by Jackson Baker
hat is it they say: Let
George do it? Well, on the much-belabored question of meager
local attendance at Tennessee Oilers games, we offer -- as gospel
or as novelty: you decide -- a positive interpretation at last.
It comes from one George Lapides, sports analyst for both WREG-TV
and WHBQ radio.
On Tuesday, Lapides told his radio audience that he thought the Oilers were drawing "pretty good" crowds. His reasoning was that Memphians (or, for that matter, Tennesseans from anywhere else) lacked the usual incentive to buy season tickets just now -- the fans' need to establish priority for seat availability in future seasons. As everybody knows, there won't be but two seasons at the Liberty Bowl. Max. So only about a few thousand people have anted up for the full ride this year.
That means that the
recent average Liberty Bowl attendance of some 25,000 -- at
premium NFL ticket prices, mind you -- includes anywhere from
15,000 to 20,000 walkup ticket-buyers per game. (We make
allowances here for giveaway tickets purchased -- and then
donated elsewhere -- by local businesses.)
"What other NFL team sees that many walkups?" Lapides asked rhetorically. Those who don't admire the pundit's reasoning should at least appreciate his nerve.
It remains to be seen whether such logic will persuade two key individuals who appeared at a United Way luncheon in Memphis last week. One was Oilers owner Bud Adams, who in response to repeated questioning by reporters said he was committed to two full seasons at the Liberty Bowl, unless -- "Unless the bottom drops out," Adams said. Whatever that means. One clue might be a remark he made following Sunday's 10-6 victory over the visiting New York Giants, witnessed by some 26,000 at the Liberty Bowl.
"Good crowd," someone said. "Good game," Adams responded.
Also on hand at last week's United Way luncheon was the charity's national chairman for this year, Paul Tagliabue -- who happens also to be commissioner of the National Football League. Like Adams, Tagliabue was probed relentlessly on the question of the Oilers' return to the Liberty Bowl for a second season. Like Adams, he used the word "commitment" freely and avoided the word "guarantee."
Adams had earlier let slip the point -- perhaps key -- that he was obligated only up to the threshold of some $5 million to cushion the financial loss to his fellow owners from poor attendance at the Liberty Bowl. After that, it's their tough luck -- and their time for the suggestion box. On the other hand, if Adams comes back to Memphis next year, he gets several hundred thousand dollars from luxury box rentals that wouldn't be available at Vanderbilt University stadium, the only viable stand-in venue for 1998.
Lapides may be right on the substance of the argument. It's true that writers for the natty New York Times complained in print afterwards about "a sea of empty seats," "the lethargic atmosphere of the Liberty Bowl," and "an embarrassment of a venue for the National Football League," but what else are losers, or their apologists, to say?
And, besides, what can you tell about crowds from the isolated ivory towers of the press box, whether at the Liberty Bowl or at the Meadowlands, where just now the Giants and their fellow tenants, the Jets, are playing way over their heads?
Down on the field, as the Giants tried to stage a rally in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, the supportive din from the stands was downright impressive -- even overpowering -- before, during, and after Oiler safety Marcus Robertson's game-sealing interception of a desperation Danny Kanell pass.
The Oilers went five games without an interception. Now, they pick passes off with some regularity. And their defense against the run ranks them among the NFL's leaders.
As Sunday's score would indicate, the Oilers have learned to play smashmouth football with the best of them. The one word which cropped up in everybody's post-game locker-room conversation -- from Robertson, from quarterback Steve McNair, from running back Eddie George, from wide-out Chris Sanders, from head coach Jeff Fisher -- was "physical."
It's beginning to dawn on everybody that the Oilers -- who evened their record at 5-5 and have games remaining against both their leading AFC Central Division rivals, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers, each now 7-3 -- have a fair chance of making the playoffs.
On the evidence of Sunday's win over what had been the NFC East's first-place team, they certainly have a fair amount of grit. This year or next year or the next one after that, they'll be a contender -- especially if they draft well for another wide receiver and another defensive back.
Bud Adams was right: It was a good game. Lapides was right, too: It was a good crowd. More than that: It's clearly a good team.