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Show Rick-O-Chet Finally putting it all together, Bill Meek's gridiron greats demon-..rated demon-..rated the class that downtown sportswriters prematurely tried to label ton, with earlier in 'the season. Five games had passed and so had most U,e supporters with a three game losing streak following an impressive "Ciy members of the Bleacher Utes gave up their reservations to toamie and the Wyoming ball game simply because the Utes were -destined to lose." Now that's what I call "great support." Needless to the Redskins impressively nipped the Cowboys and last Saturday snowed the Arizona Wildcats 24-0. Although several individual performances rate notariety, the overall ay 0f the team deserves the plug. Defensively the Re,dskins could not be topped and during their portion of play the Wildcats fell to their ! defeat. Repeatedly Coach LaRue's interior line foiled any attempt I Arizona could muster to initiate an offensive game. Scott Robbins who generally spends the majority of his efforts plugging holes in the defensive wall, found his role changing to that of defensive secondary and punt return man. The offense snapped off the yardage that kept the Wildcats between a rock and a hard place all afternoon. Overall the Utes played near perfect ball and have proven their abilities. The question now lies in will this success swell their heads leading them down that unbelievable road to defeat. Changing subjects for a few lines let's look into something that is off-campus yet of interest just the same. Merv "the Magician" Jackson evidently maneuvered .one too many tricks and nearly joined the ranks of ineffectual holdout Joe Kapp as the Utah Stars swept their first three opponents off the court in fine fashion. Last Saturday's 124-1 18 win over the Indiana Pacers served to compound the Stars' confidence in their ability to win without Jackson. It's a shame to watch a man of undefined potential perfect his talents only to waste them on visions of financial gain. Waste is the proper word, for Jackson hasn't played this year and his expectations of substantial financial gain quickly faded with each Star victory. Attempting to analyze another man's mind and motives is a foolish undertaking, but interesting just the same. Possibly "the Magician" felt that with his sterling performance of last year coupled with an obvious spectator appeal in Salt Lake he held the ace of trump negotiation wise. Possibly he expected the fans to do his bidding for him. However few crysfor Jackson have been heard this season, especially after the Stars dropped Indiana. Had the Stars dropped two of their first three, crowd reaction might have been present in favor of "the holdout." But Bill Sharman's cagers progressed each game showing no obvious need for the Ail-American from Utah. Consequently Merv Jackson lost his bargaining position and realized he'd better sign now or join the "Joe Kapp fraternity of holdouts." The Stars are undoubtedly happy to have Jackson back, but he'd better dig deep into his bag of tricks for during his self-imposed ostraciztion a new type of magic has been employed by the Stars and hasn't included Merv Jackson. |