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/ r 18 - PLA! ND E ALER - WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8.1984 •rts Chris Juzwik Sports Editor Wficial' survey urprising, silly bpeared insignificant at first glance, something sort of ] fic (whic h is out of my realm), but it turned out to be much |intriguing than originally anticipated. mail tt at crosses the sports desk ranges from the l ous to th j sublime, and much of it - perhaps too much - is I former variety. Either way, though, it all makes for in- |ng reading. the survey that Mr. Postman delivered last week was Ihing different Not just interesting, but meaningful as well. I beer (frc m Miller, it says here) questioned members of the Ital Association of Sports Officials at the group's July lal convention in Las Vegas, on everything from sport- lihip to dngs. The results of the survey, in percentages, bar Is and even English were enclosed. IE OF THE queries asked of the officials were ones that j of us may have, at one time or another, in a fit of rage at an Ids' ruling, wondered about. I k of a sport, any sport. The most maligned figure in any lis the referee, umpire, head linesman, whomever it may iless, of course, Howard Cosell is present. |is at a Cubs' game recently, and when the P.A. announcer 'And nawnownow, the umpirespirespires for today's Ijamegame," there was a rousing chorus of boos from the lier faithful. "C'mon," I mumbled to no one, "they haven't |anything yet." but they will," was the unified response. f It day, I came to the decision officials can do no right. And it |/orse if the home team is going well, as the Cubs are. It take a g >odly amount of intestinal fortitude for an umpire |g Ryne Sandberg up on a called third strike in Wrigley IS OFT1SN said, officials make the right calls almost •s. The only time they stand out, however, is when the in­ tent mistake is made. There's an old and trite -- but Iheless true - saying about officials. The best official is the lobody notices. |'way, bac k to the survey. The basic findings were 60 percent officials polled (229 respondents) believe the demeanor of lies is a major impediment to good sportsmanship, and 50 Int of the officials are personally disturbed by the behavior [iches and other bench personnel. survey also found the negative influence of coaches far highs the influence of parents and fans. Officials view lies' misbehavior as far more disturbing than athletes ng among themselves, or with officials. me of the mor e controversial fodder in the press release, for nple, is tnat less than one out of 10 officials (9 percent) Ive professional sports on television are true athletic com- ion. One-third think professional sports are primarily forms litertainment, while 55 percent consider pro sports to be a pination of the two. KEVER REALLY thought of sports as being anything but Jttic competition. I always thought Pete Rose was sliding [hfirst because he really wanted to be safe, but all along he Must trying to make me happy. Ha da ya like that? nety percent of the respondents don't think the American ic unders :ancts the role of the official, and 50 percent said the ia doesn't know the official's job either. an't speak for all media personnel, but I like to think I know ty much t bout the role of a sports official. >r instance, in baseball, it's to brush off home plate. In hetball, jto hand the ball to the guy or girl shooting free |ws. Hockey? Well, the referees are the only guys who can the puct up off the ice on the dead skate. And in football I 're prese it to prevent the quarterbacks from getting tackled, it? mon guys. Let's be realistic here. The role of any official is to |ntain order and enforce the rules which govern the game, fool knows that. For these officials to chastise the knowledge Ihe fans and the media regarding the officials' duties is |:ulous and a cop-out. ir THE OFFICIAL isn't doing his or her job, or not doing it as as possible, they deserve criticism as much as the athlete. [illibUity is not a trait inherent in all of sport's law enforcers, robably tlte two most important questions and the ones which 1 or may r ot have resulted in the most honest responses were: v much are officials swayed by fans? and: How likely is it that ngle offic al can significantly affect the outcome of a game? ar the fornei, a total of 49 percent of the officials said they swayed either some or a little by fans. Forty-seven percent they we *e essentially not affected at all. or the latt 2r question, 39 percent said it was either very likely omewhat likely that an official could affect the outcome. OACHES (good ones, at least) always tell their players not to *ne the oflicials for a loss, even if the game was poorly han- 1. But the answers to those two questions could provide the ortunity for a coach to answer - and answer honestly -- the citable question "why did your team lose?" by saying, "we gypped.'" > half of the officials in the professional and college ranks are uenced by some fan yelling "whatareyablind?' then it's mind- Igling to think what lesser-experienced officials feel when eked by u hostile crowd. rou'd be hard-pressed, honestly, to recall more than a handful games yoj've seen that were really horribly officiated. But re are ma ny contests that are just not done well. ;'s human nature to become upset at someone questioning ir competence at anything, but for officials to be accurate, y must be a bit more thick-skinned than most. 'o be otherwise damages the credibility of the superb job most icials do. Rusty Nail captures own tournament McHenry area teams dominate 32-team field By Chris Juzwik Plaindealer sports editor McHenry area softball teams dominated the weekend's Rusty Nail Inn tournament at Knox Park, as the host team captured the title, and McHenry teams took second, third and con­ solation honors. The Rusty Nail cruised through the 32-team field, defeating North Side Tap of Marengo 24-4 in a first round contest, Sports Pub of Elgin 27-2 in a second round game and ToBar of Elgin 21-1, allowing the Nail to reach the semifinals. There, the winners found the going a little bit rougher, as they were matched against McHenry league rival West End Pub. The Pub scored eight runs in the second inning to dash out to a 9-2 lead, which held up until the fourth, when the Nail retaliated with eight of their own to tie the game at 10. > In the fifth, the Rusty Nail scored three times, on singles by Chuck Marke, John Connell and Ray Thelen. West End's Pat Burke crushed a solo homer with two out in the seventh, but the Nail held on, winning 13-11. IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP contest, the Nail saw another familiar group of faces - fellow league foe McHenry Oil. McHenry Oil had a bit rougher time finding its way to the final, winning a draining, nine-inning, 16-15 nail-biter over Matt's Tap of Crystal Lake. McHenry Oil, notorious for its late-inning comebacks, ap­ peared to be out of juice, as they trailed Matt's by two runs in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and Jim Grabowski on first, rightfielder Bob Michels crushed a homer to right center, his third of the game, to knot the score at 12. SZmSm lllsjaHWS w * • ** 1* ;s ;. •••&•- SllPSi Rusty Nail Inn shortstop John Meyers watches as his flip to second baseman Chuck Marke starts an inning-ending double play. The Rusty Nail cap- Plaindfalcr photo by Chri» Juzwik tured its own tournament for the first time in the event's six-year history. Matt's Tap scored two in its half of the eighth to recapture the lead, but with two outs in the bottom of the frame, McHenry Oil first baseman Rich Jablonski ripped a two-run shot to right, tying the game at 14. AFTER MATT'S scored once in the ninth, Ben Himpleman led the McHenry Oil half off with a double. After two fly outs, Michels was intentionally walked, ^bringing up catcher Pete Blackburn, who singled, scoring Himpleman to tie the contest once again. Third baseman Jim Pinkstaff then ripped a single up the middle scoring Michels, and the winners had outlasted Matt's. In the championship contest against Rusty Nail, McHenry Oil continued its hot hitting, scoring four in the first and two in the second, jumping out to a 6- 0 lead. But the Nail got its bats out of • Rick Wakitsch lashes a single to left, one of the 13 hits the Rusty Nail third baseman had in the Plaindealer photo by Chri* Juzwik tournament. Wakitsch hit a cool .756 for the weekend, as the Nail won the 32-team tourney. the closet, tallying 11 times on 10 hits in the third, to take a lead it would never relinquish. Rightfielder Bill Meyers led the way with two long home runs, while the battery of pit­ cher John Connell and catcher Don Bentz each crushed round- trippers to add to the cause, as the Nail ran away to a 22-9 triumph. WEST END PUB defeated Matt's Tap for third place honow^aQrll. West End got two homers from Mike Lindal and one from Pat Burke en route to the win over a tired Matt's club. Buss Ford took consolation championship honors, defeating Northside Tap of Marengo, 15-3 in the final. Jim Yaworski, Joe Dehn and Vinnie Freund had three hits apiece to pace the Buss Ford attack, while Mark Vogt had a two-run triple in the sixth, as Buss scored six times to ice the victory. A huge trophy for Most Valuable Player of the tour­ nament went to the entire Rusty Nail Inn team. Individual stars for the winners included: Nail third baseman Rick Wakitsch, who had 13 hits in 17 trips, for a .765 average, in­ cluding seven hits for extra bases. Wakitsch also scored 10 runs and had nine RBI. Leftfielder John Walkington hit a cool .750, with 15 hits and 13 RBI, scoring 12 runs in the process. Bill Meyers had 11 hits, in­ cluding six homers, good for 16 RBI to provide much of the Nail power. The Rusty Nail championship marked the first time the host team has won in the six year history of the tournament. 12-inch playoffs begin; Fox Bole Tap upset Playoffs began Monday in the aid the cause. ney. -- A Doherty's win would close Playoffs began Monday in the McHenry Men's 12" League, as the Johnsburg Businessmen surprised the Fox Hole Tap, sending the series to the limit. In the first round, a best of three affair, Johnsburg upset the Fox Hole 9-6 in game one. A six-run fifth was the game- winning uprising. In that frame, Phil Oeffling cracked an RBI single, and a three base error led to two more runs, to up the Businessmen lead to 6-1. Irish DeCicco and brother John added RBI singles, and a sacrifice fly by Mark Mayer put the winners ahead 9-1. In the nightcap, the Fox Hole retaliated with a 24-hit attack, defeating Johnsburg 18-9. Jeff Meyers led the way with four hits and four 91ns scored, while Mark Vogt knocked in four runs, as did Bill Meyers. Rich Meyers scored four runs, and Kurt Valentin ripped four singles to aid the cause. The win stretched the series to game three, which will be played tonight at either 7:30 or 8:30 p.m., depending on the outcome of the other playoff series currently being decided. That match-up, between Doherty's and West End Pub, began Monday with a rousing 14r 2 Doherty's win, as the losers didn't show the form that gained them a third place finish in the weekend Rusty Nail Inn tour­ ney. Doherty's scored seven runs in the first inning and never looked back. A two-run double by Mike Rogers, and a two-run single by Pat Doherty were the key hits in the inning. Twig Miller had four singles and scored three runs to lead Doherty's. Rogers had a double and triple, good for five RBI. The series will continue tonight, with game two scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start. Ladies championship set The 10th Annual McHenry Women's Invitational Golf Tournament will be held at McHenry Country dub Thursday and Friday, Aug* 9 and 10. Co-Chairwomen Fran Herrmann and Gloria Otth report there will again be over 150 golfers participating in the 'pink and green' tournament. Last year's low gross champion, Brenda Pictor will be present to again challenge for the title. Brenda comes from Florida and her in­ laws are the Bill Pictori of McHenry. The public is invited to view this women's golf championship of McHenry. A Doherty's win would close out the series, but a Pub victory would extend the affair to three games, the final contest to be played immediately following. Ace recorded at Chapel Doris Freund of John­ sburg recorded a hole-in-one on the 10th hole at Chapel Hill last Thursday. Using a seven-iron on the 145-yard hole, Freund said the ball hit about a foot before the green, and rolled in. "It was exciting," Freund said. "I've hit the pin before, but never got a hole- in-one." Freund was golfing in a Thursday morning league at Chapel Hill when the ace occurred. 1