1983_03 Insight March 1983

              Insight
SPOUTS FEATURES
Moral 9, 1992
Reynolds
Raps
v Jeff RevBolds ' «■•
USFL debut
impressive
Although it's a little too soon to tell for sure, it appears that the fledgling United States Football League, which opened its Inaugural season last
Sunday, just might turn out to.be successful. It's not tbe National Football
League by any means, but from the highlights I've seen of the first week's
games, the USFL is definitely the big leagues.
The most Impressive performances of the season openers were the
Chicago Blitz's 28-7 win over the Washington Federals, and the Oakland
Invaders' 34-0 win over the Arizona Wranglers. Tbe most disappointing
performance was Herscbel Walker's 65 yards on 16 carries for tbe New
Jersey Generals. The Generals were upended, 30-15, by tbe Los Angeles
Express, spoiling Walker's professional debut, only two weeks after he
decided leave tbe University of Georgia and play to the USFL.
Walker did manage to score a touchdown for his club, but in general
(no pun Intended), if I were to New Jersey owner J. Walter Duncan's
shoes, I'd bust Walker to buck private for his poor showing. I mean, for $5
million to three years, Walker should score at least twice a game and
should run for 150 yards every week.
As far as attendance goes, the smallest crowd was 34,000 to Los
Angeles to see Herscbel Walker get run over by tbe LA Express. Chicago
attracted 38,000 fans to spite of a steady rain, while Arizona, Denver and
Tampa Bay each attracted more than 40,000 football fans. Not a bad
showing, considering this is the first time pro football has been played In
the spring.
Although many of tbe players in the USFL are NFL veterans who
never saw much action and college players who couldn't cut it in the NFL,
there are still some exceptions, most notably quarterbacks John Reaves
of Tampa Bay and Greg Landry of Chicago, and newcomers like
algan's Anthony Carter and New Jersey's Walker.
Reaves completed 28 of 39 passes for 358 yards and three touchdowns
in Tampa Bay's win over the Boston Breakers to easily cop tbe best individual performance last weekend. Landry, a veteran of 14 NFL
seasons, was also to prime form, completing 17 of 27 passing attempts for
251 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Two other quarterbacks, Oakland's Fred Besana and New Jersey's
Bobby Scott, also surpassed the 200-yard passing mark, which indicates
that USFL teams aren't afraid to put the ball in the air.
As far as picking a favorite for tbe league championship, it's a little
early to pick a clear contender, but based on tost weekend's performances, I'd have to tab Oakland and Chicago as solid choices.
Tbe Invaders, besides having the best nickname and the best team
logo, also boast several former CSUF football players on their roster. One
of those former Bulldogs, Wyatt Henderson, was tbe star for Oakland in
tbe opener, snaring two of Besana's passes for touchdowns of 53 and 19
yards. Three other farmer Bulldogs vying for starting positions are
fallback Ted Toroslan, lineman Steve Houston and defensive back Billy
Yancy. **~
With tbe Pacific Coast Athletic Association .
beginning tomorrow afternoon at the Forum in Inglewood.it appears that
CSUF is the hottest team in the league, having won five straight games,
including Sunday's 94-72 blowout over second-place Fullerton State.
And while it would be a Utile bold to pick the Bulldogs as favorites to
win their third straight PCAA Tournament crown and advance to the first
round of the NCAA playoffs, Boyd Grant's bunch shouldn't be counted
out, either.
Besides having the greatest momentum heading into the tournament,
{he Bulldogs will be playing at their peak offensively. After struggling
through tbe first half of the conference season with the 30-second clock,
tbe Bulldogs have apparently solved their offensive troubles and are getting solid play from tbe starting five, plus good support from the bench,
which wasn't true earlier this season.
Junior transfer Ron Anderson has come into his own of late, scoring
31 against UC-Irvine last Thursday and then coming back to score 23 to
the rout over Fullerton. Anderson, who never played organized basketball until three years ago st Santa Barbara City College, recently passed
Bernard Thompson as the team's leading scorer and is one of the biggest
reasons for tbe Bulldogs' five-game winning streak.
Tbe rest of tbe starting five, Thompson, guards Tyrone "T-Bone"
Bradley and Mitch Arnold and either Barmore or junior Dave Mosebar,
will also have to play up to their potential for the Bulldogs to wrestle the
PCAA Tournament title from favored Las Vegas, but if tbey play as well
as they did against Fullerton and Irvine, then tbe 184 'Dogs could be
making their third straight appearance to the NCAA playoffs.
Sylvester Carver attempts to pto bis CSU Chlco opponent to tbe 1(7 pound weight class earlier to the
Carver flips wrestling program
"I hare to keep an eye on it, though. A
girl tried to steal it back in my
Steve Smith: Dog Daze
JOHNLOIACONO
Insight reporter
As much as it works as a "psych"
Wrestling is often considered leas for Carver, it also works as an m-
than a major collegiate event — for tlmldator for his opponents.
years CSUF wrestling has been con- Carver,     who    capped    a
sidered even leas than that. But don't remarkabie season by sweeping all
mention that to Sylvester Carver, the three of his opponents In the PCAA
Bulldogs'   167-pound Pacific Coast tournament, improved his record to
Athletic Association (PCAA) cham- 43-2. Tbe two tosses came at the hands
pion and nationally recognized mat- of the nation's top ranked 167-pounder
man. He considers this week's NCAA Mike  Sheets  of  Oklaboma  State.
wrestling tournament the most Impor- Carver's   exceptional   year  has
tent event of tbe year. brought him national acclaim, as he Is
Basically  an  Individual  sport, presently ranked fourth to tbe nation
wrestling for the past decade has gone at 167 pounds by Amataur Wrestling
unnoticed at CSUF. But with the en- Newt, the sport's most respected
trance of Carver, wbo transferred to magazine.
CSUF from Chabot Junior College In j-
Hayward, tbe program baa not ofify^___ fte jjgt CSUF wrestler to gain a
received a touch of national acclaim national ranking was Mike Gallego
but has internally made a 180-degree back to 1988. Gallego bad a string of
turnaround, accomplishments,   the   most   Im-
presslve being bis rational title at.
Sporting a new coach tost year, strangely enough, 167 pounds. He
the team could manage only a 5-13 finished his senior year with a 48-1
dual meet record and a fourth place mark and his career with a 11,4-10-0
finish In the PCAA. This year, with tbe record.
recruitment of his own pfrsnrmal|i Tbe  national  championship  is
Coach Dennis DeLiddo has brought what Carver has his sights on
some  respect  to  tbe  program, "Bring home tbe fold," sang
finishing 13-9 to duals and placing Carver to his Long Beach hotel room.
high to several tournaments. "I'm going to bring home the gold and
Following  this  years* PCAA do the same to Oklahoma."
wrestling championships to Long So far, Carver has made great
Beach, CSUF made a mark on tbe strides to do exactly that His list of
conference and will have one wrestler accomplishments Is comparable with
traveling   to   Oklahoma   City, GaDego's. He opened the season with
Oklahoma to represent the school and straight victories until be reached the
the conference In the national tourna- finals of the Caesar's Palace Invita-
ment. This is something that hasn't tional to tbe Las Vegas' Caesar's
happened for the Bulldogs since 1968. Palace. Carver then met up with
CSUF had six wrestlers place in Sheets, wbo banded trim his first loss,
this year's PCAA tournament on Feb. an 8-2 decision. But It only made him
25. One of the six, Carver, will fly to hungrier to Improve.
Oklahoma In mid-March and compete He again weni on the rampage,
against hundreds of others for na- ousting opponents right and left until
tional honors. he ran up against Sheets. This time it
Carver adds a lot of color to the was in the third round of the Midlands
grueling sport. Very outgoing and Invitational to Illinois. Though tbe
even hyper-active at times, be steps match was much closer, Sheets again
onto the mat for every match with his prevailed, 8-6. Carver went on to win
usual red, white arjd blue T-shirt, red the next four matches and place third.
sweats,   white   ski   cap  with   a Sheets finished first.
"Sylvester the Cat" stitched in it, and "I had him beat," recalled tbe
a small  five-inch plastic  "Tweety muscular Carver. "I was ahead in tbe
Bird" doll, which he sets adjacent to matcb, but he (Sheets) U great with
tbe wrestling circle. his legs and he just wore me out. He's
"It helps me to concentrate,''said real tough, but you wait till I see him
Carver of tbe cartoon character doll, to the nationals. Things will be dif-
Carver has now won 30 straight
second straight year; Tom Neville, a
starting guard for the Cal Bowl d
Marc Mongeon, a fc
national champion, and a pair of wins
over Steve Ross of Utah State and Cal
Poly San Luis Obispo's Howard C
Lawson,  wbo are both nationally
ranked.
Carver will be the only CSUF participant to the national tntrrnament,
but very easily could have been one of
atbeavyweigM;andAbrfcUleywbo,
as only a sophomore, placed fourth-at
118 pounds for tbe second year.
With six  place winners,  the;
John Vega dropped f
weight of 134 pounds to 126 pounds Just
for the I
be looked like a POW refugee with sad
eyes and bony cheeks. He tost over
eight pounds to two days using
fasting, spitting and Intense exercise
behind San Jose State, which bad 1053-'
points. San Jose State won its lotjv
PCAA title. Utah State followed wtth.'
80 and Nevada-Las Vegaa with 47.
CSUF finished with 44.25 points and:
placed ahead of Long Beach State, JO,
and Cal State Fullerton, 16.5.
San Jose State, ar>erennialpower
in the PCAA, easily dominated the
it crowning five d
Tbe strategy
be reached tbe 136-pound finals by
easily outpointing his first two opponents. He then faced San Jose
State's Albert Peres In tbe final
showdown. Dlssppuliilnafnt Is tbe on-
ly way to describeJiow. Vega felt just
seconds toto tbe match, as tbe referee
waa forced to call a default when
Perez took Vega down bard on bis
shoulder, badly Injuring his collar
bone. Vega sat on a trainer's table
with his right arm wrapped to bandages and tears rolling from his eyes.
He finished the year with an 1m-
pressive 32-9 record, but was too upset
to answer questions. He just nodded.
At 177 pounds, a mishap
prevented Robin Green from continu-
wtth tog bis wrestling career. Following
his first round bye and a surprising
decision over Michael Hawstoo of San
Jose State, tbe weight class' second
seed, Green was pitted against Utah
State's Dave Hagedorn, a tall lanky
blond, built much like Green.
Hagedorn took Green down early,
but was losing control aa Green slipped down past Hagedorn's knees and
was almost free. But as be leaned
back and attempted to escape, Green
touched his own cla vicals to the mat,
thus plnntog himself. Green, a senior,
finished the year at 30-10-3 and 37-30-3
Other Bulldogs who faired well
were 190-pound Jim O'Brien, who
placed third in his weight class for the
could challenge San Jose State, could
manage but two champions, at 158
and 177 pounds. Nevada-Las Vegaa,
which entered tbe PCAA just tost
year, had champions at 118 pounds
and heavyweight (more Hsu 180
pounds). CSUF bad Sylvester Carver
at 167 pounds as a titlist
Neither Long Beach State or Cal
State Fullerton had a champion, but
Bulldogs were competing with only
eight wrestlers Instead of 10. They bad
no en tr an ts at either 143 or 198 pounds
Because Vega dropped to 13$ pounds.
simply unable to make weight.
With the national tournament ap
proaching, CSUF win be looking to
Sylvester "Tweety-Bird" Carver to .
bring home the gold. And if he's as
determined as be sounds, hell do it.
With the addition of several wrestlers
to this year's program, CSUF baa
gained the respect it has lacked for
over a decade. Carver may be the
first link In a chain of wrestlers and
athletes that can put CSUF on
map «—«_)
tha
Sportscasters erode Fresno with red airwaves
"KSEE, Channel 24, your source for Bulldog
athletics," says sportscaster Mike Gleason.
Well, maybe someone should pull the plug, because
KSEE's recent broadcasts of Bulldog basketball games
are blowing circuit breakers throughout the town of
Fresno.
It's bad enough to have tbe bead of tbe Bulldog Foundation, Pat Ogle, doing color commentary for tbe broadcasts, but when he starts coaching and cheering the
Bulldogs on-air. tbe whistle has got to be blown. The only
coke Ogle provides television viewers with Is red.
Ogle's sidekick, Gleason. who does play by play, Is
hardly a shade lighter of the crimson color. He has been in
- Fresno leas than a year and already he's joined tbe local
media bandwagon of staunch CSUF cheerleaders.
Professionalism can not be compromised, even to a
dose-knit college town such as Fresno. Although, admittedly, the broadcasts exist solely for tbe enjoyment of
CSUF athletic fans, a certain amount of partiality should
exist among tbe broadcasters to order to give tbe game a
sense of pet spec live.
It reached a point during last Thursday's broadcast of
tbe CSUF-UC Irvine game, that even Howard CoseU
would have been a welcome relief. Gleason and Ogle were
so caught up to tbe excitement of tbe game, that neither
one realized tbey were encouraging tbe BuUdogs, on-air,
to stow up and play their usual moderate tempo game.
"Wows," "Ob's," and sighs were drifting toto the broadcasters dialogue, as tbe Bulldogs broke the game open to
stands for who tbey thought was his brother.
"Sorry, the lighting is a Utile bad around here," offered Ogle after the oversight. No problem Pat
Tbe perpetual plugging of Bulldog athletics has
wandered into the radio waves as well. Take CSUF Sports
Information Director Scott Johnson's press releases and
the constant referral to KMJ as the "Official Flagship Station for Fresno State Athletics."
According to my Meriam Webster Dictionary, a
flagship is "Tbe ship that carries the commander of a
fleet or sub-division thereof and flies his flag." In other
words KMJ is ship-wrecked to tbe middle of Fresno and
used as a flag pole for the Red Wave. Some kind of news
station, hub?
wade knee-deep in muddy water as tbey formed a bucket
brigade to deal with tbe recently formed Lagoon out near
You had to feel for Cam Baxter during the CSUF-
Stanford dual track meet last Saturday. The big Bulldog
weightman was desperately trying to meet the qualifying
mark to the 35 lb. weight throw for tbe NCAA Indoor
Championships to Detroit next weekend.
Baxter's first toss was well short of tbe 61 foot mark
be came with 5 in-
The CSUF Women's Softball team seems to be looking
for some il vine help from the skys in order to get started
in its quest for another conference championship.
Tbe latest rain deluge has been causing havoc with
the Bulldogs' practice and game schedule, and several
players are a bit worried tbe lack of preparation may
snow up when tbe team starts playing tbe likes of
powerhouses Cal and UOP.
"We really haven't played with anybody who baa
given us any competition yet," says tbe BuUdogs' star pitcher Wende Ward, who last year finished the season with
a remarkable U-t record. Including a .39 ERA.
Uptothisssreekthel>>gshareoiUyptoyedacoup»eof
ches of qualifying. After several successive tries, be was
still toft standing without a ticket to Detroit and the ten-
sion storied to build. FinaUy Baxter had one throw left, as
he entered the ring and kneeled down in studious concentration. Slowly be rose from the cement ring and started
winding tbe 36 lb. weight around Us head. Finely tuned
muscles bulged me he released tbe chain of the steel ball
and let out a tremendous groan. The ball spun high above
the Warmerdam Field turf and landed exactly 60 feet-114
Inches away from the front edge of tbe ring-4 inch short
of tbe qualifying mark. Baxter put Us bead down and
staggered out of the Infield, obviously In shock.
CSUF's Matt Mileham made up for any disappoint-
roent on Baxter's part earlier, however, hurling the 35 lb.
weight 73 feet-3 Inches - tbe second best throw to col-
But tbe play by play was Ud's stuff compared to the   Actually tbe team's biggest
dabbling blunder Gleason and Ogle pulled when tbey   with a mud puddle after a ram storm mease Bu
mistook CSUF forward Ron Anderson's sister to tbe  Field. The svomen were forced to take off their cleats
QUOTE OT THE WEEK: Bulldog guard Omel Nieves on
the stereotyped dumb jock Image: "I know a lot of dumb
people who aren't athletes."