Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Wednesday
March 8,2000
Volume 101, Issue 113
EHKfald
Sometimes things just go your way.
Like this weekend, when both Duck basket
ball teams had incredible finishes to important
games that virtually guarantee them a berth in
the Big Dance.
The men, down 17 in the second half at McArthur
Court against No. 3 Arizona — home of fantastic
guards and the new generation of NBA-bound Wal
tons — outscored the Wildcats 14-1 in the last five
minutes to win 86-81.
The women, down 22 with 17 minutes to go, came
back with a vengeance to secure a 75-71 victoiy away
from home.
We’ve set the NCAA Tournament in our sights.
And we are so ready to dance.
Both of the Duck teams haven’t grooved at the same
time since 1996. Just as it seemed the women’s team
was becoming dominant, the men had a few years of
sub-par seasons.
Now that the men are having their winningest sea
son since 1945, the women could have fallen by the
wayside.
But no. They’ve both emerged as two of the top
teams in the Pacific-10 Conference, and they’ve
turned heads nationally. ESPN.com named Alex
Scales one of the top two guards in the nation. And
Shaquala Williams, our “Shaq,” should — if the
v/orld is worth living in — be the Pac-10 player of the
year.
Both coaches are beloved. Our players seem to feel
at home in Eugene too. Fans pack the stadium. For
once, it’s one big dream.
And while Oregon may not beat Duke or Tennessee
in the Final Four, we’ve come a long way. There’s just
a sense of believing in our teams and really support
ing them. When the basket at Mac Court swings a few
inches either way because the crowd is stomping its
feet so hard, you know we’re rockin’.
It’s easy sometimes to pick on collegiate sports, to
say that it takes money from other programs, that it is
beholden to corporate greed, that athletes are like
mini-professionals who work the academic system.
And while, to an extent, any one of those could be
true, it’s more true that collegiate athletics are a unifi
er. Especially at Oregon.
There’s nothing wrong with saying you support the
teams, that you love watching Freddie Jones fly, that
you love seeing Jody Runge stalk the court, that you
love seeing a sweet hook from our heartland hero Jen
ny Mowe, that you love saying “You’ve gotta ERN it!”
The atmosphere — with all its positives and nega
tives — is something we can all relate to. We see the
drama, the comedy, the maturation, the heart-stop
ping victories and, yes, sometimes the depressing de
feats. But we see them together.
And we will watch the postseason action together.
We’ll root and holler and try to magically send our
team to the national championship. That’s not so ter
ribly impossible. On any given game day ... watch
out.
So here’s a message to all the players, who may or
may not already feel a ton of responsibility to the fans:
Just do your best. And believe us, that’s exciting
enough.
How ’bout them Ducks?
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial
board. Responses may be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the editor
Poverty demands second look
Your editorial “The Crime of Inno
cence” (ODE, March 3) demands a re
sponse.
Poverty is not a verb, therefore it is
n’t “something reprehensible going
on.”
“Born equal” is not the same as
“created equal,” which is what the
Declaration of Independence says.
“Racism, sexism and nationalism”
are ideas, while poverty is a result of
certain actions. When was the mean
ing of poverty changed to “the depre
ciating value of the American work
er”?
According to Robert Grossman,
John Yanak and Jeff Ford, in Perspec
tives, the top 5 percent of taxpayers
paid 48.8 percent of all U.S. taxes in
1995, up from 1985 when the top 10
percent of taxpayers contributed that
percentage. The burden on the bottom
50 percent of taxpayers dropped to
4.6 percent from 7.2 percent during
the same time.
A 1996 study by the Advisory Com
mission to Study the Consumer Price
Index, chaired by Stanford Universi
ty economist Michael Boskin, said the
CPI “overstates the true rate of infla
tion by about 1.1 percentage points
per year.” That suggests the average
worker is earning 20 percent more
than in the 1970s, instead of 10 per
cent less.
Current Health and Human Ser
vices statistics indicate that the pover
ty level for a family of three is
$14,150. The Oregon minimum wage
of $13,520 would be supplemented
by $2,142 in federal and $214 in state
earned income credits for a two-par
ent family of three; and $3,592 and
$359 respectively for the same single
parent family. The first case is 12 per
cent greater, while the second is 23
percent higher than the poverty level,
not 27 percent below it.
Robert L. Mullins
journalism, sociology 1999
Domestic violence a serious issue
Every 15 seconds in the United
States, a woman is beaten by her hus
band or partner, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice. Domestic vio
lence is a serious issue. I suggest that
next time, when the Emerald does its
reporting, it should treat the epidemic
of violence against women a little
more seriously. Under the headline
“To Tonya just being Tonya” (ODE,
Feb. 28), the Emerald gave her thumbs
down for “allegedly heaving a hubcap
at her boyfriend and repeatedly
punching him in the face.”
The Emerald failed to mention that
Tonya Harding was acting in self-de
fense against an abusive partner.
Ninety-five percent of domestic vio
lence against women is man to
woman, and in violence against men,
most reports show that the woman
was trying to defend herself in an at
tack. Perhaps the Emerald will think
twice next time when they send the
message that self defense against
physical and sexual abuse is a
“thumbs down” action.
I also noticed that the Emerald felt
no need to give Louis Farrakhan Jr.
thumbs down for facing two felony
accounts for “striking his wife, Lesil,
[who was eight months pregnant],
with a metal serving tray ...” (The
Register Guard, Feb. 26). Another ap
propriate thumbs down could go to
the judicial system that allowed him
to go free on bail.
Or better yet, maybe the Emerald
should think about giving Harding’s
abusive partner a “thumbs down” for
contributing to a country that beats its
women, holds no one accountable
and blames the victim for defending
herself.
Rebekah Tobin
ethnic studies
Quoted
“Personally, I hate
playing at Mac
Court. I can’t
stand playing
here. The fans are
great, but as far as
my focus, I think
I’m better on the
road.”
—Shaquala
Williams, Oregon
guard. ODE, Feb.
17.
"Every year we
start off coaching
for the national ti
tle. The first year,
it gave us 13 wins;
last year, it gave us
14 wins and atrip
to the final four of
the [National Invi
tation Tourna
ment]. We’re
coaching this year
fora Pac-10 cham
pionship. When
you set your goals
that high, the
NCAA Tournament
will take care of it
self.”
— Ernie Kent,
head coach of
men’s basketball.
ODE, Feb. 8.
“It is hard because
you just want to
fast-forward to the
end of the season
and say, OK.
How’d we do?* So
it’s hard to take it
one game at a
time —- but we’re
definitely doing
that, just slowing
the whole process
down.”
—jenny Mowe,
women’s basket
ball center. ODE,
Feb. 17.
“How do you eat
an elephant? One
bite at a time.”
—Jody Runge,
women’shead
coach, on her
team’s taking it
one day at a time.
“It’s a cliche, but
we really have to
take it one at a
time.... We’re still
within striking dis
tance of Stanford
and Arizona.”
— A.D. Smith,
Oregon men’s for
ward. ODE, Feb. 7.