The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

pamu edited by Steve K. Walz New York--Tracy Austin, Amer­ ica's top-ranked tennis phenom, is waging an all out battle against the cursed sports malady--sciatica. The condition which has forced her to the sidelines since early February is something that many athletes have had to contend with during the course of their careers. Tom Seaver of the Cincinnati Reds has battled a sciatic nerve condition for the past few years which has affected his pitching mechanics. Rest would seem to be the sure-fire cure for the malady. In Austin's case, the fact that she is , still in her teens gives her an edge over Tom Seaver, who is entering the twilight of his brilliant career. Austin, who is tentatively sched­ uled to participate in the lucrative Clairol Crown Tennis Tourney this week, spoke about her injury from her home in California. "The doctor said that it's getting better. He claims that it may never come up again or it may reoccur maybe five years from now--everybody's dif­ ferent," Austin told me. The pig-tailed pro scotched rumors that she might be forced to retire by stressing, "That's a wrong attitude to have." If there's been one redeeming value about her in­ jury, it's that Tracy has discovered how much she misses the action. Added Austin, "When you're not able to do something you like, it's hard on you. This has made me realize how much I reaJly love ten­ nis." • • * Tracy Austin Chico Retch Hockey's post season action gets underway in the next week or two, with several squads making some key roster additions to improve their chances in the playoffs. The most bizarre roster shakeups have oc­ curred in the state of New York, where the Islanders and the Buffalo Sabres literally gave away their veteran stars. The Isles dispatched All-Star netminder Glenn 'Chico' Resch to the Colorado Rockies, along with Steve Tambellini, a center, for Mike McEwen, an offen­ sive minded bluelmer, and Jari Kaarela, a rookie Finnish goalie. The Isles have had their problems as of late, due to a sluggish defense, i McEwen is a good player, but he's anything but defensive. Kaarela may never be a great NHL goalie and with the promotion of hot shot rookie Rollie Melanson, it would seem that Bill Smith will have to carry the whole playoff load by himself. Resch will be a free agent this summer, so maybe the Isles have a secret plan to re-sign the popular netminder. In Buffalo. Scot ty Bowman shipped ex-50 goal scorer Richard Martin and depen­ dable two-way forward Don Luce to the L A. Kings for 'future considera­ tions.' What this does is jeopardize Buffalo's playoff chances and af­ fords the Kings an opportunity to challenge for the Stanley Cup, even after losing 50 goal scorer Charlie Simmer to a busted leg in early March. Have these two New York teams pushed the panic button? TV OOM»mOQ MC