THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701230129
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: SPORTIN' COMMENT
SOURCE: Jeff Zeigler
LENGTH: 49 lines
Just a few items to think about while you're watching the ``exciting'' Super Bowl pre-game show:
Looks like another NFC team will win the Super Bowl. I will root for the New England Patriots. But the Green Bay Packers are heavily favored. With the two best AFC teams, Pittsburgh and Denver, sitting at home, I predict the Packers will romp 35-10.
Judging from the current crop of talent, it could be several more years before any AFC team wins the Super Bowl. The NFC, winners of the last 12 Super Bowls, have outscored the AFC 455-198. That's a margin of about 38-17 per game. Ho-hum.
If you think the Super Bowl has been bad over the last few years, have you taken a gander at the NBA lately? As of the day I wrote this column, six teams had records under .300. Those six teams, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Denver, and Vancouver, all had 10 wins or fewer. On the other hand, there were seven teams with winning percentages over .700 and two more hovering near .700. The rest of the teams were mediocre.
In the 1980s, the NBA was the premier professional sports league. There were no strikes, the players were paid well enough, and names like Jordan, Bird, Johnson, and Thomas lent class to the league. But with expansion, the NBA is so watered down that teams are struggling to score 90 points a game. Check out these scores from last week: Chicago 100, Milwaukee 73; San Antonio 96, Sacramento 76; Utah 106, Vancouver 68; Atlanta 94, Milwaukee 71. Two nights in a row, Milwaukee barely scored 70 points. This has been the norm all season.
Would you pay $30 to see Utah beat Vancouver by 38 points?
Call this the ``doghouse'' season in local high school basketball. At least three area boys' teams - Edenton-Holmes, Gates County, and Currituck County - have lost their best player for disciplinary reasons. Some players at Perquimans County also may lose their spots on the roster, according to head coach Luther Overton.
Usually grades are the cause of dropping off a basketball team this time of the year. Give the local coaches credit for having integrity enough to drop players who break the team rules or school policies.
Things are beginning to brew in Viking country. The Elizabeth City State University men's basketball team beat archrival Norfolk State 73-64 last week and opened the season at 7-3 and 5-1 in the CIAA. A win over the Spartans always is a jump start for the Vikings and coach Barry Hamler's crew is now in the running for a regular season CIAA Northern Division crown. Stay tuned . .