TRIAS LAL URES EMT De lt

rthur: feels bul

Jim :
Kearney

“THE SPECTATOR

“$0 LITTLE .time...s0 inuch to.

do, ;

“Tennyson said it....So did.
Cecil Rhodes....And right
after Pear! Harbor, Franklin
Roosevelt said the same.

: Now ‘they have contemporary
‘ company.. Arthur Griffiths hasn't
been saying it in public, but IH bet
“he's been muttering it quite regulars
y,over there in his West- Van home
as he paces while the days dwindle
down.
There are’ 24 of them left until
/ the National Basketball -
Association’s Dec, 31 deadline: 24:
days'to reach the NBA-dictated |
‘quota of 12,500 season tickets
- before his Grizzlies gain final

acceptance into basketball's top pro-

fessional league. :

He has about 3,000 to go and if
he falls short of the Magic target,
the story goes, he won't get the - .

tanchise and he'll lose about $12.5
million besides, It must be nice to:

be able to afford this sort of gamble. |

: Whatever, my sources tell me. :,
hat the little guy with the big bucks
s ‘uncommionly relaxed these days.
He’s not biting his fingernails, nor.
s he tearing out his hair, But the
ast time I looked at that haircut, 1-
lon’t think i it would be such a bad

4 ‘Undou edly, Griffiths knows a.
lot more than‘we doubters on the

idelines do. So, [’m willing to bet a ..’

‘Slightly soiled tablecloth that he'll
‘puil it off. But not from sales to thee

and me in the great unwashed. * >;

“Ydo believe the corporate sector.”
will push him over the top. It’s just’
a matter of timing. Were I the pers,
“son in'charge of dispensing such’:

unds for Amalgamated Beads and ~
Trinkets, I think ‘would wait until
just before Christmas before’ ‘
announcing that the firm had bought

BAPE OI

SLU AANT Mie karti Deals aia

300 season tickets,

My PR department would stress
what a wonderful Christinas present
the old firm was bequeathing the
community in helping to bring pro
basketball here. Al the same time
the marketing department would be
frantically looking at the best. way
to utilize those tickets to increase
sales and the bottom line.

So, getting Vancouver into the
NBA will not be the problem, but -
sustaining a franchise here will be
quite another piece of business.
Arthur's new downtown arena will |
be the main draw for two or three

. years, as was the then-brand-new

Pacitic Coliseum when the
Canucks came into the NHL in
1970,

One thing for sure. It will take
several years for.the Grizzlies to
become competitive. Indeed, you'll
pardon the expression, they will be
grisly, Will the fans and the corpo-
rate ticket buyers hung in there?

I've been wrong before — so

many times, I've lost count — but I

don’t believe there's a large enough
basketball community on the Lower

“< Maintand to keep pro basketball in
..business here for any length of time.

. Sure, the game is popular at the

. high school level and the annual

B.C. tournament in March fills the
Agrodome —- at prices tailored to
the students incame level, But when

“was the last time you saw UBC
. Thunderbirds or the Simon
Fraser Clansmen play before any-

thing but rows ‘of empty seats?
Hockey, not basketball, is the
Canadian game, even though a, °°

Canadian, James Naismith, invent-

ed it.by nailing those peach baskets
to the back walls of the Springfield,

“Mass., YMCA gym 102 years ago.

When hockey returns, ticket buyers’

_ '— even those with above average

incomes — are, at today’s prices,
going to have to make a choice, The

Canucks will be the winners.

The Grizzlies will be a 100% :

'- American content operation, with

all its costs — particularly inflated
players’ salaries — measured in

“U.S. dollars while it takes in 70-cent-

Canadian dollars at the gate.
». True, it will participate in a more
lucrative TV ‘contract than anything

* commanded by NHL teams, but it’s

still going to need the average per-
son walking up to the ticket booth .
to occasionally fill the’7,500 seats
still remaining after 12 500 have

~ been sold.

Despite ail the claptrap you hear
about a recovering economy, one ,
thing remains constant out there in

‘the real world: inflation is going up

faster than wages; income tax keeps
reducing take home pay; personal

. Savings rates are at their lowest in

- ‘Thank you for making Larry’s Sport Shop your choice
for sporting equipment. We look forward to’serving
: you over Christmas and in 1995. .

gases arery'S/ SPORT SHOP |

2029 Lonsdale. Ave ws

23 years; and Paul Martin has
promised —~ or rither, threatened —
some even more serious zapping of
the body public in next year's bud-

uel.
So, if Martin does his worst, the

choice may not be the Grizzlies or

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“ish on bears

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Wednesday, December 7, 1994 — North Shore News - 19

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the Canucks, but instead, the oppor-

inside out before beating a hasty
retreat to our TV sets.
Inany event, Arthur, lots of luck,
Meanwhile, just call me
Cassandra,

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