Kitsap Sun from Bremerton, Washington • 13

THE NBA C4 PREP PAGE C5 COMICS C6 Sports AREA MERCHANTS CONTINUE TO REGROUP ATER SNOWSTORMS PAGE C8 THE SUN SERVING WEST SOUND TUESDAY JANUARY 28 1997 SECTION Training camp in Cheney would relight Seahawks fire In Green Bay given a whole new meaning to tlie term orget about the flimsy imitation of something coimotation of Uie word Now is synonymous with champions at least in and around Green Bay the city that experienced a rebirthing over the weekend and became Titletown USA till over again 29 years after it was last known by that name All because of football In Charlotte and Jacksonville folks are walking around with a certain glide in their steps that there a few months ago because their teams made statements tliis season that have already upset the balance of power in the NL Green Bay is the champion Dallas may well be the team to beat again once it gets its players out of the sick rooms and off suspension Carolina and Jacksonville will make fresh runs the New England Patriots BART should be better next WRIGHT year you know Bill Cowher will get Pittsburgh ready to play again Then Indianapolis the Dolphins in Jimmy second year will the Raiders make it back with a new coach? Denver and on and i a on These pro football playoffs tliis just concluded season have breathed life into the game All around the league teams seem to be stepping up and settling in to do the w'ork that needs be done to build winners The Seahawks seem removed from all tliis a team tliat is in the league but not in the same league with the franchises on the move up Only now there tire hints that even the Seahawks are starling to make the behind the scenes decisions that can be turned into wins It all starts with management determining to make the little meaningful Wonder bread decisions that build strong teams eight ways or more been the problem with the francliise for years Chuck Knox stop being a good coach after Ken Behring bought tlie team and Dermis Erickson quit being a good coach after he moved back home from Miami They been allowed to be good coaches becaiLse of bad management decisions something that happen in Green Bay Carolina Jacksonville Dallas and all the other places where winning is a byproduct of good management lately the wliispers you hear from the Sealiawks indicate Paul management of the franchise is starting to do all the right things You can expect to hear word from the Sealiawks in the days to come that they will move their training camp back to Cheney out of tlie country club atmosphere in Kirkland where everyone lives just down the road and players liave to think about getting to know each other This is a discussion tliat could go in another column but always believed tliat football more than any other sport with tlie possible exception of hockey places tlie highest premium on teamwork In Kirkland you could feel tlie sense of team gradually come apart after they opened their new headqi larters and moved away from the sequestered atmosphere at Eastern Washington University in Cheney where you could walk from your room to the practice field to the store to anywhere It is a floating indefinable thing tliis sense of team but after seen it happen out of a month long training camp in Cheney and then you see it never happen in the suburban atmosphere of Kirkland you know it counts i Allen has shown interest in this team I 1 lis lobbyists seem to be working effectively in Olympia where the first few hints of creative financing for a new stadium liave started to trickle out He wants a public vote but those close to him say what Allen really wants is a clear sign tliat interest in the Seahawks a close loss at the polls might be enough for him to take it on himself i And now apparently agreeing to pay the cost for a training camp in Cheney something that builds teams from the inside out Which is the only place winners can be built Sports Editor Phone: 792 8566 (ax: 479 7681 i mail: SunNews itiiraZ The NL uture too may be bright for Packers Being a community owned team makes it easier for the Packers to remain a contender By Vito Stellino The Baltimore Sun NEW ORLEANS a tradition for the Super Bowl MVP to go to Disney World Tlie new problem for the Super Bowl champion is to get him back List Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Iarry Brown of the Dallas Cow boys got a $125 million deal from the Oakland Raiders even though all he didwas catch two passes Neil threw right at him Now Desmond Howard is (lie newest Super Bowl MVP who gets to test freeagency after he helped the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots 35 21 in Super BowlXXXI Sunday niglit Just six months ago no NL team would offer the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner more than the $275000 veteran minimum because he was a bust as a wide receiver Now that reinvented himself as a kick returner his price will go up The Packers hope to keep him but are aware they could get priced out of the market Leigh Steinberg Howard's agent who already has scheduled him on tlie David Letterman show Wednesday niglit and his stop at Disney World (no waiting in lines for him) said free agents on Super Bowl teams are He added the current system designed to stop dynasties from happen But be surprised if the Packers remain a contender in the coming years As a community owned team they have to worry about the whims of an impatient owner or front office power struggles In 1991 team president Bob Harlan hired general manager Ron Wolf who See PACKERS on C4 I SCHOO BAS KE AL Eathome i by the years Unofficial year by year coaching record of Les Eathome who took I over the Olympic High boys program last year i after retiring from Bremerton High follow ing the 1987 88 sea son CAMAS HIGH 1949 1950 8 12 1950 1951 2 18 1951 1952 7 12 1952 1953 10 10 1953 1954 6 14 1954 1955 8 12 1955 1956 11 12 EAST BREMERTON 1956 1957 12 8 1957 1958 25 3 1958 1959 10 12 1959 1960 11 10 1960 1961 5 15 1961 1962 8 14 1962 1963 15 7 1963 1964 13 7 1964 1965 12 8 1965 1966 19 3 "1966 1967 13 5 1967 1968 IOS 1968 1969' 14 7 1969 1970 9 11 1970 1971 12 10 1971 1972 163 1972 1973:26 1 1973 1974 25 1 1974 1975'18 8 1975 1976 10 12 1976 1977 17 10 1977 1978 156 BREMERTON 1978 1979 17 5 1979 1980 18 10 1980 1981 111 9 1981 198215 9 1982 1983 133 1983 1984 8 12 1 1984 1985L9 10 1985 1986 1987 8 12 1987 1988 6 13 JPP PP 1' PPfiP i OLYMPIC 1995 1996 9 11 1996 4 8 I 'i I Career 497 379 TEAM TALK: Olympic Trojan' coach Les Eathome: talks ivith players during a game against Central Kitsap riday night Staff photo by Matthew Grotto Les Built Legend at East Les nearly 500 wins are punctuated by back to back state titles at East Bremerton By John Wallingford Sun Staff Lt'S Eathome coached the fust game of Ills storied East Bremer ton years on December 4 1956 i top ranked team in college basketball then as now represent ed tlie University of Kansas Little else was die same The Jayhawks were led by a 7 foot sophomore named Wilt Cham berlain Tlie press dubbed him but he preferred to be called Chamberlain proved he was a prodigy by any name when he scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in his varsity debut against Northwestern Dec 3 Abroad die Suez Canal crisis was easing in Egypt and Soviet tanks and troops maintained an' uneasy grip on die streets of Buda pest Hungaiy Tlie scene at home near ly so contentious In Bremerton you could buy a two bedroom waterfront bungalow widi full basement and garage on Marine Drive for $9500 and a 10 pound bag of potat oes for 37 cents Knows and and dominated prime time television and and $64000 were heard by legions of radio listeners Marilyn Monroe starred in at Port The ater where matinees showed for Sun file photo HUMBLE GUY: Rick Walker left said Les Eathome right credited his players for wins but blamed himself for losses Walker assisted Eathome at Bremerton High in the late 1980s 50 cents It was as Eathome the 73 year old Olympic High boys basketball coach says different After seven years at Camas High die former Bremerton star and Washington Husky grad came home to become head coach at brand new East Bremerton High Scl tool He was 32 years old Reserve guard Sam Goudreau hit a long shot an 1 added a pair of free throws to lift die Knights to a 56 53 win at Montesano Dec 4 It was die first of more dian 300 wins Eathome would earn as die only coach in die 22 year life of East I ligh That team was led by junior Lyle Bakken a 6 foot tornado with arms and legs was one of die fastest kids ever seen a physical mon ster Eathome said of Bakken who played three years at Wash ington The 1956 57 Knights went 12 8 giving Eathome liis fust winning sea son as a head coach after compiling a 52 90 record at Camas the time you could spell See EATHORNE on C5 Les and the quest Les Eathome is a Washington state high school basketball coaching I legend from his start at Camas in 1949 to the I current quest for his 500th win Record books indicate he has 499 wins but research by The Sun has discovered at least one discrepancy in his victory 1 total His 1974 East Bremerton team finished with a second straight AA state championship and a 25 1 record The record I books however list the season record as 27 1 While it seems probable 1 Eathome is at least three games short of 500 career wins our research continues I in an effort to verify the exact 1 number But no amount of research can obscure the obvious Eathome is a I singularly successful coach in West Sound and ranks among the 10 winningest high school basketball coaches in state history Sun Staff Baseball Bash Brothers Canseco McGwire reunited in Oakland The Red Sox trade Jose Canseco back to Oakland for pitcher John Wasdin By Rob Gloster The Associated Press OAKLAND Calif The Bash Broth ers are together again Jose Canseco returned to the Oakland Athletics in a trade from Boston on Mon day and will be reunited with Mark McGwire with whom he formed one of the most explosive combos in baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s With Canseco and McGwire combining for 200 homers in 1988 90 the won three straight AL pennants Canseco had five seasons of more tlian 30 homers for Oakland including 44 in 1991 and42in 1988 McGwire and myself can stay healthy the whole year I think definitely going to win our Canseco said from his home in Miami tially we can lead the league in Canseco was sent back to Oakland for right handed pitcher John Wasdin who was 8 7 with a 596 ERA last season in 25 games 21 of them starts The Athletics also got cash apparently to pay part of $45 million base salary he outline ot tne cleat nau been in place since last week but Canseco first had to under go a physical exam demanded by the Athletics Hampered by back hip and hamstring prob lems Canseco missed nearly 40 percent of games since he was acquired to be the Red Sox designated hitter in 1994 Canseco passed a physical exam Monday morning given by the lorida team physician have significantly improved our said general manager Sandy Alderson five core hitters Canse co McGwire Geronimo Berroa Scott Brosius and Jason Giambi are as good as any in the Canseco 32 had asked the Red Sox for a trade after they fired liis close friend manager Kevin Kennedy at the end of last season Canseco the MVP in 1988 hit 289 with 28 homers and 82 RBIs in 96 games last season for tlie Red Sox bi his career which began in 1985 with Oakland he lias a 272 average with 328 homers and 1033 RBIs in 1341 games coming in healthy this year" Can seco said hope I can play 150 games in the CANSECO HOR: BAHT WRIGHT 1.