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Show Utah Activities Association Asking for Sponsors KENT SOMERS Review Sports Editor With a plan SALT LAKE CITY that worked for the 1984 Summer Olympics and for other states, the Utah High School Activities Association announced last week it has begun asking businesses to sponsor some of its activi- nesses should be able to keep the UHS-S- A from charging students a fee for participating in such unprofitable activities as drama, speech, tennis and golf. The new plan also should also prevent dropping any activities, said Tree. longer be supported by money made by the state football and basketball tourna- Other states, such as Washington, have been using this method of fundraising for years, Tree said. The Seattle Times sponsors the football playoffs in the Kingdome, said Tree. This year's basketball tournaments will be the first in Utah to be sponsored by a business, said Tree, with Coca- -' Cola providing funding and some ad- ments. vertising. It gives us the opportunity to keep those producing activiwho added that some said Tree, ties, activities could possibly have been cut if the board of directors had not voted for the new proposal. Tree said enlisting the help of busi will put on some advertising type of things, Tree said. And the d deal venture is not just a with the UHSSA receiving all the benefits, according to Tree. The companies are asking for very little but the name association the high school activities association. Its good ties. Executive Director Marion Tree said the move was needed because of the costs of unprofitable activities could no Coca-Col- non-reven- ue a one-side- public relations for them, he said. The only drawback to the deal, said Tree, is that some people on the board of directors have misgivings about high school activities being run for the benefit of business. But Tree said it would be difficult to raise money any other way because the UHSSA does not operate on tax money and accepts only a nominal fee from each member high school. And with school districts facing budget restrictions, Tree said it would be difficult to ask the schools for more money. He said several companies have enrolled in the program, with several more expected in the near future. And most of them, like Reagan Outdoor Advertising, are doing so because of the public relations benefits. Bill Reagan (of Reagan Outdoor Advertising) doesnt expect to recoup the money, Tree said, but it is good pub Tree has been happy with the response of local businesses to the proposal and anticipates the plan succeeding. But Tree is also aware that such interest could cause a bidding war if the UHSSA is not careful. I dont want to get into a bidding war, but I can see the price going up because the demand will go up," he said. The plan started this fall when the board decided to hire Summit Group, a public relations firm. Summit sent letters to businesses asking if they would be interested in supporting high school athletics financially. the could also plan Eventually, give The response to the letters was encourthe association the opportunity to add aging, and the board voted to give the activities, such as girls soccer, accord- plan a try. Tree said the plan should be successing to Tree. That way, Tree explained, sponsors ful, and the UHSSA will be careful could support the more popular sports about which businesses it chooses to and the money saved could distributed sponsor the activities and tobacco and beer companies will excluded. to the poorer activities. lic relations, and he is excited about high school activities and about doing it." Reagan Outdoor Advertising will sponsor the football tournaments and forensics, said Tree. The plan works this way, according to Tree. A company contributes an average of $6,000 to $7,000 to sponsor an activity, said Tree, enabling the UHSSA to save money. For example, the monpours into the basketball ey Coca-Col- a tournaments should allow the association to shift money to minor sports and activities. Page 1C North Edition Lakeside Review Wednesday, December 28, 1983 Movies Relect Hollywoods Best and Worst The Best BARRY MERS KAWA and KENT SO- Review Staff d Apollo Creed, one of the characters in movie history, is at his pre-figpress conference with unknown challenger Rocky Balboa. Creed is best-name- ht asked what he thinks of his op- ponent. Hes Italian, he says to newsmen seriously. What does that mean?" porter asks. "If he cook. a re- cant fight, I bet he can Gary Cooper, playing a dying Lou Gehrig in his last appearance at Yankee Stadium, steps to the microphone and says: I may have been given a bad break. But today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. The Worst hustler obsessed with the idea of beating Minnesota Fats (Gleason) in a big money match. Scott won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Newmans manager who stakes him to the winner-take-a- ll match in the finale. Realistic dingy pool-ha- ll pool BRIAN'S SONG When it premiered on the small screen in 1970, this movie proved quality doesnt mean a made-for-televisi- movies has to open at a theatre. The real life story of Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolos battle with cancer and his friendship with Gale Sayers is a milestone in the made for television movies. Billy Dee Williams gives an award winning performance as Sayers and James Caan is still remembered for his portrayal of a dying Piccolo. THE HUSTLER A fabulous cast with Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott couldnt miss in this 1961 story of a pool hustler in New York City. Newman plays a small-tim- e atmospheres and good background locations added to g this picture. award-winnin- BODY AND SOUL John Garfield gives one of the greatest performances ever seen in a boxing movie in this 1947 classic. Garfield plays an unscrupu- . lous fighter from the slums who lets nothing stand in his way as he battles to the top. Garfield learns in time dishonesty is not always the best way in the fight game and in life. For reasons known only to Robby Benson, sports movies offer some of the most unmem-orabl- e moments in cinematic history. Often times, theres not a dry eye in the house when the audience realizes they paid four bucks to see this trash. Bad sports movies can usually be put into one of three categories. The Comeback From Athletes Foot Syndrome Aimed at the teen-ag- e audience who brought back a market for films, it was a success to make movies where the star is stricken with something similar to athletes foot or chapped lips. But overcoming these setbacks, the hero wins in the end and lives happily ever after. The Alleged Sports Biography 3-- D box-offi- ce Who can ever forget William Bendix playing the great Babe Ruth? Weve Or how about Muhammad Ali knocking out the audience in the 1978 The Greatest? He put everyone to sleep. Sports tried. biographies are often filled with endless cliches and imagined heroics. Made For Television Sports Movie For example, in sports news you might have the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team winning the gold medal. Hire Karl Malden to play the coach and gather a cast1 of hockey players turned actors and, voila, you have an instant television movie to put up against reruns of The Well take the any day. two-ho- ur m ut ly was. A disappointing 1977 effort on one of the most fascinating and appealing sports figures of all time. Muhammad Ali plays him- self in this screen biography chronicaling his early days as a gold medal winner in the 1960 Rome Olympics to his fight with George Foreman in 1974. Ali captures none of his appeal on film and gives one of the worst acting performances ever seen in a sports movie. A poor script focused on several unrelated incidents in Alis life. Also inexcusable in this flop was the shortage of fight clips. A documentary on Alis life and fights would have been more appropriate atrather than this tempt to capitalize on his popularity at the time. ROCKY A club fighter gets his big chance to fight for the heavyweight championship. Although Rocky is admittedly a hackneyed plot, Sylvester Stallone was able to create one of the most memorable motion picture characters in history with his portrayal of Rocky Balboa, bum. a The amazing thing about the film is that after you have seen it, you have to admit the whole thing was hokey. But even film snobs had to bow their heads and admit with red faces, I box-offi- low-budg- et ICE CASTLES A promising young figure skater falls in love with a bush league hockey player. And in two short hours the young woman dumps the hockey puck, goes blind, takes hockey puck back and then skates in the finals. Hello, audience? Are you still there? Audience? Despite good performances by Colleen Dewhurst as a friend of the skater and Tom Skewitt as her father, this movie was too sappy to like. Robby Benson plays his typical whiny, picked-o- n boyfriend character who turns out to be a decent guy in the end. But Bensons performance is decent compared to the script, which probably was written in 10 minutes during a Sunday segment of the ABCs Wide World of Sports. liked it. BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY Chances are if youre a real sports film fan, youve seen this movie on Saturday evening television during the summers, when network affiliates have nothing else to put on. But this film, starring Robert DeNiro as a dying baseball catcher is more than a sports film, although it centers around the rigors and pressures of ma- jor league baseball. If you ever get the chance to see this one on a Saturday after- noon in the summer, give up your tee time. Its worth it. PRIDE OF THE YANKEES There are no dry eyes in the house when a dying Lou Gehrig, played by Gary Cooper, makes his famous farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in one of the most memorable final sequences ever filmed. Cooper is magnificent in this 1942 version of the life of the Iron Horse. Poignant, exciting this movie set and the standard for all sports biog- SEMI TOUGH that Dan Jenkins, the sportswriter, sneaking out of the theater? Probably. And who can blame him after seeing what Hollywood did when making a mo4ie based on his book, The book was unique, funny and honest. The movie was stale, boring and one of the dumbest sports films ever made. But what made this movie especially disappointing was not the bad screenplay adaptation but the failure to produce a movie even remotely approach the quality of the book. Hey, was Semi-Toug- h? d, raphies. Teresa Wright is excellent as his patient, loving wife and Babe Ruth makes an appearance in the movie. Pride of the Yankees is as good the 100th time as it is the first. Ruth remains one of the worst movies ever made. William Bendix is miscast as the Babe and fails to capture any of the excitement and charisma that Ruth generated. Sappy writing and over sentimental cliches mark a script destined for oblivion. For example, Ruth hits three home runs in his final game and tells the boys in the dug-othat his career is over. And the audience is treated to Ruth promising a dying boy in the hospital that he will hit a home run for him that day. Is anyone surprised when he does? This could have been one of the great biography movies ever with a more realistic approach depicting Babe Ruth as he real- -' THE GREATEST Corny?, Sure. Stuffed like a meaty enchilada with cliches? You know it. Fun to watch? Yes, even the bad ones. When they are good, sports movies, like television, books and hamburgers, are very good. But when they are bad, they reek like the bottom of a cowboys boots. Lets take a look at in our opinsome of the best ions of course. fast-pace- THE BABE RUTH STORY This 1948 biography of Babe Illustration by Dan Burr |