A Few Comments About Pressure and Other Points

News item: Martina Navratilova, other tennis experts warn of pressure now facing Boris (Boom Boom) Becker, kid Wimbledon champion.

Comment: News photos have showed Becker sunbathing near his condo in Monte Carlo, checking out chicks in bikinis. Looks as if the pressure’s already weighing heavily on Boom Boom.

The experts issued similar dire predictions about Fernando Valenzuela when he joined the Dodgers. They said he didn’t realize he was in the big leagues. And early in Wayne Gretzky’s career, experts predicted that reality would soon set in on the kid.

The truth is, people like Valenzuela, Gretzky and Becker achieve greatness early because they can handle pressure, not because they haven’t yet tasted it. They aren’t naive; they’re smarter than the rest of us.

News item: Clippers consider signing Cedric Maxwell.

Comment: Fine trade-off. The Clippers lose Bill Walton to the Celtics and gain Maxwell, nicknamed Cornbread in college and re-nicknamed Cornhead by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in this year’s NBA final.

Good deal for the Clippers. Maxwell has a chance to become the M.L. Carr of the West. If the Clippers struggle next season, Maxwell can give the choke sign to his own teammates.

News item: Tennis umpire Bob Jenkins is suspended from Wimbledon duties and expelled from the British Tennis Umpires Assn. after calling for stiffer penalties for bad behavior.

Comment: Is this what you had in mind, Bob?

News item: Howard Cosell, in his new book, rips Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and O.J. Simpson, among others.

Comment: No wonder the top people in the TV business are lining up to work with Cosell.

News item: Accounting professor, hired by major league team owners, says owners overstated their 1984 losses by $16 million.

Comment: Picky, picky, picky.

News item: Harry Usher, USFL commissioner, fires L.A. Express coaches and general manager, telling them the league won’t honor their long-term contracts.

Comment: Hey, baseball owners. I know a guy who might be able to give you some tips on saving money.

News item: Reggie Jackson makes three outstanding outfield plays in two nights.

Comment: Enthusiasm and hustle can make the difference between a stiff and a star. Just ask Boom Boom Becker.

A few nights ago on TV, Reggie was seen sprinting to first base on a routine infield grounder, stretching and leaning toward the bag, not giving it the standard major league concession coast down the line.

This kind of stuff can be infectious. And how are the Angels doing in the standings these days?

News item: Wisconsin football player is wheeled in for surgery to remove bone chips from his right foot. Doc mistakenly operates on gridder’s left foot.

Comment: Suggested headline for National Enquirer: “When Chips are Down, Doc Bats .500.”

News item: College presidents of NCAA schools vote in “death penalty” rules to stop athletic program cheaters.

Comment: Wake me when they bring in the first prisoners.

News item: Noted business information firm says there’s a 70% chance of ’88 Olympics in Seoul actually taking place.

Comment: Sounds like a weather report. The rest of the report probably goes something like this:

With political storms brewing, there’s a 75% chance of the Winter Olympics. On the baseball scene, there’s a cold front moving into the labor negotiations from the players’ side, and hot air moving in from the owners, and we’ve got a 65% chance of a 1985 World Series. For the USFL, the future is hazy, especially on the West Coast, with a 10% chance of survival. Pro tennis is stormy, although the sun is shining at Boom Boom Becker’s condo in Monte Carlo.

News item: Orioles fire manager Joe Altobelli, rehire Earl Weaver. Outfielder Gary Roenicke says: “We are much more relaxed now.”

Comment: That’s all major league players really need--a relaxed atmosphere, where they can perform without managerial pressure.

News item: Angel infielder Rob Wilfong, commenting on the club atmosphere under former manager John McNamara, says, “It was too comfortable.”

Comment: As I said, what major league players need is a little tension, in a comfortable atmosphere, with a lot of managerial haranguing, but in a nice way, so the players can be tensely relaxed.