Sports
The Prince George Citizen — Thursday. October 22. 1987 — 13
 AAARK ALLAN Sports editor
PUBLIC APPEAL LAUNCHED
Lions plead for assistance
McMillan steals to win
  VANCOUVER (CP) - The financially troubled B.C. Lions will seek public help to raise $2 million as part of a provincial government co-ordinated plan to inject “strong business discipline” into the Canadian Football League franchise.
   Long considered the most solvent club in a league whose members often teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, the Lions are looking at a projected deficit of as much as $2.5 million this season.
   The situation became acute six weeks ago when the Lions stopped paying rent at B.C. Place Stadium — the club owes $200,000. The board of the community-owned club approached B.C. Pavilion Corp., the Crown agency which controls the stadium, and the parties have agreed on a multi-faceted restructuring plan.
   “We believe the football club has a future,” B.C. Pavilion president Mike Horsey said Wednesday. “We believe that with a strong B.C. club, the CFL can survive and ulti-
 mately prosper again.
   “Without the B.C. Lions, the prospects were going to be decidedly poor.”
   The club has a 9-6 record and is tied for first place in the Western Division with the Edmonton Eskimos.
   While the Social Credit government has agreed to provide loan guarantees of $2 million, the Lions will try to raise a similar amount through debentures. A debenture; unlike a share, is a form of loan unsecured by any of the issuing company’s assets.
   “We believe it will not be an onerous task,” said club president Chuck Walker. “Obviously it will be an indication of how good a salesmen we are.”
   Horsey said the nature of the debenture issue — the Lions raised $1 million in a similar move in 1979 — has yet to be decided, but it could involve a sliding scale with perks such as season tickets thrown in. Horsey said the corporation will
 provide business management and marketing expertise to the club. Lions’ general manager Joe Galat said he was delighted that “some people have come along to help us help ourselves.”
   As part of the restructuring plan, the Lions will, as soon as possible, move their administrative offices downtown from the suburban Surrey training centre they moved to in 1983.
   General manager Joe Galat said it will move the club closer to “our fans and the business community.”
   The club will also try to sell the training centre — generally regarded as the CFL’s best but considered an extravagant luxury as the embattled league retrenches.
  The club has between $750,000 and $1 million in equity in the centre, which could be sold and then leased back. The municipality of Surrey has the first option on the facility.
  The Edmonton Eskimos announced in early September budget re-
MATTHEWS LOST POWER STRUGGLE
Egos split Galat, coach
  : The alliance of Joe Galat and Don Matthews in a working partnership was doomed from the start by an enormous clash of egos.
    The rise and fall of the Matthews era with the British Columbia Lions ended with the sudden dismissal of the most successful head coach in the team's history, a move initiated last week by Galat, the general manager of record for 14 months.
    The affable Galat and the narcissistic Matthews, head coach since January 1983, were locked in a battle for power, a conflict which began in August, 1986 when the B.C. board of directors selected Galat for the management position over Matthews.
   In the end it was Galat who won when he fired Matthews with unexpected swiftness. But the sacking made Galat a marked man among the football faithful of the West Coast.
   In B.C. Place Stadium last Saturday where the Lions beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 25-11, many signs hung by fans backed Matthews. One pointed out that Matthews had won 70 per cent of his games as B.C. head coach (60-26-1, including playoffs), while Galat had 31 per cent winning efficiency as coach of the defunct Montreal Alouettes (19-42-2).
   Another sign proclaimed: “Sack Galat.”
   CBC television also reported
Grant Kerr
 callers were 85 per cent against the firing of the head coach.
   Galat contends the Lions lost their discipline under the outwardly easy-going Matthews this season (B.C. had lost three straight when the coach was dumped) and someone new was needed to ignite the players.
   The general manager felt the players were more in control of the team than the hea'd coach. Matthews always came across as a players’ coach and, when B.C. management talked of salary reductions last month, Matthews mostly sided with the players.
   Matthews had an uneasy reputation with the media in Vancouver, where reporters wanted him to share more information with them.
   The board of directors of the publicly-owned team have been silent about the matter, although Galat insists he had their approval to fire Matthews.
 This is the same board which instituted 10-per-cent salary reductions last month and rescinded them 48 hours later when the players balked.
   Galat was hired by a three-man selection panel from the board. Team president Grant (Woody) McLaren said at the announcement that Galat, was selected over Matthews because he could promote the team off the field while Matthews concentrated on his coaching duties. McLaren resigned a few weeks later for unspecified reasons.
  Attendance has fallen off drastically this year in the domed stadium, by about 10,000 a game, and Galat often wished the team was more exciting on offence (when they were winning with defence). But, without the departed Mervyn Fernandez, the Lions were not capable of being an offensive juggernaut.
   And many of the players were not ready to forget the man who took them to two Grey Cups (1983, 85) and the CFL playoff championship two years ago.
   “I like Don Matthews,” said veteran linebacker Glen Jackson, who has played for three B.C. head coaches, including Cal Murphy and Vic Rapp. “He showed us how to win.”
  Timeout is a column by contributing Canadian Press sportswriters. Grant Kerr is based in Vancouver.
 ductions in all departments, increased fundraising, a 10-per-cent salary cut for players and a ticket-selling drive for the remainder of the season.
   Several other CFL clubs are reported to be in poor financial health, most notably Ottawa which recently borrowed $200,000 from the league. Calgary, which only survived last season with a last-ditch season-ticket drive and a debt-for-equity scheme, and Saskatchewan are also believed to be in serious trouble.
   Earlier this season, Lions’ players and management disagreed about a proposed 10-per-cent pay cut that was eventually dropped.
   But Galat said Wednesday that all salaries on the club will be cut next season.
   The Lions, whose attendance at the 60,000-seat domed stadium is off an average of 10,000 fans a game, blame poor scheduling for their financial predicament. Afternoon games on weekends to accommodate Eastern television were the biggest problem.
   Walker said the Lions will play no Sunday games next season and all week night and Saturday contests will start after 7:30 p.m.
   Walker also said he expects a “profound announcement” from the league before Nov. 8 detailing rule, roster and gate equalization changes for 1988 and new intiatives on marketing.
   Premier Bill Vander Zalm said the government became involved with the Lions because they are an important part of the provincial economy. He noted that the Grey Cup — the CFL championship which will be held in Vancouver this fall — provides an economic spinoff of about $20 million.
   B.C. Place stadium, which turns a slight profit on operations, derives 20 per cent of its gross revenues from the Lions — annual rent and a share of the concessions — and would lose about $1 million a year if the Lions folded.
   Horsey said the government hasn’t put a time limit on the restructuring plan.
   “We’re going to be involved in the short term, but clearly the government does not wish to operate football teams. We plan to be out of this as soon as we can.”
More CFL, page 15.
Bruno sidelined until next year
   HAMILTON (CP) — Head coach Al Bruno, currently recovering at home from a mild heart attack, probably won't return to the sidelines until next season, a spokesman for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats said Wednesday.
   John Eakins, communications director for the CFL team, says Bruno is still on medication and doctors don't want to subject him to the pressure of the playoffs.
   Mel McMillan stole his way into first place in the Labatt's-Canadian Airlines International Super League’s A Square on Wednesday.
   McMillan’s Runners World Rink came from behind to beat Inland Radiator (Bryan Mooney) 8-7, scoring two in the ninth end to tie and stealing the winner in the 10th end.
   The win gave McMillan (3-0) sole possession of top spot in A Square and made him part of a five-way tie for first overall. Mooney (2-1) is tied with Croft Hotel (Glen Pierce) and Mike Mathews for second in A and sixth overall.
   Pierce tripped Team Doyle (Len Ostberg) 7-4, taking two in the ninth to preserve the three-rock margin. Mathews beat River Industries (Mel Dal-ziel) 9-5 with three in the seventh and a steal of one in the eighth.
   The Kevin Smale-Video Station (Sandy MacDonald) game was postponed, since MacDonald is in Vernon for the annual carspiel.
   Three of the rinks joining McMillan atop the overall standings come from B Square, where there’s a three-way tie for first. Gerry Peckham, Ted Moffat and Doug Engstrom are all 3-0 after Wednesday’s games.
   Peckham beat Gerry Miller 10-9, scoring three in the ninth and stealing one in the 10th. Moffat edged Rick Harrison 7-6 with a hit for one in the 11th and Engstrom nipped John Shymanski 7-6 in an equally close match.
   In the other B game, Bencher Logging (Danny Morris) scored three in tt\e 10th to salt away a 9-5 win over Cheryle Wood.
   In C Square, Super League newcomer Lome Allen got his third straight win to become the fifth unbeaten team as he beat Decker Sports Travel (Dale McMann) 9-5 after taking a big early lead.
   Elsewhere in C, Diane Dalio beat Caldon Painting (Tami Mulock) 8-4 with a three-ender in the ninth; Stuart Mason doubled Dennis Megale 8-4 as Cliff Warner made a double takeout in the eighth, leaving Mason open to draw for three and break open the game; and Canadian Airlines International (Dick Miller) beat Mike Shelest 11-6 by stealing an early five-end-er.
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ST. LOUIS TIES WORLD SERIES AT 2-2
Fourth inning helps
Tom Lawless strokes a fourth-inning, three-run home run to help St. Louis tie the World Series. Minnesota pitcher Frank Viola (inset) is left to wonder why he threw that particular pitch to the light-hit-ting Lawless, who now has a grand total of only two major-league homers.
  ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals stole Minnesota’s'big weapon, the fourth-inning outburst, and the World Series stood even.
 The Cardinals got a three-run homer from utilityman Tom Lawless, who had only 25 at-bats during the season, to ignite a six-run fourth inning en route to a 7-2 victory Wednesday night over the Minnesota Twins and tie the Series at two games apiece.
 “From the fifth inning on, I wanted to get the game over so I could relish the moment,” Lawless said.
  This was a role reversal not only of timing, but of method. The home run by Lawless, only the second of his major-league career, was the first in the Series by the Cardinals.
  “We didn’t expect them to throw in the towel,” said Twins’ manager Tom Kelly, whose team have hit 13 homers in nine post-season games this year and had used big fourth innings to win the first two World Series games at home, 10-1 and 8-4.
 Tonight, the Twins start Bert Blyleven against Danny Cox in a rematch of Game 2.
  Lawless, playing third base for the injured Terry Pendleton, also turned in one of three run-saving defensive plays in the fifth inning as Minnesota tried to get back into the game. The other fancy defensive work was done by shortstop Ozzie Smith and left fielder Vince Coleman.
 “You always have to figure you’ve got a chance,” said Bob Forsch, who got his first Series victory in relief of starter Greg Mathews. “Otherwise, it’s going to be a long season.”
 Jim Lindeman, playing for injured first baseman Jack Clark, singled in runs in the third and fourth innings and now has four hits in two Series starts. He is pla-
tooned at first base against left-handed pitchers, such as Game 4 starter Frank Viola.
  “The only part that’s frustrating was that I didn’t follow my own game plan,” Viola sajd. “I have to establish myself, throw strikes and get ahead, and tonight I didn’t do it.”
 The Twins took a 1-0 lead on Greg Gagne’s leadoff homer in the third inning. Lindeman’s RBI single in the bottom half of the inning tied the game, and the Cardinals chased Viola in the fourth.
  Viola, who pitched eight innings and allowed just one run on five hits in Game 1, walked his first batter in 10 innings in the third inning. Then, leading off the fourth, he walked Tony Pena. Jose Oquendo’s single sent Pena to third, bringing up Lawless.
 Lawless’s only other major-league homer came in 1984 with the Cincinnati Reds. His second came on an 0-1 pitch from Viola and put the Cardinals ahead for good. Lawless, who also played for the Montreal Expos, flipped his bat toward the St. Louis dugout and took off on a slow, luxurious home run trot.
  One out later, the Cardinals were at it again. Coleman walked, and Kelly replaced Viola with Dan Schatzeder. The 3'/3-inning outing matched Viola’s shortest of the season.
  Schatzeder struck out Smith, but Coleman stole second, forcing an intentional walk to Tommy Herr. Lindeman followed with a single to score Coleman, and when Twins centre fielder Kirby Puckett bobbl-ed the ball, Herr raced to third and Lindeman to second.
  Willie McGee followed with a single, and the Cardinals led 7-1.
  Mathews pitched into the fourth before a recurring injury in a muscle in his right thigh forced him out of the game. The Cardinals said he won’t pitch again in the Series.
  Forsch relieved and worked 2^3 innings, allowing one run for the victory. Ken Dayley worked the final 2% innings, allowing one hit.
 ■	Paul Moiitor, the Milwaukee Brewers’ third baseman-designated hitter, has undergone successful elbow surgery, club officials said Wednesday.
  The procedure was performed by orthopedic specialist Frank Jobe, who discovered a small fragment in the elbow. Moiitor was bothered by a series of injuries last season and was twice on the disabled list.
  When he returned after the all-star break, Moiitor was inserted in the lineup as the DH because the elbow wouldn’t allow him to throw.
 Tonight’s game on KOMO (cable 8) and BCTV (channel 12, cable 11) will be delayed because of a presidential news conference.
 The game was scheduled to start at 5:25 PDT. The first pitch will be delayed until the news conference, which begins at 5, is over.
 The game’s starting time will be moved back so it can be televised in its entirety by ABC. The network will also air the news conference.
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