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The original documents are located in Box 90, folder 70 - Sports (1)" of the Charles H. McCall Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Copyright Notice The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Some items in this folder were not digitized because it contains copyrighted materials. Please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for access to these materials. The Sports Boom Is Going Bust and so are a lot of the owners who brought you tax-supported stadiums, overpaid athletes, saturated TV coverage and astronomical ticket prices. & FORD TESCALD LIBRARY CONGRES PLAYERS SPONSORS OWNER LITTLE 5-foot 2-inch Fran Monaco The sports boom is ending with a World Baseball Association, a new sat shaking his head in his cramped bang and a lot of whimpers: league that is supposed to challenge office surrounded by football gear and Veteran builder and sports mogul the two entrenched leagues. explained in a halting voice how his Robert Schmertz lost around $1 mil- There are even rumors that Jack Jacksonville Sharks football team-his lion operating the World Football Kent Cooke, chairman of Tele- first love-had eaten him alive. In League's New York Stars' franchise PrompTer and the biggest sports mo- one season, the 48-year-old Florida last year. Besides, he recently gave gul of all, wants to sell out. That's businessman seems to have lost every away 50% of his Boston Celtics bas- doubly significant, because Cooke's cent he made in the last 22 years on ketball team to settle a $3.7-million timing is usually as impeccable as his his medical laboratory business and suit. That must really hurt, since the wardrobe. He entered sports in the running a supper club. "Before, I had stock of his Leisure Technology re- Fifties, later going to Los Angeles a good reputation," said Monaco, tirement home company has col- from Canada, where he owned a wincing. "I paid my debts." lapsed, and he has just been indicted string of radio stations. For around But no more. Thanks to his be- for bribery in connection with a $20 million invested over the years, loved Sharks, for which he paid the realty deal. But he's hoping the he got a slew of sports franchises, in- new World Football League $650,000 public will help him out by buying cluding basketball's Los Angeles Lak- last year, Monaco now has total the WFL team, now known as the ers, and built the 18,000-seat Forum. liabilities of around $1.8 million. Charlotte, N.C. Hornets, for $100 His rumored asking price: $90 mil- Monaco said sadly: "This is like a a share. lion. But as the boys on Seventh nightmare." Sambo's Restaurants' Sam Battistone Avenue say, "Wait; he'll take less." Little Fran Monaco has company. Jr. and friends are likely to lose about What happened to pro sports isn't A growing number of owners and pro- $1 million operating the National very surprising. All boom businesses moters are learning that the easy Basketball Association's New Orleans are started by the truly shrewd, then days are over for the sports boom, Jazz this season. Last year he and his inevitably become saturated by the which created scores of new teams, friends paid $6.2 million for the privi- misguided souls who can't resist get- fostered more than a score of new lege (and franchise). Battistone and ting in on a good thing. And, of arenas and stadiums costing over $1 other partners stand to lose another course, sports is especially attractive billion (see box, p. 26) and saturated $1 million on the WFL Hawaiians. to investors. It makes instant celebri- television with "spectaculars" like the Poor Sam! He jumped from his fry- ties out of unknowns-like the son of wrist wrestling championship. ing pans into a fire. a rich man or perhaps the anonymous Teams are folding in football, bas- Some even think that sports trou- executive referred to as "what's-his- ketball and tennis-to name a few- bles may have been one factor that name, the toilet-seat king." and some sports insiders now insist led investment counselor Charles Sports isn't dying; it is merely that the recession will eat up entire W. Call Jr. to shoot and kill his wife, shrinking to a more healthy size. leagues. Two candidates: the World a son and then himself last month in America's love of sports assures ever Football and World Hockey outfits. New Jersey. According to one organiz- more sports revenues. But those big- Beyond question, the in word in sports er, Sean Downey, Call was commit- ger dollars will continue to be today is shrinkage. ted to investing $600,000 in the stretched to the breaking point by 24 FORBES, FEBRUARY 15, 1975 70 WHETHER YOU PLAY OR PAY, SPORTS ARE BIGGER THAN EVER Just try to find an empty tennis court-or buy a ticket to a major football game. Even soccer is growing. Americans are on an athletic binge, both as participants and as spectators. There's a double-barreled boom in There's a boom in spectator sports as USN&WR sports in this country. well. Even the "armchair athletes" who Shorn of its country-club image, tennis is The biggest is in personal participa- prefer to watch rather than take part are now the fastest-growing participant sport. tion. Americans in record numbers are being swept up in this mounting enthu- turning to some form of physical activity siasm. More people than ever are paying cently been established in the West. for recreation. to watch organized sporting events— Since 1965 the number of major-league Fastest-growing sport of all is tennis, despite constantly rising admission teams in professional sports has jumped which, like golf, can be played by people prices in economically hard times. from 57 to 173. Additionally, touring of nearly all ages. Soccer is spreading Professional sports leagues, once con- golf, bowling and tennis professionals fast among the young. But today's ama- fined to baseball and football, now oper- crisscross the country the year round for teur athletes are gamely taking up ev- ate nationwide in hockey, basketball, weekly tournaments. erything from jogging and hiking to soccer and tennis. Professional lacrosse is With so much more going on, it's only mountain climbing and hang gliding. played indoors along the Atlantic sea- natural that attendance has risen. A board and a professional turnstile count of 12 varied sports, ama- Spectators at Major Sports Events volleyball league has re- teur and professional, shows 273.2 mil- Thoroughbred 1965 40,737,000 UP racing 1974 48,824,000 20% Auto 1965 39,000,000 UP racing 1974 47,500,000 22% College 1965 24,683,000 UP For ectator Sports: football 1974 31,235,000 27% Major-league 1965 23,437,000 UP SURGE baseball 1974 30,630,000 31% Harness 1965 26,899,000 UP ATTENDANCE racing 1974 29,976,000 11% College 1965 16,384,000 UP basketball 1974 24,630,000 50% Greyhound 1965 10,865,000 UP racing 1974 16,274,000 50% Professional 1965 2,823,000 UP hockey 1974 12,006,000 325% Minor-league 1965 10,194,000 UP baseball 1974 11,032,000 8% Professional 1965 6,956,000 UP football 1974 10,236,000 47% Professional 1965 2,356,000 UP basketball 1974 8,229,000 249% Professional 1965 1,743,000 UP boxing 1974 2,675,000 53% *National Football League TOTAL FOR THESE EVENTS IN 1965: 206,077,000 UP TOTAL FOR THESE EVENTS IN 1974: 273,247,000 33% Source: Triangle Publications 46 U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, Sept. 8, 1975 70 t was his 27th birthday and Ernie Holmes, defensive tackle ference, the toughest division in the N.F.L. Their biggest con- for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was picking up the meat for his ference obstacle on the way to the Super Bowl is a likely playoff party. Not at the supermarket or butcher's, though. Holmes showdown with the rugged Oakland Raiders. If the Steelers sur- was personally slaughtering a calf at his father's farm outside vive that, they will probably face either the Vikings or the Los An- Houston. "I gave him a forearm lift," says Holmes, describing geles Rams in the Super Bowl next month in Miami. his barnyard battle with the beast. "That knocked him into the A Super Bowl in Florida will be the natural conclusion for a fence. Then I put a full nelson on him." Finally Holmes dropped sunny N.F.L. season. Despite, or perhaps because of, the col- the animal with a high-powered rifle. "Forty-five minutes lat- lapse of the rival World Football League, the N.F.L. this fall is er," he says, "we had the calf skinned and dried." registering a jump in attendance (averaging 56,000 per game) The National Football League is full of quarterbacks who and an increase in TV ratings. And why not? Some 40% of the have been shown no more mercy. Not to mention running backs games are being won by 7 points or less, not to mention a rash and offensive linemen. Playing with a raw violence that is rare of sudden-death thrillers. even when judged by the bare-knuckle standards of his sport, It is ironic that four of the key protagonists of this season Ernie Holmes knows how to slaughter an offense. should be Charles Edward ("Joe") Greene, Dwight Lynn White, On most teams his performance-and personality-would Ernest Lee Holmes and L.C. Henderson Greenwood. Though make Holmes famous. Not on the Steelers. With Pittsburgh, he KLUETMEIER-SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is not even the best-known defensive lineman. There are three reasons: Fellow Tackle "Mean" Joe Greene and Ends L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White, each a prototype of menace at his position and a striking figure off the field. Greenwood, 29, is a brutal tackler, although he says he hates contact and would rather not be known as a football player. Greene, 29, after a sea- son of tossing linemen and runners around like rag dolls, goes home to cultivate his vegetable garden. As for White, 26, it is hard to know exactly what he will do at any time. "There's no question that I'm schizoid," he says. "I might be three or four peo- ple. I know I can be evil." These are the men who make up the meanest front four in football, a half ton of trouble for any offense. Moving like a COVER STORY HALF TON OF TROUBLE band of marauding behemoths (average size 6 ft. 4 in., 260 lbs.), they smother runners at the line of scrimmage, flatten passers, and send offensive linemen into disarray. "There are some great lines in the league," says Washington Redskins Head Coach George Allen, architect of one himself, "but the edge has to go to Pittsburgh. They put fear in the heart of a passer." They do more than that. Dumping quarterbacks a league- leading 40 times last season was only the beginning of the front four's contribution to the Steelers. They set the tone for the entire defense, and it was the defense that carried the 42-year-old Pitts- burgh franchise to its first Super Bowl championship last year. The creation of patient, low-key Head Coach Chuck Noll, who STEELERS' DWIGHT WHITE HURDLES OVER A FALLEN O.J. SIMPSON drafted all but two of the starting defensive players, and Steeler Founder and Owner Art Rooney, who gave Noll the backing he front fours have been well publicized in pro football-the Rams needed to build slowly over the past six years, the defense is the "Fearsome Foursome" and the Vikings "Purple People Eaters" cornerstone of Pittsburgh's leadership in the N.F.L. When Pitts- during the past decade-quarterbacks and running backs still re- burgh defeated Minnesota 16-6 in the Super Bowl, the defense main the celebrities of the sport. Certainly the action along the limited the Vikings to 17 yds. rushing. Minnesota Running Back line of scrimmage gets only passing attention from TV cameras Chuck Foreman spoke for the league when he pleaded with the and fans. But this trench warfare is as fierce as anything in Steeler front four: "C'mon, you mothers, give us a yard." sport. Grunting and cursing, players club, ram and pound each Before this season ends, that call may well be heard again. other in two- and three-second rumbles that begin anew with Going into last weekend's game against the stumbling New York every play. Jets, the Steelers were riding an eight-game winning streak and Until about 15 years ago, the defensive linemen's primary ob- an overall won-lost record of 9-1. That was good enough to put jective was to come out of the rumble stopping the run. No long- them in first place in the Central Division of the American Con- er. Faced with increasingly sophisticated passing attacks, the 62 TIME, DECEMBER 8, 1975 $1.00 APRIL 26, 1976 ® TIME BASEBAL SPRINGS ETERNAL 70 Sti COVER STORY t's a goddam good game," says ready as late as December 1975 to blow domiciled in these weatherproof bubbles Yankee President Gabe Paul, "to the Windy City looked solid as a line- never have to worry about slipping in survive what's been done to it." drive double-all because the greatest the rain, losing fly balls in the smog, get- What is being done to baseball promoter baseball has ever known was ting grass stains on their pants or suf- and by whom is a matter of sub- back in action. fering other terrestrial indignities. stantial contention, but the first In Atlanta, the Braves' new own- But even if undomed, the new Yan- half of Gabe Paul's statement has been er, a tough-minded, salty-tongued com- kee Stadium has more character than resoundingly endorsed in the past few munications czar and yachtsman named those sterile, round, modular units that days. Ted Turner, signed up the game's most have sprung up across the sports land- In New York, hallowed old Yan- sought-after right arm in a reported scape like mushrooms in a glen. It is ba- kee Stadium, the house that Ruth built, $1 million deal engineered by-of all sically the same looming, irregularly reopened in plushly refurbished form, its people-a fan who took the negotiating laid-out structure whose vast inner space dedication presided over by Mayor authority upon himself. With one stroke Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Abraham Beame. It was 53 years from of the pen, the moribund Braves had a Mantle roamed heroically. Only it is Babe to Abe, but the difference in what bright new look. The signee was a hand- clean, shiny and for the first time com- some, 30-year-old, bubble-gum-chew- fortable. The "Telescreen" on the score- ing pitcher named Andy Messer- board that was to flash messages like "Charge!" to the crowd was not work- ing, and some box-seat spectators com- plained that their view of home plate was blocked by the dugout roof. But the ugly poles that screened the vision of generations of fans have been removed, and the seats are now wide enough-22 in. instead of 18-to accommodate America's middle-age spread. This bow to our hippy culture reduced the stadi- um's capacity from 65,010 to 54,028. The distinctive, swag façade that once hung from the roof of the stands has been reproduced atop the new $3 million-plus scoreboard-only in con- crete, not painted copper. Because the value of copper has risen almost as dras- tically as ballplayers' salaries since 1923, the original façade was melted down and sold. Perhaps it is now plumb- ing in a renovated brownstone. The ON APRIL 18, 1923, THE BABE WARMED HIS HOUSE WITH ITS FIRST HOME RUN EVER playing surface is still alive: Merion blue grass, in texture irregular enough to a community will lavish on its sports smith, a free spirit and free agent whose promise a few historic bounces and in team could be measured in light-years. victorious legal battle against baseball's color a nice uneven biological green. Trembling at the thought that its Yan- "reserve clause" was reshaping the en- On April 18, 1923, close to 65,000 kees might leave town forever, the stone- tire sport. fans* flocked to New York's $2.5 mil- broke metropolis ponied up an estimat- Little wonder then that turnstiles lion house of baseball. New York Gov- ed $100 million to provide the likes of clicked like castanets as combined ma- ernor Al Smith threw out the first ball. 6,900 parking spaces and an electronic jor league opening-day attendance fig- The first one hit into the stands-fit- scoreboard for the fans, expansive lav- ures hit an alltime high. Baseball '76, tingly-was a game-winning home run ender-carpeted dressing rooms for the which for weeks had seemed unlikely by Babe Ruth that beat his old Red Sox players and a plush lounge, featuring to get launched at all, was off to a rock- teammates 4-1. Ruth's astonishing overstuffed chairs in the shape of field- eting start. The long legal arguments home-run hitting and his $50,000 sal- ers' gloves, for the owner's guests. over the rights of spring, at least for the ary had made baseball a different game In Chicago, Peg-Legged Bill moment, proved no contest for the and caused many to say the new sta- Veeck (see box page 76), dressed as a game's own rites of spring. dium should have been called Ruth Revolutionary soldier and playing a fife, The grandest new blossom of base- Field. stumped triumphantly across the 100% ball's most stimulating April ever was natural turf he has restored to Comis- Yankee Stadium, a glowing renovation *The announced figure of 74,200, the Yankees later shamelessly admitted, was impossible; the key Park. Marching to Veeck's tune of the most famous, nostalgia-imbued park at the time had only 62,000 seats. were White Sox fans in unheard-of num- house of sweat in America. Only New bers. There were 40,318 in the flesh at Orleans' Superdome, completed last opening day (compared with 20,202 last year, cost more ($173 million); Seattle's The Yanks doff their caps during opening year), season-ticket sales were up more "Kingdome," which opened this month, ceremonies, then give 54,000 fans an than 40%, and a franchise that had been was a mere $60 million. Of course, teams afternoon to remember. 70 SAHM DOHERTY AND JOHN ZIMMERMAN SPORT 5 CRIME AND TRIBUNE 1776 BETTMANN ARCHIVE BROWN BROTHERS STOCK & PILLORY IN BOSTON, CA. 1657; NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS, 1863 Crime not only did not increase during the Revolutionary The following Bicentennial Essay is the seventh in a series War, but most of it, at least in New England, continued to in- that has been appearing periodically, surveying how America has volve religious and moral, not acquisitive or violent, offenses. Wil- changed in its 200 years. liam E. Nelson, analyzing the records of seven populous Mas- sachusetts counties, finds an average of 23 prosecutions for theft n the eve of the Revolutionary War, many colonists each year before 1776 and 24 a year in the five years after 1776, -and not only Tories-feared that if rebellion came, hardly indicative of a crime wave. But there was an average of "the bands of society would be dissolved, the harmony 72 prosecutions for sexual offenses each year before 1776 and 58 of the world confounded, and the order of nature subverted." a year from 1779 to 1786, along with about 24 prosecutions a Crime and lawlessness would surely accompany any challenge year for religious offenses, like missing church on Sunday. to authority, especially one involving a resort to arms. We have always thought of our colonial forebears as rather It did not happen-not, at least, during the war. In retro- puritanical. That there were so many prosecutions on moral and spect, that is remarkable. In 1776 there were no municipal po- religious charges suggests that this was, indeed, their attitude; 82 TIME, APRIL 26, 1976 PUNISHMENT POLICE 1976 BICENTENNIAL ESSAY FREED-MAGNUM ASBURY PARK, N.J., POLICE & RIOTERS, 1970; LOUISIANA PRISON, 1963 opinion not only dominated political decision making, but con- trolled most public and much private conduct as well. This is tuous in our history. Rioting became commonplace for reasons why there was such frequent resort to humiliation as a penalty. that were partly economic (depressions that put artisans out of Stocks, pillory, and tar and feathers were effective because the work or immigration that put them in competition with cheaper opinion of one's townsmen was so important. The colonists paid labor), partly religious (Catholics, Masons and Mormons were at- a price for government by communal consensus: there was not tacked and their buildings burned), partly political (the early anti- much privacy, and what we now regard as liberties of conscience slavery agitation), and partly sporting (the drunker members of TIME, APRIL 26, 1976 83

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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box 90, folder 70 - Sports (1)\" of the Charles H.\nMcCall Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nSome items in this folder were not digitized because it contains copyrighted\nmaterials. Please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for access to\nthese materials.\nThe Sports Boom Is Going Bust\nand so are a lot of the owners who brought\nyou tax-supported stadiums, overpaid athletes,\nsaturated TV coverage and astronomical ticket prices.\n&\nFORD\nTESCALD\nLIBRARY\nCONGRES\nPLAYERS\nSPONSORS\nOWNER\nLITTLE 5-foot 2-inch Fran Monaco\nThe sports boom is ending with a\nWorld Baseball Association, a new\nsat shaking his head in his cramped\nbang and a lot of whimpers:\nleague that is supposed to challenge\noffice surrounded by football gear and\nVeteran builder and sports mogul\nthe two entrenched leagues.\nexplained in a halting voice how his\nRobert Schmertz lost around $1 mil-\nThere are even rumors that Jack\nJacksonville Sharks football team-his\nlion operating the World Football\nKent Cooke, chairman of Tele-\nfirst love-had eaten him alive. In\nLeague's New York Stars' franchise\nPrompTer and the biggest sports mo-\none season, the 48-year-old Florida\nlast year. Besides, he recently gave\ngul of all, wants to sell out. That's\nbusinessman seems to have lost every\naway 50% of his Boston Celtics bas-\ndoubly significant, because Cooke's\ncent he made in the last 22 years on\nketball team to settle a $3.7-million\ntiming is usually as impeccable as his\nhis medical laboratory business and\nsuit. That must really hurt, since the\nwardrobe. He entered sports in the\nrunning a supper club. \"Before, I had\nstock of his Leisure Technology re-\nFifties, later going to Los Angeles\na good reputation,\" said Monaco,\ntirement home company has col-\nfrom Canada, where he owned a\nwincing. \"I paid my debts.\"\nlapsed, and he has just been indicted\nstring of radio stations. For around\nBut no more. Thanks to his be-\nfor bribery in connection with a\n$20 million invested over the years,\nloved Sharks, for which he paid the\nrealty deal. But he's hoping the\nhe got a slew of sports franchises, in-\nnew World Football League $650,000\npublic will help him out by buying\ncluding basketball's Los Angeles Lak-\nlast year, Monaco now has total\nthe WFL team, now known as the\ners, and built the 18,000-seat Forum.\nliabilities of around $1.8 million.\nCharlotte, N.C. Hornets, for $100\nHis rumored asking price: $90 mil-\nMonaco said sadly: \"This is like a\na share.\nlion. But as the boys on Seventh\nnightmare.\"\nSambo's Restaurants' Sam Battistone\nAvenue say, \"Wait; he'll take less.\"\nLittle Fran Monaco has company.\nJr. and friends are likely to lose about\nWhat happened to pro sports isn't\nA growing number of owners and pro-\n$1 million operating the National\nvery surprising. All boom businesses\nmoters are learning that the easy\nBasketball Association's New Orleans\nare started by the truly shrewd, then\ndays are over for the sports boom,\nJazz this season. Last year he and his\ninevitably become saturated by the\nwhich created scores of new teams,\nfriends paid $6.2 million for the privi-\nmisguided souls who can't resist get-\nfostered more than a score of new\nlege (and franchise). Battistone and\nting in on a good thing. And, of\narenas and stadiums costing over $1\nother partners stand to lose another\ncourse, sports is especially attractive\nbillion (see box, p. 26) and saturated\n$1 million on the WFL Hawaiians.\nto investors. It makes instant celebri-\ntelevision with \"spectaculars\" like the\nPoor Sam! He jumped from his fry-\nties out of unknowns-like the son of\nwrist wrestling championship.\ning pans into a fire.\na rich man or perhaps the anonymous\nTeams are folding in football, bas-\nSome even think that sports trou-\nexecutive referred to as \"what's-his-\nketball and tennis-to name a few-\nbles may have been one factor that\nname, the toilet-seat king.\"\nand some sports insiders now insist\nled investment counselor Charles\nSports isn't dying; it is merely\nthat the recession will eat up entire\nW. Call Jr. to shoot and kill his wife,\nshrinking to a more healthy size.\nleagues. Two candidates: the World\na son and then himself last month in\nAmerica's love of sports assures ever\nFootball and World Hockey outfits.\nNew Jersey. According to one organiz-\nmore sports revenues. But those big-\nBeyond question, the in word in sports\ner, Sean Downey, Call was commit-\nger dollars will continue to be\ntoday is shrinkage.\nted to investing $600,000 in the\nstretched to the breaking point by\n24\nFORBES, FEBRUARY 15, 1975\n70\nWHETHER YOU PLAY\nOR PAY, SPORTS ARE\nBIGGER THAN EVER\nJust try to find an empty tennis court-or buy a ticket to a\nmajor football game. Even soccer is growing. Americans are on\nan athletic binge, both as participants and as spectators.\nThere's a double-barreled boom in\nThere's a boom in spectator sports as\nUSN&WR\nsports in this country.\nwell. Even the \"armchair athletes\" who\nShorn of its country-club image, tennis is\nThe biggest is in personal participa-\nprefer to watch rather than take part are\nnow the fastest-growing participant sport.\ntion. Americans in record numbers are\nbeing swept up in this mounting enthu-\nturning to some form of physical activity\nsiasm. More people than ever are paying\ncently been established in the West.\nfor recreation.\nto watch organized sporting events—\nSince 1965 the number of major-league\nFastest-growing sport of all is tennis,\ndespite constantly rising admission\nteams in professional sports has jumped\nwhich, like golf, can be played by people\nprices in economically hard times.\nfrom 57 to 173. Additionally, touring\nof nearly all ages. Soccer is spreading\nProfessional sports leagues, once con-\ngolf, bowling and tennis professionals\nfast among the young. But today's ama-\nfined to baseball and football, now oper-\ncrisscross the country the year round for\nteur athletes are gamely taking up ev-\nate nationwide in hockey, basketball,\nweekly tournaments.\nerything from jogging and hiking to\nsoccer and tennis. Professional lacrosse is\nWith so much more going on, it's only\nmountain climbing and hang gliding.\nplayed indoors along the Atlantic sea-\nnatural that attendance has risen. A\nboard and a professional\nturnstile count of 12 varied sports, ama-\nSpectators at Major Sports Events\nvolleyball league has re-\nteur and professional, shows 273.2 mil-\nThoroughbred\n1965\n40,737,000\nUP\nracing\n1974\n48,824,000\n20%\nAuto\n1965\n39,000,000\nUP\nracing\n1974\n47,500,000\n22%\nCollege\n1965\n24,683,000\nUP\nFor ectator Sports:\nfootball\n1974\n31,235,000\n27%\nMajor-league\n1965\n23,437,000\nUP\nSURGE\nbaseball\n1974\n30,630,000\n31%\nHarness\n1965\n26,899,000\nUP\nATTENDANCE\nracing\n1974\n29,976,000\n11%\nCollege\n1965\n16,384,000\nUP\nbasketball\n1974\n24,630,000\n50%\nGreyhound\n1965\n10,865,000\nUP\nracing\n1974\n16,274,000\n50%\nProfessional\n1965\n2,823,000\nUP\nhockey\n1974\n12,006,000\n325%\nMinor-league\n1965\n10,194,000\nUP\nbaseball\n1974\n11,032,000\n8%\nProfessional\n1965\n6,956,000\nUP\nfootball\n1974\n10,236,000\n47%\nProfessional\n1965\n2,356,000\nUP\nbasketball\n1974\n8,229,000\n249%\nProfessional\n1965\n1,743,000\nUP\nboxing\n1974\n2,675,000\n53%\n*National Football League\nTOTAL FOR\nTHESE EVENTS\nIN 1965:\n206,077,000\nUP\nTOTAL FOR\nTHESE EVENTS\nIN 1974:\n273,247,000\n33%\nSource: Triangle Publications\n46\nU.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, Sept. 8, 1975\n70\nt was his 27th birthday and Ernie Holmes, defensive tackle\nference, the toughest division in the N.F.L. Their biggest con-\nfor the Pittsburgh Steelers, was picking up the meat for his\nference obstacle on the way to the Super Bowl is a likely playoff\nparty. Not at the supermarket or butcher's, though. Holmes\nshowdown with the rugged Oakland Raiders. If the Steelers sur-\nwas personally slaughtering a calf at his father's farm outside\nvive that, they will probably face either the Vikings or the Los An-\nHouston. \"I gave him a forearm lift,\" says Holmes, describing\ngeles Rams in the Super Bowl next month in Miami.\nhis barnyard battle with the beast. \"That knocked him into the\nA Super Bowl in Florida will be the natural conclusion for a\nfence. Then I put a full nelson on him.\" Finally Holmes dropped\nsunny N.F.L. season. Despite, or perhaps because of, the col-\nthe animal with a high-powered rifle. \"Forty-five minutes lat-\nlapse of the rival World Football League, the N.F.L. this fall is\ner,\" he says, \"we had the calf skinned and dried.\"\nregistering a jump in attendance (averaging 56,000 per game)\nThe National Football League is full of quarterbacks who\nand an increase in TV ratings. And why not? Some 40% of the\nhave been shown no more mercy. Not to mention running backs\ngames are being won by 7 points or less, not to mention a rash\nand offensive linemen. Playing with a raw violence that is rare\nof sudden-death thrillers.\neven when judged by the bare-knuckle standards of his sport,\nIt is ironic that four of the key protagonists of this season\nErnie Holmes knows how to slaughter an offense.\nshould be Charles Edward (\"Joe\") Greene, Dwight Lynn White,\nOn most teams his performance-and personality-would\nErnest Lee Holmes and L.C. Henderson Greenwood. Though\nmake Holmes famous. Not on the Steelers. With Pittsburgh, he\nKLUETMEIER-SPORTS ILLUSTRATED\nis not even the best-known defensive lineman. There are three\nreasons: Fellow Tackle \"Mean\" Joe Greene and Ends L.C.\nGreenwood and Dwight White, each a prototype of menace at\nhis position and a striking figure off the field. Greenwood, 29, is\na brutal tackler, although he says he hates contact and would\nrather not be known as a football player. Greene, 29, after a sea-\nson of tossing linemen and runners around like rag dolls, goes\nhome to cultivate his vegetable garden. As for White, 26, it is\nhard to know exactly what he will do at any time. \"There's no\nquestion that I'm schizoid,\" he says. \"I might be three or four peo-\nple. I know I can be evil.\"\nThese are the men who make up the meanest front four in\nfootball, a half ton of trouble for any offense. Moving like a\nCOVER STORY\nHALF TON\nOF TROUBLE\nband of marauding behemoths (average size 6 ft. 4 in., 260 lbs.),\nthey smother runners at the line of scrimmage, flatten passers,\nand send offensive linemen into disarray. \"There are some great\nlines in the league,\" says Washington Redskins Head Coach\nGeorge Allen, architect of one himself, \"but the edge has to go\nto Pittsburgh. They put fear in the heart of a passer.\"\nThey do more than that. Dumping quarterbacks a league-\nleading 40 times last season was only the beginning of the front\nfour's contribution to the Steelers. They set the tone for the entire\ndefense, and it was the defense that carried the 42-year-old Pitts-\nburgh franchise to its first Super Bowl championship last year.\nThe creation of patient, low-key Head Coach Chuck Noll, who\nSTEELERS' DWIGHT WHITE HURDLES OVER A FALLEN O.J. SIMPSON\ndrafted all but two of the starting defensive players, and Steeler\nFounder and Owner Art Rooney, who gave Noll the backing he\nfront fours have been well publicized in pro football-the Rams\nneeded to build slowly over the past six years, the defense is the\n\"Fearsome Foursome\" and the Vikings \"Purple People Eaters\"\ncornerstone of Pittsburgh's leadership in the N.F.L. When Pitts-\nduring the past decade-quarterbacks and running backs still re-\nburgh defeated Minnesota 16-6 in the Super Bowl, the defense\nmain the celebrities of the sport. Certainly the action along the\nlimited the Vikings to 17 yds. rushing. Minnesota Running Back\nline of scrimmage gets only passing attention from TV cameras\nChuck Foreman spoke for the league when he pleaded with the\nand fans. But this trench warfare is as fierce as anything in\nSteeler front four: \"C'mon, you mothers, give us a yard.\"\nsport. Grunting and cursing, players club, ram and pound each\nBefore this season ends, that call may well be heard again.\nother in two- and three-second rumbles that begin anew with\nGoing into last weekend's game against the stumbling New York\nevery play.\nJets, the Steelers were riding an eight-game winning streak and\nUntil about 15 years ago, the defensive linemen's primary ob-\nan overall won-lost record of 9-1. That was good enough to put\njective was to come out of the rumble stopping the run. No long-\nthem in first place in the Central Division of the American Con-\ner. Faced with increasingly sophisticated passing attacks, the\n62\nTIME, DECEMBER 8, 1975\n$1.00\nAPRIL 26, 1976\n®\nTIME\nBASEBAL\nSPRINGS\nETERNAL\n70\nSti\nCOVER STORY\nt's a goddam good game,\" says\nready as late as December 1975 to blow\ndomiciled in these weatherproof bubbles\nYankee President Gabe Paul, \"to\nthe Windy City looked solid as a line-\nnever have to worry about slipping in\nsurvive what's been done to it.\"\ndrive double-all because the greatest\nthe rain, losing fly balls in the smog, get-\nWhat is being done to baseball\npromoter baseball has ever known was\nting grass stains on their pants or suf-\nand by whom is a matter of sub-\nback in action.\nfering other terrestrial indignities.\nstantial contention, but the first\nIn Atlanta, the Braves' new own-\nBut even if undomed, the new Yan-\nhalf of Gabe Paul's statement has been\ner, a tough-minded, salty-tongued com-\nkee Stadium has more character than\nresoundingly endorsed in the past few\nmunications czar and yachtsman named\nthose sterile, round, modular units that\ndays.\nTed Turner, signed up the game's most\nhave sprung up across the sports land-\nIn New York, hallowed old Yan-\nsought-after right arm in a reported\nscape like mushrooms in a glen. It is ba-\nkee Stadium, the house that Ruth built,\n$1 million deal engineered by-of all\nsically the same looming, irregularly\nreopened in plushly refurbished form, its\npeople-a fan who took the negotiating\nlaid-out structure whose vast inner space\ndedication presided over by Mayor\nauthority upon himself. With one stroke\nBabe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey\nAbraham Beame. It was 53 years from\nof the pen, the moribund Braves had a\nMantle roamed heroically. Only it is\nBabe to Abe, but the difference in what\nbright new look. The signee was a hand-\nclean, shiny and for the first time com-\nsome, 30-year-old, bubble-gum-chew-\nfortable. The \"Telescreen\" on the score-\ning pitcher named Andy Messer-\nboard that was to flash messages like\n\"Charge!\" to the crowd was not work-\ning, and some box-seat spectators com-\nplained that their view of home plate\nwas blocked by the dugout roof. But the\nugly poles that screened the vision of\ngenerations of fans have been removed,\nand the seats are now wide enough-22\nin. instead of 18-to accommodate\nAmerica's middle-age spread. This bow\nto our hippy culture reduced the stadi-\num's capacity from 65,010 to 54,028.\nThe distinctive, swag façade that\nonce hung from the roof of the stands\nhas been reproduced atop the new $3\nmillion-plus scoreboard-only in con-\ncrete, not painted copper. Because the\nvalue of copper has risen almost as dras-\ntically as ballplayers' salaries since\n1923, the original façade was melted\ndown and sold. Perhaps it is now plumb-\ning in a renovated brownstone. The\nON APRIL 18, 1923, THE BABE WARMED HIS HOUSE WITH ITS FIRST HOME RUN EVER\nplaying surface is still alive: Merion blue\ngrass, in texture irregular enough to\na community will lavish on its sports\nsmith, a free spirit and free agent whose\npromise a few historic bounces and in\nteam could be measured in light-years.\nvictorious legal battle against baseball's\ncolor a nice uneven biological green.\nTrembling at the thought that its Yan-\n\"reserve clause\" was reshaping the en-\nOn April 18, 1923, close to 65,000\nkees might leave town forever, the stone-\ntire sport.\nfans* flocked to New York's $2.5 mil-\nbroke metropolis ponied up an estimat-\nLittle wonder then that turnstiles\nlion house of baseball. New York Gov-\ned $100 million to provide the likes of\nclicked like castanets as combined ma-\nernor Al Smith threw out the first ball.\n6,900 parking spaces and an electronic\njor league opening-day attendance fig-\nThe first one hit into the stands-fit-\nscoreboard for the fans, expansive lav-\nures hit an alltime high. Baseball '76,\ntingly-was a game-winning home run\nender-carpeted dressing rooms for the\nwhich for weeks had seemed unlikely\nby Babe Ruth that beat his old Red Sox\nplayers and a plush lounge, featuring\nto get launched at all, was off to a rock-\nteammates 4-1. Ruth's astonishing\noverstuffed chairs in the shape of field-\neting start. The long legal arguments\nhome-run hitting and his $50,000 sal-\ners' gloves, for the owner's guests.\nover the rights of spring, at least for the\nary had made baseball a different game\nIn Chicago, Peg-Legged Bill\nmoment, proved no contest for the\nand caused many to say the new sta-\nVeeck (see box page 76), dressed as a\ngame's own rites of spring.\ndium should have been called Ruth\nRevolutionary soldier and playing a fife,\nThe grandest new blossom of base-\nField.\nstumped triumphantly across the 100%\nball's most stimulating April ever was\nnatural turf he has restored to Comis-\nYankee Stadium, a glowing renovation\n*The announced figure of 74,200, the Yankees\nlater shamelessly admitted, was impossible; the\nkey Park. Marching to Veeck's tune\nof the most famous, nostalgia-imbued\npark at the time had only 62,000 seats.\nwere White Sox fans in unheard-of num-\nhouse of sweat in America. Only New\nbers. There were 40,318 in the flesh at\nOrleans' Superdome, completed last\nopening day (compared with 20,202 last\nyear, cost more ($173 million); Seattle's\nThe Yanks doff their caps during opening\nyear), season-ticket sales were up more\n\"Kingdome,\" which opened this month,\nceremonies, then give 54,000 fans an\nthan 40%, and a franchise that had been\nwas a mere $60 million. Of course, teams\nafternoon to remember.\n70\nSAHM DOHERTY AND JOHN ZIMMERMAN\nSPORT\n5\nCRIME AND\nTRIBUNE\n1776\nBETTMANN ARCHIVE\nBROWN BROTHERS\nSTOCK & PILLORY IN BOSTON, CA. 1657; NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS, 1863\nCrime not only did not increase during the Revolutionary\nThe following Bicentennial Essay is the seventh in a series\nWar, but most of it, at least in New England, continued to in-\nthat has been appearing periodically, surveying how America has\nvolve religious and moral, not acquisitive or violent, offenses. Wil-\nchanged in its 200 years.\nliam E. Nelson, analyzing the records of seven populous Mas-\nsachusetts counties, finds an average of 23 prosecutions for theft\nn the eve of the Revolutionary War, many colonists\neach year before 1776 and 24 a year in the five years after 1776,\n-and not only Tories-feared that if rebellion came,\nhardly indicative of a crime wave. But there was an average of\n\"the bands of society would be dissolved, the harmony\n72 prosecutions for sexual offenses each year before 1776 and 58\nof the world confounded, and the order of nature subverted.\"\na year from 1779 to 1786, along with about 24 prosecutions a\nCrime and lawlessness would surely accompany any challenge\nyear for religious offenses, like missing church on Sunday.\nto authority, especially one involving a resort to arms.\nWe have always thought of our colonial forebears as rather\nIt did not happen-not, at least, during the war. In retro-\npuritanical. That there were so many prosecutions on moral and\nspect, that is remarkable. In 1776 there were no municipal po-\nreligious charges suggests that this was, indeed, their attitude;\n82\nTIME, APRIL 26, 1976\nPUNISHMENT\nPOLICE\n1976\nBICENTENNIAL ESSAY\nFREED-MAGNUM\nASBURY PARK, N.J., POLICE & RIOTERS, 1970; LOUISIANA PRISON, 1963\nopinion not only dominated political decision making, but con-\ntrolled most public and much private conduct as well. This is\ntuous in our history. Rioting became commonplace for reasons\nwhy there was such frequent resort to humiliation as a penalty.\nthat were partly economic (depressions that put artisans out of\nStocks, pillory, and tar and feathers were effective because the\nwork or immigration that put them in competition with cheaper\nopinion of one's townsmen was so important. The colonists paid\nlabor), partly religious (Catholics, Masons and Mormons were at-\na price for government by communal consensus: there was not\ntacked and their buildings burned), partly political (the early anti-\nmuch privacy, and what we now regard as liberties of conscience\nslavery agitation), and partly sporting (the drunker members of\nTIME, APRIL 26, 1976\n83"
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