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52

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 1991

The Gulf War Pushes
Sports Into The Background

ichelle Kaufman,
who covers the
Olympic beat and
writes sports features for the
Detroit Free Press, used to
cover the Tampa Bay Buc-
caneers when she worked in
St. Petersburg. When the Gulf
War broke out in January, she
received a call from one of the
Bucs.
The player had two simple
but chilling questions. He
first asked why did everybody
hate Israel. Next, he wanted
to know "is the reason people
hate you because you killed
Jesus?"
"I gave him a history
lesson," said Kaufman. "It
was an interesting conversa-
tion!'
Many conversations in the
sports world today revolve
around the issues in the Gulf
War. For even though the con-
flict is political and has
nothing to do with sports, it
is a subject that no one can
escape.
Even though many consider
sports the ultimate escape
from reality, at least for a cou-
ple of hours, those in the
business of fun and games are
not isolated. Those who deal
with the first downs, home
runs and goals are keeping a
watchful eye on the Middle
East. Especially if they are
Jewish.
"(My job) felt like a small
speck in the ocean," said Jeff
Rimer, sports director of
KBAL Radio in Baltimore
and television play-by-play
voice of the Washington
Capitals. "(The events in
Israel) bothered me quite a
bit, but that doesn't mean I
don't think about it all the
time."
David Stern, commissioner
of the National Basketball
Association, said that like so
many other people in the
United States, the news has
become part of his day.
"It's greatly occupied my
thoughts," said Stern. "I
think it's shaken a lot of peo-
ple."
Stern wanted his league to
show proper respect for the
American troops in the con-
flict. Recently, when the
league held its annual All-
Star game in Charlotte, N.C.,
it dedicated events to the
troops in the Gulf.
An auction of professional
jerseys was held to raise

Jeff Seidel is a sportswriter
from Maryland.

money for troops' families in
North Carolina. The league
also scaled back its annual
party the Friday night before
the game.
Many have questioned
whether big-time sporting
events such as the Super
Bowl and this All-Star game
should even take place with a
war going on. Stern said his
league is simply following the
orders of President Bush, who
said he wanted business to go
on and life to continue as
usual.
Stern said that no matter
what happens in sports, that
we must remember those in
the Persian Gulf.
"It's just appropriate that
whenever Americans gather
to have a good time, it's ap-

Kaufman has
noticed that the
war is on
everybody's mind.
In her field, a lot of
conversations
begin talking
about sports but
conclude with the
war.

propriate for them to
remember there are hundreds
of thousands of those risking
their lives for our way of life,"
said Stern.
Kaufman added she has
noticed that the war is on
everybody's mind. In her
field, she noticed that a lot of
conversations begin talking
about sports but conclude
with the war.
She also said that sports
tends to take people's minds
off of war. Kaufman believes
people need to forget the
fighting at some point.
"If you just watch CNN 24
hours a day," she said, "you
will go nuts."
Another station many
watch at all times is ESPN.
The 24-hour-a-day sports net-
work was on the air when the
war broke out. Charley
Steiner was one of the people
working that night in front of
the camera.
Steiner said the sense of
helplessness he felt was simp-
ly overwhelming. That night
he knew there were more im-
portant events taking place in
life than who won the Detroit
Red Wings or Washington
Bullets' games.
"We at ESPN are no more
than the keepers of life's toy
department," said Steiner
that night. "There are some

days you want to play with
toys and others you don't
want to."
Steiner, who also handles
much of the station's boxing
work, said he talked with
Sugar Ray Leonard before his
loss to Terry Norris last
weekend. Steiner discovered
the war was causing Leonard
a conflict in trying to promote
the fight.
It is not uncommon or
unusual for fights to be pro-
moted in a style that makes
them seem like battles. Ads
have called fights "wars."
Steiner said Leonard, who
had the responsibility of
hawking this dual, was trying
to be careful in straddling the
line.
Steiner said those in the
media must also be careful to
not cross the line.
"You don't want to be
tasteless!' said Steiner. "We
try to be ourselves and a
reflection of ourselves."
Steiner called the first days
of the conflict terribly dif-
ficult for him. It made his job
extremely tough. He works
on a show called "Sports
Center," a quick, glib, fast-
paced program that sums up
the world of sports. Coming
up with a show like this in a
time like that was not an easy
matter.
"There is no question that
the first week is as tough a
week as I've ever had!' said
Steiner. "We had to put
together the show where our
heart wasn't in it."
They tried to keep it low-
key for that time period.
Steiner called it pulling back
on the throttle. He also noted
he often refers to his job as
simply fun. That week it was,
without question, a job.
What may make it tougher
for Steiner is he was active in
the anti-Vietnam War gener-
ation. He was a campus anti-
war leader at Bradley
University.

"It's difficult for a lot of my
contemporaries who were so
anti-war 20 or 25 years ago to
think that this was not an in-
correct position to take," said
Steiner. "I think a lot of us
are coming to grips with
that."
Many are also realizing
that whatever the length of
the war, life must go on.
The people running the
Capital Centre in Landover,
Md., home of the Washington
Capitals and Bullets, are try-
ing to help people, whose
family members are serving
in the Gulf. Jerry Sachs,