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Show by Jim Murray The Newspaper r A Paee B1 Wednesday, April 1,1981 'I iV . V5 v 1 . . .... - " , U. , - V Phil and Steve Mahre, America's twin World Cup threat. Phil Mahre crowned World Cup champion For the first time in the 14-year history of the World Cup tour, the crystal globe will be making its home across the Atlantic in the quiet mountain town of Yakima, Washington It will reside with its newest owner, 23-year-old Phil Mahre, who has become the first American ever to wrestle ski racing's highest accolade away from his European counterparts. Mahre clinched the title by finishing second in the giant' slalom event at Laax, Switzerland Swit-zerland Saturday. The crucial cru-cial points gained by Mahre were enough to move him past his nemesis, Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark, who until this race stood atop the overall standings with 260 points. Mahre wound up the season with 266 points. It was without a doubt one of the more exciting races of the year. After the first run, Stenmark Sten-mark held on to first place by w mm x V - t I j ' . . a r f. v: " J;' J 'f ,,. If, . J -si:- ; '-. . ' ( r:, vV I ' i. x - - I Y . ? Christin Cooper only the barest of margins, three hundredths of a second. Phil, after starting number one, was in second position followed closely by the Soviet, Alexander Zhi-rov. Zhi-rov. On the second run, Zhirov again displayed his late season talents. He posted the fastest run of the day to capture the race and extended ex-tended his winning streak to four in a row. Mahre managed to sneak past Stenmark for second place in the race and the nine points he gained were enough to push him past the Swede in the overall standings. stand-ings. "Going into the race I felt really confident because I thought I had been skiing well for the past few weeks," said Mahre. "But as with other races, I went into it trying just to win the race. I felt if I could win the race, then the overall would take care of itself. "The winter has been a hard one because I had to hurry from one event to the other. I started in 26 races, which is a lot," said the champion. "I had a tough start in December because I was still suffering a bit from my Lake Placid injury of 1979. In January things suddenly got much better. But through it all, I never lost confidence in my chances to win races and to win the cup." Stenmark, as usual, was humble in defeat. "Phil was again very strong today and he deserves the success. He is a fair World Cup winner, for he made points in all three disciplines and was consistent all year," he said following the race. "The turn of the season came for me at Aspen where I really skied fast and gave it all I could to win that race, but all my efforts were not enough. I needed a long time to accept that disappointment disappoint-ment and I lost my motivation motiva-tion after that." Zhirov's four consecutive wins were enough to boost him into third place in the overall World Cup standings. Finishing in fourth place was Steve Mahre, Phil's twin brother. Phil and Steve Mahre now rank as the two best American male skiers in U.S. Ski Team history. The accomplishments of the Mahres led the team to what is considered its best season ever. In the women's overall World Cup standings, there were three American women in the top 10: Christin Cooper in fourth, Tamara McKinney in sixth and Cindy Nelson in eighth. McKinney also finished first in the women's giant slalom standings, stand-ings, while Cooper was second in the slalom standings. Perhaps the only disappointment dis-appointment for the Americans Ameri-cans in the last weekend of World Cup competition was in the parallel slalom races, ,which counted toward the .Nation's Cup standings. After 71 races in 11 countries, coun-tries, the United States finished a mere eight points short of overtaking the Austrians for second place in the standings. Switzerland won the Nation's Cup with 1,584 points, followed by Austria with 1,284 and the United States with 1,276. Italy was a distant fourth with 738. Printed below is a brief summary of how the Americans Ameri-cans performed on the World Cup circuit this season : Women Christin Cooper: second in slalom, seventh in giant slalom, fourth overall. Tamara Tam-ara McKinney: Seventh in slalom, first in giant slalom, sixth overall. Cindy Nelson: 12th in giant slalom, eighth overall. Holly Flanders: seventh in downhill, 19th overall. Abbi Fisher: 14th in slalom. Men Phil Mahre: second in slalom, third in giant slalom, first overall. Steve Mahre: third in slalom, 11th in giant slalom, fourth overall. Pete Patterson: 22nd in downhill. John Buxman: 26th in slalom. Park City gets set for Celebrity Invitational The timing couldn't have been better. Phil Mahre, fresh from his dramatic World Cup triumph, will be in Park City next week to compete in the sixth annual United States Ski Team Celebrity Invitational. Invita-tional. After a three-year hiatus in Sun Valley, the celebrity fundraiser is returning to Park City, where it began five years ago as the Jill St. John-Paul Masson Celebrity Ski Classic. In the first four years it was held, the event raised more than $100,000 for the U.S. Ski Educational Foundation, Foun-dation, the fundnnsing arm of the U.S. Ski Tt n. Neither Jill St. John nor Paul Masson will be in Park City this year, but a host of other celebrities and sponsors spon-sors is expected. Among those on the list are William Devane, Barbi Benton, George Hamilton, Susan St. James, Sam Melville, Stein Eriksen, Dirk Benedict, Susan George, Hal Linden and Adam West. Representing the U.S. Alpine Ski Team will be Phil and Steve Mahre, Christin Cooper, Tamara McKinney, Cindy Nelson, Abbi Fisher, Pete Patterson, Mark Tache and Park City's Roxanne Toly. Also expected are nordic competitors Kerry Lynch, Jeff Davis, Joanne Musolf, Pat Engberg and DanSimoneau. The list of sponsors in eludes the Hu' man Chris-tensen Chris-tensen Corro, jon, Northwest North-west Energy, Dean1"'" , American Express, Mil;; r Beer, Carrera International, Subaru of American and U.S. Tobacco. Kicking off the three-day event will be a welcoming party on Thursday evening, April 9. The party will move to Clementine on Friday morning to start the serious skiing. This is the way the U.S. Ski Team office describes de-scribes the events to follow: Challenge The U.S. Ski Team "Here it is! The opportunity oppor-tunity to pit your prodigious ski racing skills against the U.S. Ski Team. The race will be in the NASTAR format, your elapsed time on the giant slalom course will be measured opposite that of the U.S. Ski Team, determining determin-ing the appropriate award; bronze, silver, gold. "The Bronze Medal will be awarded to fearless challenge chal-lenge racers with a finishing t: .ie. The Silver, a precious medal, given to the precious competitors who display sterling racing qualities as they challenge the Ski Team. The much coveted highly acclaimed Gold Medal will be bestowed to racers endowed en-dowed with masterful racing skills nearly equalling those of the U.S. Ski Team. "If a challenger's time,, after zigging and zagging through the gates, eclipses that of the Ski Team, Alpine Team Director Bill Marolt will contact the racer re garding membership on next year's World Championship Team." Grudge Races "The Celebrity Event Grudge Races offer you an opportunity to place your racing talents on the line, or back the talents of another premier racer. For a wager of $50 or more, you race head-to-head (handicap negotiable) ne-gotiable) against your willing challenger. The first racer across the finish wins, the loser pays off the wager in the form of a tax-deductible contribution to the U.S. Ski Educational Foundation. "If you prefer to sponsor another racer in lieu of possible embarassment if you raced yourself, it can be even more exciting! Take, for instance, a race where you sponsored Phil Mahre and another ( non-competitive) sponsor backed Steve Mahre, or you can sponsor a celebrity to race against a sponsored ski team member..." Celebrity Team Challenge Giant Slalom "You are a member of one of the 16 Celebrity Challenge Teams, co-captained by one of the celebrities and a U.S. Ski Team member. The teams are paired off and race head-to-head in a dual giant slalom format. Each team will have an odd num: ber of racers (not a number of odd racers). "To insure that no one has an advantage, each racer will be handicapped. The team with the winning record advances to the next round. The Challenge Series is a double elimination tournament staged over two days, allowing each team at least two chances at victory. If you are derailed in the first round, you stili have an opportunity to win the title moving up through the loser's bracket." For more details, please pick up next week's issue of The Newspaper. Fred who Lynn or Astaire? Palm Springs I like to watch Fred Lynn play baseball for the same reason I like to watch sharks swim, eagles fly. tigers hunt. Kelly dance. Tracy act, Crosby sing, a Frenchman cook, a German shoot or an Indian ride. It's like watching Sugar Ray Robinson work the jab, Gale Savers sweep an end, Bill Shoemaker open a lead, Jimmy Clark drive a Lotus or Sam Snead come out of the trees. Crenshaw putt. It looks easy. You're not conscious of all-out effort, strain. There's a principle called "empathy" in which the viewer identifies with the object or the performer, and he agonizes for his success. Trapeze artists and jugglers well know this and manage to work into their routines stumbles or falls or near-mishaps near-mishaps till they have the audience gritting its teeth, sitting on the edge of its seat, and sweating profusely for fear of their failure. It's like watching your kid do a rope climb in Cub Scouts. Nervous wreck time. Fred Lynn makes it look easy. You can sit back and relax. His hat doesn't fly off, his shirt doesn't come out, he looks as if he's playing checkers in the firehouse when it's the bottom of the ninth and three men are on and the Series is on the line. You remember how effortlessly Bing Crosby used to croon? Ten million guys from coast-to-coast were sure they could do it as well and tried to in the shower. Perry Como had it, too. Relaxation to the point of sleepy Iangour. Hemingway wrote that way. It read as if it were dashed off on the back of an envelope between shots of Calvados. It's not as common as you think. Some of the great ones have not exactly been em-pathic. em-pathic. Some pitchers seem to get guys out with mirrors. They grunt when they let go of a curve ball. Lots of fighters bleed for their titles. Even the great Stan Musial crouched over the plate like a sniper peering around a corner in house-to-house fighting. Lou Gehrig often went after a curve like a guy busting heads in a crap raid. A great runner like Jim Taylor crawled for half his annual 1,000 yards on his nose. Some operatic tenors wear you out getting to high C. Relievers like Don Stanhouse have your fingernails down to the nub by the time they get through with their three-walk, five 3-and-2 count stints. Joe DiMaggio was the towering epitome of non-anxiety, not-too-worry baseball. No one played it with more grace and ease. DiMag was always in position to hit or catch a flying baseball. Old-timers say Hal Chase had this attribute, but DiMaggio was just there the right place at the right time. DiMag always had the short throw, the good pitch to hit, the easy lope to the alley. Fred Lynn is this way. "I've been blessed," he admits. There never has been a time when hitting, throwing or catching a baseball was a bothersome chore to him. Lynn play, the game at a graceful glide. His first year up. he not only won the Rookie-of-the-year, he won the most Valuable Player, as well. No one had ever done that before. No one is likely to do it soon again. He led the league in slugging and the world in catching line drives over his head. It would be an understatement to call him "a natural " Most guys who can hit a baseball proficiently pro-ficiently regard outl'ielding as doing windows, a form of housework beneath them. Lynn is just as motivated with a glove as with a bat. "I pride myself on my defense more than my hitting," he admitted at the Angels' training camp down here the other day. "I'd almost rather catch a triple than hit one." In his ease, he does both. Croat hitters get away with unnrthodoxics. Roberto Clemente kept his left foot in the vicinity of the dugout steps, or, as Lefty Gomez would say, he "had one foot in the American Association." So did another great hitter. Al Simmons. But Al wound up with a .:!;-! average. Fred L nn stands at the plate in the classic pose they teach you in the books, feet no wider than the shoulders, short stride into the pitch, bat level, hands close to the body. A left-handed DiMaggio. But form is not enough. Bat speed, concentration, confidence and intelligence play a role. "Good hitters may get up to the ball eccentrically, but they all come into the hitting area in good position," Lynn notes. "Bad hitters may have schoolbook form, but you'll find they have a bad habit in the strike zone." Yeah, like they miss it. Lynn looks like a born .330 hitter. What is surprising is that he is a .500 slugger. Modern hitters tend to run to tw o types: those who can hit for average, and those w ho can hit for homers. Lynn is a two-way player at the bat, too. He hit 39 homers one year, 47 doubles another. If he has a weakness, it's selectivity. Like a sailor off a whaler, all pitches look like beauty winners to him. Ted Williams used to walk 162, 156 times a year. Fred Lynn settles for 82, 75, even 48. Williams struck out like, 39, 41 times a year. Freddie has hit 90. Still, watching him play ball is like watching a master craftsman make a watch, or cut a diamond. There is no waste. Fred Lynn stole 12 bases last year. That's all he tried. If you want nine innings of heart-in-your mouth baseball, if you want to watch a guy scratch, scramble, fight, fidget, and get his suit dirty trying to play the game, go watch fete Rose. If you want to watch a guy who could play it in a top hat and tails and, like Fred Astaire, not even sweat, catch Fred Lynn. Some guys play the game like strong-arm strong-arm robbery. Freddie plays it like an elegant jewel theif, a cat burglar. Even the victims admire it. ffi) 1981 Los Angeles Times 5 I I? s-lJ m& Cal 9 r "5&3 eccsfssis zcr'GirZi& isccyiu 4cr'C5"s eci Don't wait until summer 1 100 RAYON HAWAIIAN SHIRTS d Regular $22.50 Now $17.95 Ladies sizes only ico Katies 266 ! GSrii ffHJiSFS fiTCSkjaTS tfftWUft-rfCTS ffCs.Q5Cf5 CTCiOCTS STvOjM :-:-:-:-:o:v:v:v:-:-:-:-:-:-:vv-:-:-:-:i J HOLIDAY VILLAGE MALL, PARK CITY, UT - 649-6541 $1.00 Economy Night Monday Evening $1.00); STARTS FRIDAY APRIL 3RD S&vl ?' l The State of the Art in 715. 915 : :! (fl I J w r .i Living Animation. R : THE BEST REVIEWS OF THE YEAR! BARBARA HERSHEY PETER O'TOOLE SAT. SUN 1:30-4 00 7.00-9:15 MON. 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