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PAGCM Guy LaFleur, Montreal Canadian superstar, and a fan of the Le Manic de Montreal: "I can't get really excited when people say the NASL isn't in good shape or the future isn't good. Our league (the NHL) had many, many problems. Fran­ chises in Oakland, Kansas City, even Atlanta, had serious problems. The point is, hockey had a 50- or 75-year head start. By comparison, the NASL is new, so some problems spots aren't anything to be ashamed of or any reason to be really worried about the future." Soccer--celebrity chic? Mike Love, lead singer of the "Beach Boys," who did a post-game concert at a California Surf game this year: "With dif­ ferent teams doing the special events to get more people to come to the game, you can count on half of those people to come back saying, 'Hey, I didn't know that soccer was that good.' " Eric Heiden Eric Heiden, Olympic gold medalist speed skater: Last year... we had several races in New York, so we caught the Cosmos games. It was fun. One trip to New York we got to see Becken- bauer's last game. That was fabulous. And Pele played in that game too. But I never got to see Cruyff." Mike Love Howard Coseil Not to name-drop, but as the 1981 North American Soccer League season heads toward the "Soccer Bowl" ex­ travaganza, have you seen some of the complimentary things a lot of big names have been saying about soccer through­ out the season in KICK, the League's of­ ficial magazine? Who they are, and what they say . . . says a lot about soccer. Andrea Jaeger, 15-year-old tennis sensation, who$e been playing soccer as long as she's been playing tennis: "Soc­ cer's just like tennis because it's always constant. You have to play offense and defense, just like tennis. You have to play both things. As far as conditioning, you have to sprint and you need lots of endurance, too." < Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, basketball extraordinaire, who started playing soc­ cer even before he started basketball: "I think soccer, more so than any other sport, aside from tennis and volleyball, lends itself to letting women become professionals. There's a strength factor in other sports that prevents them from competing with men, but in soccer the most imports nt tools are quickness and endurance." Charlie Waters, All-Pro Safety of the Dallas Cowboys, on Cowboy soccer games: "We do it over at the practice field occasionally as a change. We try to do as many exercises and games as we can to develop skills. I've played and I'm terrible. But I loved it. I love the game, and I think it's great conditioning. But I'm a fish out of water, although. I thoroughly enjoy watching it, and I enjoy playing it." Howard CosSlI: "I first went to soccer games when I was in high school, in the 1930's, at Hamilton High School in Brooklyn. We had a great soccer team, and I was fascinated by the game. I saw James Monroe High beat us for the city title, with the winning goal scored by Hank Greenberg (later a famous base­ ball star v^tMhe Detroit Tigers). So I've had a great liking for soccer for 40, almost 50 years . . . and I continued to be fascinated when I began following World Cup competition. My wife and I were in London in 1966, and I saw England defeat West Germany for the World Cup, and I saw. a nation go mad over that." Michael Caine, one of the stars of the new hit movie, "Victory:" "What I like about soccer is that a little guy can get in there. I mean, take Ardiles (Osvaldo Ar- diles, 5' 6" Argentinian superstar who plays for England's Tottenham Hotsput) --he weighs about 100 pounds ringing wet. No matter who you are or what your size is, you can get on and do it. Plus the fact that, for children, there's no contact or shouldn't be--it's not a contact sport like American football. And you don't need all that equipment. I mean, if you're in the park, you can put down two coats and that's a goal, and you can play." Michael Caine TV COMPULOG SERVICES. INC. '