Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Best Bet
NLCS: Atlanta at Arizona,
1p.m., Fox Sports Net
Tuesday, October 16,2001
Be willing
to wait
for the joy
of success
Duck fans, give thanks
before you dig into your
Track Town pizza
tonight.
Be thankful for long lines for
tickets. Be thankful for full park
ing lots. Be thankful for a
packed-to-the-gills stadium.
Repeat after me: “I will never
again complain about getting to
Autzen Stadium two hours be
fore kickoff to get a decent seat.”
Good.
You see, I went to Memorial
Stadium this
Hockaday
Two minutes for
crosschecking
weekend. Call
me crazy, but I
wanted to see
the inner work
ings of the ene
my. And the
enemy is ugly.
The enemy
(the not-so
feared Golden
Bear) does not
get to the stadi
um early. The
enemy does not
worry about
not getting
good seats. Fif
teen minutes before kickoff,
Memorial Stadium is full... of
Duck fans.
Five minutes to kickoff, the
enemy’s student section is half
full. The enemy’s student section
is at midfield, people. Some Ore
gon student fans would kill their
mothers for 50-yard-line seats.
By the end of the first quarter,
the Ducks are up 21-0. This is
when students start trickling out.
By the end of the third quarter,
with Oregon up 42-0, only
diehards remained. And there
weren’t many.
So, Duck fans, be thankful for
what you have. Be thankful for
real tickets, instead of the raffle
tickets sold by Cal, which make
you want to collect four and hop
on the Ferris wheel.
Be thankful that you don’t
have a pep-rally guy with a
speaker leading cheers for the
student section, like Cal does.
When the Bears scored in the
fourth quarter, putting Oregon’s
lead at 35 points, this peppy
preppy screamed like a school
girl into his microphone: “C’mon
guys, let’s make some noise!
We’ve still got time left!”
Except there wouldn’t be
enough time in a year for Cal to
come back and beat Oregon. The
game was a joke, with Cal as the
punch line.
Most of all, Duck fans should
be thankful for Duck fans. Even
on the road, they are a 12th Ore
gon man on the field. Even on
the road, they stand and cheer
for a key third-down stop on de
fense, or a big run downfield.
Even on the road, Duck fans are
obnoxious and peaceful at the
Turn toHockaday, page 12
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon State running back Ken Simonton, seen here in the 1999 Civil War game, said the Beavers “were not fighting for
each other” during their 1-3 start this season. The Beavers bounced back to beat Arizona on Saturday 38-3.
Simonton
bounces
back with
Arizona
■The Beavers got back on track
with a big win against the ’Cats after
Ken Simonton freely spoke his mind
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
In the week leading up to Oregon
State’s game against Arizona, tailback
Ken Simonton didn’t mince words in
regards to his team’s state of mind.
He was pissed. He was frustrated.
And he let the public know about it
during his weekly press conference.
“I’ve been more frustrated with
how we’ve played, not that we’ve
lost,” Simonton said. “I can deal with
getting beat, but when you don’t go
out and fight, it’s just like watching
two kids on the playground and one’s
getting swung in a circle getting
punched. It’s like, ‘Man, fight back.
You’re already getting hit. What’s it
going to cost you to
swing back?’
“That’s been kind
of the most frustrat
ing part for me,
guys on my side of
the ball — we just
look soft on of
fense, all 11 of us.”
A few days later,
the Beavers “swung back” and took
out their frustrations against the visit
ing Wildcats, rolling to a 38-3 victory
Saturday night at Reser Stadium.
The win came when Oregon State
needed it most. Up to that point, the
season had been embarrassing — for
Oregon State and for Sports Illustrat
Turnto Football, page 12
In toughest volleyball league, USC stays on top
■biamora, uuLAana Ubu
do battle, but only one team
comes out alive and in first
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
In the world of volleyball, the
Pacific-10 Conference reigns
supreme. The Stanfords, Southern
Califomias and Arizonas annually
defeat the best-of-the-best in the
nation, but when it comes down to
conference play, matches can get
downright nasty.
That’s exactly what happened
when Stanford (14-2 overall, 7-1
Pac-10) traveled south to take on
UCLA and USC last week.
The Cardinal, ranked fourth in
the nation at the outset of both
matches, took a 6-0 conference
record with them. USC (12-1,7-0),
on the other hand, was ranked one
better at No. 3, but was also unde
feated at 5-0. At the same token,
UCLA (10-3,5-2) was at No. 5, hav
ing gone 4-1 in conference play.
Now only USC is undefeated.
After outlasting Stanford in four
games 128-30, 30-28, 30-22, 30-26)
on Friday, the Trojans swept the
California Golden Bears (5-9,1-7),
30-25,30-26,30-19.
Leading the women of Troy was
defensive specialist Nicole Davis,
who notched seven service aces
against Stanford.
“Davis is good,” USC head
coach Mick Haley told the Daily
Trojan. “She’s a
big-time player
and she can bring
the heat.”
After losing the
first set in a match
attended by stand
ing-room-only
crowd of 1,205 at Lyon Center, the
Trojans came back strong and fixed
the problems that plagued them in
the first game.
“I told them they were too inter
ested in winning and not interest
ed enough in executing,” Haley
said. “We set the left side a lot in a
row and we got out of rhythm run
ning the middle, then they
clamped us a couple of times and I
just really wanted them to play
first-ball sideout. That game was
ours to win, not Stanford’s to lose.”
Strong words from the USC
coach, but after seven Pac-10 match
es, the Trojans stand in first place,
one half-game ahead of Stanford,
who is now 7-1 after defeating
UCLA in five Thursday night.
Although the Bruins took a hard
loss that night (27-30,25-30,30-27,
30-24, 15-13) after starting off
strong, UCLA head coach Andy
Banachowski knew the impor
tance of the play he had just seen.
After all, it was a spirited contest
between two teams in the top five.
“It was two heavyweights going
after each other out there,” he told
the Daily Bruin. “I certainly had
the best seat in the house. ”
With two matches left for most
teams in the first-half, USC is in first,
followed closely by Stanford, Ore
gon State (12-4,5-2) and UCLA.
Milestone kiltin’
With 21 kills last week against
Oregon State and Idaho State,
senior Monique Tobbagi is now
four kills away from 1,000 for
her career. If she plays against
Arizona on Thursday at
McArthur Court, she will most
assuredly hit that mark.
Her 21 kills were not enough
to keep her in sixth place in the
Pac-lO’s active career leaders.
Washington redshirt senior Lisa
Underhill hit for a combined 22
kills against Arizona and Ari
zona State, bumping her one
spot ahead with 997 career kills.
Fox Sports Net, part two
Thursday’s match against Arizona
State will be televised by Fox Sports
Net, the second time in as many
weeks the Ducks will be on television.
Against Oregon State last week,
the Ducks took the perfect time to
impress, as FSN visited Gill Coli
seum. They lost in four games, but
looked the strongest they had all
season.
Thursday’s match is set to start
at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court, but is
planned to air Saturday at 10 a m.
Turn to Volleyball, page 10