Short
continued from page 9
twosome, they watch movies.
Comedies, mostly. And they mem
orize the lines.
“I’ve actually got to try to remem
ber (lines),” Short says. “(Jay) does
n’t need to remember them, they
just pop into his head.”
“We watch ‘Meet the Parents’ prob
ably twice a week,” Anderson says.
It goes back to the small-town
thing. Anderson is from Faribult,
Minn., Ridnour from Blaine, Wash.,
and Short from Yreka. The three
towns have a combined population
of 31,878.
“A certain type of people come
from small towns,” Short says. “Peo
ple are a little more relaxed in small
towns; they’re real friendly, and
that’s the kind of player that coach
(Ernie Kent) recruits.”
So the small-town boys travel in a
pack. They do classes together.
Church on Sundays. And, of course,
the movies.
“We have a humor that a lot of
people don’t understand,” Short
says. “Me, Jay and Rid are together
24-7 almost, and you’d think we’d
get more sick of each other than
we do. But we just do everything
together, know everything, almost,
about each other.”
“Meet the Roommates. ”
“Excuse me,” the young girl asks
Short, shyly, in the middle of a
crowded airport. “Can I, um, ask
how tall you are?”
“Seven feet,” he says, smiling,
knowing exactly where this is going.
“Oh. Do you, um, play basketball
somewhere?”
“Yes, the University of Oregon.”
“Oh. What’s your name? Maybe
I’ll see you on TV or something.”
“Matt Short.”
And the young girl’s jaw drops off
Matt Short file
Born: Matthew Gregory Short on Dec. 13,
1982 in Kirkland, Wash.
High School: Three-time All-Northern
Athletic League selection in three years on the
varsity squad at Yreka High School in Yreka,
Calif. Also named team MVP three times.
Named as the fifth-ranked center in the West
by PacWest Hoops coming out of Yreka.
Helped Team USA/Texas win the bronze medal
at me tvv i oiooai uames in uanas. Short
Oregon: Reshirted 2001-02 season. A
contributer to Coach Ernie Kent’s big-man rotation, Short has
averaged 2.9 points this year. Scored a career-high eight points in
his first-ever start at Stanford Jan. 11.
her face. Then she starts laughing.
It’s happened so much, Short says
as he recounts this particular tale, he
wouldn’t know what to do if some
one didn’t comment on the name.
College coaches used it in recruiting
letters. The headline writers at the
Siskiyou Daily News had the best
four years of their lives coming up
with new headlines.
“Short in name only.”
“In Short, it’s Oregon,” when he
signed with the Ducks.
He gets it. He’s tall. His name is
Short. Ha ha.
But secretly, he likes it. His par
ents and siblings are average
height, so he likes to call himself
“the tallest Short.”
“It’s different, and I kind of like
it,” he says. “It looks good on the
back of the uniform.”
It sure is Short enough to fit.
Sorry.
Short really does stand tall on
the Oregon basketball team. As a
player. As a person.
When others talk about Short,
their sentences are littered with
words like “hustle,” “hard work”
and “energy.” From these words,
"He's just running out
of control, after every
rebound and every
loose ball. He just plays
as hard as he can until
he gets tired, then we
take him out"
Jay Anderson
Oregon center
you get the picture of a typical
Duck basketball player. All heart.
Leaves it on the floor.
Goes hard until he’s tired.
Then they take him out.
Maybe that was born on the
floor of the Yreka YMCA. Maybe it
came when he was sitting out last
year, or when he started for the
first time on a Maples Pavilion
floor that held the memories of
many junior games.
Whenever or however it was
born, one thing is for certain.
He really is a big man.
Contact the sports editor
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Adam Amato Emerald
Short and roommates Jay Anderson and Luke Ridnourwatch too many comedies.
Women
continued from page 9
Ducks stopped Washington in its tracks more
than once last year. The Ducks knocked the
- Huskies from the second round of the Pacific
10 Conference Tournament in Eugene and in
the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invi
tation Tournament at Seattle.
But Oregon (6-10, 2-5 Pac-10) has lost four of
its last five games and is off to its worst start in
conference play since the 1992-93 season. As for
Washington (13-3, 5-2 Pac-10), the Huskies re
cently lost to top-ranked Stanford but prior to
that, defeated both Cal and Arizona as the Dawgs
rank third in Pac-10 standings.
“We are pretty motivated, and we have been
more mentally focused,” Duck junior Kayla Steen
said. “If we become a lot more physical against
UW, then we will be fine.”
After the war is waged in Seattle, the Ducks will
travel to Pullman to face the struggling Cougars.
//We have been more mentally
focused. If we become a lot
more physical against U\N, then
we will be fine."
Kayla Steen
Oregon guard
Washington State (0-15, 0-7 Pac-10) is a team
that is hungry for its first win and looks to each
new opponent as the perfect opportunity. The
Cougars really have nothing to lose, and Oregon
is aware of this.
“They are very, very close to winning a game,”
Smith said. “This is a team that is very competitive,
and if you go up there thinking about their history,
they are going to make you their history.”
So as Oregon trudges forward into the second
If of the season, they continue with a young
juad and only nine players to fight the battles.
After the Ducks face off with the Washington
ohools, they will have faced every conference op
ponent. From there, Oregon has nine Pac-10 games
left, with a chance to face each conference team
again and a chance to change the tides.
Contact the sports reporter
atjessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Adam Amato Emerald
Kedzie Gunderson and Oregon beat Washington in both the Rac-10 Tournament and WNIT last year.
Thomas
continued from page 9
hesitant on how to answer.
As for our Oregon athletics and how the
teams have fared thus far this year, one word
comes to mind: adversity. Webster’s Third New
International Dictionary describes it as “a con
dition of suffering, destitution or affliction often
implying previous prosperity or well-being.”
Sound familiar?
The men’s and women’s basketball teams
have had their share of hardship from preseason
expectations. The football team went from sec
ond in the nation one year ago to, well, you
know how it goes.
And teams such as women’s soccer and vol
leyball have not had an easy breeze through vic
tory lane, either.
And through it all, some of you have stood
strong. You are the hard-core fans. And I give
you my utmost gratitude and highest praises.
Hats off to you.
As for others of you, you don’t understand
why anyone would go to such an extreme as de
scribed in any one of the questions. You are the
fair-weather fans, and couldn’t possibly under
stand the hardship these teams and their fans
have had to go through together.
In all honesty, you should be ashamed of
yourselves. When the going gets tough, that’s
your time to ship out. You know who you are.
Fans are more than they seem — they are
friends. Someone a suffering team looks to in its
utmost time of need for a shoulder to lean on
and to be there, no matter what.
For people such as the members of the Pit
Grew, and the diehards who stand strong re
gardless of the weather or circumstances: as
Budweiser would put it, you are “true.”
True to your team, true to your cause, true as
a fan and friend. And trust me, the athletes are
grateful — I speak from experience.
For the rest, you are not a “true” fan. And for
your sake, think about what you are doing —
and hope that the same is not done to you.
Contact the sports reporter
atjessethomas@dailyemerald.com. His views do not
necessarily represent those of the Emerald.