OCR Text |
Show A Tainted Victory ? Byjimsmcdic Congratulations are in order for Corner Store employees Arch Wright, Jordan Swenson and Karri Kays who won the Bartender's Cup. The three skiers will represent Park City in the Regional Finals in Vail, Colo. , on March 25. They faced some tough competition from the 30 other teams that were entered in the event sponsored by Lite Beer from Miller. Winning was no easy task for the Corner Store threesome. They narrowly defeated a tough team fielded by Jody's. Hays lost to Robbie Beck and Wright defeated Mike Wade by "a half gate or so," according to Hays. The victory was up to Swenson. He came through by defeating Kurt Langford. Later that day the Corner Store faced another stern test from Adolph's at Shadow Ridge. Hays dropped the first race to Maureen Hammond and Wright edged Bob Skinner, putting the pressure on Swenson to win. Again Swenson came through edging Bill Skinner by 3100 of a second. The victory pushed the Corner Store into the finals which they won handily with Hays, Wright and Swenson each winning their races. Second place went to Blazing Saddles, the only entry from Heber. Adolph's at Shadow Ridge took third and Royce's of Park City landed in fourth. Wright, Swenson and Hays did their employer, Mike Eberlein, a good turn by winning the Cup. There's a nice plaque hanging on the wall of the Corner Store and a trophy displayed just behind the beer tap. It looks nice. Plus Eberlein has the bragging rights, of sorts, that the people 'who work for him' are the fastest skiers of any employees, in any of the bars and restaurants in Park Citv. Questions of Ethics RaisecT Tom Burkemo, owner of Blazing Saddles, said that Wright and Swenson were not employees of the Corner Store and therefore should not have raced for it. Doug Smoot, representative of Star Distributing Co. - the Salt Lake distributers of Miller Lite beer, said the rules are clear. "Each team must consist of two males, who have been employeed by the entrant for at least 20 hours per week for 30 days prior to the race," Smoot said. "There must be one female on the team who does not have to work for the entrant." "It's a joke because you don't have to be an employee of the place to race. If it was legal I think we would have had a chance," Burkemo said. "Everyone talks about how unfair it is but nothing ever gets done. "I think they should do something about it. I'd like to see a change," Burkemo finished. Burkemo said he didn't have a sour grapes attitude and was "not too upset about it. He just thought it would be nice if the race was I Please Turn to Page IOC Continued from Page 2C legal. - k - Dave Taber, a waiter at the Grub Steak for three years, has the same opinion as Burkemo. "It's kind of common knowledge that those guys (Wright and Swenson) are not legitimate (employees of the Corner Store)," Taber said. "It bothers me, not because mv chance ci winning, but it should be legitimate." Taber had only one other problem with the race. He said it was well promoted, well run, but, "there was just not enough beer on the mountain". Greg Dye, a bartender at the Alamo for 18 months, said he didn't care if some of the other teams had ringers (non-employees). "I'm just out for a good time. It doesn't bother me," Dye said. Corner Store Exonerated ' Are the charges against the Corner Store unfounded? Were Burkemo and Taber -misinformed? " -'-, - Eberleiri said he put Wright and Swenson on the payroll in January to "beat the rules". "Arch works at night doing some back room stuff and Karri has been baking cookies for us since November," Eberlein said. "I've given Jordan the necessary hours. If anything, though, Jordan comes closest to our ringer." So I guess the Corner Store was legal. Maybe other teams had ringers skiing for them. t Does it matter? Do enough people care to police the event next year to make sure all teams are legitimate? Is mentioning it making a mountain out of a molehill? : ; ' . . : " r'v-T - But then why have rules if people don't abide by them? Bending and breaking rules seems to be vogue for sports in the 80's. More colleges than ever are under the scrutiny of the NCAA for violations. In professional baseball you have the spitball, in basketball the zone and in football spearing and illegal hits. Can breaking the rules be justified because everyone else does it? Is it just part of the game? Is it more important to win than play the game right? Red Sanders, UCLA football coach in the mid-50's once said, "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." I don't agree. How you play the game is important. |