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Sportsview: Knight falls plus the world in 'sports MATTH.EW E. HURFF Astroturf has ruined many players careers ing in New York, hitting a home run in his so much to three such over-valued players; SportsEditor and countless playoff chances for various first game. besides the Orioles that is. teams around the league. In return for Bcrdick, the Orioles receive Well O's fans, expect a decade of rebuild- Finally, an era came to close in 'college Imagine being tackled while running full 28-year-old rookie Melvin Mora. ing to account for the decade spend squan- basketball this week as Bobby Knight was speed on a green spongy piece of concrete, Mora has been a bit unsteady in field, in dering cash and prospects to promote the fired from his post at the University of Indi- and that will give you an idea of what pro- large part because he is not a natural short- "win at all cost" attitude. ana. athletes such as Aikman and Galloway deal stop, and does not have the range to play lf the O's had acted when the older play- University officials made the decision with. there everyday. ers they possessed were somewhat valuable, because Knight violated the zero tolerance It would makes sense for owners to opt They also unloaded first baseman Will they could have received many valuable policy placed upon him as a result of past for grass in open air stadiums such as Texas Clark, who has returned to his past form prospects in return. violent outbursts. Stadium, but then again, owners do not al- while filling in for Mark McGuire in St. If this had occurred, we could be looking Knight violated this policy in an "arm ways do the smartest thing; case in point, Louis. at a winning team next year. How you ask? grabbing" incident involving Indiana fresh- the Orioles. While Clark is playing well now, he will Just look how quickly teams like Seattle man Kent Harvey. For years I have been saying that the Ori- probably be out of the league in a year or and the White Sox have rebuilt. The decision to fire the caustic Knight oles should dump some of their old, over two, therefore, the O's made a wise decision Both teams lost considerable talent, but was a prudent decision for the University of priced veterans in exchange for some prom- in this situation. are now contenders once again due to shrewd Indiana and for NCAA basketball. ising prospects. However, the O's should have extended trading and excellent farm systems. The coach who was once known for his Finally this year, they've decided to Iis- this process by unloading Delino DeShields, But hey, if you feel like paying 5 million incendiary personality and his winning ways, ten, however, they executed this plan poorly. Albert Belle or Brady Anderson. dollars to a 36 year old who has left his bet- has not won the NCAA championship since' When they traded Mike Bordick to the The reason these players are still on the ter days in the past, go right ahead, but that 1981, and is now just known for his chair Mets, Bordick responded with a strong show- team is because-no one-wouldwant to.W1Y" will leave your teams better days in the past. throwing tendencies and his verbal lashings. He will be replaced,by his assistant Mike Davis on an interim basis. I feel that this changing of the guard sig- nifies the culmination of a trend in coaching which has been in the works over the past few decades. If you have not noticed, there are no longer coaches like Billy Martin, or Earl Weaver screaming at umpires, players and other coaches at your nearest baseball sta- dium. Instead, teams are led by more subdued coaches like Tony LaRussa, Jerry Manuel and Larry Dierker. This is not 1Osay that these coaches are never seen in the midst of a tirade focused at their players, or even that they are never in- _., volvid, in a heatedlc9!1vt~JS.at~9P.Jwjth an umprre, but these outbursts seem.to be.more strategic than the violent tantrums Knight has oft burst into. In football news, yet another quarterback has been felled due to concussions. Only a few months removed from the retirement announcement from. the 4gers Steve Young, Cowboy Troy Aikman has been stricken with his 7th NFL concussion. Aikman. however, is refusing to retire and will rehab and play once again. His re- placement will be veteran Randall Cunningham in the meantime. Aikman's injury in combination with the injury of prize wide receiver Joey Galloway wilt make a playoff run very unlikely for Dallas. Galloway tore his knee during the same game at Texas Stadium against the Philadel- phia Eagles. Aikman is practicing and may be able to start in a difficult game against the Redskins on Monday night. Troy, take some time off, I wouldn'trec- ommend returning against Bruce Smith, Lavarr Arrington and crew. Take a word of advice from Steve Young, and do not be too hasty. Redskin fans, do not expec~ a,\up~et b~ the Cowboys this week. '. After last weeks defeat, Coach Norv Turner will have his team on their toes and prepared to take advantage of a beleaguered Cowboy squad. The injuries that occurred to Aikman and Galloway occurred mainly because of the Astroturf which covers the field at Texas Stadium. This material invented for use in the As- trodome, the first domed stadium in MLB is used on many pro football and baseball fields throughout the country. Just like the gun, it is something which many wish they could un-invent.