Page Twelve
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FrdayJul 19 174
ROGER ROSSITER:
Judgment call hurt Wheels
S O CLOSE and yet so far away. It was
almost like visions of Columbus,
circa 1972, complete with a questionable
judgment call by an official. No, it was
not Michigan losing 14-11 to Ohio State,
it was the Detroit Wheels bowing 18-14 to
the Florida Blazers.
And, it wasn't a retiring referee mak-
ing one of the final decisions of his offic-
iating career, but one of the new World
Football League officials. He didn't deny
a team a. touchdown that it apparently
had earned, but he did elect not to call
an interference penalty, a decision that
likely cost the Detroit Wheels a victory
Wednesday night.
"He was all over me, a dejected John
Eihbree revealed afterward. "I don't
know what the official was thinking of."
Embree was the man claiming inter-
ference on a desperation pass from quar-
terback Bubba Wyche on a fourth and
goal from the one in the game's dying
seconds.
Thwarted at one last gasp, all out at-
tempt to score, the Wheels had to stand
and watch as Florida's Bob Davis fell
on the ball while the last fleeting sec-
onds ticked away.
A television instant replay substantiat-
ed Embree's claim that he was "spun
around", though it didn't reveal the cul-
prit.
"Sure they were hanging all over
him," said solemn Detroit coach Dan
Bositure, "but that's neither here nor
there now."
The game was highly dramatic with
the Blazers churning 83 yards in 16 plays
for the deciding touchdown, followed by
the Wheels' near miss at the end.;
Detroit Wheels' President Louis Lee
beamed before the game, "I'm as cool
as a cucumber. My job is over. I can't
do nothing about what happens on the
field. I wish I could."
Lee must also have wished he could.
have done something about the sparse
crowd of 10,631 paying customers that
barely half-filled the Rynearson Sta-
dium stands.
The Wheels proved they are worth
watching even in losing. The offense
showed a lot more precision than in
Memphis, particularly the running at-
tack which was non-existent in their first
loss.
Other World Football League teams
are drawing. Why then didn't the
Wheels? Faulty advertising had a lot to
do with it. So did the hatchet job Jim
Forney and Nick Eddy did on the tele-
cast from Memphis.
The Florida telecast crew, consisting
of Lee Watson, Mel Campbell, and Don
Perkins, whom I had the opportunity to
talk with, did a creditable job. They
knew the players' names and gave in-
sightful commentaries that get the fan's
attention. And when you have their at-
tention, tickets sell themselves.
As Boisture said, "It was an interest-
ing game from the fans' point of view."
Too bad there weren't a few more
around to see it.
Victorious coach Jack Pardee felt the
Wheels played a' good garpe. "Detroit
has a good team," he said. "We were
fortunate to come out of it with a win.
Turnovers hurt them last week, but they
were in that game until near the end,
too."
Pardee predicted~ the night before the
game that the outcome would not be
decided until late in the fourth quar-
ter. He probably never realized how ac-
curate his hunch would be. "This League
has real good balance," he said when
asked to compare teams.
The Wheels have already touched
down in Hawaii, just in time for two
days' practice in preparation for their
Sunday match with the Hawaiians.
Hopefully by the time they return for
the next home game July 31 the front
office will find a few gimmicks to better
sell its product. The organization's suc-
cess ultimately depends on it.
Tigers slow plunge with win
Freehan's homerun keys
Coleman's eighth victory
By JOHN KAHLER
Special To The Daily
DETROIT - "You know,"
mused Tiger manager Ralph
Hoik before last night's contest
with the Minnesota Twins, "we
haven't begn hitting well lately.
but we'll snap out of it. Teams
coming home from a road trip
osially do."
The Mirnle Maior may have
been whistling in the dark, bit
this time he was right. The
Tiger bats came alive for a
5-3 victory over the Twins that
handed Joe Coleman his long
sought-after eighth win of the
season.
THE TWINS started the scor-
ing off Coleman in the second,
as Bobby Darwin led off with
a walk; and Eric Soderholm was
safe when Aurelio Rodriguez
bobbled his sacrifice bunt at--
temot. Jim Holt singled Darwin
home, moving Soderholm to
third.
Soderholm scored on the next
play as Coleman mysteriously
decided to make Jerry Terrell's
suicide squeeze bunt successful.
But this was only a temporary
setback. Rodriguez led off the
Tiger second by parking a Bill
Butler pitch in the upper deck
stands. Next, Bill Freehan lined
a Butler fastball into the lower
deck in left to start the third
inning with Al Kaline aboard,
and give the Tigers the lead.
After Jim Northrn walked,
Twin manan.r Frank D1ilici de-
cided he had seen enoneh of
RItlor and hronight in Rav Cor-
bin. The T'vin reliever started
ont noorlyhy vwalking Marvin
Lane. Rodrigin-emoted the
r',nners in, and TA R inkman's
grrannded scored Northrup.
Then, after fishing for some
bad nitches, Jerry Moses fonnd
a good one and npnched a sinole
to left. gi'inn Coleman a 5-2
marin to work with.
SURPRISTNGLY, C o l e m a n
was eniel to the task, and only
in the fifth inning was he
thrente ed. Steve Bram's short
fly hat hit on the left field
line for a doible. and Tons
Oli-a followed with a single to
right. Brann was dead at the
latP,' bit Northrun's throw from
the outfield was high, and
lrmin slid under the tag.
But when it came to the
crunch, the Twins could not
touch the Tiger righthander.
With a runner on in the ninth
he struck out Harmon Killebrew
and Glenn Borgmann to clinch
a much-needed victory for the
sagging Bengals.
-..;",;;;:: r" ;i:;:~l}.a'ao: .c{:Y.F{r:: . 4 }"~i:"
%
Maior 1-eo~nue Stoael~s
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
w L Pet. GB
Boston 49 43 .533 -
Baltimore 47 43 .522 1
Cleveland 46 44 .511 2
Milwaukee 46 45 .505 2%
New York 46 46 .500 3
- - Detroit 45 47 .489 4
,,. . West
Oakland 54 39 .581 -
Chicago 46 44 .511 6'A
Kansas City 46 45 .505 7
Texas 46 49 .484 9
Minnesota 44 50 .468 10%
California 37 57 .394 174j
Yesterday's Results
Oakland 3, Cleveland 2
h Detroit 5, Minnesota 3
AP Photo New York 10, Kansas City 6
Texas 2, Boston 1
Only games seheduled.
Today's Games
Oakland (Hamilton 6-2) at Cleve-
ste Jack Et- land (Bosman 1-0), night.
d Storm last California (Lange 3-6) at Balti-
more (Grimsley 11-8), night.
in the third Kansas City (Dal Cantos 4-4)at
tr~iD1Yii01! New Yank (McDowell 1-3), nighst.
ral Division Minnesota (Albury 4-8) at De-
The contest troit (LaGrow 7-8), 8 p.m.
Th onet Boston (Tiant 13-7) at Texas
Huarte, the (Margan 8-5 or Brown 7-7),anight.
Mlwaokee (sprague 7-1) at Chi-
r197_yas, rags (Johnson 2-0). night.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
w L Pet. GR
Philadelphia 6 45 .505 -
Montreal 44 44 .500 Irs
St. Louis 44 48 .478 2
Pittsburgh 42 49 .462 4
Chicago 40 50 .444 5,
New York 38 51 .427 7
west
Los Angeles 61 32 .656 -
Cincinnati 56 39 .589 6
Houston 50 44 .532 11]
Atlanta 50 46 .521 121
San Francisco 42 52 .447 19%
San Diego 42 55 .433 21
Yesterday's Results
Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 0
Chicago 3, Cincinnati 2
Houston 8, St. Louis 2
Philadelphia at San Diego, Inc.
Montreal at Los Angeles, inc.
Today's'Games
Pittsburgh (Brett 11-6) at At-
lanta (P. Niekro 9-8), night.
Chicago (LaRoche 1-2) at Cin-
cinnati (Billingham 9-7), night.
Houston (Griffin 10-3) at St.
Louois (Bfare 0-1), night.
New York (Matlack 8-6) at San
Diego (spillner 5-4), night.
Philadelphia (Twitchell 4-2) at
Los Angeles (Ran 7-6), night.
Montreal (Tonres 9-5) at San
Francisco (Caldwell 8-3), night.
Huarte fires for seven
John Huarte (7) drops back, cocks his arm, and fires a touchdown pass to teammf
tinger in the first quarter of the Memphis Southmen's 16-8 victory over the Portlani
night. Huarte also threw a touchdown pass to Ed Marshall for the winning points;
quarter The victory upped the Southmen's record to 2-0, tying them for the Cent
lend of the World Football League with the Chicago Fire. Portland has yet to win.
was the second of the WFL's weekly Thursday night nationally televised games.
former Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame, connected on 1S of 24 aerials foi