, After this kind of game, a needfor parental advice
CORVALLIS —
Correspondence with my par
ents after Oregon's uglier
than-a-buck-toothed-beaver
win over Oregon State on Satur
day night...
Dear Mom
and Dad,
Hello on this
long weekend.
How are things
in Seattle? Did
you get a
chance to lis
ten to the Ore
gon game on
the radio? I
don’t know if
you guys
heard it, but it
wasn’t much
to hear any
way. An ugly
win for the Ducks, in every sense.
Lots of fouls, lots of missed shots.
But they won, and they’re leading
Hockaday
T\vo minutes for
crosschecking
the Pac-10, and that’s all that mat
ters, right?
Leading the Pac-10. That seems
weird. I always thought that last
year’s team, with Bryan “20
points-a-night” Bracey, would be
the team to be leading the Pac,
but it never did. Instead, the 2002
Oregon players have come to
gether like they never did last
season, and the result is an explo
sive, dominating team. It’ll be fun
to watch this team down the
stretch, they could be capable of
miracles like the 2000, 20-win
wonder boys.
Anyway, I hope all is well up
north. Huskies vs. Ducks on
Thursday. Are you going? You
should.
Love, Peter
Dear Peter,
Great to hear from you. We love
your e-mails.
Well, you guessed we’d sure try
to listen to the Ducks last night,
and we finally did — on the
Beaver Sports Network, gulp. The
dreadfully depressed Beaver an
nouncer couldn’t keep his sadness
and distress to himself.
Drat — the Oakland Raiders
football game and then the Port
land Blazers game both preempt
ed the Duck game on the so
called Duck Sports (radio)
Network in Portland. Why on
earth broadcast a professional
basketball game which fans can
hear any night of the week and
discard the Civil War game?
Doesn’t seem right, since we get
so few honest-to-goodness ama
teur and college basketball games
to listen to on the radio.
That’s my opinion — try ask
ing in a column if Ducks sports
should get priority on the Ducks
Sports Network, especially
when they’re playing the
Beavers (in anything).
Love to you,
Mom and Dad
Dear Mom and Dad,
That’s too bad about the Beaver
Sports Network. But I don’t real
ly agree with you about the Ore
gon radio.
I would have rather listened to
an overtime snow-battle play off
football game than the ugly Ducks
on Saturday night. I mean, that
game was truly dismal to watch.
Maybe it sounded better on the ra
dio but in person it was like a bad
nightmare. Beaver fans behind us
yelled at their players and coach,
and Duck fans didn’t have much
to cheer about themselves.
The game started out all right,
with the Ducks controlling tem
po and all that in the first few
minutes. Then the fouls started,
the post play heated up and the
game turned from electric to ex
tremely boring.
But there was a group of dunk
ing acrobats that performed dur
ing a time-out. And that football
game on television at halftime.
Those were pretty much the high
lights because the second half of
the basketball game was almost as
bad as the first.
But, as I said before, the Ducks
are leading the Pac-10, and that’s
what’s important. They withstood
Oregon State’s best effort. UCLA
couldn’t withstand Arizona’s run
on Saturday, so they fell behind in
the Pac-10 race. We’ll see on
Thursday whether the Ducks truly
eliminated their road jitters.
So, that’s about it. Again, I hope
all is well. Ducks vs. Huskies
Thursday. Time to let the always
interesting Pac-10 season unfold a
little more.
Love, Peter.
E-mail reporter Peter Hockaday at
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Men’s basketball
continued from page 9
That’s our main goal. As long as we
keep taking care of business, it’ll all
take care of itself.”
Jones led Oregon’s workmanlike
victory against Oregon State with a
solid 16-point outing, while Luke
Jackson contributed 15.
But the real spark for Oregon,
continuing its trend of balanced
scoring, came from forward Robert
Johnson, who helped set the tone
early by scoring six of the Ducks’
first 10 points. Johnson finished
with 12 points, 11 rebounds and
three blocks, giving him an early
birthday present as the junior cele
brated his 21st Sunday.
“It was a great team game,” John
son said. “We neutralized them in
the beginning and kept going.”
Johnson’s hot start was followed
by a Jones reverse alley-oop dunk
off a pass from Luke Ridnour. On
Oregon’s next possession, Jones
knocked down two free throws to
give the Ducks a 14-2 lead with
13:20 to play in the first half that
the Beavers could never fully re
cover from.
“We were ready to play this game
from the beginning and it showed,”
Jackson said. “From beginning to
end, we controlled the tempo.”
Even when that tempo didn’t in
volve running the fast break.
Oregon State, like California and
Stanford the week before, slowed
the game down and forced Oregon
to play in the halfcourt. And like
the games against the Bay Area
schools, the Ducks adjusted to the
different style of play and found a
way to win.
The Beavers kept up thd slower
pace throughout the second half
and made runs to close the lead to
single digits, but the Ducks always
kept them at arm’s length.
“Yes, we like to run, that’s our
forte, but we want to show people
that we are a very versatile team that,
when we need to play halfcourt, we
can play halfcourt,” Kent said.
Oregon’s biggest advantage in the
game was a 50-34 lead, but the
Beavers closed to within 51-44
with eight minutes to play, which
turned up the volume among the
9,479 fans at Gill Coliseum.
From there, though, the Ducks
made key defensive stops and
outscored the Beavers 12-7 to
“grind out the win,” as Kent would
say later.
Oregon State’s Philip Ricci was the
only Beaver scoring double digits,
with 12 points. Forward Brian Jack
son only picked up six while dealing
with foul trouble. The Beavers (8-9,
1-6) have been competitive in most
of their games, but don’t have the
wins to show for their effort.
“We’re not that bad a team,” said
Jackson, the Beavers’ forward. “There’s
just been a few stretches in games that
have hurt us. Wins will come.”
For Oregon, the wins have been
coming and they probably will con
tinue to this weekend when the
Ducks visit the Washington
schools, which are a combined 1-15
in league play.
After jumping out to a 6-1 Pac-10
start for just the second time in 63
years, the Ducks aren’t taking any
thing for granted. Their sights are
set high and they don’t want to slip,
as they have already in their loss at
Arizona State.
So the sight of a late-night video
session aboard a bus on a freeway
shouldn’t be too surprising when
realizing what potentially lies
ahead in the coming months.
“I’m not saying we’re there yet,
but we’re certainly on our way,”
Kent said. “We’ve got a target on us
now, but that’s OK.
“We want to run with this thing.”
E-mail assistant sports editor Jeff Smith at
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com.
cholesterol
screening
• Tuesdays, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
• Health Center, Health Ed.
Office
• Total cholesterol and
blood glucose results.
• Simply drop on by!
vegetarian
cooking
workshop
• Mondays, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
• Feb. 4-18
• Health Center, Cafeteria
• Prepare wholesome, quick and
nutritious ethnic dishes.
• Come hungry and ready to
cook.
• Call 346-4456 to register.
massage
Are you stressed?
• Sports Medicine/Wellness Center
continues to offer massage
services.
• Michael Deegan, LMT provides
therapeutic massage.
• M/W/F 1:00-4:00 p.m.
• Call 346-4150 for info or to
schedule.
V N I V !! » S I T V
HEALTH CENTER
We’re a matter of degrees ^