I1LRALD OUTLOOK Saturday September Page Preseason NFL games Is anyone out there paying attention John Unless your name happens to be George Steinbrenner you probably dont assign much importance to the PeeWeeBantam Soccer results dials Met ink on Nicole Ilo la en 1 iin Willi Purple duals Alexis Kerr Burrows Alms Bow Julicir results of exhibition games competition in the tional Football League is the time for experimentation Rookies and mar ginal players try to make enough of an impression to be included on the opening day roster For the most part NFL veterans use preseason games to finetune their skills bringing their bodies to the point needed to face the long seasoD Head coach Wayne Fontes of the Detroit Lions for instance is more anxious for his play ers to learn the intricacies of the new silver streak offense than to roll over their exhibition opponents On the other hand is the Steinbren way completely wrong Do the psychological benefits of a strong showing in pre season exhibi tion games carry over into the regu NFL campaign When push comes to shove just how much do these games mean prior to opening day Lets examine records for the NFL in the past six years Although the results of individual years vary considerably the overall figures seem to indicate there is a positive correlation in the NFL be tween success in the preseason and regular season Over the past six seasons 15 NFL teams have cumulative records above the mark in the regular season Of those teams II also have winning exhibition records over the same peri od of time For combined the only NFL teams with winning records in preseason and losing marks in the regular season were the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC and Minnesota Vi kings in the NFC Interestingly the teams that have had the best cumulative regularsea son marks in each of the three AFC divisions also have had the best cumu lative records in pre season games Despite their recent troubles the Miami Dolphins hold the top spot re spectively in both categories in the AFC East preseason reg ular season Likewise the Cleveland Browns are number one in the AFC Central and 568 and the Den ver Broncos in the West and During the regular season three NFC clubs bettered Denvers AFC- leading winning percentage The NFC Central Chicago Bears have compiled the leagues best re cord since 1983 wins against only 26 losses for a winning percentage of The NFC West San Francisco the defending Super Bowl champ are next in line at 721 But the club with the best overall mark in preseason NFL games dur ing the past six years is none other than the New York Giants Goal Wind pi Miller MILTON at North End Nissan Group Discounts Reasonable Rates PEARLS GROOMING SALON Groom Clipping Bathing for all breeds of dogs and cats FREE PICK UP AND DELIVERY 8732577 VITEX SPECIAL Olivetti Laptop Drives 512KB RAM Call Bill Fourniei at Vitex DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC TH METTLER Denture Therapist Mill St Georgetown 8778974 102EastDr8ramalea fid East Or 7912314 A Directory of Services Offered in Our Community lihUIJUIiMdMb