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