Tuesday, July 13, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Eleven
SPRETZEL LOGIC Taiwan fight still burns,
By RICK BONINO = IOC sides with Canada
An open letter...
.*, to Mark Fidrych
TAWAS CITY
Dear high-flying Bird,
You probably don't know me. Although we're the same age,
I've never even been at an All-Star game, let alone be the start-
ing pitcher. And relegated to Tawas and factory life this sum-
mer, the only chance I have to see you pitch is on TV.
But everyone knows you, at least everyone who's encountered
a sports page these last few weeks. Sometimes it's hard to tell
where it'll all stop. Will future children mayhaps be reared read-
ing of your second-decade derring-do while munching their Fid-
rych flakes?
Sorry, Mark. I know it's not your fault, but instead of just
another red-blooded American lad with a knack for throwing a
baseball - at least the first time around the league - you've been
made into a symbol.
Of course, a symbol represents different things to differ-
ent people. To the vicarious thrill seeking oldsters and the
open-mouthed sandlot youngsters, you're a godsend. But to
this more skeptical observer, jaded to images in this era of
Reagan and Carter, you're frightening.
Why should I want to see our youth idolizing someone who
ironically doesn't know the meaning of the word "destined,"
among others, when I look around my home town and see an
unaccredited, virtually library-less school system reeling from
yet another millage defeat?
Meanwhile, penny-pinching parents howl when someone men-
tions cutting the budget in the athletic department rather than
the classroom. Brains aren't everything, as anyone who's sur-
vived a while in Ann Arbor can tell you, but they do help in
coordinating a sprawling, stumbling semi-democracy, the task our
future generations face.
And don't even bother us college students with your tale
of how you can't afford a telephone on your "meager" ($16,
500) salary. Hell, we're paying to go to school and we have
them.
Sorry, Mark, but if we want to idolize someone, why can't
we choose a group far more underpaid, far less appreciated and
far more socially significant - for example, the social workers
in this misguided city you've set on its ear?
Not that they particularly need the fawning adulation heaped
on these man-children which now dominate our decadent profes-
sional sports structure. Mature people can rely on self-satisfac-
tion for their motivation, not raves or riches.
I'm not suggesting that you're particularly immature,
Mark, or that you're overly materialistic or self-centered. But
you're not the new Messiah, either, not "the hope, the future"
as Bob Talbert would lead us to believe.
The sad part is that you never tried to be. You've just been
set up as the pigeon. Once again, the analyst is left with the
vague, disturbing notion that this whole mess is somehow, some-
where, "society's" fault. Perhaps we'll all realize this someday
when the fun and games have ended.
You may talk turkey, Mark, but you're not the bluebird of
happiness. In the end I'm sure you'll stay grounded with the rest
of us when we finally face either those long-awaited doves or the
all-too-likely buzzards.
ny The Associated Press
M O N T R E A L - United
States Olympic officials stepped
into the Taiwan crisis yesterday
and argued with both the
Taiwanese and the Canadian
government in a bid to get Tai-
wan back into the Games.
Philip O. Krumm, president
of the U.S. Olympic Committee,
said in an interview: "We are
working like the dickens to try
to get the Canadian govern-
ment to make some concession,
and we are also trying to per-
suade the Taiwanese to give a
little."
THE CANADIAN government,
under pressure from Commu-
nist China, has refused to let
the Taiwanese team into the
country unless they change
their name. TheCIOC bitterly
criticized the Canadians for
taking this firmnstand but
failed to win a compromise.
Then, on Sunday night, the
Executive Board of the IOC
gave in to the Canadian de-
Maior League
Standings
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
W L Pet, Gn
New York 50 31 .617 -
Boston 40 40 .500 9%f
Baltimore 40 42 .488 10
Cleveland 38 41 .481 11
Detroit 38 41 .481 1
Milwaukee 34 44 .436 14/
West
Kansas City 51 31 .622 -
Texas 44 30 .537 7
Oakland 44 41 .518 8%
Minnesota 39 44 .470 12%
Chicrago 37 45 .451 14
Callfornia 35 an .402 18%
Yesterday's Results
No games scheduled
Today's Game
All-star Game at Philadelphia,
8:30 p.m.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
W L Pet, Gn
Philadelphia 56 25 .691 -
Pittsburgh 46 35 .568 10
New York 46 42 .523 13ff
St. Louis 36 46 .439 20ff
Chsicago 306 0 48 29 21%f
Montreal 2a 52 .325 29
West
Cincinnati 53 33 .616 -
Los Angeles 47 39 .547 6
San Diego 43 44 .494 10f%
Houston 42 44 .488 11
Atlanta 40 45 .471 12%
san Francisco 35 52 .402 1Sf',
Yesterday's Results
No games scheduled
Today's Games
All-Star Game at Philadelphia,
8:30 p.m.
mand. The board suggested
Taiwanese athletes march in
the opening Olympic parade un-
der the Olympic flag and be-
hind a plaque bearing the name
of the IOC. The Taiwanese re-
fused.
Unless the full IOC reverses
t h e Executive Board, the
Taiwanese apparently will not
appear in the Montreal Olym-
pics.
The full council begins meet-
ing today.
KRUMM, meanwhile, blasted
the Canadian government for
its stand, saying Canada's blat-
ant and unwarranted position
casts aside all of the Olympic
principles and the Olympic Code
under which we are pledged to
bold the Games.
Harold Wright, president of
the Canadian Olympic Commis-
sion, disagreed with his coun-
try's stand in strong terms.
"This is the blackest day in
Canada's history," he said.
"We've allowed a country that's
not even a member of the
Olympic movement to come ov-
er her and manipulate our poli-
cy." He referred to mainland
China.
E D W A R D SKRABEC,
Olympic coordination chief for
the External Affairs Depart-
ment of the Canadian govern-
ment denied that mainland
China is dictating Canadian
policy.
"Look, we're not about to
shaft anybody," he added.
"We would like the Taiwanese"
to come but not as the sup-
posed representatives of 800
million people on the mainland."
"WHY CANADA? Why now?"
said an embittered C. K. Yang,
Taiwan's w o r l d decathlon
champion of 16 years ago.
"They make us feel like crimi-
nals."
"The beautiful thing about
the Olympics," said Yang,
"has been that you don't walk
up to a guy in a sweat suit with
a hammer and sickle on his
chest and ask, 'What are your
politics?' You ask, 'How fast do
you run?'
"Sn the Olympics S competed
side by side with Communists.
We became good friends. We
never argued beliefs. We talked
about times and techniques."
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