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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1978)
Page 6 Poftland ObMwer Thursday, October 5. 1978 Sfinii "Jolk fi. Boston, Massachusetts, from its very beginning has been known for its great institutions o f higher learn ing. W ithin a twenty mile radius and can easily find some o f the finest universities in the land. Harvard, Boston College, Tufts, M iT to name a few. And one would think that with all the intellectual a ctivitie s und presumably the com m unities in volvement with all this intellect that some would rub o ff, right? Don’t believe a word o f it. Boston is the most racially prejudiced city in all o f professional sports. We could cite many instances to support our allegations but let's just use Mr. Jim Rice, outfielder supreme fo r the Boston Red Sox. During the 1977 campaign Rice led the Sox in vir tually every department, finished fourth in league balloting for MVP, but the Boston fans chose C arl Yastremski, the aging, but good old outfielder as their MVP. This com pletely infuriated the young M r. Rice and prompted him to say, “ Boston is probably the most prejudiced city in the world. It’s impossible,” he goes on to say, “ for a Black athlete to play here.” Boston was the last major league team to integrate and through the years have allowed only a few Black faces each year. Therefore it’ s easy to pull against them each year. I t ’s unfortunate that a player as great as Jim Rice has to play in a s orrow ful city such as Boston. Rice almost singlehandedly carried the offensive punch o f the Red Sox. He was their batting at .314, led the league in homers with 46, und was tops in RBI's, had 210 hits, while playing in all 162 games. Considering all these feats you’d think he would be a unanimous choice as the most valuable Red Sox player, right? Well, last week the Boston fans voted and Carlton Fisk not Jim Rice was the winner. Rice m ight s till become the league’s MVP, but not the team’s . , . ironic? No, just another Black mark on the City o f Boston. What is an October player? Reggie Jackson says he’s one. But what is Reggie? Jackson is perhaps the greatest pressure player ever to lace on a pair o f spikes. It just so happens that the playoffs and W orld Series happen to both fall during the month o f October. And i f they would delay this big event (W o rld Series) to Novem ber, then Reggie w ould become a great November player . . . I t ’s the pressure and that is what Mr. Jackson is all about. And in the opener against Kansas C ity it was beautiful to see Jackson against the Kansas C ity ace reliever A1 Hrabowsky. Hrabowsky, the man called “ The Mad H ungarian,” and 1 call the “ Mad M a n ” paced behind the mound in his own inimical style, get ting ready, or trying to psych Reggie by Ron Sykes Sports Editor SHOP out. Meanwhile back at the plate Reggie stood cool, calm and collect ed. Pacing Hrabowsky and waiting patiently for the delivery, and on the second pitch . . . Reggie h it a towering shot to right center for a three run shot. Right on Reggie!!! A nd w ho’ s going to w in the Series? Well, my pick is the Ameri can League. I t ’ s iro n ic that the N a tional League has the better players and, seemingly, the American League has the best team . . . the Yankees. However, I ’ m not writing Kansas City off. My belief is that either the Yankees or Kansas City w ill beat the National League. In the National playoff look for the Dodgers to again prevail. And t w ouldn't the Yanks, w ith all their super talent, have been even greater i f commissioner, Bowie Kuhn had not vetoed the sale o f Vida Blue to the Yanks? And what about those so-called “ o ff the c u ff remarks, or comments made on Blacks* sex and salaries by Minnesota Twins president Calvin G riffith . Speaking before a small in fo rm a l group at a L ions C lub meeting G r if f it h said that Rod Carew was a “ damn fo o l” fo r signing a contract for $170,000, that his reason for moving his Minnesota Twins from Washington, D.C., to Minnesota in 1971 was that M in nesota only has 13,000 Blacks. “ Black people d o n ’ t go to ball games, but they’ ll fill up a wrestling ring and put up such a chant it w ill scare you to death," G riffith said. “ We came here,” G riffith stated, “ because Minnesota has good, hard working white people.” I f G riffith did make these statements, and I ’ m sure he did, then he should be* run out o f baseball. What he’s saying is that Blacks are o f low intelligence and can only relate to the lowest form o f sport. And to publicly assail a player the caliber o f a Rod Carew is un believable. But didn’t G riffith show his true self when he allowed such good players as Larry Hisle and the late Lyman Bostock, both .300 hitters to play out their options. He clearly, in my estim ation, showed a complete disdain for Black players. Can you imagine C in cin n a ti allowing Johnny Bench and Pete Rose to play out th e ir options, especially in their younger days, with out more than a genuine effort to sign them? G riffith later apologized saying that he had had a couple o f drinks and was only trying to be funny. Well, to a few of us those statements weren’t very funny — and Carew and other Minnesota players are saying they won’ t play again for the man. Good. ■ENOW'S FO R BRANDS y o u k n o w VARIETIES y o u li k e SIZES y o u w a n t I The F ria n d lm t ir«» In ! • < • 041 I 1.1 Milwwukte l l » h A l a i t A v r n a iA o • UìnA A N l Ol'Mn • • I4W» A 1 .1 • • • N lo m fe o ry j a * O v o o lo y e • R a io t^ in b M H ill» ( M a à t i o o ilia n o • • H i n d <M < m 1 I O E t v v Ia la U U n n • JJrvE J9»h 2 3 ro l l t a a k A e o k A e rrla e n A M I H e rw o e k A l l 0 t v ia to n A W a l» A w rn a lA o Q aw — jl a ■ ■ ■ 9 0 1 A v a O C ity • O a h O ra v a « U M I I I <W woaifto o a r x ia i SERVICE COMPANY 'Exquisite Q u a lity " ILEATHER RECOLORING VINYL REPAIR AUTO & FURNITURE ALSO LEATHER REPAIR WINDSHIELD REPAIR STRIPING A SIDE MOLDING COMPLETE AUTO TRIM SUNROOF INSTALLATION 213 N . KILLINGSWORTH 249-8111 Jones defends officials’ calls by B ill Schaefer This has been a particularly rough season for game officials. A major league um pire was accused by a member o f the Cleveland Indians ol making a racial slur. Some National Football League teams have snatch ed defeat from the jaws o f victory because o f seemingly incredulous calls by officials. And, i f pre-season w histle to o tin g in the N ational Basketball Association is any in dication, we can expect to see a steady stream o f action from the foul line when the regulaf*season begins. A b o u t a ll that can be said in defense o f these officials is that they are at least neutral in their mistakes. But the errors have begun to cast a crisis in their cre d ib ility and few voices have been heard in th e ir defense. One o f these voices, however, is that o f Nate Jones, principal o f Mar shall H igh School. Jones’ views might be suspect inasmuch as he of ficiates at NFL and college basket ball games. But his defense o f his fellow o ffic ia ls is based on unassailable reasoning. “ In fo o tb a ll, each team runs about seventy plays,” Jones said. “ A game is usually won or lost before an official is blamed for a bad call. There are thousands o f calls every week and 99 percent o f them are correct. But when a mistake is made millions o f people take a look at it and blame the o ffic ia ls fo r taking the game away from one o f the teams. A lot o f factors enter into winning and losing and I hate to see the officials take the brunt o f the blame.” Despite the recent wave ot criticism directed at officials, Jones doesn’ t see any prolonged public an tagonism toward them. “ People understand the need for officials and that they are the only She’s pregnant. She’s deserted. She needs help. She should call 221-0598 B irth rig h t tree co n fid en tia l co u n selin g for pregnant girls Mayer B u ild in g at _____ 1130 S W M orrison friend to friend help I I? 11M r I H a i iw __J NATE JONES ones who can apply the rules o f the game fairly,” he said. “ Officials are highly professional and skilled people and that goes for people who officiate at high school games as well as in professional sports.” Jones said that the addition of a third o ffic ia l for NBA and some college games w ill eventually prove a blessing and did not think that the excessive number o f calls in pre season NBA games would continue into the season. “ I had the opportunity to work with the Trail Blazers in their sum mer camp and I ’ m convinced the change w ill help the pro game,” he said. “ There w ill be a lot o f ad ditional coverage away from the ball and this w ill help reduce the physical activity. You’ re going to see fewer calls, I believe.” Jones added, “ In basketball, in the past, you had two men trying to watch ten players with nobody there to look at the action away from the ball. Now with the third man looking at the side action they are going to pick up a lot o f interior stuff. This should make the players better defensively because now they know they can’ t get away with it.” A th ird o ffic ia l w ill w ork all Pacific 10 Conference games this season but Jones won’t be one of them. When he signed to officiate in the NFL he had to agree to end his ties with the Pac 10. But he thinks the innovation will work as well in college as it w ill in professional sports. “ There w ill be an adjustment to make but in the long run the games w ill be covered better,” he said. “ It was an idea whose time had come.” ./ BLAZER FANS! Get this 2'x 3'full-color poster autographed by Maurice Lucas only SOC. with a new deposit o f $200 or more. 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