Golf
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. —
From record TV ratings to
praise by his awe-struck com
petitors, Tiger Woods has dear
ly moved into territory claimed
by few stars in any sport. ■
“We’ve had two athletes in
my time — Muhammad Ali
and Jordan — that draw fans
from outside their sport,” said
Dick Ebersol, president of NBC
Sports. “Every indicator we
have says Tiger is the next
one.”
Certainly that was the case at
the U.S. Open, where Woods
won by a record 15 strokes in a
performance that sent televi
sion ratings soaring.
NBC’s coverage of the final
two rounds of the tournament
drew an average overnight rat
ing of 7.5 with an 18 share, ac
cording to numbers released
Monday by Nielsen Media Re
search, the highest two-day av
erage for the Open since
overnights were instituted in
1975.
The overnight numbers
showed an increase of 14 per
cent over last year’s 6.6. Sun
day’s fourth round recorded an
overnight mark of 8.8, a gain
of 11 percent from 1999’s 7.9.
Next month, Woods heads for
Scotland — the home of golf
— and will try to complete a
career Grand Slam at the
British Open at St. Andrews.
Woods will be an abiding fa
vorite and invariably will raise
questions about whether
courses can be “Tiger-proofed”
to keep tournaments competi
tive.
"You can’t stop him by trick
ing up the course,” said
Michael Bonallack, who retired
last year as secretary of the
Royal & Ancient Golf Club.
“What purpose would that
serve? He’s already proven he’s
the only one who could handle
this place.”
Woods’ victory Sunday at
Pebble Beach gave him his
third major in only his fourth
year of professional golf. That’s
one fewer than it took Jack
Nicklaus.
It was the most lopsided vic
tory in major tournament his
tory, with Ernie Els and Migc-el
Angel Jimenez tied for second.
He tied the U.S. Open scoring
record of 272, set at par-70 Bal
tusrol by Nicklaus in 1980 and
Lee janzen in 1993, and broke
the record in relation to par, 12
under.
“It’s kind of like Texas in the
old Southwest Conference,”
former Longhorn Tom Kite
said, referring to the football
team. “You knew who was go
ing to win before the game. It’s
certainly fun when you’re
pulling for Texas, but it’s not
real exciting for everybody
else.”
Searching other sports for
comparisons were common
place over the weekend, with
Michael Jordan’s name coming
up more than once.
Tuesday
June 20,2000
Volume 102, Issue 1
Emerald
Celine Bally tor the Emerald
Michael Mallory (15) and Emmanuel Pina (26) are both excited to be on the Emeralds this summer.
Bailers
on c
■The Emeralds are an eager bunch ready to
reward their fans with a winning season, after
finishing last the previous two years
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
It was Saturday afternoon and
the Eugene Emeralds were
holding their first workout in
Civic Stadium in preparation
for today’s season opener at
Spokane.
Michael Mallory, the Chicago
Cubs second round draft pick in
1999, glanced around at the 20
or so fans spread out in the
5,000-plus seat stadium and
looked amazed.
It appeared as though he was
a bit disappointed that only a
few people came to watch the
team take batting practice and
do defensive drills in its first ap
pearance in Eugene.
But his thoughts were quite
the opposite.
“Those fans right there are the
most fans I’ve seen all year,”
said Mallory, who is a 6-foot-4
centerfielder with a strong arm
and a powerful bat. “We usually
drew only two or three people a
game down in Mesa. The
weather was just too hot for the
fans.”
The Emeralds, the Cubs short
season Single-A team, arrived
into town late Friday night after
spending the previous two
months down in the 112-degree
heat in Mesa, Ariz. In order for
the players to avoid any weather
related problems, the team held
their spring games at 7 a.m.,
hence the lack of fans.
“I’ve heard that the fans here
are great and they like to fill this
Turn to Emeralds, page 9A
Emerald
at-home
schedule
(partial)
June 25—'felama
June26—l^lama
June 27—'telama
June28—Nakima
June29—'falama
July3—Vancouver
July4—-Vancouver
JulyS—Vancouver
July12—Spokane
July 13—Spokane
July 14—Spokane
July 15—Spokane
July 16—Spokane
July 2D—Everett
Jufy21—Bereft
July22—Bereft
July23—Bereft
July24—Bereft
July 31—Rutland
Aug1—Fbrtland
Aug2—FbrtJand
Aug3—Vancouver
Aug4—Vancouver
Aug5—Vancouver
Aug9-Salem-Keizer
AuglO-SalemKeiz
er
Television stations vie for rights to Ducks
KEZI-TV was
awarded
back the
television
rights of
University
sports, but
KVAL-TVis
not going
down
without a
fight
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
In 1991, Eugene-based tele
vision station KEZI-TV lost its
telecast rights of Oregon ath
letic events to local rival
KVAL-TV.
KEZI, the ABC affiliate,
protested the decision, but
lost.
Then on June 7, the Univer
sity awarded the rights back to
KEZI after nine years at KVAL,
the CBS affiliate.
And now, it is KVAL who is
protesting the arrangement.
The reason for the protest,
says KVAL general manager
David Weinkauf, is that he
feels that the bidding process
“unfairly placed our company
at a competitive disadvan
tage.” Weinkauf asserts that
his station was “misled” by
the athletic department during
the bidding process.
KEZI, on the other hand,
feels that the process was fair
and is thrilled to get back the
rights to televise Duck sports.
“I feel for Weinkauf because
1 know this puts his job in
jeopardy,” said Bill Nagy, who
was hired onto KEZI in De
cember of 1998 to oversee the
company’s broadcast, produc
tion and cable divisions. “Yet
I’m also thrilled. It’s a good
feeling and we’re locally
owned and we feel the local
news team should be the ones
covering the Ducks.”
The deal between the Uni
versity and Chambers Com
munications, who owns KEZI,
is believed to be worth $1.4
million dollars over three
years.
A key for the controversy
between the two stations and
the University is the role that
ESPN Regional played in the
decision. Unlike nine years
ago. when the University did
not have a partnership with
ESPN, the deal was negotiated
on behalf of the University
through ESPN.
According to Dave Willi
ford, director of the athletic
department’s Media Services,
ESPN had the final say.
“ESPN talked to both of
them and they got separate
bids,” Williford said. “KVAL’s
protest is being looked at
closely by Melinda Grier [gen
eral counsel to the Universi
ty].”
Weinkauf strongly believes
that the agreement is not one
that should be made by people
outside of the University.
“I think that ESPN has been
brought into this to turn things
around,” Weinkauf said. “But
it’s not an ESPN decision. It’s a
U of O decision.”
What also has Weinkauf up
set is the role that the televi
sion stations in Medford
played. He says that when
University representatives vis
ited his station on May 12, he
“specifically asked if exposure
in the Medford market would
be a consideration in the
award process.”
In his protest letter to Uni
versity President Dave Frohn
mayer, Weinkauf wrote, “We
Turn to TV stations, page 12A
We want
to enhance
the product.
We kind of
feel that the
coaches
shows have
been a little
dull and have
looked into
making some
changes.
Bill Nagy
KEZI-TV
supervisor