The Daily Tar HeelMonday, August 27, 19847B
USFL switches to
fall as fans yawn
The owner of the New Jersey Generals was exactly right in
his recent analysis of the United States Football League. The
only problem was that Donald -Trump didn't realize what he
was saying.
"This league is going to be unbelievable now," Trump said
after the USFL owners decided to switch from spring to fall
starting in 1986.
Unbelievable is the key word. The league will be almost as
unbelievable as some of Trump's other statements. Such as:
"Now that we're in fall, we can challenge the NFL directly."
Or:
"What we have in the fall is more people watching television,
more revenue and more potential."
In other words, in the spring, there weren't enough people
watching television, there wasn't enough revenue and there wasn't
any potential.
Summer marked by success, losses
... ..
Kurt Rosenberg
To do justice to the USFL, it is necessary to start at the
top. Chet Simmons probably does a fine job as the head of
the league, although the general public likely is unaware of his
existence.
Certainly, the name doesn't sound as though it should belong
to the commissioner of a professional sports league. The name
"Chet Simmons" evokes images of a surfing champion or perhaps
a doctor on a weekday afternoon serial. "Chet Simmons" sounds
plastic, which is appropriate since the league he runs is also
ersatz.
"Pete Rozelle," on the other hand, sounds Hke a football
name.
Then there are the players, the ones who actually make the
league what it is, or isn't, as the case may be. Most of them
aren't good enough to play in the NFL, so the birth of the
USFL was a blessing to them. It wasnt much of a blessing
to football fans, who have seen a lower quality of play, if indeed
they have watched the games either in person or on TV.
The names of a lot of the teams are sub-par. Originality
obviously was not a priority when it came to naming the USFL
franchises. Nearly a third of the teams have as their nicknames
some form of villain:" the Invaders, the Gamblers, the
Gunslingers, the Bandits, the Outlaws. If they were half as
menacing on the field as their names imply, the league would
be in much better shape right now.
A few of the other nicknames were blatant ripoffs of the
NFL teams in the same cities. The Michigan Panthers are the
USFL's answer to the Detroit Lions, and the Oakland Invaders'
are a poor excuse for the ex-Oakland Raiders.
At least the World Football League had some creativity. The
Southern California Sun, the Chicago Fire and the Philadelphia
Bell had far more appealing names than the Memphis Showboats
or the Pittsburgh Maulers. '
The original concept of the USFL was supposedly spring
football. If that was the idea, then why move to the fall?
The answer, obviously, is money. The owners seem convinced
that a fall season will bring bigger contracts from the TV
networks. But it will be difficult for a league that hasn't firmly
established an identity to compete with both the NFL and college
seasons.
ABC, which carries USFL games, already has hinted that
it would not agree to televise the fall season.
"When we made the arrangement with the USFL, we were
looking Cor quality jive : programming in the spring," Jim S pence,
the senior vice president of ABC Sports, was quoted assaying.
-ifWas not our intent to be involved iri the U SFL in the fall."
' And if it is not ABC's intent to televise the USFL in the
fall, there's no guarantee NBC or CBS will be interested, since
between them they already televise every NFL game played on
Sunday.
The USFL apparently believes that the transition from spring
to fall is creating fear around the NFL.
"You know what's happening over there in the NFL," Trump
said. "It's chaos over there."
Meanwhile, the USFL seas should be quite smooth come
1986. The only expected change is that the league will be
reorganized. Just a minor complication.
At least four teams Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey
and Denver must relocate because of stadium conflicts with
NFL or major-league baseball teams.
' There-could be as many as four mergers of some of the weaker
USFL teams.
The owners have not yet figured out how the league will fill
the 14-month gap while it switches from playing in the spring
of 1985 to the fall of 1986. '
But there's plenty of time to solve all these problems. With
Chet Simmons at the helm, the owners will figure something
out.
And if they dont. . .will anyone really care?
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of columns by Kurt
Rosenberg which will appear every Monday inThe Daily Tar
Heel.
By MICHAEL PERSINGER
Assistant Sports Editor
Two North Carolina athletes on the gold-medal
winning Olympic basketball squad and a Tar Heel
medalist in the NCAA golf championships highligh
ted a summer that, also included a few unexpected
disappointments for some UNC athletes.
Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins were instrumen
tal on coach Bob Knight's Olympic basketball squad
that breezed through the Olympics after a sometimes
brutal nine-game exhibition schedule against NBA
players.
Jordan was the leading scorer for the Olympians,
"and Perkins earned a starting berth and was among
team leaders in scoring, rebounding and field goal
percentage.
Earlier, the Chicago Bulls made Jordan the third
pick overall in the NBA draft, and Perkins was taken
fourth overall by the Dallas Mavericks.
Jordan also won the McKelvin Award as the ACC's
athlete of the year. Jordan received 53 of the 105
ballots cast, far ahead of Clemson football and
basketball player Mike Eppley, who got 23 votes.
UNC swimmer Sue Walsh finished third in the
McKelvin balloting with 1 1 votes, but after the Soviet
led boycott made her the favorite to take the gold
medal in both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke
at the Olympics, Walsh failed to make the U.S.
Olympic team in either event, finishing third in the
100 and sixth in the 200. Only the top two finishers
qualified for the Games. .
Former UNC swimmer Betsy Mitchell took the
silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke. Mitchell
transferred to Texas early in the summer.
UNC golfer John Inman became the first Tar Heel
to win the NCAA individual crown when he blistered
the Houston Bear Creek Golf Course with a 15-under-par
total. Inman 's effort broke the 13-year-old record
for lowest total in NCAA tournament play, formerly
held by University of Texas' golfer and touring pro
Ben Crenshaw. UNC finished fourth in the team race.
Another Tar Heel golfer, Davis Love, had defeated
Inman in the match-play North and South Amateur
at Pinehurst one week earlier. The North and South
is one of the most prestigious amateur tournaments
in the country.
Inman was also named the winner of the Fred
J. Has kins Award, given annually to the nation's top
college golfer.
The UNC lacrosse team ended their season for the
second straight year with a loss to Johns Hopkins,
this time in the NCAA semifinals, 14-9. Hopkins went
on to take the NCAA title with a 13-10 win over
Syracuse, extending the Blue Jays incredible string
of senior classes who have graduated with at least
one national title.
Tar Heel defenseman Randy Cox was named the
ACC's lacrosse player of the year. The 6-2, 200-pound
senior was joined on the all-ACC squad by Tar Heel
teammates Tom Haus, Andy Smith, Joey Seivold,
Steve M artel and Mac Ford.
The North Carolina baseball team was also bumped
in NCAA play. The Tar Heels beat Eastern Kentucky
to open NCAA play in Starkville, Miss., but they
lost 5-4 to South Carolina and were victimized by
errors that allowed six unearned runs to score in an
eight-run fifth inning against New Orleans that
dumped UNC from the double-elimination tourney..
Pitcher Scott Bankhead and catcher B.J. Surhoff
became the first battery in NCAA history to be named
first team All-America in the same season. The two
then joined the Olympic baseball squad that toured
the country before competing in an exhibition
tournament at the L. A. Games. Surhoff hit .296 with
two homers and 1 1 RBIs on the tour, while Bankhead
was 4-0 with a 0.84 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 32
innings pitched on the tour and 1-0 in L.A.
Bankhead was the 16th player taken in the Major
League Baseball amateur draft, going to the Kansas
City Royals. He will play in an instructional league
this winter. Surhoff returns to UNC for his senior
season.
Among other former Tar Heel baseball players,
catcher Scott Bradley is hitting .339 with five home
runs and 64 RBIs for the Columbus Clippers of the
Class AAA International League. Bradley leads the
league in both average and RBI's and is awaiting
a call-up by the Yankees when Major League rosters
expand Sept. 1.
Second baseman Chris Pittaro is hitting .271 with
10 homers and 45 RBIs for the Class AA Southern
League Birmingham Barons in the Tigers organiza
tion. He also has 14 stolen bases. . .
Outfielder Todd Wilkinson was named the Expos'
minor league player of the month for July when he
hit .343 with 3 homers. Overall, Wilkinson is hitting
.254 with 3 homers and 1 8 RBIs for Jamestown (N. Y.)
of the Class A New York-Penn League.
Pitcher Chris Kahler is also in the New York-Penn '
League, with Batavia (N.Y.) in the Indians organ
ization. Kahler is 1-1 with a 4.99 ERA and 25
strikeouts in 40 innings for Batavia, a team that is
last in its division.
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