Page 6 Portland Observer Thursday. August 24. 1978
Boys dob
SPORTS HOUR
sports begin
Boys’ Clubs o f Portland, a United
Way Agency, announces sign-up op
portunities fo r its fa ll athletic
programs for Portland are« grade
school boys seven through fourteen
years o f age, starting August 21st.
Programs in flag football, tackle
football and soccer w ill be conducted
at the three Portland locations.
Boys’ may register daily from 9:00
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Pal Boys’
Club, 9330 S.E. Harold Street; the
C olum bia Boys’ C lub, 7602 N.
Emerald at Lom bard; and the
Sellw ood-M oreland Boys* C lub,
8210 S.E. 13th Avenue.
Practice and c o n d itio n in g fo r
football w ill start August 29th and
soccer practice w ill start on August
29th.
Additional inform ation on these
and other Boys’ Club programs may
be secured by dropping into one of
the three b u ild in g centers or by
calling 775-1549.
President Carter and baseball great Henry " H a n k "
Aaron met recently to talk over old times and future
challenges in a session at the White House
Aaron — sometimes called "T he H am m er" — was
slugging home runs for the Atlanta Braves while the
President was serving as Governor of Georgia
JOE’S PLACE
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WILL
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OPTOMETRIST
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“I Care
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Portland fans analyzed
by Ron Sykes
Sports Editor
Following the Blazers rise to the
top in the 1976-77 NBA playoffs
there were numerous writings con
cerning the Portland team. It seems
that everyone was caught up in
Blazermania and more often than
not there were enterprising groups
and individuals waiting to capitalize
on the wonderful feats achieved by
our town’s spectacular team. Jack
Ramsey, the marvelous Trailblazer
coach; Hany Glickman, the illustrous
General Manager; and the little
known Larry Colton; all ran forward
with books to describe to us just
what made Blazermania w ork.
Perhaps the best was w ritten by
Colton, a one-time teacher at Adams
High and ex-professional baseball
pitcher Colton logged many miles
with the team to accumulate some
most interesting data.
Maurice Lucas, Blazer strong for
ward is among C olton’ s favorites
and would like to share some o f
Colton’s enthusiasm for Lucas with
my readers.
“ Welcome to MacLaren School,
Maurice,” said a middle-aged man,
stepping out from the group. “ We
appreciate your coming today.”
MacLaren School was the last of
eighteen sessions in the Maurice
Lucas Summer Youth Involvement
Clinics sponsored by the Portland
Park Bureau. Located near Wood
burn, 45 minutes south o f Portland.
Lucas is known around the NBA
as a "bad dude” thus earning the
nickname “ e n fo rce r.” “ Sonny
H ill,” Lucas began, “ talked to you
guys earlier today about the concept
o f reachback, where one person
reaches out to help another. That is
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what I am trying to do. I consider
you guys here at this place
(MacLaren) to be a part o f me. You
have a future, and I want to do what
I can to help you.”
He (Lucas) continued to pace in
front o f the bleachers. He looked
directly at the audience. “ You might
as well learn something right now,”
he said forcefully. “ You can’ t beat
the system. They pay people money
to figure out ways to keep people like
you fro m beating the system.
They’ ve got it set up so you can’t
beat it.
“ You can’ t do things in life
w ithout thinking them out in ad
vance. I f you’re going to steal a car,
think o f the punishment. Is it worth
a couple o f years o f your life in a
joint like this.”
Maurice, goes on to explain to his
young captive audience on how to
make it on the outside.
“ Now my brother, my elder
brother just completed an eight year
prison term. You guys have got to
get yourselves together, or that is
what your future will be.”
Maurice went on to describe his
brother as a cold man, a man that
could outslick anybody.
Colton’s book is worth reading. It
gives an in-depth look at the team as
individuals. He was present with the
team on the road, at parties, in bars,
and alone in their rooms.
About the author: Larry Colton is
35 years old. married, two daughters
— Sarah two and Wendy eleven.
Colton was a former baseball player
spending 1965-1970 as a pitcher with
the Eugene Emeralds, Macon
Peaches, San Diego Padres and
Philadelphia Phillies. Colton lists his
boyhood idols as Mickey Mantle,
J .F .K ., supported Eugene M c
Carthy, and the Beatles. Now it’s the
Blazers.
by B ill Schaefer
I f you’ re a psychology student
planning to write a thesis o- collec
tive human behavior, t r to figure
out
what
makes
P o rtla n d ’ s
professional sports fans tick. That
would be a subject worthy o f Freud.
Just consider. The P ortland
Trailblazers, in an act o f arrogance
seldom matched in professional
sports, brazenly boosted the price o f
tickets for the coming season after
standing room only crowds filled
every corner o f the Coliseum for last
season’ s 41 home games.
But was there a public outcry?
Certainly not. There was not even a
whimper.
Then we are advised, through a
series o f incredible inconsistencies,
that Bill Walton would prefer to play
his trade in a city other than Port
land. We are asked to swallow, on
the one hand, the fantasy that money
is not the issue, but when dollars are
discussed we are told that whoever
wants W alton’s services had better
begin at the $800,000 a year figure
David Thompson is reportedly earn
ing at Denver.
W alton’ s reason for wanting to
leave, we’ve been told, is his disen
chantment with the Blazers’ medical
practices — specifically, the team's
alleged indifference to administering
pain-killing drugs to its players. But
according to a former member o f the
Golden State W arriors, the team
Walton now says he wants to play
for, injections have been given there,
too. The rationale fo r a ll this,
W a lto n ’ s agent says, is that the
procedure is management policy in
Portland whereas other teams’ in
volvement is on an exceptional
basis.
And, believe it or not, the fans in
Portland are buying all this. A t least,
disillusionment has not yet set in at
the box o ffic e where sales are
booming again.
Now, let’s look at the case o f the
Portland Timbers. For two seasons
prior to 1978, the Timbers labored
hard but unsuccessfully and finished
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Aaron visited the President to discuss a coming visit to
the Dom inican Republic. President Carter appointed
Aaron as part of a delegation to represent the United
States at the inauguration ceremonies for Silvestre A n
tonio Guzman Fernandez as President of that nation.
(White House Photograph)
Sport Talk
DRAFT
among the N ASL’s also-rans. But
this year owner Keith Williams and
coach Don Megson have, almost
miraculously, fashioned an outstand
ing team, a bona fide title contender
that advanced to the National Con
ference playoff series.
And what about the Timbers fans?
They firs t showed th e ir ap
preciation by staying away. Crowds
o f 8,500 and 10,000 showed up, even
with a winning team. About 16,000
came to see the Seattle Rose Festival
game and almost 24,000 paid their
way in to see the Vancouver game
late last month.
Then a controversy exploded over
d is trib u tio n o f money fro m the
playoffs. The fans thought that
playoff money goes directly to the
clubs to be shared with the players, a
procedure followed in most other
professional sports.
But in the N ASL a ll p la y o ff
revenue is pooled. After all expenses
are taken care of, bonuses are paid to
those players participating in d if
ferent levels o f the playoffs.
This the Portland fans didn’ t like.
"M y mail clearly told me the fans
were upset with the club and me per
s o n a lly,” W illia m s said. “ They
visualized that the club was taking
all the money and not sharing it with
the players. They said they would not
support the club and the playoffs.
They were very verbal about it. It’s
too bad. They missed some great
soccer.”
Still, the patient Williams refused
to panic over the attendance
problem, even though the Timbers
enjoyed a better gate last season than
this one.
“ I t ’ll come eventually,” Williams
said. “ I feel it was all a misunder
standing and the fans w ill eventually
support a winner. And we think
we’re well on the way to establishing
a winning tradition.”
Maybe. A t least the Tim bers
deserve a better breed o f fan than
they’ re getting while the Blazers are
lucking out on loyalty. It’ s like the
man said. There ain’ t no justice.
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MUM.
BUCERII
RISEI. M U
Weltome
l ARRY_
correlation between crime and the
conditions under which people must
live and that crime is a natural result
o f the social, economic and political
system o f this nation.
2) Call on Congress for a policy of
full unemployment. There is a direct
correlation between unemployment
and juvenile crime, property crimes,
homocides and imprisonment.
S h W í ÍÍ t
O ptometrists
OPTICAL Office«
D O W N TO W N
S.W. 3RD A YAMHILL
PORTLAND
A u u c iu t r b o r t o r t o f O ptum elrv - P O R T L A N D
M . IA M T M M U I - M . M. U l l t - M . I . HUU
ML I. U M T •
In
Ot*.. KMUB I tf lt m ,
3) Call for safe, decent, sanitary
nousing for all and a federal policy
o f home ownership. Crime is a result
o f poor housing, overcrowding and
the social problems related to
housing. The cities must be rebuilt.
4) The total welfare must be con
sidered. The nation must develop a
policy that w ill provide adequate
health care as a right.
5) Funds must be provided for
research and treatment of alcohol
and drug addiction. A diplomatic ef
fort must be made to stop the flow
of drugs into this country. There is a
high correlation between drug use
and property crimes and between
alcohol use and crimes o f violence.
6) The manufacture, import, sale
and possession o f hand guns should
Brown added that the solution to
crime, considered by many citizens
to be the nations’ most serious
problem, calls for a concentrated ef
fort by all of society to Eradicate the
root causes o f crime.
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be illegal. Hand guns in homes are
six times more like ly to be used
against family members than against
possible burglers.
7) TV violence has been demon
strated to increase aggressive
behavior in children and should be
controlled.
8) Children are leaving school un
prepared, unskilled, uneducated and
relegated to a sub-class o f unem
ployment and despair. A federal
policy is needed to address the
education system where too many
youth drop out or are kicked out of
school.
9) W hite collar crime must be
recognized and dealt with. Consumer
fraud and price fixing place a heavy
load on the poor.
10) Major reforms arc needed in
L E A M to provide research and
demonstration projects.
PARK
TR EE
DR I
Brown asks attention to causes of crime
(Continued from Page 1 Column 6)
Brown said there is a need to look
at policy implications, the criminal
justice system is assigned the job o f
controlling crime but cannot do the
job alone. Citizen involvement is
necessary to make crime prevention
the first priority.
Brown advocates p utting the
greatest e ffo rt in to preventing
juvenile delinquency — preventing
the involvement o f juveniles in the
criminal justice system, reintegrating
offenders into the community since
the more involvement a youth has
with the justice system the more apt
he is to remain involved in crime.
Public agencies should improvise
the delivery o f services. There is
evidence that the crime rate is high
among those who have inadequate
services. There is a high correlation
between crime and yobs and between
crime and poverty.
Brown asked the Am erican
Correctional Association to present
the following agenda to President
Carter,
1) The President should provide
federal leadership with a message on
crime. He should point out the
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