Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamj ude@dailyemerald. com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, February 13,2002
Best Bet
Olympics:
Alpine Skiing
7:30 p.m., NBC
Oregon wrestling team
eyes victory in Civil War
ON TAP
What
Oregon wrestling
(7-7 overall.
3-4Pac-1G)
vs. Oregon State
(11-7,6-1)
When:
7:30 p.m today
Where:
McArthur Court
■ In the first Civil War meeting
of the year, the Beavers defeated
the Ducks in a 16-16 decision
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
With only two more dual meets re
maining in their schedule before the
Pacific-10 Championships begin
March 2, the Oregon wrestling team is
looking to finish the regular season on
a high note at home.
The 7-7 Ducks (3-4 Pac-10) host
Oregon State today at 7:30 p.m. at
McArthur Court before finishing with
Portland State on Feb. 20.
In the first edition of the wrestling
Civil War on Dec. 12, the Beavers (11
7 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-10) es
caped with a win in the 16-16 meet. A
new rule for the 2001-02 season states
that no dual meet shall end in a tie,
and a list of criteria were established
to determine a winner. In the Dec. 12
meet, a winner was not determined
until the seventh criteria level. Oregon
State had two near fall points to Ore
gon’s zero, which gave them the win
based on criteria “g.”
Both schools have
recently competed
against the same
three opponents.
The Ducks are com
ing off a 2-1 week
end where they lost
to Cal Poly and de
feated Cal State-Bakersfield and No.
21 Fresno State. Oregon State’s week
end included a win over Bakersfield
and a loss to Fresno State. The previ
ous weekend on Jan. 27, the Beavers
defeated Cal Poly.
Arizona State is ranked No. 1 in the
Pac-10 with the Beavers in second.
Oregon holds the No. 4 spot with
Boise State sitting between the two
Oregon schools.
Oregon State has had its way with
Turn to Wrestling, page 8
WHfSTLHiG
I____J
Adam Jones Emerald
Oregon’s 141-pounder Brian Watson (right) is ranked No. 20 in the nation. He will face Oregon State’s
No. 11 Casey Horn, who defeated Watson 6-4 in their first meeting this season in Corvallis.
Pac-10 again becoming a wild, wild west
■ Arizona is the conference leader,
but that could change soon with
five other teams now standing
less than two games back
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Remember what those crazy Pacific
10 Conference football standings looked
like in the fall with less than one month
to play in the regular season?
Oregon, Washington and Washing
ton State all shared first-place on Nov.
5 with UCLA and Stanford breathing
down their necks.
Anything could have happened at
that point with the Ducks not knowing
whether they’d be playing their bowl
game in Tempe, Ariz., San Diego, Seat
tle or even Las Vegas.
But Oregon sur
vived a trip to
UCLA and a wet
Civil War to claim a
berth in the Fiesta
Bowl as sole posses
sors of first place.
Now, it’s the
Oregon men’s bas
ketball team’s turn to see if it can
do the same.
The Pac-10 standings are again
muddled with the top six men’s
hoops teams separated by just a
game-and-a-half.
Oregon’s grip on first place finally
slipped after its two overtime defeats
in the Bay Area, and Arizona
jumped to the top spot after sweep
ing the Washington schools. The
Ducks are in second by themselves,
but California, Stanford, USC and
UCLA are all tied for third a half
game back from Oregon.
“We’re playing in a great confer
ence, and I don’t think it’s surprising
that we have six teams competing for
the top spot,” Cal head coach Ben
Braun said. “It’s just remarkable how
much parity there is this year.”
Like football, anything can happen
Turn to Basketball, page 6
Adam Amato Emerald
UP FOR GRABS: Oregon’s Chris Christoffersen and UCLA’s Dan Gadzuric are both on teams that have
strong chances of winning the Pac-10 title—but the same goes for four others.
Spring training
softens the heart
The Expos are still in Montreal, the Twins are in the
Twin Cities and Bud Selig is still commissioner of
Major League Baseball.
Somehow.
Break out the bats and balls and get the spikes out of the
closet. On Thursday, the sun rises and the flowers bloom,
at least metaphorically—pitchers and catchers will report
to spring training.
It is the time of the year where hope springs eternal. The
grass is just beginning to turn that beautiful shade of green,
and the dew from the early morning is just right on those
small blades of grass.
The crack of the bat is audible and has that sweet sound
to it. Pitchers run wind sprints dur
ing games, hoping not to have to
dodge long fly-balls hit by the oppos
ing team’s batters.
And the fans can see a game with
out having to fork over $50 to sit four
levels above the playing field.
It almost makes a person want to
move to Arizona for that one month.
The games are played at places like
Scottsdale Stadium, Chain of Lakes
Park and even Baseball City Stadi
um. These fields and parks don’t
have the distant memories and
Behind the dish ghosts of past greats, but they do have
an innocence about them.
Sponsorship deals haven’t invaded these pearls of base
ball purity. There is no “Enron” stapled to the boards at Hi
Corbett Field in Tucson, Ariz. “Safeco” isn’t plastered on
the walls of the entrance to Peoria Stadium in Arizona.
The game is pure and natural to the fans who invade the
turnstiles during the weekdays during spring training. The
sweet Arizona sun and Florida mornings lend to the purity
of spring training. Regular season games used to be played
primarily during the day. Night games were the minority.
Now, all but a handful of teams play most, or all regular
season games under fake light.
But that isn’t the case during spring training. Pitchers
throw under the gleaming glow of the sun, the way the
game was meant to be played. Batters have to account for
the shadows overhead, and infielders have to shield their
eyes from deep blue skies.
Beautiful.
The way the sun lights up the grass and brings the game
alive is unrivaled by any other sport.
Football may have its rain, snow and sleet, basketball its
Turn to Hager, page 6