Tuesday
Best Bet
NBA: Seattle vs. Portland
7 p.m., TBS
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Prominent
sports agent
Leigh
Steinberg has
achieved
success
through a rare
combination of
business savvy
and personal
affection for
his athletes
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
‘The secret to this job is personal rela
tionships.”
Those were the words of Dicky Fox, The
Original Sports Agent, in the movie “Jerry
Maguire.” Fox is
shown sporadically
throughout the ac
claimed film as Tom
Cruise’s character’s
mentor.
Well, the mentor
for the creation of
Jerry Maguire was
mega sports agent
Leigh Steinberg. Di
STEINBERG rector Cameron
Crowe traveled with
Steinberg and witnessed first hand how
he dealt with his clients.
Steinberg has been in the sports repre
sentation business for 26 years and is the
premier agent in the sports industry.
He has negotiated over $2 billion in
contracts for the athletes that he repre
sents. His most notable sport is football
where is known for his representation of
well known quarterbacks such as Trov
Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Warren Moon.
Kordell Stewart, Steve Young, Ryan Leaf
and Oregon graduate Akili Smith.
What separates him from other agents
is not just who he represents, but rather
his code of ethics that he strictly lives by.
Steinberg has been one of the few to ex
cel in the money driven business of
sports while still keeping his personal
values intact and connecting with all of
his athletes in a real and personal way.
As Crowe said on the inside cover of
Steinberg’s book, “Winning with Integri
ty-” ,
“It’s fashionable now, after the movie,
for a lot of agents to talk about heart, but
Leigh was the only one talking like that in
1993, when I began research.”
Steinberg recently found time in his
busy schedule to share some of his
thoughts with the Emerald and discuss
everything from actress Cameron Diaz
to how college graduates can break into
the sports agency business.
0 + First offLeigh, thanks a lot for tak
♦ ing the time and speaking with
me. Of course, you have a prominent
former Oregon Duck on your client list
in Akili Smith, and we here at Oregon
have been closely following his
progress. How’s he handling such a
, # . Lounesypnoto
Who s that in the middle? It’s Leigh Steinberg, between actors Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise.
rougn year with the Cincinnati Ben
gals?
A ♦It’s a tough situation. Cincinnati
♦ has not been good for many years.
Akili’s been tough and he is on the learn
ing curve. He was injured most of last
year and this is really his rookie year in a
sense. Fortunately, he’s young and he’s
emotionally resilient. We try to give him
Turn to Steinberg, page 8
Ducks not looking ahead, concentrating on Portland
Oregon guard Freddie Jones slams home two of his nine points Saturday night. Jones and the rest of the Ducks will face Portland tonight.
■The Oregon men's basketball team takes on the
Vikings tonight at McArthur Court in its final tune-up
before facing Massachusetts Saturday
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Think of the Oregon men’s basketball
team as a complicated mixing board,
with coach Ernie Kent tweaking knobs
and fiddling switches to get the team to
work in perfect harmony.
By Saturday, when the Ducks face
Massachusetts in the Pape Jam at the
Rose Garden, the team will have to be
fully tweaked. But first, Oregon will
face an upset-minded Portland team at
McArthur Court tonight at 7 p.m.
“This will be our last chance to tune
up everything before we play UMass,”
senior forward Bryan Bracey said. “This
is an important game for us.”
Kent said Portland is a thinking team,
akin to Athletes in Action, the team that
beat the Ducks in their final exhibition
game.
“We’re going to see a different team
than what we’ve seen before,” Kent
said. “The last three teams have been
athletic, have run up and down and
shot the ball. [Portland] is going to be
more deliberate and hold the tempo of
the game with smart play in the half
court.”
Portland is 2-1 on the season and has
Turn to Basketball, page 8
This will
be our last
chance to
tune up
everything
before we
play UMass.
This is an
important
game for us.
Bryan Bracey
Oregon senior
forward
Cross country teams faced an uphill battle this season
i ne uregon
cross country
teams wrap up
a season that
was, for the
most part, a
success
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
In a season of highs and lows, the 2000 Ore
gon cross country team didn’t end out on top.
Troubles for the Oregon women’s team be
gan even before the end of last track season.
Freshman Tara Struyk, who was Oregon’s sec
ond runner and big scorer for the Ducks in
1999, was lost for the season due to a stress
fracture.
On the flip side of the coin, Tom Heinonen
learned that senior Hanna Smedstad, a two
time All-American from Oklahoma State, was
transferring to Oregon for graduate studies.
The pick-up of Smedstad, a Sundsvall, Swe
den native, essentially replaced Struyk.
But more bad news came over the summer.
Oregon’s top returner — sophomore Amy
Nickerson — left the team, and stayed in her
home town of Coquille. It is rumored that
Nickerson may join the Arizona or Arizona
State teams, both of whom she was heavily re
cruited by.
The veteran squad — now left with three
seniors, three sophomores and a freshman —
regrouped for the season, eager to succeed.
But success didn’t come easy for Oregon.
After beginning the season with a No. 12
ranking, the Ducks struggled, falling all the
way out of the national polls. It looked as if
Oregon might miss the NCAA meet for the
first time since 1996.
Fortunately, the Ducks performed when it
counted, placing fourth at the NCAA Western
Regional Meet. Oregon received an at-large
Turn to Cross country, page 8