Best Bet
MLB: Oakland vs. Seattle
7 p.m., FoxSports Northwest
Sports
Tuesday
July25,2000
Volume 102, Issue 10
Emerald
Guts and glory
adorn athletes
I slowly rolled over in my bed on Sunday morning
and glanced at my clock to see that it was 7:45 a.m.
Ugh.
I needed more sleep — lots of it — after a late night
that was capped off by a viewing of the classic movie
“Wayne’s World” on the USA Channel from 3-5 a.m.
But after a few tosses and turns and with the bright
sunlight peeking through the curtains, I realized that
sleep just wasn’t going to happen.
So I turned on the TV, and got hooked.
Hooked by none other than Tiger Woods.
I just laid there and watched Woods do what he does
best — dominate a field of professional golfers.
This time he was in St. Andrews, Scotland, playing
in the prestigious British Open.
The dude was nailing pars and
birdies like they were nothing
and on his face was a look of re
laxation. It was as if he didn’t re
alize he was playing on the
course where the game of golf
originated and as if he didn’t
seem to notice the thousands of
spectators making fools of them
selves by rushing from hole-to
hole to catch a glimpse of the
T ' gioaicoiguiici in me wuiia luuay.
Jejj Sure, I could have used the
Smith s^eeP ^at morning, but I had no
--— problem watching this golf phe
nom tear up the competition and win by eight strokes
with a record-breaking score of 19-under.
With the win, Woods became the youngest player
ever to win the career Grand Slam, meaning he cap
tured wins at all four majors. At the precious age of 24,
Woods became only the fifth person ever to have won
the British Open, the PGA Championship, the Masters
and the US Open.
In less than four years as a pro, Woods has already
earned about $20 million in prize money.
One would think he has reached the top of his game,
but according to his father, the best is yet to come.
“What you’re seeing now is only the tip of the ice
berg, Earl Woods told Sports Illustrated columnist
Rick Reilly this week. “Tiger is going to get better, more
. efficient and more effective. ”
Wow. I’ll be watching...
As great a performance as Woods put on, another
. American deserves equally as many props for his ef
forts.
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France.
Not impressed?
Well, did I mention that he’s a cancer survivor, who
was diagnosed with testicular cancer four years ago?
And did I mention that the Tour de France is a gut
wrenching 21 day, 2,250 mile race that includes the
most treacherous of mountains?
The guy is unbelievable.
And so is the actual event. Could you imagine
spending three whole weeks on a bike in not-so-friend
ly conditions? I would be winded from just driving up
the types of hills they had to bike up.
Armstrong won the world’s premier bicycling race
for the second straight year, and had every reason to
drink champagne — as he did while still on his bicy
cle, approaching the finish line on Sunday.
Bottoms up...
While Woods and Armstrong lived up to the hype,
Maurice Green and Michael Johnson both did the op
posite.
After nearly two weeks of emotionally charged com
petition at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento,
Calif., it all came down to one race.
The one race that NBC conveniently scheduled as
the last race to further suck every last ounce of hvne
from it.
It was the Johnson vs. Greene 200 meter battle. One
on-one, as advertised.
But guess who won? John Capel.
And guess who didn’t even finish the race? Greene
and Johnson, due to hamstring problems.
So neither gets to compete in the 200 meters in Syd
ney.
Both do, however, get to represent their country in
the 100 and 400 meters, respectively.
But America, it seems, is let down.
Get over it folks. There’s many more great athletes
who deserve to be recognized for their efforts.
In the words of Aesop:
“We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.”
On pace for a pennant
Inf lelder/DH Blair Barbier went 3-for-4 last night, including an RBI single in the first inning to temporarily give the Emeralds a 2-1 advantage.
Ems put up four in a losing cause
The Eugene
Emeralds do
finally put some
runs on the
board, but its
pitching can’t
hold up its end of
the bargain
by Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The fans were sensing
something.
They had just stood up and
sung “Take Me Out to the
Ballgame” and were ready to
push on their beloved Eugene
Emeralds to a win.
It was the bottom of the sev
enth, and Dionnar Martinez
had just ripped a single down
the left-field line with two
outs. Blake Blasi then walked,
which prompted the crowd to
stomp their feet and clap their
hands in unison to the tune of
“We Will Rock You.”
Nic Jackson obliged the
3,541 fans at Civic Stadium on
Monday night by poking a sin
gle just past the diving glove of
Everett shortstop Guillermo
Martinez, scoring Martinez and
cutting the Ems’ deficit to two.
Then with Adam Morrissey
at the plate, Aquasox pitcher
Hawkeye Wayne threw a wild
pitch, enabling both runners
to move to second and third.
With Morrissey being the po
tential go-ahead run, Wayne
dug down and threw a two
strike curve that Morrissey bit
on and struck out swinging.
End of threat, and as it
would turn out, end of game.
But there were positives the
Ems (18-16) could take out of
its 6-4 defeat to the Aquasox
(18-16).
After all, Eugene had only
scored two or less runs in five
of their last six games. So by
“busting loose” and bringing
home four runs off nine hits, it
should breathe a little bit of
life into the offense.
“Tonight was better than last
night,” said centerfielder Mike
Mallory, referring to the Ems 6
0 defeat to Everett on Sunday.
“Last night was kind of laid
back, but we came out aggres
sive tonight. We came out
swinging and hopefully we’ll
Turn to Emeralds, page 6
Local athletes earn trips to Sydney
■ Outstanding competition from past, present and future
Ducks reinforces local Tracktown USA reputation at the
U.S. Olympic Trials in California
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
Several Eugene athletes
found mixed results at the U.S.
Olympic Track and Field Trials
in Sacramento, Calif., last week.
While some Olympic bids
came as expected, some did not,
and there were even a few sur
prises.
American record holder
Lance Deal qualified for his
fourth Olympic games with a
win in the hammer throw. Deal,
who will retire after this year,
was bothered by leg cramps
during his last attempts but still
managed to throw 258 feet, nine
inches. The mark was just shy
of Deal’s goal of breaking the
meet record of 262-10, held by
third place finisher Jud Logan.
Deal will shoot for his second
straight Olympic medal in Sep
tember in Sydney, Australia. In
1996, Deal finished second to
Hungary’s Balasz Kiss.
Former Duck Nick Rogers
provided the surprise of the day
on Friday. Rogers picked off
American record holder Bob
Kennedy and contender Marc
Davis in the 5,000 meters to
place third. Rogers’ time of 13
minutes, 29.4 seconds was only
two seconds off Adam Gouch
er’s winning time of 13:27. Al
though Rogers shattered his pre
vious best in the 3.14 mile event
by 14 seconds, his time is still
0.4 seconds off of the Olympic
“A” standard.
Things did not fare as well for
a couple of current Ducks. Ju
niors Jason Boness and Nikki
Reed both no-heighted in their
events — the high jump and
pole vault, respectively. Boness,
hampered by a knee injury that
has bothered him all season,
missed all three of his opening
Turn to Olympic, page 6
I just wish
I was healthy
because I re
ally believe
that making
the Olympic
team was at
tainable
Jason Boness
Oregon high
jumper j y