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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2002)
Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Thursday,. October 31,2002 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet NBA: Portland at Sacramento 7 p.m., TNT What the Duck is going on? Nobody asked me, but... Until Saturday, the rally monkey was the worst mascot in sports. Then the new Duck was unveiled. Enough said... Fred Litzenberger. He resurrected Ernie Kent’s defense. Maybe Mike Bellotti should ask Litz if he knows anything about football... Speaking of hoops, the Ducks open the exhibition season Wednesday at McArthur Court. Credible sources from the sidewalk report that Pit Crew “President” Nate Jolly has already been camping out for more than a week. (You know, Kent promises him doughnuts)... Is it just me, or do we see more of Joey Harrington now than we did a year ago? I don’t care who the quar terback is, I’m just sick of watching the hapless Lions every Sunday. Can we please get some real NFL games in this more-hapless-than-the-Lions Eugene TV market?... Shameless plug: Listen to Emerald sports editor Peter Hockaday talk some “Quack Smack” on campus radio KWVA 88.1 FM at 6:30 p.m. Friday. It should be insightful, and good for a few laughs... Adam Jude Out in left field OK, there’s more to say about the Deviled Duck. Sources close to the yet-to-be named new mascot say it’s close to a reaching a multi-million-dol lar agreement to star as the blood sucking villain in the next “Spider Man” movie. If that falls through, look for the mutant Duck to make an appearance as Shredder’s sidekick in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Attack of the Malicious Mallard”... Speaking of box office hits, “Little Big League” is one of the most underesti mated sports movies of all time. I’m se rious. The film writer, in 1994, brilliant ly forecasted the Seattle Mariners’ rise as a perennial baseball power (well, at least for a couple years). With “Sweet Lou” Piniella now gone, someone needs to make a screenplay about the Devil Rays. Hmmm... Which will come first: the Lukes get a haircut or the Oregon volleyball team wins a conference match?... The Duce is loose. Duce Staley. Deuce McAllister. Good NFL running backs. Better names... Does anyone really believe that fencing or bowling are legitimate choices to be Oregon’s next women’s sport, if it’s really ever created? Why not add fishing and the Ouija board game to the list of possibilities?... What’s wrong with spending Christmas in Vegas?... Tevo Johnson. The Stanford power receiver, er, power forward and wide receiver burned former Oregon cor nerback Rashad Bauman, now of the Washington of the NFL, for five catch es for 95 yards and a big third-quarter touchdown in the Cardinal’s upset win at Autzen last year. What hap pens when Teyo lines up against a -- - Turn to Jude, page 14 Fleet Feest Freshman Nicole Feest is the most exciting addition to the Ducks’ running community Cross country Mindi Rice Freelance Sports Reporter In eighth grade, Nicole Feest had never run a school sponsored race. Feest was a student assistant to the track coach. It was her job to sign the members of the track team up for the events they would be competing in at each meet. Each event needed a certain number of people to par ticipate. Sometimes she had to just sign people up because they needed someone to run a certain event. Feest says the mile was the event no one wanted to run. So she figured she’d give it a try. After all, how hard could it be? In her first race, she finished sixth in the conference for the mile and received a ribbon. “I remember I hated it, but I just wanted a ribbon,” Feest said. These days, Feest is a runner by nature. “It’s a passion,” Feest said. Feest has made a name for herself in her freshman season at Oregon. At the first meet of her collegiate career, she earned a spot on the Ducks’ traveling squad and ran in the Sept. 28 Roy Griak Invitational. Feest placed 83rd overall and fifth for the Ducks, scoring in her first college meet. “She has a ways to go to be a major contributor, but making our traveling group was the first step,” women’s cross country head coach Tom Heinonen said. Feest has run four meets for Oregon this season, including the Griak. She traveled to Salem on Oct. 5 for the Willamette Invitational, where she scored as the third-place runner for the Ducks and was 26th overall. Feest joined six upperclassmen in Terre Haute, Ind., for the Oct. 19 Pre-National meet. Feest placed 219th overall and seventh for the Ducks in a challenging meet. Turn to Fees!, page 14 Geoff Thurner Oregon Media Services Nicole Feest has made a name for herself in Oregon cross country in her freshman season. Feest will join teammates in Pasadena, Calif., at the Pac-10 Championships on Saturday. ‘Last’ senior is close to final match Mark McCambridge Emerald Senior Sydney Chute (21) has not won a Pac-10 match since 2000 but is optimistic she can end her career on a positive note. Senior Sydney Chute looks for her last Pac-10 victory before ending her Duck career Volleyball notes Hank Hager Sports Reporter She is Oregon’s only true four-year senior. She has 2,057 career assists to her name and has almost perfected the art of the “dump kill,” which has helped her total 349 kills. Basically, the last thing for Sydney Chute to do is earn one last Pacific-10 Conference victory, a win that has eluded her since 2000. Since she came to the program in 1999, Chute has been on the winning side of a Pac-10 contest three times — against Oregon State and Washington in 2000 and Oregon State in 1999. “I feel like this year is better than last year in terms of the team and our mentality and how we’re so close, whereas last year was definitely more of a struggle,” Chute said. “So, it’s going on the up and up, and if I have the chance to help this program improve, then that’s enough for me.” Of active players in the Pac-10, Chute is sixth in assists, just behind USC’s Toni Anderson. This season, however, has not been a typical year for Chute. A starter for much of her sopho more and junior seasons, Chute has given way to freshman Jodi Bell. Now, Chute, who hails from Santa Rosa, Calif., has a prominent role off the bench. She has still played in just 15 fewer games than Bell, but her 234 assists this season are far below Bell’s 691. But Bell’s future is that much brighter because Chute is there as a stabilizing influence. “I can’t even talk about how much she has helped me out this season with everything I’ve been doing, just like the mental (game), and all the techniques,” Bell said. “She has helped me out so much.” Chute is the last player at Oregon to have played under the Cathy Nelson regime while with the Ducks. This is her third season playing for current head coach Carl Ferreira and she has seemingly loved every minute of it. “1 just have to say that Carl has turned this team around 180 degrees, no question,” Chute said. “He’s really made us aware of how important it is to be a student-athlete, to really focus on every little aspect that goes into what we do and our purpose.” Around the Pac-10 It has become no surprise to see six Pac-10 squads in the USA Today/AVCA top 25 poll. However, to see eight teams from the conference receive at least one vote is definitely impressive. USC sits atop the nation for the sixth-straight week, while Stanford — which was ranked No. 1 for the first two weeks of the season — is currently Turn to Volleyball; page 16 - - -
