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Sports Here's hoping O.J. is found not guilty OJ. Simpson was slick. He could cut through opposing defenses with the greatest of ease. He was a artist with the football, long after the game granted on the passer the title of team leader. Give OJ. a sideline, and he could put six on the board quickly. If he ever made it past the defensive line and linebackers, there would be considerable time before defenders had a chance to run him down. Simpson did something that no other back ever did, or has done since. Maybe, Eric Dickerson broke his single season running record, but it took him 16 games to do it. O.J. used just 14 games to go over 2,000 yards. After his career, Simpson con tinued in the public light, landing several commercial endorsements, small acting assignments and commenting on pro sports. However, the newest obstacle facing OJ. will not be so easily avoided as a safety's arm tackle or the chair in the Avis commercials. Late Friday afternoon, the Hall of Fame runningback was arrested for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. 1 hope that OJ. is innocent of the charges. However, if reports I've read in the daily press are true, it does not look good for him. And, it does not take a Sherlock Holmes to make that statement. After all, it is hard to explain such items as a bloody mask, glove and floorboard. And, yes, Simpson's trip to Chicago was pre-planned; but, the limo driver said that Simp son was late to the ride, and showed up sweaty and agitated. Supposedly, the murder weapon has been found—in Chicago, in a lot where someone said a man fit ting Simpson's description appeared early Monday morning. I was hoping that the police were trying to mislead their real suspect It would not have been the first time a police force had fed mis leading information to the media, focusing their attention on one per son, while the police investigated another person. I hope that Simpson is not guilty of the charges filed against him. ***** Both Westfield and Perry are without softball coaches. Joy McNeil was fired after seven campaigns at the Panther helm, while Donna Campbell resigned to pursue a masters degree after nine years at Westfield. Westfield has interviewed several coaches to fill the position left by Campbell. I know on a couple of times, the Hornets were hoping to have a coach, only to have the per son turn the offer down, or find that Perry couple makes Classic, winning final Sinclair tourney Last weekend marked the end of the qualifying tournaments for the Guys and Dolls Tournaments held at Lake Sinclair. Going into the tournament, Su sanne and I knew we could only ad vance to the Classic by winning. To be able to qualify for the Clas sic, a couple would have to finish in the top 12, or win a tournament. Since we were in 33rd or 34th place after the fourth tournament, the simple arithmetic isn't hard to fig ure. Our intentions were to go for broke, and give it our best shot. I had scheduled most of the week off, hoping to spend as much time as possible on the lake. Monday morning I woke up with a terrible sore throat and cough. The next five days were an eternity. Not only was I trying to doctor this creeping crud, but also trying to dodge thunderstorms nearly everyday. During the first part of the week, I was able to catch a lot of small bass; but, nothing that would win the tournament. On Friday, Susanne joined me and we decided to check out one last place that we have fished off and on for many years. This particular hump had given up some really good quality bass from time to time. On the first cast that Susanne made, she hung into a moving log, which turned out to weigh just shy of seven pounds. We knew then we had a chance if the fish would hold. t * Veto F. L Roley I Sports editor ■' the candidate really did not fit into the Hornet’s scheme. From what I understand. Perry will soon name a new head softball coach. Through the grapevine, I hear that she is a former standout at Warner Robins, and plays fre quently in Perry. Will bring you more as I hear more. *** * * The Houston County Board of Education gave its coaches and ath letic directors a boost in supple ment this week. While I believe that sports is not the most important thing a kid can do, you will rarely hear me say that sports are completely irrelevant to growing up. I believe that sports teaches some very important lessons, lessons-that are not neces sarily learned in the classroom. For instance, sports teaches competition and fairplay. When a person gets out into the real world, he will find many of life's pleasures alloted one the bases of skill. He will also find that it is better to play by the rules, for those who don't play by the rules are eventu ally found out. Sports also teaches teamwork, the importance of get ting along with bosses, the impor tance of following directions, the importance of being prepared, etc. and etc. A lot of people will also com plain about the athletic director hav ing his classes dropped from four to three per day. Well, the AD is re sponsible for the oversight of the total athletic program and budget. And, that no longer is football, basketball, baseball and track, with football, usually, being the most important sport. Where I came from, Prattville, Al., the AD was a full-time coach, with no teaching duties. His entire focus was on the athletic program. The same can be said of Peach County schools. High school coaching will not make someone rich, unless it's at that rare school or system where the contract is negotiated between the school and the coach. You have to coach because you love it. ***** While I’m at it, I need to clarify something from a few weeks ago. I gave the figures generated by the athletic departments at each of the school. Now, I realize that the board of education does not provide any money for athletics. All the money spent at the schools reflect the gate and other fund raising activities by the teams. However, I still find it interesting that Warner Robins has a budget of $166,000, while North side has a budget of $95,000. Very interesting. Gone OfF^Fishing lly v David and I .jJmSIiM Susanne Andel Tournament morning, we raced our 200 horsepower Ranger boat as hard as it would to to that spot and settled in for the day. Within a cou ple of minutes, I boated the first fish, which weighed over two pounds. Very soon after that Su sanne caught a bass over five pounds. We made a decision then to stay there the rest of the day. By 10 a.m., we had the five fish limit in our live well. We kept fishing throughout the day trying to catch a larger bass to cull out some of the smaller ones. As it turned out, all the other fish we caught were smaller. We thought all along that we had about 13 or 14 pounds of fish, and that Susanne had another shot for the "Big Bass." We ;honcstly didn't think that we had enough to win, thinking someone else would surely have 16 or 17 pounds. As the other 84 teams began to weigh in, our chances to win be came more and more of a reality. Towards the end of the day, two of the teams had not weighed in, and we were concerned about them be cause of their notoriety on Lake Sinclair. Finally ilicli weight was ■1 k ■ .11 —:9k “ Coach Carl Thomas explains the game of basketball to Perry players at the Macon County High School basketball camp. Dodge and Perry meet in camp By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor Area fans got a preview of next year's sub-region battle when a group of potential Dodge County players took on a group of players trying to break into the lineup of Carl Thomas in a basketball camp at Macon County High School this week. Perry ended the camp with a 6-2 record, with both losses coming to the team from Eastman. Both Perry and Dodge County arc moving down in classification next year, from AAA to AA. With the move down in classification, Dodge County and Perry will be in the same region. Last year, a senior group of Pan thers ran off with the region title, with a young Dodge County group coming in second. The Indians put a team on the floor that included two sophomores and one freshman, while Perry had five seniors in their top seven players. Dodge County and Perry are picked to be the two best teams in the sub region in the coming sea son. "I think that you are going to have to say (as a result of the camp) that Dodge will be the favorite in the sub-region," said Perry coach Carl Thomas. "Dodge is going to be as tough as nails." In the second game, the team from Perry opened up a quick first half lead on the Eastman five. With recorded, and it was official—Su sanne and I had won the last quali fying tournament, which also quali fied us for the Classic to be held in September. Susanne also won the S4OO "Big Fish" award for the gals in the second straight tournament. Our catch was 14.76 pounds. Other top finishers were Charles Ray and Mony Clary of Dou glasville, with a catch of 12.68 pounds; Jimmy and Jeanne Millsap of Canto, with a catch of 12.28 pounds; Tony and Brenda Floyed of Powder Springs, with a catch of 11.46 pounds; and Ronnie Waits and Laura Greer of Norcross, with a catch of 10.70 pounds. Classic qualifiers for the 1994 season are Jimmy and Jeanne Mill sap, Mack and Mary Heath of Faibum, Ronnie and Wanda Gabriel of Winterville, Jerry and Linda Brumfield of Doraville, Jimmy and Nancy Windham of Bonaire, Roger and Che Snipes of Gainsville, Mike and Patti Brock of Ackworth, Eddie and Nancy Hollway of Conyers, Ricky and Karen Price of Ack worth, Gary and Diane Hill of Lawrenceville, B.J. and Shirley Noble of Dallas, Nolan and Jennie Stoner of Canton, Bob and Tricia Wcinges of Douglasville, Ollie and Annie Ruth Wilson of Riverdale, Danny and Betty Thurman of Cartersvillc, and us. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky at the Classic, although we'll be up against some of the best fish ing teams in three states. Until next time . . . we've gone fishing. Houston rimes-Journal a little over eight minutes left to go in the opening half, Steve Whitman finished off a fast break to give the Perry team a seven point advantage, 15-8. Although the players from Dodge County would come back to within three, Garnet Curry would come back with six consecutive points, and Eugene Arnold had two as Perry opened up a nine point lead, 25-16. However, Dodge used the lessons that Perry taught many of their players during the regular sea son and put together a strong run toward the end of the half, cutting the Perry lead to one at the end of the half, 27-26. With seven-and-a-half minutes left in the game, the Perry team was trailing only by three, 39-36. But, then the Eastman team showed that it learned the lessons from a year ago in detail, putting Perry away with a 25-8 explosion. "Down the stretch, they (Dodge) did almost everything well," said Thomas. "They played so well that there was almost nothing that you could do. "However, some of our early mistakes fueled the early momen tum of their play." Thomas said that Perry turnovers led to the first three baskets of the Eastman's final eight minutes. "They turned a very close, competitive game into a route," said Thomas. Did you know? —facts from baseball Winning streaks In 1916, the New York Giants had two of the longest winning streaks of any ballclub in Major League history. In May, the New York team reeled off 17 consecutive wins. Later in September, the John McGraw coached team was unbeat able for the month, winning a record 26 consecutive games. All told, the Giants combined for 43 consecutive wins in two streaks. A first place team, right? V ' % Stew... $4,500 to the Perry Classic Jon Loftls (right), president of the Loftls Corporation, presents Perry Country Club head professional Bill Hobbs with a $4,500 check for the Perry Classic, which will be held In July. Page 6A Saturday, June 18,1994 " Houston Times-Joumal "The game sums everything up for this summer," said Thomas. "We have a lot of talent, potential and a long way to go. We don't have game experience. "A lot of what they do next year will come down to what I do," said Thomas, who said coaching would make or break next year's Perry High School team. Many of the members of the team Thomas took to Montezuma were trying to make the Panther team. Arnold and Curry led the Perry team with 12 points each, while Corey Duncan scored six. Three other players scored for Perry. Thomas' team was hampered by the absence of three key players. Stan Gann was at a golf tourna ment, Kiwaukee Thomas was at a quarterback camp and Derrick Webb was not in camp. Thomas said that all three easily factored into the top eight, with two being potential starters. Although the final few minutes of the game against Dodge were not good, Thomas said that he had good feelings about his team's willing ness to come from behind, noting that in three of his team's six wins they had to come back to win. "Three of the six games could’ve gone the other way," said Thomas. "We made the plays and won them. We showed a lot of determination. We are developing the attitude that we don’t like to lose." Wrong. In other games the Giants played that year, they were just short of terrible, winning only 43 out of the remaining 106 games. Their 86-66 record was only good enough for fourth. Perfect in relief The bill for the June 23, 1917, game between the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators promised to be a good pitching matchup with tough lefty Babe Ruth occupying the mound for the Boston team. However, the great Ruth would Graffiti wins title By JIMMY SIMPSON Staff Writer It was the perfect ending to a storybook beginning. Having paced the field to win 13 of their first 14 games in the regular season, Graffiti Hair Salon reached into its offensive arsenal to also claim the top spot in postseason action Thursday at Ochlahatchee Park with an 18-5 win over First Family Finance. The junior league softball team scored a total of 64 runs in three outings in a double-elimination tournament to go undefeated among a trio of other teams. Erupting for six runs in each of the first two innings, Graffiti had to withstand two potential late-inning rallies by First Family to work its way out of a jam. First Family loaded the bases with only one out on two different occasions, only to have two great defensive team efforts by Graffiti silence its bats. Graffiti finished the tourney at 3- 0 and 16-1 on the year. First Family held onto a 2-2 mark in tournament play, and was 5-12-1 overall. In a Wednesday match-up to determine who would advance to the championship game, First Family fought off Pennington 111 Plumbing for an 18-14 victory. The former group of players fought back from a 12-6 deficit after four innings to tie the game in the top half of the fifth inning of play. Pennington 111 had the potential runner in scoring position with two outs in the bottom half of their inning, but could not get her across the plate. First Family then erupted for six runs in the very next frame, and then held off Pennington in their final at bat to claim the win. Pennington finished the tourney at 1-2 (7-10 overall). Second-round action Tuesday favored Graffiti and First Family. Graffiti continued to stay in the winner’s bracket with a 17-1 win over Pennington 111. First Family managed to squeak past Family Footwear by a final of 8-7. Deadlocked at 1-1 after one frame, 2-2 after two innings, and 6- 6 after the third go-round, First Family finally managed to score twice in the fourth round and hold on for the win. Family Footwear finished the tourney 0-2, but 5-10-1 overall. only last one batter, getting ejected from the game after arguing a four ball call to lead-off hitter Ray Morgan. Ernie Shore was brought in from the bullpen to pitch for the Red Sox. Morgan was thrown out at second on a steal attempt. Shore, pitching without being allowed to warm up, silenced the Washington bats, getting the next 26 batters out in order. Because of his work that day. Shore is the only relief pitcher in Major League history to get credit for a perfect game.