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Sports Editor:
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
-— Oregon Daily Emerald —
Sports
Best bet
NBA: Dallas at Philadelphia
4:30 p.mv TNT
Thursday, January 23,2003
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Matt Short posterizes a Florida A&M player in the preseason, but he's come on later in the year.
SHORT story
Redshirt freshman center Matt Short makes
his impression on and off the basketball court
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
This could be a movie. A comedy. “Something
About Matt.” “Big and Bigger.”
“Meet the Americans. ”
The main character is a big Australian basketball
player, Ian Grosswhite, who’s stuck in America for
Christmas. He heads south of the Oregon border
with another basketball player, Matt Short, who’s ac
tually really tall! Much laughter ensues.
So they get to Short’s ranch, where the
Australian and the Californian ride side-by-side
in a tractor and play baseball on a field that Short
actually built with his bare hands, and much
bonding ensues. Much laughter follows.
The Australian wears a dazed look on his face
as the American’s parents shower him with
presents and good ‘ol down home culture. Much
laughter ensues.
This isn’t a movie. It’s real life, Christmas
2001.
“It was a bit of a trip-out for me, coming from
Sydney, where there’s no tractors and no base
ball fields,” Crosswhite says.
Welcome to Matt Short’s world. Ian Crosswhite
saw it first hand.
A big man with a small name, that’s who Matt
Short is. A big center from a small town.
Just, really, a big man.
Yreka, Calif., (population 7,290, “Ranked No. 48
of the top 100 small communities in America!”)
is a big part of this big man. It explains part of
Matt Short, the man, and all of Matt Short, the
basketball player.
“There’s not anything to do but play basketball,”
Short says, echoing the words of fellow Oregon
small-town bailers like Luke Ridnour. “Me and my
friends would just live on these outdoor courts by
the high school in the summer, and in the winter
we lived at the YMCA and just played like crazy.”
Played like crazy. He still plays crazy, according
to his teammates.
“He comes in there with a lot of energy,” Gross
white says.
“He’s just running out of control, after every re
bound and every loose ball,” fellow center Jay An
derson says. “He just plays as hard as he can until
he gets tired, and then we take him out.”
Short, a 7-foot redshirt freshman, is just learn
ing to cope with
actually playing
again, actually be
ing on the court.
He was the fifth
ranked center in
the West coming
out of Yreka High
School, but be
cause of poor competition in high school, he was
raw, untested. He wasn’t ready.
After sitting out the 2001-02 season to develop,
Short’s minutes have increased over this year, cul
minating in a start at Stanford — where Short
played with traveling squads while he was still in
high school. He is averaging only 2.5 points and
9.5 minutes per game this year, but Short has a
growth curve steeper than Mt. Bachelor.
He’s coming.
“That’s kind of the exciting part for me,” Short
says. “I know I can do a lot better, and by the time
my junior or senior year comes along, I think I can
be a major part of every aspect of this team.
“I’ve got lots of room for improvement, but I feel
good about where I’m at and where I’m going.”
Greg: You can milk just about anything with
nipples.
Jack: I’ve got nipples, Greg. Could you milk
me?
— From “.Meet the Parents”
Jay Anderson knows this line by heart. Matt
Short, well, he struggles with this kind of stuff.
The roommates play a little game. Along with
Luke Ridnour, who also lives with the towering
Turn to Short, page 10
On tap
What: Oregon men vs.
Washington
When: Tonight, 5:30 p.m.
Where: McArthur Court
UO hopes history holds
for trip to Washington
The Ducks have beaten the Huskies 14
of the last 15 times the teams have met
on the court
Women’s basketball
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
The Oregon women’s basketball team is
heading north for its regional rivalries
against Washington and Washington State
today and Saturday.
And the Ducks need to come home with at
least one check in the “w” column after their
trip to Seattle and Pullman.
“We need to put our confidence back up,”
sophomore Andrea Bills said. “We need to lay
it all out there right now, and if we get a win,
it will really help us mentally.”
A lot can be said about Oregon and the
adversity that it’s had to face. And with
things just not going their way, they can
side in the comfort that history bodes well
for the Ducks.
Prior to a Husky victory last February, the
Ducks had a 12-game winning streak against
Washington, and they have won 14 of the last
15 overall facing the Dawgs.
“You look at that and feel good about the
program’s success, and you see that this team
has been successful against them,” Oregon
head coach Bev Smith said. “At times, we fo
cus a little too much on the history, because
each year has its own story and each game
has its own story.”
Oregon has written a few successful
chapters in the storybook recently, as the
Turn to Women, page 10
Adam Amato Emerald
Carolyn Canes (left) and the Ducks are hoping for at least a split with the Washington schools.
The thin red line between true faithful and fair-weather fans
Do you consider yourseir a true sports ran ?
Do you honestly and truthfully believe in
yourself to have what it takes to be consid
ered a hard-core fanatic?
What do you really stand for when it
comes to sports mania? Because I have a lit
tle quiz for you.
It’s going to be fun, I promise, and there is an
underlying point to it all. All the answers are ei
ther yes or no and you can keep it entirely to
yourself if you be completely honest. It will fi
nally allow you to set the record straight on
where you stand.
For fun, we’ll call it —
drums please — Jesse’s
Ultimate Sports Fan
Quiz. It is not a matter of
knowledge, sex or age.
Easy enough.
Now for the questions,
which can be in regard
to your favorite sports
team or any team you
care for. Here we go:
Jesse
Thomas
Go the distance
1. Do you make sure to attend all of the
games of your team unless, under some ex
tenuating circumstance, your schedule does
not permit it?
2. Do you walk away from the games with a
groggy voice, or no voice, and in a bit of a hot
sweat from becoming so worked up?
3. Have you attended games topless and
painted yourself with your team’s colors? (For
some this question may be a little over the top
and tends to usually only apply to males —
but not always.)
4. Do you stick up for your team when
someone puts them down and make your
views well known?
5. Do you stick by your team regardless of
the circumstances and through the adversi
ty, and not jump on and off the bandwagon
at will?
This last question is the one that is most
important to me because I believe it to be the
one that many of you falter on and might be
Turn to Thomas, page 10