SPORTS
Columnist
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14
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viously, but they don't claim
to be or ever aspire to be. They
do get good athletes because
so many of the guys have to go
both ways" — play both of-
fense and defense.
He believes the league will
survive "as long as they stay
with the present setup and
don't move too fast or expand
too fast?' The league grew to
six teams this year and plans
to add four more cities.
Regarding the NFL Detroit
Lions, Balzer sees improve-
ment but notes most of the
other teams in the National
Football Conference Central
Division with the Lions also
are better.
"The toughest thing with
the NFL is, you can be an im-
proved team and sometimes it
doesn't show up in the stan-
dings."
But, he says, "The Lions are
on the right track; they've got
a lot of good, young people.
They're an exciting team to
watch with running back
Barry Sanders:'
In addition to his Sporting
News and Arena football
duties, the St. Louis-based
Balzer, a Long Island, N.Y.,
native, writes freelance col-
umns, does a daily radio
sports call-in show and has
been a regular commentator
on ESPN's coverage of the
NFL college draft.
But getting to this level of
his career was not a straight
line. After graduating from
Hofstra University in New
York in 1974, Balzer bounced
around in sports public rela-
tions jobs before becoming an
editor at College and Pro Foot-
ball Newsweekly in 1976.
He was married and had
two children, sons Keith and
Jared, by the time he joined
the Sporting News as book
editor in 1977, working on its
Baseball and Football Register
books. Noticing a dearth of in-
formation at the paper about
pro-football, he drew on
newspapers from around the
country to supplement the
statistics.
From these gleanings,
Balzer added notes and tid-
bits to the football columns
which the Sporting News ran
for each NFL division. When
the Times Mirror Co. of Los
Angeles bought the Sporting
News in 1979, changing it to
an all-sports paper, Balzer
was named its first football
editor.
"I always volunteered to do
different things," Balzer says
of his rise at the Sporting
News. "I once was the main
proofreader. And even while I
was doing the football stuff, I
kept doing the Baseball
Register. There was a period
there when I was doing so
many different things, I
couldn't even see straight.
Balzer is active in St. Louis'
Jewish community. The fami-
ly belongs to a Reform temple,
at which Balzer served as
brotherhood president.
Astrid, his wife, is assistant
director of services for the
disabled at the St. Louis
Jewish Community Center
and has been a B'nai B'rith
Women officer. Their oldest
son, Keith, will be bar mitz-
vah this year.
Balzer's job gives him a
built-in excuse to watch as
much football on TV as he
wants. But, he notes, he does
get burned out a bit. "I watch
a lot less than the 'sports
fanatics.' " ❑
Windsor Sending 20
To Detroit Maccabi
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
W
indsor will be seek-
ing its first-ever
Maccabi basketball
victory in the Aug. 19-26
Jewish Community Centers
— North American Maccabi
Youth Games.
The nine-man cage crew
will be part of the 20-
member Windsor delegation
to the Games, which will be
based at the Maple-Drake
Jewish Community Center
campus.
"We're small and not very
deep," said Windsor Maccabi
delegation co-leader Ron
Polsky in speaking about the
basketball team. The tallest
player is 6-foot-2 Theo
Schen.
The team also is young,
with only four players, in-
cluding Schen, in the 15-16
age-range. But the four —
the others are Mike
Rosenbloom, Micha
Wagenberg and Mark
Lieber-man — do have some
experience with winning.
All are members of the Herzl
AZA team which won its
first-ever Great Lakes AZA
Council cage title last sea-
son.
However, cautioned
Polsky, "We're sure not like
Los Angeles, which has
about 300 kids try out for 12
positions. Our goal is to win
a game. It'll all depend on
the luck of the draw."
Windsor has had its share
of near-misses, Polsky said.
"We lost to Memphis by two