The
neutral
corner
By Keith Flynn
If you casually mention Monday
night to even the most newly in
itiated sports fan, visions of football
and Steel Curtains and Howard
Cosell’s nasal droning instantly
come to mind. UNCA students
know Monday night means cold
Budweiser and the NFL.
Football on the professional level,
whether it be t^he Monday night or
Sunday edition will not be played for
a while. Maybe not for a month. The
National Football League Player’s
Association is on strike.
When you hear strike, you think of
Sylvester Stallone on a platform
above hundreds of screaming
truckers ranting, “FIST, FIST.
FIST!" This is not that kind of
strike, but the players are just as
emotional. They have a right to be.
Of the three major U.S. sports, the
NFL draws the most money from
the fans crowding through stadium
gates week after week.
Major League baseball is second
and still not even close. The Na
tional Basketball Association is way
in the background. But, on player’s
average wages, the standings are ex
actly reversed.
NBA salaries and Major League
wages are comparable with the
hoopers enjoying the advantage.
NFL players, however, take a back
seat to both their baseball and
basketball counterparts. Even
though it is uniformly agreed that
football is our most popular sport
and certainly our most entertaining.
A case in point: Moses Malone and
Dave Winfield each eagerly await
their paychecks. Both have con
tracts with their respective teams
making more than one million
dollars per season. Neither player
participated in their league’s cham
pionship series.
By comparison, Dwight Clark of
the San Francisco 49ers has a
seasonal income of less than 100,000
per 16 games for his performance.
Clark matie “the catch” in last
year’s playoffs to propel the 49ers
into the Super Bowl. He is also only
the third player in NFL history to
catch over 80 passes in two con
secutive seasons.
NBA and major league owners
shovel millions of dollars toward
salaries even though they complain
that their revenues cannot allow
them to. NFL owners admit they
can afford increased wages but
refuse to dish them out. This
opinion is shared by Washington
Redskin Chairman Jack Kent Cooke
who offered, “in my opinion, the
players deserve more money than
they’re presently getting.”
There is enough money to keep
both the union and the owners con
tent, especially in the face of the
league’s new five-year, $2.1 billion
television contract.
Thursday, Sept. 30, 1982/Kaleidoscope/5
i
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Ulrich Dietrich pushes the ball upfield against Presbyterian. Photo by David Pickett
The prospect of free agency is
another of the player’s complaints.
Major league baseball allows
players at the end of their team con
tractual obligations to come to
terms with another club. The
restrictions placed upon the NFL
player’s bargaining freedom make
the term “free agency” almost
laughable.
Much of the. reason that the
Player’s Association has not been
taken seriously by the owners has
been because of the player’s lack of
unity or leadership. The newer tac
tics of NFLPA Executive Director
Ed Garvey and President Gene Up
shaw, a former All-Pro of the
Oakland Raiders has caused concern
among the administrative ranks and
gives the players the confidence to
speak out, to ask for what they
deserve.
Certainly it can be argued that
NBA seasons last for 82 games and
the major league for intervals of 162
contests while the NFL plays only
16 games. But certainly in the span
from July to December, an NFL
player takes more punishment than
in either of the other two major
sports, especially baseball. The
average NFL career is a minute 4.2
years.
It has always been echoed by top
flight athletes in all professional
ranks, “Get what you can get while
you can still get it.” Injuries are a
commonplace affair to everyone, but
a serious injury to a professional
athlete can mean the end of his
career. Sure, that is the risk athletes
take. But the NFL owners need to
remember to keep the money worth
the risk. The best way for the
players to open the owner’s eyes is
to hit ’em where it hurts most, in the
pocketbook.
Senators fall to Dogs
By Tim Riddle
UNCA’s soccer team came up
with a win and a hard fought tie,
Sept. 16 and 18, to gain a share of
the district lead.
The Bulldogs took on the Lander
Senators at UNCA, and recorded a
3-1 victory. District 26 scoring
leader Aytekin Yildiz scored a goal
in each half to pace the Bulldogs to
their second win against two losses.
Hasan Inan scored on a header from
a John Muroch cross with five
minutes to go in the first half to give
UNCA a 2-1 edge. UNCA outshot
the Senators 24-19.
The Bulldogs then traveled to
Greensboro to meet Guilford, last
year’s regular season champs. The
Quakers jumped on UNCA quickly,
scoring just 18 seconds into tEe
game. The Bulldogs didn’t lose
heart, however, and fought back to
tie the score before the half on a
Gppgg Sadelson shot from an assist
by Matt Lis.
The second half was similar as
Guilford scored early, and UNCA’s
scrappy offense came back to tie on
a goal by Aytekin Yildiz. The
Bulldogs were tough in both over
times, outshooting the Quakers 6-2,
but unable to put the ball past the
keeper. The final score was 2-2.
“We fought back twice; that’s
tough on the road,” said head coach
Hank Komodowski. “We just
couldn’t put it away.”
Dogs down Wingate
By Tim Riddle
UNCA’s soccer team has set three
new school records only eight games
into the season. With their 5-0 win
over Wingate Tuesday, they scored
their third win in a row, and Aytekin
Yildiz set a single season sco^-ing
record.
The Bulldogs now stand at 5-2-1,
and are tied for the district lead with
a surprising Pfeiffer team.
Yildiz scored twice against
Wingate giving him nine goals for
the year. The previous record was
eight goals.
Goalkeeper Sean Kelly shut out
Wingate for his third scoreless ef
fort. He was named District 26
player of the week for his outstand
ing play last week. He leads the
district with 0.75 goals ag;ainst
average.
Both offense and defense are play
ing solidly as evident in their play
against Wingate. Matt Lis, Gregg
Sadelson, John Murdoch, and
Aytekin Yildiz all scored in a display
of balanced offense.
Yildiz scored first, early in the
game, on a penalty kick. Matt Lis
scored midway in the first half to
make the score 2-0. The defense
kept Wingate out of UNCA’s ter
ritory the entire game.
“The defense is now playing
solid,” said Coach Hank
Komodowski. “We are up for any
game like this,” said Komodowski,
referring to Wingate’s poor season
[0-7].
The Bulldogs scored a 2-0 victory
at King College, Friday, with Neal
Rhoades and Hasan Inan each scor
ing. UNCA outshot King 40-8.