Thursday, August 6,1987/The Battalion/Page 7
Bears don’t think Payton is finished with NFL
■pLATTEVILLE, Wis. (AP) —
■alter Payton’s Chicago Bears team-
—- DKites don’t believe him when he
mmmm that this is probably his last year
ala player.
" “®“He’s got a 100 years left,” said
nnpr linebacker Otis Wilson.
' ^'B“Everybody says this is Walter’s
I Ht year. I doubt it,” said defensive
)|0 B^le William “The Refigerator”
'■Perry.
1CAnB“ La st year? That’s what he said af-
the Super Bowl,” said wide re-
■iver Dennis McKinnon about the
WireRepe Bears’ 1985 NFL championship.
freshmaiiH “I think if he goes out and has a
as A&M>Bod year and feels good he might
his fall • $0ine back for another year,” is the
Propositi
opinion of Payton’s heir-apparent at
halfback, Neal Anderson.
As he trains here for his 13 th pro
season, Payton is being coy.
He definitely is not using the
word definitely in his comments
about retirement at season’s end.
But Payton said he cannot escape
two major concerns — that he wants
to quit on top and doesn’t want to
postpone too long his dream of own
ing an NFL franchise.
Asked what is his goal for the
coming season, Payton, who turned
33 on July 25, said, “Getting out al
ive. I’m serious. Each year it gets
harder and harder. . . .
“I want this to be my greatest year.
Athletes like Julius Erving and I
have an obligation to the fans to go
out on the top of our game.”
The Philadelphia 76ers’ “Dr. J.”
made it clear that last season was his
last in the National Basketball Asso
ciation, and each city the club visited
threw him a gift-giving farewell
party.
No such farewell parties are in the
works for Payton, but the running
back from Jackson State usually
doesn’t liked to follow in anyone’s
footsteps but his blockers.
Instead, Payton likes to do it his
way, and his way is a mostly a class
act with a touch of the class clown
thrown in.
He took a helicopter to the Bears’
Platteville training camp the past two
years, and has had a large mobile
home parked outside the players’
dormitory.
He throws passes into a crowd of
spectators here, does impersona
tions of Mr. T, and pulls a hair off
the leg of an unsuspecting assistant
coach.
Payton met this summer with
Commissioner Pete Rozelle to dis
cuss his chances of becoming the
first black NFL club owner.
“The way things are going I’m in a
very good position for an expansion
team — in a year, year and a half,
two years,” he said.
r McDonald hopes to regain form with Dallas
ay-
wide rett
uterson ^THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP)
t 1 LoftonThe glory days of the Rose Bowl
rett, 0 ar ig long gone for Paul McDonald,
cent fronKfl he cheers of thousands after two
Bpse Bowl victories by his Southern
(ided California Trojans are just old echos
1 become and now McDonald is simply trying
1988, to find a job on the bench with the
Bllas Cowboys as a third-string
'ill repon njarterback.
s schedil®He’s got Danny White and Steve
Pelluer ahead of him and a fast gun
—j rookie Kevin Sweeney of Fresno
| rate — behind him.
■His football career could soon be
en
I‘T11 just do the best I can do,” the
seven-year NFL veteran said. “What-
ic.”
who
the NFL.
terception career percentage and
went 43 games without throwing an
interception, has had his chances in
de wide:
er Seatu
e, hadai
rimmar
wks' fin:
He started all 16 games for the
Cleveland Browns in 1984 and com
pleted 55 percent of his passes de
spite 53 sacks. He had waited for his
chance on the bench behind Brian
Sipe.
McDonald completed 13 straight
passes in a game against Houston
and finished the year with 3,472
yards. He had 320 yards passing in
one game against New England.
But he was released by Cleveland
after the 1985 season. He didn’t
throw a pass as he sat on the bench
behind Bernie Kosar and Gary Dan
ielson.
McDonald was signed by the
Seattle Seahawks for 1986, but was
cut before the regular season.
Then Dallas signed him as insur
ance when White’s wrist was
cracked.
“I was disappointed in Seattle last
year,” McDonald said. “I felt I didn’t
get a chance to show what I could
do. I completed 7 of 11 passes,
which wasn’t too shabby.”
McDonald played for Dallas of
fensive coordinator Paul Hackett at
Southern California and Cleveland,
his biggest ace in the hole when the
final cuts come.
“It’s a big plus for me knowing
how he thinks,” McDonald said. “I
do have experience. I’ve been in big
games as a starter. I know what it’s
like.
“I feel I can add something to the
Cowboys. But it doesn’t matter what
I think, does it?
“I realize I’m sort of on the bub
ble. But I do have a business degree
I feel I can put to use in some capac
ity if things don’t work out. I might
give broadcasting a try. But I don’t
really know if I’m any good. I
anchored a sports news show for two
weeks. I found out it’s not all that
easy.”
McDonald has been impressive in
the Cowboys’ daily, two-a-day work
outs.
“It’s the best shape I’ve ever been
in,” McDonald said. “I’m giving my
self the best chance to do what I can
do to make this team.
“I don’t have a burning desire to
be a starter,” he said. “I’m comfort
able in a backup situation. I’m still a
young and healthy 29.”
McDonald said his wife, Allyson,
wouldn’t be all that unhappy when
his professional football career ends.
“My wife is disenchanted with pro
football and she would like to see us
settle down as a family,” McDonald
said. “But I still like the excitement
of the sport. There’s nothing like a
Sunday with another NFL game on
the line.”
McDonald said fame is so fleeting
that he can go into restaurants now
without anyone recognizing him
from his Southern Cal salad days.
Howe attempting to return
to major league baseball
NEW YORK (AP) — Texas
Rangers owner Eddie Chiles and
club president Mike Stone met
with baseball Commissioner Peter
Ueberroth Wednesday about the
possibility of drug-troubled
pitcher Steve Howe returning to
the major leagues.
Howe, who was suspended in
1983 for continuing problems
with cocaine use, has been pitch
ing for the Rangers Class AAA
farm club in Oklahoma City since
July-
“There was a meeting between
Peter V. Ueberroth, Eddie Chiles
and Mike Stone,” commissioner’s
spokesman Rich Levin said. “A
number of subjects were dis
cussed, one of which was Steve
Howe. There is no change in his
status. He is still with Oklahoma
City.”
Chiles and Stone both refused
comment as they left the meeting.
“The only comment I have is
that we are late for our plane,”
said Chiles.
Howe, the National League
Rookie of the Year with Los An
geles in 1980, played for the
Dodgers until 1983 when he was
fined $54,000 and suspended by
then commissioner Bowie Kuhn
through the 1984 season.
Jim Small, another commis
sioner’s office spokesman, said
there is no current suspension or
restrictions prohibiting Howe
from playing for Texas.
Howe was placed on the Na
tional League restricted list in
June 1985 and then signed with
the Minnesota Twins in August
of that year. The Twins later re
leased him, also for drug-related
reasons.
Howe began the 1986 season
with the San Jose Bees, an inde
pendent team in the Class A Cali
fornia League, but tested positive
on a drug test and was suspended
after he pitched, before his ap
peal of the test was resolved.
Howe was suspended by the
National Association of Profes
sional Baseball Leagues, which
governs the minor leagues, in
1986, but the drug-related sus
pension was lifted last month and
he joined the Oklahoma City
89ers.
He also agreed to participate in
a drug-rehabilitation after-care
program with the 89ers.
James establishing
himself as top-hitter
)und dri
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turned
Timmafc
PGA championship faces
problems as play begins
PALM BEACH GARDENS,
?la. (AP) — Partially-bare bumpy
keens, ominous rough and po-
fentially severe weather face the
J50 pros in the 69th PGA Na-
second »ional Championship.
1 The tournament, the last of the
year’s four Grand Slam golf
events, gets started today at the
PGA National Coif Club, with
problems aplenty confronting or
ganizers.
I Chief among them are:
—Greens that Tom Watson,
mong others, called “not good.”
—Probable thunderstorms,
tvhich have prompted officials to
tievise what they call “an evacua-
ipetition j tion plan,” and lagging ticket
ales. A cap of 16,000 was put on
aily admissions, but officials said
jhat on the eve of the start, less
ban 12,000 had been sold.
The PGA announced an in-
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crease in the purse from
$800,000 to $900,000, with a win
ner’s share of $ 150,000.
Watson, a leading contender
for the top prize, made it clear he
was not complaining about the
greens —“we all have to play the
same course,” he said — but said
the putting surfaces were bumpy,
slow, bare of grass in some places
and, in general, “not good.”
It is the result of what tourna
ment manager Jim Awtrey
termed “an unfortunate series of
events” that resulted in the loss of
bent grass on much of greens.
While Awtrey insisted that “ev
ery precaution has been taken”
and “evacuation plans” have been
set to remove players and specta
tors from the course in the event
of afternoon thunderstorms that
are common in south Florida at
this time of the year.
Large Cuban group
to challenge U.S. team
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Led by
Olympic gold medalist Alberto Juan-
torena, 149 Cuban athletes, trainers
and officials arrived Wednesday for
the Pan Am Games and vowed to
“keep Cuba’s name and flag very
high.”
The group, the first wave of the
largest delegation to visit the United
States since Fidel Castro took over in
1959, arrived aboard a Cubana de
Aviacion jetliner and was met at In
dianapolis International Airport by
dozens of reporters and tight secu
rity.
The Cuban delegation is expected
to total roughly 600.
“We have a delegation stronger
than the one that went to Caracas (in
1983), particularly the women’s rep
resentatives,” Juantorejia said. “We
expect to keep Cuba’s name and flag
very high.”
Juantorena, winner of two track
gold medals at the 1976 Olympics
and now vice president of Cuba’s na
tional sports institute, dismissed the
chances of a political clash with an
anti-Castro group that reportedly
plans to encourage defections.
However, the head of the Cuban
Olympic Committee, Manuel Gonza
lez Guerra, had sent letters to Pan
Am Game organizers and U.S.
Olympic Committee officials ex
pressing concern that the Cuban-
American National Foundation
would encourage team members to
defect.
“The Telex said he was aware of
the presence of the group, their
plans and his belief that they intend
to disrupt the games, be hostile to his
delegation and work to cause Cuban
athletes to ‘desert,’ ” Mark Miles,
president of the Pan Am organizing
committee, said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, however, Gonza
lez said preparations were proceed
ing “smoothly.”
ATLANTA (AP) — Dion James,
one of the hottest hitters in the Na
tional League the last month, is re
luctant to talk about his latest suc
cess.
“The last time I talked about my
hitting, I went 4-for-50. I really
would rather not talk about it,” said
the Atlanta Braves centerfielder. He
has batted .398 over 30 games to
raise his average from .270 to .313,
sixth best in the league.
The 24-year-old left-handed hit
ter, acquired during the winter in a
trade with the Milwaukee Brewers
for outfielder Brad Komminsk, was
named co-player of the week for the
period ending Sunday. He batted
.517 in six games in that time, with
two homers and eight runs batted in.
For the season the 6-foot-1, 170-
pounder had eight homers and 36
RBI going into Wednesday night’s
game against the San Diego Padres*
Although the Braves’ leadoff hit
ter was reluctant at first to discuss his
batting, he relented.
“You’ve got to believe in yourself,
but there’s still a long way to go,”
James said after the Braves defeated
the Padres 12-7 Tuesday night. “I
don’t want to think about it. I just
want to continue to hit.”
As for his surprising power — he
hit one home run in 1986 with Mil
waukee and never more than nine in
six minor league seasons — James
said, “It doesn’t surprise me.”
“I’ve always had power. It’s just
maturity and the knowledge of what
I can do,” he said. “But in the league
this year, hitting home runs is no big
deal, there are guys with 30 home
runs and many others in the high
20s — all with a chance to hit 40.
“But I don’t particularly care
about my home run productivity. I
care about my on-base percentage
and scoring runs. That’s what I’m
supposed to do as a leadoff man,” he
added.
James has scored 60 runs, second
on the club, and is sixth in the league
in on-base percentage.
“Right now I’ve been fortunate.
I’ve had luck on my side. I’ve been
making good contact and finding
the holes,” he said.
About three weeks ago, Manager
Chuck Tanner indicated he would
play Albert Hall in center'field after
James made a dditpie of poor base
running decisions. But Hall re
injured a hamstring pull and James
remained in the lineup.
Did that give James any extra mo
tivation for his latest hitting tear?
“Nothing,” said James. “I come
out every day ready to play. I don’t
need any motivation. I just want to
stay here in the major leagues.
That’s enough.”
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