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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1997)
ON THE TUBE NBA, New York Knicks vs. Chicago Bulls, TNT (27), 5p.m. DAILY TRIVIA In which two categories does the UO women’s basketball team lead the Pac-10? See scoreboard for answer. Mariners’ ace unsure of what the future holds ■ BASEBALL: After successful back surgery, Randy Johnson hopes he can return to his All Star form in the spring The Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Even Randy Johnson has questions about his future. He's unsure if he can be the same dominating power pitcher he was before his back betrayed him last season. “The problem has been fixed, and there is no her niation, but I still have some uncertainty in the back of my mind,” the 33-year-old veteran told the Seat tle Post-Intelligencer. “I won’t know for sure until I get out there and pitch,” Johnson added. Johnson, the 1995 AL Cy Young Award winner, started only eight games last season. He underwent three hours of delicate surgery by back specialist Dr. JOHNSON Robert Watkins in Inglewood, Calif,, for a bulging disc in his lower back on Sept. 12. His interview with the news paper was his first since the surgery. Heading into the final season of his contract with the Mariners, Johnson will test his back in spring training begin ning next month in Peoria, a Phoenix suburb. Until his back gave out, he was acknowledged as baseball’s premier power pitcher. In 1995, when the Mariners won the AL West title and lost to Cleveland in the ALCS, Johnson had an 18-2 record with a 2.48 ERA with 294 strikeouts in 214 1-3 innings and 30 starts. He won his fourth consecutive major-league strikeout title. He hopes to duplicate those numbers in 1997. “As long as I’m healthy, I can be the same pitcher I was in ’95,” he said. “The determination I’ve had while working out the past four months, and the mind-set 1 have established is going to pay off.” He added: "Once I prove to myself that I’m healthy, everything else will take care of itself. It’s not like I have lost the ability to throw strikes or lost my velocity, confidence or desire.” The 6-foot-10 left-hander has been working out Turn to BASEBALL, Page 13A n p r L > TR YESTERDAY’S RESULTS NBA New York.95 Washington.79 Philadelphia .104 Milwaukee.114 Atlanta .106 Charlotte .97 Minnesota . San Antonio .96 .83 L.A. Lakers .109 Dallas.99 Denver.132 New Jersey.123 Utah .94 Cleveland.74 Seattle .112 Vancouver.96 NHL N.Y. Islanders .4 St. Louis.6 Boston .2 Washington.3 Buffalo .2 Chicago .1 Hartford .3 Toronto.1 Vancouver.6 San Jose.1 Montreal.4 Detroit.1 Florida.2 Colorado.4 MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Syracuse .62 (16) Villanova .60 Oklahoma St.64 (25) Texas Tech ... .70 WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL (5) Georgia .65 (1) UConn .97 (10)Clemson .63 (9) North Carolina.. .75 SW Texas St.57 (22) S.F. Austin.88 Defense asks court to spare Peter Graf jail time on tax evasion MANNHEIM, Germany (AP) — Peter Graf’s de fense attorney asked a judge Monday to spare his client jail time for evading taxes on income earned by his tennis playing daughter. Attorney Kurt Himmelsbach asked for a two-year suspended sentence and a fine for Graf, who has ad mitted setting up tax havens outside the country to avoid taxes of up to 53 percent on Steffi Graf's earn ings. He is charged with evading $12 million in taxes on $26 million of income between 1989 and 1993. The defense also sought a two-year suspended sentence for Joachim Eckardt, the Grafs' former fami ly financial adviser and co-defendant in the tax evasion trial. Prosecutors had earlier demanded a jail term of six years and nine months for Graf and four years and nine months for Eckardt. Since Peter Graf’s arrest Aug. 2,1995, the family has paid back taxes based on figures determined by investigators and tax authorities. Graf and Eckardt were freed on bail last month. DAILY TRIVIA ANSWER Oregon leads the conference in points allowed per game and field-goal percentage allowed. UO men lose again; women beat Cal MATHEW STIFFLER/Emerald The Oregon men’s basketball team lost for the fourth straight time Saturday, falling to California 73-62 at McArthur Court. The Golden Bears held forward Kyle Milling to one point in their victory over the Ducks. The Oregon women’s basketball team rebounded from a loss on Jan. 16 to No. 3 Stanford with a 68-64 win over California Saturday. Forward Arianne Boyer scored 11 points and collected 13 rebounds in the victory. Coaches want full control or nothing in NFL With this being the lead-up week going into the Super Bowl, there is a lot going around about the two con ference champions that will be facing each other for the league title. Rumors, speculation and a lot of tabloid journalism out there just to be sucked up by any per son waiting to get caught up in the com motion. While Green Bay and New England have been basking in the glory of the limelight, me rest oi tne National Football League’s teams have been busy shuf fling coaching staffs and front offices. One of the biggest winners (and it goes to show that having a short season has its advan tages) in this postseason supermarket of blue OPINION Ryan IlntuMinn Hamrsen ngm special coacnes, has to be the Detroit Lions. As far as Lions’ fans see it, Bobby Ross is the savior that will resurrect a once, and brief proud tradi tion of winning and make the playoffs a regular destination rather than a lofty pre season dream. Lions’ owner and chairman William Clay Ford, Sr., did everything right when he decided that Ross should be the archi tect in rebuilding the Lions. Not only did he name him as the head coach, but he also put him in control of all player and person nel decisions, making him vice president, head coach and director of football opera tions. A brilliant move if your team wants to win in the near future. Ross has proved his merit in San Diego where he coached for the past five seasons. He pulled the Chargers out of mediocrity and led them to the Super Bowl in 1994, not to mention what he did at Georgia Tech in the late 1980’s and early nineties. Turn to HALVORSEN, Page 10A Ducks beat Oregon State for first time in six years ■ WRESTLING: Scott Norton’s pin helped Oregon pull off the Civil War victory By Ryan Halvorsen Sports Reporter After six years of being the other wrestling team in the state, Oregon has evened the playing field with rival Oregon State. The Ducks pulled off their first dual-meet win over the Beavers since 1991 Friday night at McArthur Court, downing the 18th-ranked Oregon State squad 18-15. The Ducks managed to stay even in the lower weight classes where Oregon State has taken advantage in past meetings. In the 126-pound match, Oregon’s David Perkins won a 5-3 decision over Jake Whisenhunt, and at 142 pounds Dusty Roberts beat Josh Whisenhunt 4-1 to keep things even going into the upper weights. The Oregon wrestlers that lost in the lower weights WRESTLING kept things close enough to avoid any major decisions and kept the scoring even. Oregon’s Mike Mier fell 6-2 to Jason Buce, an improve ment from the 14-4 loss that Mier suffered in the last meeting between the two. Jeremy Ensrud came one step closer to aetnronmg tne top wrestler in the Pacific-10 Conference at 134 pounds, Oscar Wood. Wood (27-0) mustered an escape with Turn to WRESTLING, Page 10A
