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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1978)
// Pagefi Portland Oboerver Thursday, October 26, 1978 Sports Talk Where is the Pearl? According to reports, the New York Knicks were loaded with young guards and had no intentions of dickering with free agent Earl (the Petal) Monroe. Not surprisingly, the Lakers, figuring the Pearl would help botn on the court and at the box office, and, at 32, the former all-pro could probably play another season or two, were interested, especially when they learned the Knicks would cut him loose without demanding compen sation. A pparently all this never ma terialized because New York ran into injury problems. Two of their young guards M ike Richardson and Ray W illiam s are injured and now M r. All-pro is needed again. How all this will affect the play of “ the Pearl" is yet to be seen. What is seen, though, is fewer thirty point games from M r. Monroe. The Knicks aren’t exactly burning up the league since they acquired all those big named, high salaried super- stars. And some thought the acquisition o f Marvin Webster, from the Seattle club would anchor an already solid team. So far it hasn’t happened and some have even said that Lonnie Shelton, who was given to Seattle as compensation, was the equal o f Webster . . . and the $430,000 and future number one draft pick given to Seattle was an in justice. What is implied in simple terms is that Mr. Webster was over rated. As all the baseball world knows a great friend, Jim “ Junior" Gilliam has passed. The Dodgers dedicated the 25th World Series to him and Dodger management spoke of him in glowing terms. Everyone agreed that he was a devoted, dedicated, and a hard worker and a credit to the game Junior toiled 24 years in the Dodger organization as both a player and coach. What was over looked was that Jim G illiam wanted to manage in the M ajor Leagues but was never given the opportunity. Why? Perhaps it is good that he didn’t get the chance, but he cer tainly deserved one. The true fact is that Black managers are always on trial. Jus: one losing season and you’re almost always gone. Sure the Chicago White Sox gave Larry Doby his chance this year but they expected him to do something (win a pennant) that no Sox manager since 1959 has been able to do. And it’s sad to see Frank Robinson have to manage in Rochester now after all he’s done for the game. Jim Gilliam always gave 110 percent but it’s my belief that Jim was shorted by the Dodger organization. N B A news . . . Golden State traded their No. 1 pick of a year ago, Ricky Green, to Detroit. Cleveland Cavalier center Elmore Sm ith, a form er Laker, w ill undergo a surgical examination o f his swollen left knee and will be lost for at least ten days to two weeks . . . The Chicago Bulls No. 1 draft choice Tate A rm strong, has undergone surgery and will be out at least six weeks . . . Remember Ed Ratleff, former Long Beach great, well "easy Ed” was put on waivers by the Kings along with nine year vet Jim m y Walker. N B A good guy award goes to Denvers’ D avid Thom pson . . . Thompson has purchased fifty season tickets to Nuggets' games this season for distribution to under privileged and disadvantaged youngsters in the Denver area, the team announced. Hear that Maurice Lucas? W ill veteran guard Norm Van Lier resurface a fte r having cleared waivers by Chicago? Just got to believe N orm can play fo r somebody. Blazers must face issue by Bill Schaefer It is high time that the manage ment o f the Portland Trailblazers faced a hard, sad but obvious truth — the team has become a physical mess. The issue should be faced squarely because it is the only way to answer the questions — how did it all happen? And what can be done to prevent it from happening again? W alton, Lucas, Gross, H ollins and Twardzik — the starting five which brought a National Basketball Association championship to Port land two long seasons ago — ah in capacitated by injuries o f all sorts and degrees. Not to mention the in juries to key reserves Steele and Neal. The injuries cannot be shrugged o ff as the kind o f “ bad luck” the team wishes us to believe. There is a point at which coincidence and fate lose their credibility. Walton, Lucas et al are not a bunch o f old men whose broken bones and other sun dry ailments are impervious to time. They are, or are supposed to be, in the physical prime o f their lives. Then why all the injuries? Dr Thomas Holmes, an eminent psychiatrist who has made a study o f injuries and illnesses as they relate to the University of Washington foot ball team, told the Observer this week that there is a direct relation ship between emotional stress and the injury factor. “ We have developed a series of 42 life events, events requiring a change in adjustment in everything from the death of a spouse to a traffic ticket," D r. Holmes said. "These life changes are predictive o f health changes. We have run correlations between life changes and injuries and discovered that the high risk group was involved in the most injuries and illnesses.” C ould the study apply to a professional basketball team as well as a football team? “ Certainly,’1 Dr. Holmes said. " I would assume the Portland team is undergoing these life changes.” The problem, Dr. Holmes said, is - not unawareness but deliberate avoidance to take action by management. "M o s t coaches, the good ones, anyway, know intuitively about all this,” Dr. Holmes said. "Some o f them have a way o f anticipating the problem, then defusing it. But most of them are scared. They may feel that professional athletes are allergic to psychiatry.” Perhaps the main reason why sports psychiatry is held in low esteem by professional teams is that results cannot be seen in the profit and loss column. The Trailblazers know they will at tract 12,666 fans to every home game, even if the team is comprised of players o f less than top quality. So long as the fans believe the exhor tations o f Coach Jack Ramsay about “ hanging in there” and the almost unbelievable tub thumping by some o f the media on behalf o f the team, why should the Blazers enter into an area where cost accounting doesn’t show up on the scoreboard? It is much simpler, the team has discovered, to raise ticket prices. The Blazers know there’s a sucker born every minute and 12,666 of them are certain to show up for each home game. Trailblazers visit Boise Maurice Lucas and Herm Gilliam o f the World Championship Trail blazers w ill be at Boise School A uditorium on Monday, October 30th, at 7:30 p.m. to sign sixth grade boys up for Boy Scout Troop 152. Troop 152, headed by Scoutmaster George Simmons, is sponsored by Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church. Maurice Lucas, NBA All Star first string and number one power for ward of the NBA was a Boy Scout as a young man. Herm Gilliam now covers T ra il blazer action with Jimmy Jones on Channel 12. Gilliam earned the rank o f Eagle Scout, Boy Scouting’s highest rank. Features o f the evening include a film depicting NBA highlights shown by Gilliam and Lucas and “ Bridge to A d ve n tu re ,’ * narrated by Bill Schomley, official voice o f the Trail blazers. The word gat c o m « from the Flemish spelling of "chaos.” It was devised by a Flemish alchemist. 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