Scorecard

BRAVE, YES; WISE, NO

There was every indication when this whole business began with Atlanta and the Milwaukee Braves that it would get worse, not better, and it has. Now that the enforced courtesies of court are over and Milwaukee has proved that hell hath no fury like a home town scorned, a new mood has taken shape. A move is on to snub the team next season. The Braves could have prevented it by behaving in big-league style, but they have not. Instead, Brave Executive Vice-President Thomas A. Reynolds Jr. asserted, "Even if we have to play in Milwaukee, our hearts will be in Atlanta." He also told a Georgia news rally, "If we were running in an election tomorrow against Adolf Hitler, we would lose up there." Mr. Reynolds seems to be full of snappy sayings. Unfortunately, this sort of statement will get him laughs in Atlanta and lumps in Milwaukee.

Small wonder, then, that a band of Milwaukeeans have incorporated an outfit whose purpose is to boycott the Braves in 1965. "We're not going to picket or do anything of that nature to keep fans from buying tickets in 1965," says Attorney Roger J. Karius, but his tone clearly indicates that he expects picketing to be superfluous.

With the Atlanta contract signed for the 1966 season, the best thing the Braves could have done for 1965 was to take events in graceful stride. Perhaps there is still time; there is a long winter ahead. We prefer to think of winter followed by summer and the sharp, clean crack of bat against ball and the throaty roar of the crowds. Not the sharp, clean crackle of Reynolds eating those words in an empty grandstand.

LOSER WINS

Battling the Chicago Bears for last place in the National Football League's Western Conference, the San Francisco 49ers find themselves with curiously conflicting motivations as draft day, November 28, approaches. If New York does not hold on to last in the Eastern Conference, San Francisco will have not just the usual first choice in the draft but, because of past trades, two first-round picks, another in the second round and two in the third. They could use them all.

"One of the sportswriters here was talking to me hopefully about losing them all to get that first pick," said Coach Jack Christiansen, "and he said, 'F' God's sake, Jack, don't blow that Bears' game.' "

New talent is indeed uppermost in the minds of the 49ers, and to spur their recruitment program they have produced a record entitled Life with the 49ers, the Sounds of Your Future. It will be sent to all who may come into contact with their scouts. It is highlighted by the sound of the 49er plane on a road trip, the bells of St. Mary's (College, that is), where summer training starts, the clang of a cable car to show how much fun San Francisco is and, as a clincher, the voice of Tony Bennett himself continuing the search for the heart he left on a high and windy hill.

VIEWS OF A WOMAN DRIVER

The first woman ever to drive a car at more than 200 miles an hour is a pretty brunette, 29, a divorcee and mother of an 11-year-old boy. She is also uncompromisingly feminine. Like most of her sex she changes her mind, drastically and often.