Scorecard

Cleaning Up the Act

Last Thursday the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 was reexamined in Congress for the first time since its passage, and, predictably, it received mixed reviews. Experts acknowledged that while the U.S. Olympic Committee has done a good job of bringing home medals and providing America's elite athletes with topflight resources and opportunities, it has failed in its broader responsibilities of providing grassroots support to American children.

"One of the major missions of the act was not just to produce Olympic athletes but to encourage broad-based participation in sports," says Tom McMillen, a former pro basketball player and U.S. representative from Maryland who's now co-chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. "Whether the act has been 75 to 80 percent effective isn't the point. American kids have fewer opportunities, are less healthy and are getting fatter than before the Sports Act was passed."

USOC president Dr. LeRoy Walker, contending that the act doesn't need to be amended, testified last week, "The USOC has dramatically accelerated its efforts in this critical arena of youth and sport and made it a priority in light of [our] limited resources."

Those limited resources are precisely the point. It's time for Congress to create a separate organization charged specifically with overseeing the fitness and recreational opportunities of the U.S. population as a whole, with special emphasis on school-aged children. How to fund such a program? One proposal quietly circulating through Congress calls for a value-added tax (VAT) on all revenues collected by pro sports teams.

That the review of the Amateur Sports Act came the week millionaire baseball players went on strike against multimillionaire baseball owners was a coincidence not lost on McMillen. Noting that state and local governments can find funds to build palatial stadiums but cannot find the minimal dollars needed to provide sports facilities for schools and recreation departments, McMillen says, "The pyramid is getting top-heavy in this country. It's time we took a hard look at the whole sports structure in America."

Bye, George

One of the most unlikely comeback stories in recent years may have ground to an inglorious end last week when the World Boxing Association refused to sanction heavyweight champion Michael Moorer's proposed Nov. 5 title defense against 45-year-old George Foreman. Foreman, who hadn't fought since losing to stumblebum Tommy Morrison 14 months ago, was unranked by the WBA—although the International Boxing Federation, whose heavyweight title is also held by Moorer, had Big George rated No. 8. The IBF had insisted that Foreman undergo a battery of medical tests in New York City early last week and was prepared to sanction the bout. But the WBA, to its credit, wanted no part of the fight. Citing Foreman's age, weight and recent inactivity, the WBA threatened to strip Moorer of his title if he went through with the bout.

Foreman, who had discussed retirement in the wake of the ugly beating Morrison gave him, accused the WBA of playing politics with his career and suggested that Moorer was ducking him. The fact remains, however, that Foreman's time has come. And gone. This is a man, after all, who made his pro debut two months before Woodstock—the original Woodstock. Heavyweight champion from January 1973, when he stopped Joe Frazier, until October '74, when Muhammad Ali knocked him out in Zaire, Foreman retired in 1977 and spent a decade in obscurity before reemerging transformed from a glowering thug into a perpetually grinning advocate for the middle-aged. Comically overweight for his first several comeback bouts, Foreman fought himself into condition and, amazingly, contention. In 1991 he went 12 gallant rounds in losing a decision to Evander Holyfield, who was the undisputed champion at the time.

Foreman hasn't reached the same level since, and despite his vow to regain the title, he should turn his attention to his HBO commentary, his commercials and, god help us, his sitcom career, before he gets hurt.