This Looks Like Game That May Justify Its Name

A New York Supreme Court judge recently attempted to discover whether celebrated Broadway producer David Merrick, who had a stroke two years ago, is mentally competent enough to manage his $50-million estate. So, of course, the judge asked Merick a question about the Super Bowl. What did you expect? Something as trivial as the Geneva arms talks?

“Do you think Miami has a better quarterback?” the judge asked.

“I sure do,” Merrick said.

Presented with such conclusive evidence, the judge ruled in Merrick’s favor.

There you have it.

Coaches, scouts and the flower of American sports journalism have been searching all week for the answer to that question. David Merrick has spared them any further debate, and the New York State Supreme Court has ruled on it.

Dan Marino is better than Joe Montana.

But does that mean the Miami Dolphins will beat the San Francisco 49ers when they meet today at Stanford Stadium (Channel 7, 3:15 p.m.) in the National Football League’s championship game, also known as Super Bowl XIX?

Where is the New York State Supreme Court when we really need it?

The only consensus here is that the game, for once, should live up to its name. Everyone seems to agree that the 49ers (17-1) and Dolphins (16-2) are the NFL’s two best teams.

It even appears that the weather will be on its best behavior, which is fortunate for the anticipated sellout crowd of 837,748, since no umbrellas will be allowed inside the stadium.

The face value of tickets is $60, but they have been going for as high as $1,000 on the street.

The face value of tickets is $60, but they have been going for as high as $1,000 on the street.

When informed of that, Marino said, “I sure wouldn’t pay that much to watch me play football.”

Asked why, he said, “It’s on television, that’s why?”

Is it ever on television!

Beginning at 1 p.m. with its pregame show, ABC anticipates that coverage will last six hours.

After he is sworn in for his second term in a private ceremony at the White House, President Reagan, via a special television hookup, will flip a commemorative coin. Hall of Fame running back Hugh McElhenny, standing at mid-field, will have asked Dolphin captain Dwight Stephenson whether he wants to call heads or tails and will have relayed the call to Reagan.

A children’s choir will sing the national anthem, four U.S. Air Force B-15 fighter planes will whoosh overhead, and the game will begin.

As for which team will win, most experts say it’s the 49ers in a close one, but they have couched their predictions in such terms that they can take credit either way.

It sounds something like this:

“The 49ers appear to have the edge because of their defense, but they may not be able to outscore the Dolphins.”

The Dolphins can score.

While becoming the first quarter back ever to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season, Marino, in only his second season, completed a record 48 touchdown passes. That is 16 more than anyone else in the league.

Marino’s favorite receiver, Mark Clayton, caught 18 scoring passes, another record. The other wide receiver, Mark Duper, also will be in the Pro Bowl.

Realizing that the cleaner Marino’s uniform remains, the more lucrative their playoff checks will be at the end of the season, the Dolphins’ offensive line has become one of the best in the league. Marino was sacked only 13 times, nine fewer than Montana.

“You work awfully hard when the mother lode is only four yards behind you,” said Miami guard Ed Newman, one of two Dolphin offensive linemen who will be in the Pro Bowl. The other is Stephenson, the center.

The yield, in this case, will be $36,000 to each of the players on the winning team. To each of the losers goes $18,000.

But while Marino is the league’s most prolific quarterback, the 49ers’ Montana is no ordinary Joe. Besides Marino, only Seattle’s Dave Krieg threw more touchdown passes than Montana’s 28 this season.

Marino gained a league-leading average of 9:01 yards with is completions, but Montana was not far behind in second place at 8.40. Montana was more careful with his passes, throwing one interception for every 43 passes to Marino’s one for every 33.

In his own defense, Marino said last week: “I don’t throw into double coverage all the time.”

Montana, however, has been slumping in recent weeks. It was suggested in one of the local newspapers last week that he has been adversely affected by his engagement to actress Jennnifer Wallace, the sheriff in Montana’s Schick shaving commercial. She will be the third Mrs. Montana.

As San Francisco Chronicle columnist Glenn Dickey observed, “Considering Montana’s marital history, he has reason to be nervous.”

When he is not in the company of the Schick Sheriff, Montana is protected by a line that has three Pro Bowl players, center Fred Quillan, guard Randy Cross and tackle Keith Fahnhorst.

The 49ers’ runners, Wendell Tyler and Roger Craig, are better than the Dolphins’ Tony Nathan, Woody Bennett and Pete Johnson, but neither team insists on establishing the running game before the proceedings can continue.

No one things more often about the last time the 49ers were in the Super Bowl than Johnson. Playing for Cincinnati at the time, the 250-pound fullback failed to score in three attempts from the one-yard line as the 49ers won Super Bowl XVI, 26-21.

The 49ers’ defensive coordinator that day was Chuck Studley.

Now, he’s the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator.

That worries 49er Coach Bill Walsh. The last time he faced one of his former assistants, Cincinnati Coach Sam Wyche, the 49ers were fortunate to escape with a 23-17 victory in the 10th game this season. Wyche doesn’t know Walsh nearly as well as Studley knows him.

Walsh and Studley once were best friends. Their relationship cooled when Walsh announced that he was quitting as head coach after the 1982 season, convincing Studley he should look for work elsewhere. A couple of weeks later, Walsh announced that he was remaining as coach.

Walsh said last week that he recommended Studley as his successor, but, he added, that notion was rejected by the 49ers’ owner, Ed DeBartolo Jr.

Studley said there are no hard feelings.

But people close to him say he believes Walsh’s temporary resignation was a ploy to unload some of his assistants, including Studley. They say Studley would have more respect for Walsh if he had fired the assistants outright.

Studley went to the Houston Oilers for a year and then to Miami to replace Bill Arnsparger, one of the league’s most brilliant defensive coaches.

The Dolphins have missed Arnsparger. Known as the Killer B’s (nine of their defensive starters have last names that begin with the letter B), their defenders have played more like B Flats at times this season.

Miami’s defense was excellent during the first three games and on a few occasions since, such as the 31-10 playoff victory over Seattle. But in the final 12 regular-season games, Dolphin opponents averaged almost 19 points a game. The Raiders scored 45 points against them.

The 49ers have not allowed as many as 19 points in any of their last 10 games. In the last 13 games of the regular season, opponents averaged 11 points against them. They had a shutout in the NFC championship game, 23-0, over Chicago.

With the addition last week of cornerback Eric Wright to the NFC team, all four 49er starting defensive backs will be in the Pro Bowl. Linebacker Keena Turner also will be in it. The Dolphins have two Pro Bowl defenders, tackle Bob Baumhower and linebacker A.J. Duhe.

The Dolphins have a Pro Bowl punter in Reggie Roby, although he seldom is used.

But if they have to depend on their placekicker, Uwe von Schamann, they are in trouble. He kicked only nine field goals during the regular season. He tried only 19, partly because the Dolphin offense was good at finishing what it started by scoring so many touchdowns, and partly because the coaches didn’t have much faith in the placekicker.

The 49ers have one of the more accurate field-goal kickers in Ray Wersching, who made 25 of 35 attempts.

Another advantage for the 49ers may be the location of the game. They won’t be playing on their home field, but Stanford Stadium is close enough to their training site in Redwood City that the 49ers were able to stay at their homes instead of in a hotel.

Psychologists contacted by the local newspapers said the 49ers will benefit from that because they were able to remain near their “support systems.”

They added, however, that some of the more anti-social Dolphins might use that as an inspiration to knock the 49ers on their support systems.

“I’d like to come out here and beat them in their own backyard,” said Miami Coach Don Shula, who has been known to behave in an anti-social manner. “That would mean a great deal to me.”

Searching for the essential truths of this game, local newspapers also have contacted readers of tarot cards, tea leaves, astrology charts and palms. How does anybody find time to read the newspapers?

In an effort to influence the outcome, a local radio station has encouraged listeners to stick pins into a voodoo doll dressed in a Dolphin uniform.

Come on.

They should know this game will be decided by Marino vs. Montana.

One national magazine recently published an article on three “NFL hunks.” Along with New York Jet defensive end Mark Gastineau were Marino and Montana.

Hunk vs. Hunk.

Or perhaps this game will come down tot he coaches, Shula and Walsh.

Genius vs. Genius.

Everybody north of Al Davis considers Walsh the genius. Everybody east of Walsh considers Shula the genius.

Shula has more credentials. This is his sixth Super Bowl as a head coach, his fifth with the Dolphins. But this is Walsh’s second Super Bowl in the last four years.

Neither will allow himself to be led into a discussion of geniuses.

“It’s flattering (to be called a genius), but I don’t take it seriously,” Shula said. “I think the term genius should be used in other areas.”

He doesn’t mean in Redwood City.

Asked the other day if Walsh has had an impact on his coaching style, Shula reacted as if he’d had been asked if he has been spending any time in the San Francisco bath houses.

“I want to make sure I’m hearing this correctly,” Shula said, asking the interviewer to repeat the question.

When that was done, Shula said: “Everybody respects Bill. He’s a very organized person. That is reflected in his team. He should be given credit for winning a Super Bowl and then taking a team to the Super Bowl again.

“But we’ve been preparing football teams for a long time. We’ve got our own ideas how things should be done.”

Walsh also had nice things to say about Shula, admitting at the same time that he hasn’t given much thought to the possibility of being outcoached.

“Coaching won’t be the difference in this game,” he said.

Nonetheless, there has been a lot of attention paid to whether Shula will go with a no-huddle offense, or Walsh will call a lot of blitzes, or Shula will use four wide receivers, or Walsh will use four down linemen. Their wheels have been turning.

But they haven’t lost their sense of humor.

Amid all the questions about Xs and Os, a reporter asked Shula: “Do you think the outcome of the game will be decided by who scores the most points?”

“You’re funny,” Shula said.