Sports Editor:
Peter Hockaday
phockaday@dailyemerald. com
Oregon Daily Emerald
Best Bet
MLB: Atlanta at St. Louis
5 p.m., TBS
Conference
tourney is
a big pain
Here it is again, like a big rat
tler coming to bite us in the
behind.
The Pacific-10 Conference
Tournament, like a plague, is permeat
ing the Pac-10 schedule. The confer
ence announced Monday that CBS
would pick up broadcast rights to the
brand-new men’s tournament starting
in 2002, and that
7UP would be the
major sponsor of
both the men’s and
women’s tourna
ments.
Hey, don’t get
me wrong. I think
it’s great that the
IPac-10 is getting
national exposure
for its basketball
teams. Of course,
the nationally
broadcast tourna
ment works won
ders for recruiting.
Highly touted
recruit #1 (flips to CBS): “Dude, is this
March Madness?”
Highly touted recruit #2: “Yeah,
dude, it says ‘tournament,’ doesn’t it?”
Highly touted recruit #1: “Dude, I
want to go to Oregon!”
No, my beef is with the scheduling.
In this department, specifically, the
Oregon men’s team is really, and par
don my bad English, screwed.
Any true Oregon fan will hate to see
this on the schedule: “Dec. 20, UCLA,
at Mac Court, no TV.” Although the
men haven’t released their schedule
yet, the women play at Pauly Pavilion
on that date, and with the Pac-lO’s
home/away schedule, the men and
women always switch locations
against the same teams on the same
days.
So ... December 20 ... at Mac Court
... against Jason Kapono, Matt Barnes
and the rest of the Bruins who went to
the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA Tour
nament, where they lost to Duke.
I’m almost speechless.
The only things coming to my mind
are images. UCLA at Oregon, with the
Duck in a Santa hat? Tinsel hanging
from the Mac Court rafters? No stu
dents? No students? No students.
No students!
UCLA will get another shot at the
Ducks later in the season, in Los Ange
les. You see, the Pac-10 Tournament
will take place in the Staples Center in
that wonderful Southern California
city. Every year.
Advantage, UCLA and USC. What
are the chances of Oregon pulling off a
miracle Pac-10 tourney victory in the
massive, SoCal pro arena? Next to
zilch. Actually, zilch.
Of course, the Oregon women have
none of these problems. The Duck
women are just peachy-keen, thank
you.
The Oregon women get to play at a
stony-silent Pauly Pavilion before
Christmas, put their feet up a bit, and
then take on Washington at Mac Court
to a post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s
Eugene crowd.
Oh, and at the end of the season?
The women’s Pac-10 Tourney is at Mac
Court.
Peter
Hockaday
T\vo minutes for
crosschecking
Turn to Hockaday, page 8
That finishing touch
Jessie Swimeley Emerald
A construction crew moves the Autzen Stadium scoreboard from its lower level to its new, higher perch. The scoreboard
was moved to accommodate next year’s final phase of expansion, which includes the addition of seats to the end zone.
Summer is
no break
for some
Summer Notes
■Those involved with Oregon
athletics are still busy in this
offseason, even if they aren’t in
Eugene for the break
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Who says there aren’t any sports in
the summer?
Sure, all the Oregon teams have
packed up until their seasons start. Yes,
there’s no football games to go to yet, not
even any practices for at least a couple
weeks. And surely Mac Court is gather
ing dust as we speak.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no Ore
gon sports going on. What with former
players getting down and dirty, Duck
coaches competing on an international
stage and football season poking its head
through the cracks, there’s enough going
on to fill a whole article.
Welcome to the middle of summer.
City of Roses turning
into Mowe-town?
Former Oregon women’s basketball
player Jenny Mowe has been making an
impression on the WNBA. Big time.
Mowe, playing for the Portland Fire,
went face-to-face with Seattle Storm
rookie sensation Lauren Jackson two
weeks ago, and Mowe won the battle of
the big women — sort of. Mowe threw a
punch at Jackson after the two players
tussled at the top of the key late in the
first half of the game on Friday, July 20.
The officials gave Mowe a flagrant foul
for the incident.
Two days after the game, Mowe was
suspended for one game by the league
and fined $250. She was fined an addi
tional $300 for the flagrant foul.
Tuesday, Mowe was placed on the
Fire’s injured reserve list with a strained
left rotator cuff.
Turn to Notes, page 6
Inconsistency name of Ems’ mid-point game
■The Eugene Emeralds have
struggled all season, but bettertimes
may lie ahead
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Halfway through their season, the Eu
gene Emeralds are, well, halfway there.
The Ems have strong hitting but strug
gle with runners in scoring position. Eu
gene has good pitching, but no consis
tent pitchers. They perform well against
the lowly Northwest League teams, so
so against the so-so teams, and poorly
against the good teams.
Still, the 17-22 Ems defy explanation.
Like any minor-league club, they haven’t
been consistently good or bad all season.
The Ems won the front end of a twi
night doubleheader — which started at
6:05 — 6-2 over the Tri-City Dust Devils.
Heading into the double bill Monday
night, after Sunday’s game was rained
out, the Ems were third in the league in
hitting, with a .266 team average. Top
Turn to Ems, page 8
Jessie Swimeley Emerald
The Ems have been led by slugger Greg Sain (rinht) i- most offensive categories. John DiBetta (left) is another Ems slugger.