Oregon daily emerald., September 27, 2000, Page 15, Image 15

Wednesday
Best Bet
MLB: Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners
Fox Sports Net, 7 p.m.
SEPTEMBER27,2000 VOLUME 102, ISSUE 21
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Lickin' his chops
aa-iraas;*:
Catharine Kendall Emerald
Defensive end Saul Patu (48) and the rest of the Oregon defense held UCLA to a net -9 yards rushing, but knows that will be tough to do this week.
Seattle native Saul Patu has never lost to the Huskies
in a game that he has played and hopes to keep that
streak alive this Saturday
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Saul Patu’s eyes grew a little larger,
his mouth opened a little wider and his
voice got a little lower.
“It’s Husky week,” he said.
For defensive end Patu, this is the game
that he has been eyeing on his calendar
since the schedule was released. The
Seattle, Wash., native is well aware of the
bitter Oregon-Washington rivalry, seeing
how he grew up in Husky territory.
“This game is always in the back of
my mind, and when it comes time to
think about it, I kind of lick my chops
and can’t wait,” Patu said. “It’s fun be
cause I grew up wanting to be a Husky.
So this is a special game for me.”
Patu missed last season’s 34-20 loss
to Washington up in Seattle due to in
jury, and was forced to watch the game
from the sidelines. With this being his
senior year, he is healthy and ready to
“put on a show” in front of about 30
family and friends.
Patu will have his parents, grandpar
ents, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews
and some high school friends in atten
dance at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.
“Last year was tough to not contribute
in that heartbreaking loss, but I’m more
than ready this week,” Patu said.
Patu and the rest of the surprising
Oregon defense will have quite a chal
lenge this week in stopping Husky quar
terback Marques Tuiasosopo and the of
fense’s tricky option schemes.
When the season began, Patu was one
•of the “sure things” on a defense that
was loaded with question marks. But af
ter the first four games, the defense has
proven to be the team’s strength and
heads into this weekend ranked 11th
Turn to Patu, page 16
a ms
game is al
ways in the
back of my
mind, and
when it
comes time
to think
about it, I
kind of lick
my chops
and can't
wait. It's
fun because
I grew up
wanting to
be a Husky.
Saul Patu
Oregon
defenseive end
_n.
Duck kickers confident,
lookahead to Florida St.
■The Oregon soccer team will try
to carry its momentum from a victory
against James Madison into this
weekend’s matchup with Florida St.
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
As the Oregon women’s soccer team pre
pares to open the month of October against
yet another Top-25 opponent, head coach
Bill Steffen says the Ducks’ 3-7 record is
just water under the
bridge.
“Obviously we’d love to
win more,” said Steffen,
who is 0-4 against Top-25
teams this season. “But
the real question is ‘Did
we develop?’ We will see
our development later on,
maybe even into next year.”
Oregon won its first game in eight tries on
Sunday, a 3-2, come-from-behind victory
against James Madison. The Ducks play No.
21 Florida State on Sunday at Pap6 Field at 1
p.m., only their second home game since
August 27th.
Get up, stay up
One word that the Ducks have used a lot
this week is confidence.
“It was a sigh of relief,” junior defender
Starr Johnson said about the Ducks’ win
over James Madison. “Hopefully, it will
bring back our confidence.”
“I will always have confidence in this
team,” goalkeeper Sarah Peters said. “I
know we have the ability to play as well as
the (top-25) teams.”
Peters said the Ducks have always had
that confidence before their games, but of
ten lose it when on the field. Steffen knows
his team needs to keep up that confidence
for Sunday’s game.
“We need to maintain a tremendous level
of intensity, a very high level of execution
and be very, very sharp mentally,” Steffen
said. “If we do those things, we can win the
game.”
David’s domination
Crystal David, the junior transfer from
the University of San Francisco, has
emerged as one of the Ducks’ most potent
Turn to Soccer, page 16
Oregon fans need lesson in
courtesy, respect for others
^ SCOTT
£ PESZNECKER
All right, here it goes.
I’ve always hated columns like these, the
one when the columnist takes on an “I am
holier than thou” attitude and tries to make
him or herself seem quite saintly, compared
to all the other heathens out there in the
world.
Truth is, I, like everyone else on this little
planet, am not a saint. I’m not a wild party ,
animal who wakes up every Sunday morn
ing face down in my own mess, but I’m not
perfect either.
Say I were at a sports game, watching one
of my favorite teams, and my team had just
finished beating the stuffing out of an
archrival. Now, if some of those opponents
were headed my way, then sure, I might
take the opportunity to greet those players
with a few sarcastic statements.
But is that the right thing to do?
No, really, it s not. It s just a game, right r
Home-field advantage is key because fans
can get in the head of opponents during the
course of the game. But in no way should
the home-field advantage inflict physical
threats or verbal abuse on athletes who are
merely playing a game for another team.
Such incidents occurred after the Oregon
football team trounced and bounced UCLA
last Saturday.
Several Bruins were taunted, some with
obscene words and gestures, as they tried to
make their way from the field through the
west end of the stadium and to their lockers
in the Casanova Center. Players had to be
pulled away from fans by UCLA adminis
trators and assistant coaches.
So goes collegiate sports.
Oregon athletes are not professionals, but
are our peers. Some of us have classes with
them, eat with them, party with them or
even live with them. While some of them
may have wealthy pro careers ahead of
them, they are more tangible to us than any
other class of athletes because they are of
our walk of life.
So, with that in mind, nobody expects to
see a perfect aftermath to a college football
Turn to Pesznecker, page 17