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Show Signpost Tuesday, July 12, 1988 7 I.T.I T ' f ' T T ' f " i r"T""i t . i . iSfgiiliiiliji J ' ' 1 ' I 1 ' 1 I ' 1 ' ' I 1 ' I 1 ' 1 ' I ' ' ' ' ' Jon Yorgason Contributing Writer After fast start, Indians take annual nosedive The year: 1988. The place: Cleveland, Ohio. The subject: baseball. One might wonder why anybody would talk about Cleveland, let alone the Cleveland Indians. But let's face it, the Tribe and in fact the whole city of Cleveland is fun to talk about. Consider for a moment how a conversation about the Indians might be approached. "Say, did you hear? The Indians lost by only one run last night." "No kidding?! After their win on Saturday, you'd think they'd be exhausted." Besides being an pretty rotten team, having no more than 3,000 fans at some ball games, and playing on a field classified as "green-painted dirt," I cannot think of one good reason why anyone would use Cleveland as the butt of all of their jokes. Take this season: after nearly 25 games, the Masters of Misfortune had their best start since 1966. Even now at the All-Star break, they are two games above .500 and only 16 games away from winning as many as they had won all last year. How then, can people who call themselves decent, virtuous human beings continue to jest at this team? Because the Indians are in the midst of their annual downslidc. After being a serious contender for the first two months of the season the Indians have lost 22 of their last 31 games. Greg Swindell, the Indians' new ace was 10-1 on May 31 and the first pitcher in the majors to win 10 games. Since then, though, he has not won a single game. In spile of the slump the Indians have some good players. Cleveland has a quality relief pitcher in Doug Jones whose 14 straight saves in as many opportunities is now a major league record. Ccntcrficlder Joe Carter has MVP qualities in him. At All-Star break he was hitting .283 with 16 dingers and 63 RBI's. The Tribe's lineup is filled with many other high caliber players: Cory Snyder, Julio Franco and Brook Jacoby, to name a few. So why can't they seem to improve? It must be fate. If Cleveland has done anything good for baseball, it's been to provide some good questions for the trivia buff in all of us. Try this classic: Name the only team in major league history to cram a winning season between two 100-loss years. If you guessed the Cleveland Indians you arc absolutely correct. At this point you may be thinking c'mon Jon, why Cleveland? They've always been bad. Why don't you discuss something a little more interesting, undenvater bowling, for example? Well my children, let me tell you a story that all of us who have ever lived in Cleveland or rooted for the Indians know. Once upon a time (1940-1950s) there was a baseball team. I'll call them the Indians. These Indians were so good that everyone wanted to beat them. One day along came a team called the Yankees. They were terrific. They would beat the pants off of everyone they played and soon they were known all around the country as a great ball club. Suddenly all eyes were on the Yankees and off of the Indians. The Indians decided that they would let the Yankees have their fun so they quit being a good team for a while. They decided they would save some glory for the future. Well they are still waiting; still an awful team but someday, maybe even someday soon (this writer hopes and prays), the Indians will be known as the "team to beat." The thought is too good to be true. Okelberry vies for Olympic spot Ethan Yorgason Sports Editor Weber Slate athlete Tcri Okelberry will compete Sunday at the United States Olympic Trials in hopes of becoming one of three javelin throwers to qualify for this year's Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Okelberry, who earned All-American honors in last month's NCAA track and field championships also competed along with WSC steeplechaser Darin Williams last week in a pre-Olympic-Trial meet held in Indianapolis. Williams, who was trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials ran the 3,000 meter race in 8 minutes 49 seconds, several seconds short of the time he needed to qualify. The meet was Williams' last chance to qualify for trials. According to Weber's Women's Track Coach Jim Blaisdell, the meet was inadequate to inspire athletes to achcive their top performances. "It was a very poor meet just the way it was run," he said. "What they said about who was supposed to show (to compete) and who showed was two completely different things." Williams was one of only four steeplechasers to show up for the meet, while only three athletes competed in Okelberry's javelin event. "Tcri didn't throw very well," said Blaisdell. But, he said, neither did anybody else. The Olympic Trials will be held at the same stadium as last week's meet and Blaisdell said Okelberry used the meet mainly to get used to the facilities. (see OLYMPICS on page 8) i" WHO SAYS there's no sports on Weber's campus during summer quarter. These soccer players were seen playing last week on the field west of the Social Science Building. (Signpost photo: Robcen Gillcm) sJiiHDiinn ss ..... iw i Prints and Slides firom the same roll Seattle FilmWorks has adapted Kodak's professional Motion Picture film for use in your 35mm camera. Now you can use the same film with the same fine grain and rich color saturation Hollywood's top studios demand. Its wide exposure latitude is perfect for everyday shots. You can capture special effects, too. Shoot it in bright or low light at up to 1200 ASA. What's more, it's economical. And remember, Seattle FilmWorks lets you choose prints or slides, or both, from the same roll. Try this remarkable film today! 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