*Ducj& *■- By Sam Vahey _ Emerald Sporti Editor It 8 been said that when you can't talk about anything else, talk about the weather. Well, we’ve got other things to talk about, but the weather seems to be the big topic of discussion in the Northern Divi sion this season. Seems it was a pretty important factor last year, too. In 1952, you'll remember, a rained out game with Idaho was the difference between first and second place in the final standings for the Webfoots. It is logical to assume that the Ducks would have won the game, had they played it, for Idaho was the doormat of the conference last season. Half Game Back If the contest had been played and won by the Ducks, the local nine would have been in a three way deadlock with Oregon State and Washington for the division tile, each with 10-6 records. But as it turned out, the game couldn’t bo, anil wasn't made up, and the Oregon nine ended with a 9-6 murk, half a game and a few per centage points from the top. How far the Ducks would have gone in getting picked as the best out of the three teams tied, is another * question. This year the situation Is a I little different, although the weather lias again played the deciding role. Early in the sea- j son, the two game Washington Oregon State series at Corvallis was rained out. Now the North ern Division ruling is specific on this rained out business. The j rule Is that if the first game of a two game series is postponed, ! it will be made up with a double ' header the next day. If the sec ond game is also called off, it cannot Ire made up. Oregon, on the other hand, had a solitary contest, again with the' Idaho Vandals, rained out at Howe field the second day of ND action. Now what result did this have? It put the Ducks a half game away from the Beavers in percentage | for the rest of the season. Now that, the pennant chase is boiling right i down to the wire, that half game ■ will be a tough break to the Ducks ' or Beavers, whoever comes out be- < hind in the forthcoming three j game series. Must Win Two The winner of the conference will 1 be the winner of the best out of three games. If, perchance, the Friday game at Eugene is called because of drizzly skies, the Ducks would have to earn only a split l in the Saturday doubleheader at 1 Corvallis. If, on the other hand, the Saturday games are rained out and the Friday battle is the only game played, the Ducks would have to win that game to take the flag. The race for third and fourth in the division is also a pretty close affair, with Idaho a game ahead of the fourth place WSC Cougars. The standings are: W L Pet. Idaho . 6 7 .462 Washington State .6 8 .428 Washington will be the team for each of these squads to beat, as the Huskies have two games with the Cougars Friday and Saturday, and a pair with the Vandals next Monday and Tuesday. The Huskies, by the way, are the only team to have just about cinched a spot on the final standings. They could win three of their next four games and still stay in the cellar. By the way, Art Litchman, Ath letic News Bureau Director, brought it to our attention the other day, that Oregon students will be charged to get into the Northern Division track meet, Sat urday. Reason for this is that the meet, although held on Hayward field, is not a university sponsored affair. Hence the admission. Sports Staff Desk Editor: Sam Vahey. Staff: Jim White. ND MEET HERE SATURDAY Washington Title Contender By Jim White Emerald Sportiwrllar (Editor's note: This Is the sec ond In a series of four stories that will lie presented as a pre view of the Northern Division track meet which will be held this Saturday in Eugene). The University of Washington Huskies, rated by their coach, Hec ErJmundson, as generally weaker than the Purple and Gold team that placed second in the Northern Division meet last year, take to the cinderpaths Saturday as a title contender, although not a very serious threat to either Oregon or WSC. Two ND Champs The Huskies will bring two ND champions with them, Bob Fomia in the mile, and Denny Meyer, a first rate two miler. Fornia will find himself up against tougher competition than last year and isn’t expected to repeat last year's win. Meyer, however, has improved quite extensively over last year, turning in one of the best times in the country this spring, and should prove a winner for the Huskies again. In the sprints, Washington will be stronger than usual. Bob Hutchinson should pick up points for the Seattle men in both the 100 and 220 yard dashes, but he would have to do much better than he has to beat out WSC’s Bob Gary. Washington has a very well bal anced team and should score in almost every event. They may not place high enough to pick up the points they would need to win the meet, though. The Huskies seem to be a good solid choice for third place. Strong in Shot The Huskies only strong event is the shot put. Both Duane Ward low and Dean Parsons have proven themselves the outstanding shot men in the Northwest and will probably come through one-two. George Widenfelt, Swedish de cathlon star, may enter six events, but he is not outstanding in any one event to become a threat to Bruce Sweeney for high point hon ors. Darrold Skarvedt, Washing ton's other all-around man, may pick up third or fourth place points in several events, but again he is not specialized enough to be a real first place threat in any one event. In dual meet competition this year, the Huskies lost only to WSC, by a score of 79 to 51, but again, a dual meet is far different from the Northern Division meet. Rain Halts Practice For Baseball Nine Oregon got plenty of practice for rained out baseball games Tuesday afternoon, as showers dampened drills for the second straight day. A report from the weather bureau predicts rain for the next two days of practice, but the skies are scheduled to clear for Friday and Saturday’s en counter with Oregon State. NORTH END Drive-In Theatre 1 Vi miles North of the overpass on highway 99 North “LURE OF THE WILDERNESS” In Technicolor Jean Peters - Jeffrey Hunter Constance Smith also “T A X I” Dan Dailey Constance Smith Cartoons and News WEDNESDAY THRU SAT. Racqueteer Register-Guard Photo. RON LOWELL, one of the top two men on Oregon’s varsity tennis squad, travels with team this weekend for the Northern Division playoffs at Seattle, Fri day and Saturday. Lowell and Neil George are the two letter men on Coach Captain Robert Laurence’s squad. Courfmen Enter ND Tournament The Oregon tennis team heads into its final competition this weekend when they enter the Northern Division playoffs on the University of Washington campus. The matches will consist of single elimination 'playoffs based on a point system. Despite only one conference win, Coach Capt. Laurence expects his team to fare better, in the division meet. He stated the matches would be of the individual type, thus giv ing the better players a chance to go farther. Oregon's entries will be Ron Lowell, Neil George, Bob Baker and Martin Magi. Thursday, the squad meets Mad igan General hospital in a return match at Tacoma. This army team, which is made up of ex-collegians, beat Oregon earlier in the season at Eugene. The Frosh squad will also see its final action of the year when they tackle the faculty later this week. Drills Near Close; Injuries Not Bad Coach Len Casanova spent the seventeenth day of spring football practice polishing up his offense and defense, Tuesday, in a grid iron session shortened by inter mittent downpours. Three more spring drills remain before the Ducks hit the twenty-practice limit. Injuries have not been bad during the practices and only three men remain on the ailing list. Hal Reeves, who saw limited action last week because of a hip injury, was back in the lineup Tuesday. •Parlot’s Wrist Hurt Dick Pavlat, freshman halfback, waited out the practice Tuesday with a badly sprained left wrist. Tom Elliott was out of the scrim mage because of a knee injury, and Dick Jacques went through the drills without pads, suffering from a pulled shoulder muscle. The tackling scrimmage Tues day devoted almost entirely to polishing up the passing attack. Oregon’s two spring quarter backs. Don Holt and Barney Holland alternated with thee passing chores. Chuck Greenley, sophomore end from Portland, had a good day on the receiving end of the aerials. Dick Mobley also come through with some nice catches, one good for thirty yards and a touchdown. Another freshman, Halfback Meb Buchanan, slipped behind the blue-clad defenders to haul down several long aerials from Holland and Holt, one good for six points. Hodges Looks Good Cece Hodges looks certain to nab one of the starting halfback roles next fall when the gridders start playing for keeps. The pile-driving back from Eugene ripped large Weather Postpones Golf, Tennis Finals Rainy weather has postponed the semi-finals of the intramural golf and tennis tournaments which were scheduled for the first of this week. Four teams remain in the golf playoffs. Alpha Tau Omega and Hale Kane will fight it out in the top bracket and Phi Delta Theta and French hall are scheduled to meet in the other semi-final match. In the tennis finals. Alpha Tau Omega again is slated to vie with Hale Kane for one final spot. Phi Gamma Delta will play the winner of the Theta Chi-Sigma Chi match for the other place in the final round. bush INN 9nt yECAM p f ruHOW STARTS*. T AT DUSK * » o o ^ to&'UAPPY-WBMMM , ««N« CMANK .,t. IWHMOT‘=rST“ .wftENRY BLANKE. »»n. » cowxw mxus Oja TOP WIT That woman / JANE RUSSEU. Montana to^ttarring GEORGE BRENT IN taucoloa with scon BRADY FORREST TUCKER-ANDY DEVINE K 2860 WULAMETTI yitcw 4.4152 % DRIVE-IN THE AT,