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A roundup of the week Oct. 1-7

PRO FOOTBALL—NFL: After Cincinnati lost its fifth straight game of the season Monday night, 38-17 to AFC Central-leading Pittsburgh, Bengal wide receiver Cris Collinsworth suggested, "Maybe we need an exorcist." Well, Cincy's next outing, on Sunday, was a horror show, but the Bengals' prayers were answered as they lurched past winless Houston 13-3 in the game that somebody had to win. Only Pittsburgh in the hapless AFC Central has managed to win outside the division, but the Steelers couldn't do it again against unbeaten Miami, the AFC East pacesetter. They were whipped 31-7 as the Dolphins' Dan Marino made a triumphant return to his hometown with 16 completions in 24 attempts for 226 yards and two touchdowns. Florida's other team, Tampa Bay, surpassed its win total of a year ago as it moved to 3-3 with a 35-31 defeat of Minnesota. Buc running back James Wilder, the NFL's combined-yardage leader from scrimmage, had six catches for 40 yards and rushed for 89 more and two TDs. But the NFL rushing leader—this year (775) and alltime (12,400)—is Walter Payton, who passed Jim Brown with 154 yards in NFC Central-leading Chicago's 20-7 victory over New Orleans (page 44). In Dallas the honeymoon may be over for quarterback Gary Hogeboom as he was booed and then benched in the Cowboys' 31-20 loss to St. Louis. The defeat dropped Dallas into a tie with the Redskins for the NFC East lead. Another quarterback who was treated roughly was Detroit's Gary Danielson, who suffered his first interception of the year—and then threw three more—as Denver beat the Lions 28-7. The Broncos also picked off three passes by Danielson's replacement, Mike Machurek, and recovered three Lion fumbles in the rout. Washington's Joe Theismann equaled his previous touchdown output for the season with four TD passes, three to Art Monk, in the Skins' 35-7 crushing of Indianapolis. Kansas City's Nick Lowery made good on all three of his field-goal attempts to become the NFL's alltime percentage leader among field-goal kickers (.763), but the Chiefs still lost 17-16 to the Jets. Elsewhere, the Raiders kept pace with Denver atop the AFC West with a 28-14 win over Seattle; San Diego knocked off Green Bay 34-28; Atlanta beat the Rams 30-28; and Buffalo fell 27-17 to Philadelphia.

GOLF—CALVIN PEETE fired a 14-under-par 266 to finish three strokes ahead of Bruce Lietzke and win the $300,000 Texas Open in San Antonio.

Ayako Okamoto shot a three-under-par 289 to defeat Betsy King and Dale Reid by 11 strokes and win the $200,000 Women's British Open in Woburn, England.

HARNESS RACING—TROUBLEMAKER ($14.80), driven by Billy O'Donnell, defeated Long Fella by 1¾ lengths to win the final jewel of trotting's Triple Crown, the $379,343 Messenger Stakes at Roosevelt Raceway. The 3-year-old colt did the mile in 1:57.3.

HORSE RACING—CHIEF'S CROWN ($3), with Don MacBeth in the irons, finished six lengths ahead of Bionic Light to win the $119,600 Cowdin Stakes at Belmont Park. The 2-year-old colt covered the mile in l:36[3/5].

Sagace (3-1), Yves Saint Martin up, beat Northern Trick by two lengths to win $270,000 in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. The 4-year-old colt ran the 1½ miles in 2:39.1.

MOTOR SPORTS—ALAIN PROST, in a McLaren TAG-Porsche, finished 23.911 seconds ahead of Michele Alboreto, in a Ferrari, to win the 189-mile European Grand Prix in Nurburgring, West Germany. He averaged 119.15 mph around the 2.8-mile road circuit.

Bill Elliott, driving a Ford, won a $468,855 NASCAR Grand National event in Harrisburg, N.C. by 14.5 seconds over Benny Parsons, in a Chevy. Elliott averaged 146.861 mph for the 334 laps around the 1.5-mile quad-oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

SOCCER—NASL: The Chicago Sting won Soccer Bowl '84—and, thereby, the league championship—with two straight victories over the Toronto Blizzard, 2-1 at home and 3-2 in Toronto.

TENNIS—MATS WILANDER defeated Joakim Nystrom 7-6, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 to win the $270,000 Count of Godo tournament in Barcelona.

Chris Evert Lloyd won a $150,000 WTA tournament in Manhattan Beach, Calif. with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Wendy Turnbull.

TRIATHLON—At the Ironman world championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, DAVE SCOTT won his third straight men's title with a record time of 8:54:20.7, defeating runner-up Scott Tinley by more than 24 minutes. In the women's division, SYLVIANE PUNTOUS surpassed her own record with a time of 10:25:13.3 to finish more than two minutes ahead of her twin sister, Patricia.

MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As manager of the Atlanta Braves, EDDIE HAAS, 49, a member of the Braves organization since 1965, who became Atlanta's first-base coach in July. He replaces JOE TORRE, 44, who was dismissed after three seasons, during which he finished first, second and second.

PURCHASED: The USFL's Washington Federals, by a group of Florida businessmen led by DONALD DIZNEY, 42. The new owners intend to move the franchise, bought from Berl Bernhard for a reported $5 million, to Orlando for the '85 season.

TRADED: By the San Antonio Spurs, guard JOHN LUCAS, 30, to the Houston Rockets for forward JAMES BAILEY, 27, and a second-round draft choice in 1985.

By the St. Louis Cardinals, outfielders PAUL HOUSEHOLDER, 26, and JIM ADDUCI, 25, to the Milwaukee Brewers for three minor-leaguers.

By the Los Angeles Raiders, wide receiver CALVIN MUHAMMAD, 25, to the Washington Redskins for an undisclosed 1985 draft choice.

DIED: BILLY GOODMAN, 58, a 16-year major-leaguer with the Red Sox, Orioles, White Sox and Colt .45s, who hit .300 for his career; of cancer, in Sarasota, Fla. He won the American League batting title (.354) with Boston in 1950 and played everywhere in the field during his career except catcher and pitcher. When Goodman, who was primarily an infielder, was asked what his favorite position was, he replied, "Sitting in a rowboat with a fishing rod in my hands."

Walter Alston, 72, Hall of Fame manager of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers who, working under a series of 23 one-year contracts from 1954 through '76, guided his teams to seven pennants and four world championships; of heart failure, in Oxford, Ohio. Alston was an undistinguished player, who struck out in his only major league at bat and committed an error in his one inning in the field as a first baseman. After he had managed for 13 seasons in the minors, he was a surprising—and unknown—choice to succeed Charlie Dressen as Dodger skipper. But his quiet manner soon proved effective as Brooklyn won its first and only World Series in his second season. He later summed up his style as follows: "You can only play baseball one way. You have to be relaxed...and if the manager is low-key, his players will relax, too."