Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 29

ll New game or same old song for Eagles? By Bruce Low Itt AP Sporti rller Winning everything-and If you're a holdover from last year's Philadelphia Eagles it Isn't anything During the National Football League's 1976 exhibition season the Eagles played six games and won exactly none of them That didn't get them off on the right foot when the games counted They wound up 4-10 So for Dick Vermeil starting his second year as Philadelphia's head coach tonight's game against the New York Jets signals a fresh start And although he doesn't consider victories absolutely essential he admits they could do wonders for the Eagles' hopes "Winning a tew Is always Important for any team like ours that's been down for many years" says Vermeil who figures to start former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ron Jaworskl "If you've been losing all the time you almost play In fear of losing or expect to lose I think that we've really erased about 80 per cent of that kind of thinking and to play well enough to win a few preseason games would be but we're not going to base how we play through the season on how we do in the preseason" In tonight's other game it's Baltimore at Denver On Saturday It's Minnesota at Los Angeles Miami at Tampa Pay Atlanta at St Louis New Orleans at Chicago San Diego at Dallas New England at the New York Giants Buffalo at Pittsburgh Kansas City at Detroit and Cincinnati at Green Bay On Sunday it's Seattle at San Francisco and on Monday night It's Houston at Oakland and Washington at Cleveland It's not as much of a fresh start as it Is an attempt at rebounding for the Jets Thev got their exhibition season started a week and It started on the wrong foot with a 20-6 loss to the Chicago Bears in last Saturday's Hall of Fame game "No way I'm going to get discouraged no wav" Jets Coach Walt Michaels said "Sure I was disappointed In the turnovers (six of them) but I was satisfied with the rest" Denver should have a nice free-for-all ming for a while over the starting quarterback Job with the departure of Steve Ramsey to the Giants Craig Morton who came to the Broncos in that swap Craig Penrose Steve Spurrier and Norris Weese will all be trying to show their stuff against the Colts One of the biggest quarterback stories of course will be plaved out In Los Angeles where Joe Namath will be making his debut for the Rams following his dozen years as Broadway Joe of the Jets For Tampa Bay's Buccaneers last year's preseason was a rousing success compared to Philadelphia's showing considering thev were 1-5 (beating Atlanta 17-3) Of course things went downhill after that with the Burs careening to an 0-14 record when the games counted They hope to get off on the right foot this time against the team which is sure to become their traditional rival Miami looking to do a bit of rebuilding after its first losing season since 1909 had to struggle last year to beat the lowlv Hues 23-20 JP Roan of Ellensburg Is coming off a head lnju- ed his head In Thursday flight's performance but ry so he wrestles steers with a cycle crash helmet he wasn't among the leaders In his event Instead of the tradition 10-gallon hat Roan protect- Jenkins snaps stops A's on 3 Section 4 Page 29 Friday August 5 1 977 slump hits Atlanta broke the game open In the third by scoring three runs on singles by Rowland Office Barry Bonnell Willie Montanez and Jeff Burroughs and a run-scoring groundnut bv Garry Matthews Phillies 2 Padres I Bake McBride singled home pinch-runner Jerry Martin in (lie 10th inning to lead Philadelphia over San Diego Ted Sizemore opened the 10th with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bv pinch-hitter Tommy Hutton McBride then grounded a single through the middle scoring Martin who had gone in for Sizemore Clarke turns in fastest lake time Tracy Clarke of Kelso turned in the fastest for three in the second Summer Lake Run at Lake Sacajawea Thursduy evening Clarke won the college-open division with a time of 14 27 In the mile three Phil Baker Don Baker and Mike came within two seconds of their projected times to tie for first Other winners were Larry Mitchell (nine-and-under 5 48 for one mile) Shannon Olm (1033 mile) Scott Olin (10-11 959 1 Va miles) Nora Impola (10-11 13 49) Bing Taylor (12-13 856) Janet Smith (12-13 8 58) Marty Clapp (14-15 1059 two miles) Jay Terry (high school 14 45 three miles) Fred New (Seniors 1438 three miles) Reed Miller (Masters 15 28 three miles) Mrs Farr (Seniors 23 54 three miles) Rita Impola (Open 20:40 three miles) More than 100 runners took part in the run The next lake run will be Thursday at 6:45 pm at the same location By Ken Rappoport AP Sports Writer Ferguson Jenkins used to this sort of thing 'Tve been says the Boston Red Sox pitcher had other things on my mind" For many years a big winner in the major leagues the venerable right-hander had gone six weeks without a victory this season On Thursday night lie finally ended his frustration "Now I feel like I'm contributing" Jenkins said after pitching a three-hit 3-1 decision over the Oakland "Maybe this will help us put a big winning streak Jenkins blamed his lack of aggression for the victory drought which began after his 7-3 triumph over the Baltimore Orioles on June 23 "The team has been playing said Jenkins "but I haven't" Against the A's he seemed to be as good as ever though While Improving his record to a modest 8-7 Jenkins faced only 29 batters and required just 81 pitches to defeat Oakland "I was nice and loose" said Tiant "I only made one or two bad pitches I felt good all the way I could feel it coming back I started to feel like I did early in the season when I was In other American League games the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 the Detroit Tigers turned back the Minnesota Twins 4-2 and the Kansas City Royals blanked the Toronto Blue Jays 8-0 In limited National League action the Philadelphia Phillies edged the San Diego Padres 2-1 in 10 Innings and the Atlanta Braves stopped the Montreal Expos 5-2 A seventh-inning single by Steve Dillard off Oakland's Vida Blue 10-13 broke a 1-1 tie scoring Dwight Evans who had opened the inning with a single Rick Burleson followed with a broken-bat single to left for the final run Jenkins who was 0-2 in his last six starts walked none and struck out two while sending the A's down to their sixth straight loss White Sox 5 Rangers 4 Eric Soderholm doubled and scored the game's first run in the third inning then singled and scored on a passed ball in the sixth with the run which lifted Chicago over Texas The triumph snapped a four-game Chicago losing streak and halted a five-game Ranger winning streak as the White Sox pulled 3'i games ahead of second-place Minnesota in the American League West Tigers 4 Twins 2 Rookie right-hander Dave Roze-ma won his 11th game with a six-hitter leading Detroit over Minnesota Rozema 11-4 who turns 21 today pitched his sixth straight complete game Minnesota starter Pete Redfem hurled 6 23 innings and suffered his seventh loss in 11 decisions Rusty Staub knocked in two runs for the Tigers with a grounder in the third and a homer in the sixth His homerun No 13 for the season provided the Tigers with a 3-1 lead and their eventual winning run Royals 8 Blue Jays 0 Fred Patek knocked in four runs with a homer and two sacrifice flies to lead Kansas City over Toronto Larry Gura 6-5 scattered nine hits in a route-going performance Patek the smallest man In the major leagues at 5-foot-4 lashed a two-run homer off Jesse Jefferson in the second inning and had sacrifice flies in the third and the fifth Braves 5 Expos 2 Biff Pocoroba smashed a home-run and Atlanta erupted for four straight singles and three runs in the third Inning to beat Montreal Eddie Solomon 3-1 who worked out of an eighth-inning bases-load-ed jam was the winner with relief help Rodeo times average By Lew Pumphrey Dally Newt Sporti Writer Most everyone agreed about one thing after the first performance of the 1977 Cowlitz County rodeo at the Fairgrounds: The scores and times were jus Just about from the cowboys leading events to the rodeo were cautious in predicting that any first-night scores and times will hold up through the next two sessions of the 66000 PRCA event Lee Markholt last bull riding champ and all-around cowboy will be hard pressed to repeat this time He leads the Brahma bull event but he missed his first set of horns in the steer wrestling event his only other entry He gets one more go-round with the steers Markholt was scored at 70 by the two judges for his ride on the bull putting him well ahead of the only other two cowboys who stayed up for eight seconds Mike Smith of Denver scored 64 and Jeff Marshall of Watsonville Calif scored 53 The other six bit the dust If anyone has a bead on the all-around beltbuckle it is Smith the cowboy from Denver also standing second in the saddle broncs Jim Pratt of Alturas Calif leads that event with a 68 score Smith and Bobby Usher of Reno scored 64 each and Charlie Stovner of Ontario Ore is the fourth man chasing a paycheck with a 54 Besides Markholt from Tacoma three other Washingtonians are leading events Clay Finley of Vancouver took not very much time at all in putting down his steer Janie Curcio of Walla Walla has almost a second lead over the second-place rider in the barrel race and Mitch Hutchinson of Walla Walla is split with Russell McCall of Myrtle Point Ore as the bareback leader Finley took his steer to the dirt in 48 seconds which puts him in front of Buz Peth from Bow Wash who had a 59 Bob Prusack of Kennewick and Mike Ring of Toppenish were finished after 61 seconds Curcio topped a rather slow field of barrel racers She had a 164 time followed by Susan DuPont of Canby Ore at 172 Her sister Sandy Curcio also of Walla Walla and Judy Wegner of Puyallup followed at 173 Hutchinson took the early lead in the bareback event with a 65 but McCall had tied him by the final go of riders Gary Schuler of Issaquah and Pat Kirby of Bakersfield Calif were next at 58 Kyle Robinson of Hebner Ore leads the calf roping with a 146 time JO Anderson of Wilbur Ore is next at 172 with Frank Merritt of Woodinville at 180 and Jeff Knowles of Bend Ore at 190 Team roping leaders are Frank Matthews and Steve Schnabele of Redmond Ore who got the head and hind feet of a steer in 91 seconds Freddie Woods of Woodbum and Chuck Crawford of Canby were second at 117 Russ and Leo Woodbury of Nyssa Ore had a 143 and Bob Weaver and Jim Brown of the Tri-Cities had a 210 The Woods-Crawford and the Woodbury times included five-second penalties for roping only one of the hind legs Except for the bull riders and the saddle broncs all the cowboys will have one more crack at their events either at performance or at Tonight's starts at 7:30 with tickets 62 for reserved and 61 general admission ri-rffia fltnnn-n Vt 11 I Nw Photo by Milt Pvckott It gotfo be tight This cowboy is making sure his hand is as tight as possible under the cinch that goes around the middle of a Brahma bull As bull riding leader Lee Markholt explained that hand's got to be tight to keep the rider on Since the bull twists and turns a cowboy could lean over to one side If the hand very secure the rider could find himself on the bull's side which would deter from his score The tighter the hand in the cinch Markholt said the more control the cowboy has on his ride Lee Markholt has seen the changes sport" but he concede anything to the younger cowboys He's got the experience and the style and doing just fine with those qualities Last year he went to only 14 rodeos but he says he was on a lucky string and did all right financially He went home from this rodeo last year with more than 6700 for the bull riding win alone which he said was a good return for a 100-miie-drive Markholt does all his thinking before he gets on the bull "I do all my thinking before I get in the chute If I know the bull I think about what going to do and what do Once in the chute I just think 'all-out I'm enough of a veteran that I could ride a dink with a half effort but with a bull like it's got to bean all-out effort" He missed his steer in his first try at the wrestling event "My horse widened not trying to make a lame excuse but if I'd leaped have missed I saved myself a fall you feel it in time The steer scoots out and you take a soil sample" Cal-Polv at San Luis Obispo this fall took a 68 on "00" in performance and was second In that event last year Pratt enters more rodeos than he actually goes to The PRCA has a computer-controlled Information center in Colorado and a cowboy can call in a few days before a rodeo to find out what horse be on Then the cowboy can know if drawn a mount that he can ride for money or if draWn a mount that doesn't buck well or if drawn a mount he has trouble staying on If a cowboy show up for a rodeo forfeit the entry fee and have to pay a 625 no-show fine to PRCA but Pratt said this is still a lot cheaper than traveling hundreds of miles for a rodeo for no paycheck Clay Finley thinks he could have dropped his steer in four seconds flat with just a little more luck As it was he got a 48 time and the first-round lead in the steer wrestling event The Vancouver cowboy said the steers provided for this rodeo are good ones because they been used for about a month When the steers used much they get "stiff" Finley said The more a steer is used usually the quicker he is to take down But another problem arises After a while the steer begins to notice that everytime he runs out of chute between two horses some By Lew Pumphrey DUy New! Sporti Writer Lee Markholt has seen a lot of changes in his 20 years in rodeos Not all of them good for the cowboy Markholt was the all-around cowboy and the bull riding champ at the Cowlitz County rodeo last year At 38 leading the bull riding this year after one performance but has no time in the steer wrestling expenses have got out of Markholt said of the rodeo circuit "When I started there was maybe 15 or 20 guys riding bulls You could get a bull that would run off (and not buck) and you might place because everyone else could have fell off "Now 30 to 60 riders but there more good bulls Maybe there's 10 in there you can place In addition to more competition most entry fees at rodeos have doubled over the years and travel expenses have gone up But the purses inflated the way expenses have Markholt scored a 70 In his bull ride Thursday night but "the old bull sure If that will stand up over two more days won at 80 and won at 60" so there's no real way of knowing Last year Markholt won with a 72 He thinks bull riding is "a young man's cowboy jumps on him bends his neck around and he falls down Out of a conditioned response some of the steers "set" meaning they'll stop running or slow down leaving the horses and cowboys without a steer to jump on He thinks 4 8 will be a good time for this bunch of steers one Intangible quality for team ropers according to one of the leaders after Thursday night Steve Schnabele of Redmond teamed up with Frank Matthews for a 91 time in the event said team ropers "need a lot of luck" The head roper gets the easy putting the lasso around the head The other fellow has the "luck" getting his rope around both hind feet If he gets just one foot 1 a five-second penalty No feet means no time "You just try to get it under him It's just a feeling got to have" Schnabele said Mitch Hutchinson got "an old horse that just -bucked" But he was able to stay on for a tie I for the lead in the bare back competition with a 65 score Hutchinson has a straight-forward approach to the sort of horse prefer to ride in rodeos: "Whatever I can win on" said 1 the cowboy from Walla Walla Cowboys keep a book on the animals just the way a batter might keep a book on a pitcher according to Jim Pratt leading the saddle bronc event Pratt be going into his fourth year at i.