the remaining four games
will be played in Seattle — where
the Sonics have won their last 21
outings — including the next two
games Tuesday and Friday.
The sixth game of the series, if
necessary, would be played at
Washington Sunday — but the
Sonics don’t think it will be neces
"I believe in our home-court ad
vantage," said guard Dennis
Johnson. "We’re tough at home.
I'm pretty sure we re going to end
the series in Seattle. I’m hoping for
that.”
"You can’t say we’re unbeata
ble, but we feel we re going to
wrap it up at home,” said center
Marvin Webster.
"We’re in good shape, but we
still have to go out and win those
two games,” said Coach Lenny
Wilkens, whose job now is to keep
his dub from getting overconfi
dent. “But like I’ve said before, our
home fans are great. There’s no
place I’d rather play.”
The Sonics won’t be playing in
their usual building Tuesday night.
A mobile home show is in the
Seattle Center Coliseum, so the
game has been shifted to the
Timbers improve record to 10-4
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) —
Clyde Best and Elson Seale led
the Portland Timbers to a 4-1
North American Soccer League
victory over the Los Angeles Az
tecs at the Rose Bowl Monday af
temoon.
It was Portland’s sixth victory in
a row, giving the Timbers a 10-4
record and possession of first
place in the NASL’s National
West.
UNIVERSITY MANOR SOUTH
Now taking Applications for Year Lease
starting June 16
Save 5% on Annual Rent
• Two blocks from Campus • One & Two Bedroom Apts.
• Courtyard & Deck • Also Summer Rates
• Laundry & Off Street Parking
For more information, call or stop by during
the hours of 9-12 am weekdays, 6-9 pm
Mon.-Thurs. and 9-5 weekends.
Manager Apt. 20A 484-0251
745 E. 15th Ave. (Between Hilyard & Alder St.)
sports
Commentary-—
Taking a
look back
-Mike Marino^
decided to play most of their games in conjunction with
the men's game, hoping to increase their popularity. Talk
about unknowns. Most people didn’t even know the rules
of women's basketball, let alone who was playing. Ask
’em for Oregon’s coach — and it was dumb stares.
•Baseball. After the nightmare in 1977, Oregon
could do no worse. Mel Krause had brought in a few junior
college players who were to fill in some badly open holes.
But no one knew who they were, only that whoever they
are they couldn’t do worse than the motley crew of a year
earlier.
Tnose were the hopes, the unknowns. But somehow,
things didn’t quite make the grade like we thought they
might.
Asking Rich Brooks to turn around the football pro
gram in one year was too much to ask of any man. And the
basic fact remained that aside from a few recruits, the
Ducks were sporting the same crew that bellyflopped in
1976.
I’ll remember the quick education we all got that
October Saturday when Washington came to play.
Oregon didn’t. To compare that afternoon to the Christ
ians and the Lions would be giving the big cat a break. At
least in Rome, they had to work to devour their prey. In
Eugene, it was as if the poor man was knocked uncon
scious before the thing began — and then thrown into the
ring.
A guy in the press box told me at halftime, jokingly,
that he was leaving and would file his story from Duffy’s. It
didn’t seem like such a bad idea at the time.
And running? About the only real running that Dick
Harter did this year was from here to Penn State. Wham,
Lead nas bomcs ready to stay home
CCATTI C / ADI TW„ __
mammoth Kingdome, the en
closed home of baseball’s Seattle
Mariners and football’s Seattle
Seahawks.
This will be the first basketball
game ever played in the King
dome, where the Sonics are
scheduled to play next year, and it
is expected to draw the largest
crowd in the history of profes
sional basketball.
The initial 29,000 tickets were
gobbled up within two hours by
fans eager to be a part of the
club’s first run at the title in its 11
years in the NBA. An additional
15,000 “distant viewing” seats
were placed on sale at $3 each. If
all are sold, as expected, the
crowd would shatter all NBA at
tendance records — 21,564 for a
playoff game at Cleveland, 35,077
for a regular season game in the
Louisiana Superdome and 41,165
for a doubleheader at the Houston
Astrodome in 1969 that included
the San Diego Rockets, whose
star was former University of
Houston All-American Elvin
Hayes, now the Bullets star.
"I think it's going to be fantastic
playing before 40,000 or more,"
sajd Seattle forward John John
son.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN
& the One Truth Electric Band
In Concert
June 1, 1978
at the Lane Civic Center
13th & Madison
8:00 & 11:00
*5.50 Advance, s6.50 Day of Show
Tickets available at the Sun Shop, Everybody’s Records,
Odyssey Records and The Place.
T.D.A. PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
bam, thank-you-ma’am. No warnings, even promises that
he is staying. But he went back on his promises to the
school and, most importantly, his players.
Now Dick Harter was revered around these parts for
a long time, and rightly so. But his manner of departure left
a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, and that, I think, will
leave a stain on the Kamikaze era.
But the season itself, well, that likely holds more
promise than anything else. Oregon’s team wasn’t bad.
They weren’t great, but they were young and we expected
more than we should have in the first place. And they have
the stars for the future — that in itself is a blessing consid
ering that some considered leaving Oregon when Harter
bolted.
But guys like Felton Sealey, Phil Barner, Mike Clark
and all the rest of the young ones are going to prosper out
of Harter’s shadow.
And they’ll even look different, maybe even yellow
(some people think think that their wearing of banana
colored uniforms will constitute too hard a break from the
past, and will be too hard for the local fans to handle —
rubbish.)
And even though they pulled a great nosedive in the
second half of the season to have their second straight
losing year, the Ducks on the diamond should get a whole
lot better. All they’ve got to do is keep guys like Tom Dodd
and Dean Kegler from getting wooed away to the pros,
and they’ll get back on the winning wagon.
Lord knows, track has. Hell, the Ducks can do pretty
well this weekend in the NCAA’S—and there is optimism
in the air once again. If you don’t think so, try getting a
good seat for the meet. Not only has the team gotten
better, but there are personalities once again: Rudy
Chapa, Don Coleman, Alberto Salazar and by his own
choosing (and rightly so), the outgoing Andrew Banks.
Track is fun again.
Perhaps it’ll all be like that soon. Maybe we got
impatient this year, when we should have given the future
a chance to build.
A lot of questions remain for Oregon sports; the list is
endless. But let’s just call this year a start towards getting
the answers.
COUNTRY JOE
1 McDonald
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WHEATFIELD
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One S
TOM PAXTON
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•June 10
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s ->0 & 1 1 30 50,'adv.
June 11-13
BILLY C.
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