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Show yrr yv " Ao.sf Valuable Piece True Story The week More Supr Bowl XVI in Detroit, 49er vs gals, a tirket walper took out a cIjs sified advertisement in a loral news-papHe had two tir kets He wanted to sell them for $ 50 ear h A guy answered the ad, agreed to the prire Is-- n 1 Meet me downtown at Hotel X," the scalper said Meet me at 3 p rn on the skywalk, above the lobby I'll be wearing a bright red jacket " The guy showed up on time at the hotel. Saw the red jacket. Climbed up the stairs to the skywalk. Introduced himself The scalper motioned him over to the edge of the skywalk All right," the scalper said Heres what we'll do This envelope has the tickets You hand me the money. I'll hand you the tickets at the same time " OK, said the customer Ww j&alt Section B " (trie more Ibirg said the sr alja-If you pull out a badge and try to arrest me you re going right over the side of this sidewalk You II probably land face first in the lobby The customer who wasnt a cop still shuddered a bit as he handed over the money Then he went out and bought himself a stiff drink It is a sobering thought to be sure But as civilization has developed in the latter half of the 20th century, a Super Bowl tirket has Drome the most powerful piece of cardboard in the most powerful nation on earth Nothing is more valuable Nothing A tirket to see Bruce Springsteen0 Small potatoes A ticket for Cats" on Broadway? No problem A ticket to watch Bonald Reagan's surgery from the viewing gallery0 Piece of cake But a Super Bowl ticket? Get ready to fork over the dough, or go over the ake Tuesday Morning t I ryr f y rrryi v i y1 rail Considering tht any ordinary citizen with an ordinary television ran glorn Sunday s game for free and not have to pul up with 79 000 other yahoos in New Orleans that is an extraordinary sociological development few people realize that Super Bowl I, bark in 1967, didn't even fill the L A Coliseum Approximately 20,000 seats were empty But today with Super Bowl XX a scant CXL.IV hours away a silly little tirket to a silly little football game has become the yardstick by which clout is measured in America Your company can be in the Fortune 500 Your chief executive can be on the cover of Time Doesn't mean a thing if you don't have two seats between the end zones come late January Beverly Gianna, who works for the New Orleans Tourist Board, isn't complaining "The crowd that comes to the Su per flow I has become me of h.gh rollers " Gianna told or.e wire iervir e lait week There are more of 'Hern earh year and the, re here to .pend their dollars all firt riais They ah want hrnousines" Limousines, and tickets Got to have tbern Got to get them Sca'pers are asking up to f .500 this t.rne year, the NFL tries to figure out a better, more fair way to d.str.bute the tickets Kvery year, just i.ke a coach for the Houston Oilers the new plan fails miserably and is replaced by another Raising the fare value doesn't seem to help Two years ago face value of a Super Bowl tie ket was $40 Today it's $75 The demand won t quit According to the leagues tirket formula, each of the two participating Super Bowl teams must receive 25 ;ercent of the seats In addition, the host team this year, the Saints - receives 10 percent The other 25 NFL franchises receive I percent 21, 1986 x v vt "n y y I'trfrn Page each And the leftover B is kept by tfte league office from that pomt, the deals start flying Aithougn the tickets are printed with a stern warning not to l them the warning is just about as effective as the surgeon general's warning on cigarette cartons Ev-er- 1 tribune January fy p p yy fy yfi yr-- i of Cardboard in America? A Ticket to the Super Bowl r By Mark Purdy Knight Kidder ,Vwipap-- f yj w Players around the league will buy tickets from their own team, then sell them to travel agents in return for ' special discounted trips to Tahiti or other favors Companies that advertise on local NFL radio broadcasts generally can buy four or six tickets, to ho knows where those seats eventu-all- y end up0 You can see how scalpers manage to accumulate blocks of 20 or 30 seats In Chicago even before the Bears beat the Rams, scalpers were quoting prices of $750 each for tickets to this Sunday s game at the Superdome. That amounts to merely a 1,000 peror about half the nor cent markup mal markup for official Super Bowl The way the Nf Ls marketofficial reping department operates, licas of Jim McMahon s ROZELLE headhand probably will be going for $10 earh on Bourbon Street And they'll probably sell out that respect New Orleans is a perfect Super Bowl town It is a quaint city, one that happily indulges in that quaint American tradition of at hotels and restaurants. The last time New Orleans played host to the Super Bowl, in 1981, one reporter asked NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle about such heinous practices I even saw a clerk in a gift shop mark up the price of M&M's from 30 cents to 35 cents," the reporter said. "That's the choking point, Rozelle snapped, in mock outrage "Theyre through Then he laughed Why not0 He already had a ticket In price-gougin- porls Information For Recorded .''cores CM t Call I 237-2023 I.oeal Call -- BOO-662- 4 g 1 237-20- 0 The Race Is On Dantley, English By Lex Hemphill Tribune Sports Writer The closest race in the NBA right now is not between two teams; it's between two players. The Jazz's Adrian Dantley and the Nuggets' Alex English, two forwards who have combined for three NBA scoring championships in the 1980s, have been playing leapfrog all season in their personal race to annex anoth- er one. are generally secondary importance at this point Sure, these items of of. the season. But the Dantley-Englisrace has become fascinating just by the sheer closeness of it. A race? It's been almost a dead-hea- t throughout the first half of the season. Entering the game Tuesday night at the Salt Palace, English leads Dantley by of a point, And it's not just a coincidence that they should arrive on the Palace floor together Tuesday night so close to each other in scoring average; its been that way all season. From the very first issue of the NBAs weekly statistics sheets, English and Dantley have been running in the league in scoring. In the first 88 days of the season, the lead has changed hands between them no fewer than 16 times. In one stretch between Nov. 24 and Dec. 11, English and Dantley jumped over each other nine times. Since then, the two of them have been trading places on nearly a weekly basis. Dantley took the lead for 10 days, then English for five days over Christmas, then Dantley for nine, English for five, Dantley for four, and now English for the last eight. English and Dantley haven't been separated by more than a full point since Nov. 22. It's as if theyre playing games matching with each other from different cities each night. Dantley has had 24 games this season, English 22, Dantley has led his team in scoring in 34 of the 39 games hes played, English in 34 of 40. And on it goes. They are both aware of the race. Dantley says he doesnt even have to check the papers because Ive got people calling me up all the time tellthis and ing me, Youre averaging he's averaging that. " They both also underplay the significance of the scoring title to them, which is perhaps easier for them to get away with, since they've each won it before Dantley in 1981 and 1984 and English in 1983. Of course, it's not fashionable for either one of them to say they want to win the scoring title; scorers can't get away with that like rebounders can. Buck Williams can say he'd like to lead the league in rebounding, but it doesn't sound good for anybody to say he wants to leaH 'eague in scoring. It sounds selfish, said Jazz Coach Frank Layden. "Rebounding is a d more goal." So if it sounds too selfish for English or Dantley to covet the title openly, let Layden talk about it. He says flatly that he wants Dantley to win it. Not only that, but he seems to be doing something about it. When the Jazz were getting blown out by 34 by the Clippers the other night in L.A., he left Dantley in to score 12 fourth-quarte- r points. He said he even checked to see how many points A.D. had before he took him out. Layden is unabashed about his interest in having his player win the title "I think it's important to him and I think its important to our franchise. And why the heck shouldn't he have it? . . . I'm asking him for his loyalty and I want him to do everv-ihm- g I want. So why shouldn't I want him to win the scoring title and do everything I can to have him do it?" And doing everything he can evidently includes letting AD. get his average if the Jazz are out of a game at the end. Reasons Layden, "I think it's a little tougher the other way, if youre winning by 30, to leave him in and let him score. Then you have a moral question. But if youre behind h Jazz-Nugge- 29.55-29.3- 8. y and you're ing him leavin to score, I dont think thats cheating any- body or hurting the other coach or team or anything. At the same time, for Scoring Title Neck-and-Ne- ck I think I owe him some of that too. Why shouldnt he win it if he can win it?" Of course, Dantley's scoring race is not a consideration to Layden when his team is still trying to win a game. If, for instance, Dantley started to shoot Jazz Tonight At DENVER NUGGETS Sort Pokxe, 7:30 p.m. KLUB-rodi- o (570 AM) ttit Proboblt Slorlers Pol. F Adrion Dotrtley, 29 4 F 14.4 Karl Malone, 8.7 C Mark Eaton, G Rickey Green, 10 8 Bob Honsen, 10.5 G The Nuggets have lost three Nugoeti Glance gomes in o row, and that should make the iau wary. The Nuggets haven't lost tour In a row In two years, and the last time they visited the Palace, they were riding o three-gom- e slide and ended It by routing the Jazz. The Nuggets played their last game, o loss at New Jersey Saturday, without Nott and Cooper, who were sidelined with sore knees. They are both expected back tor this one, although Natt may come oft the bench. The Nuggets, who hove lost nine ot their last 10 on the rood, complete the first half of their schedule with this game. It they win, they'll be same os they were lost year at the midway point. home-stan- d e Jazz Glance The Jazz begin a with this game; they'll be ploying eight of their next nine at home before the break. Monday, they practiced for obout an hour at the Salt Palace and then hung around to shoot a TV commercial for team and car dealer Lorry H. 7 at home. They have sold Miller. The Jazz are out nine at their 18 home dates so far, and their overoge home attendance ot 11,432 ranks ninth In the NBA, one soot oheod ot the Nuggets. The Jazz are 2 ogainst the Nuggets this year, losing at the Palace on Nov. 29 and losing in Denver 10 days ago after leoding by 14 in the third. Jcii, every time he got it or do something that was hurting the team, then I dont think I should give him the leeway to win the scoring title, said Layden. I think, as long as he's playing hard and hes trying to help the team win, then why not help him on those nights that we can't win? Denver Coach Doug Moe is decidedly less conscious of the Dantley-Englis- h scoring race. But he might get interested if this all comes down to a dramatic finish. Imagine it: April 12, 1986, Jazz vs. Nuggets at McNichols Arena in the final game of the regular season. Say the two teams are already locked into their final positions in the standings, and their finale will have no effect on other teams. And say Dantley and Eng- lish are neck-and-nec- k, as close as they are now. You don't think Layden or Moe will do what he can to get his player the scoring title? Moe actually faced this situation once before when he was coaching San An- It was tonio. April 9, 1978. The Spurs George Gervin and the Nuggets David Thompson went to the final day of the season al- most tied for the scoring Gervin 26.77-poi- lead. had a aver- age; Thompson was at 26.57. Thompson had an afternoon game in Detroit, Gervin a night game in New Orleans. The Nuggets, who had already clinched the Midwest Division title, let Thompson loose for 73 points that afternoon, and he jumped ahead of Gervin at 27.15. So the Iceman, whose Spurs had already clinched the Central Division, needed 58 points against the Jazz that night to win the title. He got 63, giving him the first of his four scoring titles at 27.22. I remember asking Doug before the game, 'Are you going to go to Gervin? recalled Jazz broadcasting director David Fredman, who was then the Jazzs p.r. man in New Orleans. "He said, 'Well, the game doesn't mean anything in the standings to either team and I think it would be nice to have one of our players win the scoring title. " That 1978 scramble was the closest scoring race in NBA history and the only one closer than the current Dantley-Englisrace. Yet, if Dantley and English maintain their paces, their race will actually be more of a two-ma- n drama than that one. because, as Fredman recalled, the Jazzs Pete Maravich was actually the scoring leader for most of that 1977-7- 8 season before a knee injury finished him. The Pistol played in just 50 games and wound up at 27 0 It does seem fitting that, if there is to be a two-ma- n scoring race this season, it should be between these two. They are the NBA's two most prolific scorers of the '80s. English has scored the most points in the decade (13,266), while Dantley, who has played in 100 fewer games than English due to injury, has the highest average (29.5). Both players were chosen in the 1976 draft (Dantley sixth and English 23rd), and both are now in the midst of their 10th pro season. They did not find a home early in their careers, Dantley playing for four teams and English for three in their first four years in the NBA. But they have both found a home in the mountains in the h '80s. For all of these similarities, they are, of course, quite opposite in the way they put the ball in the basket. The muscular Dantley bludgeons inside and gets to the line, while the smooth English slithers and glides and shoots from the top of his outstretched arms. In their different ways, they produce similar results. Besides scoring 29 points a game, both are averaging 4.9 rebounds and both are shooting over, 50 percent from the floor and ever 80 percent from the line. seasons, They are having All-Stbut it is likely only one of them will be starting as a forward for the West when the fan ballots are counted. English seemed to have a safe lock on a starting berth, while Dantley. who has started five of the last six Games, was trailing at the last count and may have to hope to make it as a reserve by the vote of the coaches. I honestly think this- that Dant-ley- s having maybe the best year he's ever had in terms of his whole overall team attitude and everything else. said Layden. And Id really feel badteam. ly if he didnt make the I think this is one year that he definitely deserves to make it." And if he doesnt, well, there's always the scoring race. Dantley has no "I incentive clauses in his contract get paid just for doing my job, he so winning the scoring title says won't have any monetary benefit for him. On the other hand, Dantley noted that English becomes a free agent after this season and. he said. "It's very interesting, when a guy's a free agent, how hungry he gets." But English has played at such a consistent level over the last five years that he doesnt need extra incentive to do what he's doing. English told the Rocky Mountain Sen's, "I'll do what it takes to help my team win. If he or I win the scoring title, All-St- All-St- team-oriente- fine. Fine. But, again, Layden isn't so on the subject. "I think it's very important in pro basketball; I think it s a selling point," said Layden. I think people identify with Dantley being the high scorer in the league. . . . Let's say that Dantley averages only 27 points a game and never wins the scoring title. Then he's Adrian Dantley. But now he's Adrian Dantley, the league's leading scorer. Well, not just now, Frank. But maybe after Tuesday's game, the way the two of them have been batting this thing around. neutral Trlbun Voff Pfoo bv Ai Horimonn Adrian Dantley is going after his third NBA scoring title. Frank Layden says hes having his best overall season ever. Tribune Stott Photo by Rick Egon Denvers Alex English has scored more points in the 1980s than any other NBA player 13,266. Hell get more tonight. Kansas Reject Tries To Rebuild Titans By Roger Graves Tribune Sports Writer Just because he has resurfaced at Oral Roberts University, Ted Owens isn't trumpeting himself as a born-agai- n Christian. Born again? Yes. Owens is a born-agai- college n ketball coach. But Owens has always been a Christian. "It's been a little like starting over, but it's been extremely enjoyable and challenging, assures Owens, who accepted the head job at Oral Roberts after building one of the most powerful college programs in the Midwest at the University of Kansas before being released by the Jayhawks and making way for Larry Brown in 1983. You know, I was out of coaching for two years," continued Owens, who will guide Oral Roberts against BYU Tuesday at 6.30 p.m. MST in Tulsa, Okla. "It's like they say, you never really appreciate something until its taken from you. It's tough when youve been a head coach for 19 years at the same university to wake up one day and find out you're gone. The time off was relaxing for about two weeks. But then you start to get itchy. When something's been your life like basketball has been mine, you dont just walk away from it. It was hard to leave college coaching and its been a lot of fun becoming involved again at Oral Roberts." Yes, Owens is experiencing a personal renaissance at Oral Roberts. Yet, he is still remembered throughout Big Eight country for his eight seasons and many milestones while at Kansas. Owens became a coaching minis legend at Kansas. He guided the to the Final Four in 1971 and 1974. He won six Big Eight championships, secured invitations to seven NCAA and two NIT tournaments, and was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year on five occasions. In 1978, Jay-hawk- i i bas- i BYU at Oral Roberts Tonight at the Mobee Center, Tulsa, 4:30 p.m. KSL-T(Chonnel 5), KSL Rodio (1140) Probable Slorlers BYU, Pos. Orol Roberts, Jeff Chatman, 18.9 F AKIn 14.1 Brent Stephenson, 6.4 F Mourlce Smith, 13.4 Tom Gneiting, 6.7 C Brian Miles, 8.8 Bob Capener, 12.9 G Woody Jones, 12.3 Richie Webb, 6.2 G Willie Irons, 8 when Kansas ascended to a 24-- 5 record, Owens was named National Coach of the Year by Basketball Weekly. after records of and in 1982 and 1983, Kansas waved goodbye to Owens. That was one of the most emotional times of my life," remembers Owens. But you have to keep going. Owens remained active with college basketball by working as a color commentator for Pac-1and Wichita State telecasts. But coaching is where he belonged. "When the job opened at Oral Roberts, I just felt it was an ideal situation to coach and stay close to home, admitted Owens, a native of Hollis, Okla. "I jumped at the chance and was fortunate to get hired. Its been a good situation and were trying to build the program back up. It may take some time, but I think weve got a good headstart on it." Ironically, ORUs Owens and BYU Coach Ladell Andersen are both 56 years old and used to oppose one another as players on service teams back in the early 1950s. I played against Ted in the service back in 19;:. He played for an Oklahoma team and those teams were very, very good," recounted BYUs Andersen, "I coached against his Kansas teams with Jo Jo White when I was at Utah State, too. Teds one of the real class people who has ever coached the game. But 13-1- 4 back-to-bac- k 13-1- 6 0 i |
