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Robinson’s exit is ‘Admirable’
aam Mnitn
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
CHICAGO — Now this is the way
for a Hall of Fame basketball great to
leave, perhaps helping his team to a
championship with inspired, un
selfish play. We can be sure we’ll be
saying goodbye to David Robinson.
No, he’s no Michael Jordan in a lot
of ways. Will Perdue, when he went
to the San Antonio Spurs, said it was
much more pleasant to play with
Robinson than Jordan was because
Robinson didn’t blame you when the
team lost. Of course, Jordan had six
times more championships. Maybe
that’s what it takes.
But it doesn’t seem to be doing
much good these days for the Lakers,
who trail the San Antonio Spurs 2-0 in
the Western Conference semifinals
with Game 3 in Los Angeles tonight.
“Other guys in the locker room
need to stand up and make contribu
tions to this team,” Shaquille O’Neal
said after the Spurs blew out the Lak
ers in Game 2.
Being that those other guys are
Mark Madsen, Kareem Rush,
Stanislav Medvedenko and Jannero
Pargo, coach Phil Jackson’s first four
players oft the bench recently, that
might not be the place to look.
Sure, the Lakers are going home.
And yes, they’re three-time champi
ons. And of course they have Kobe
Bryant, Shaq and Jackson. But surely
they’re in big trouble this time. They
need Robert Horry to score instead
of standing around waiting for a de
flected ball to heave in.
It’s not that the Lakers lost the first
two games of the San Antonio series,
as much as how they lost them.
O’Neal and Bryant are combining to
average almost 60 points per game.
And the team is laboring to score 80.
It’s hard to turn it back on when
the knob is falling off.
Blame this one on Lakers manage
ment for failing to pay to acquire some
reserve help in the off-season. Blame it
on injuries to Rick Fox and Devean
George. Blame it on fatigue from three
championship seasons. Blame it on
the Spurs. They’re pretty good.
When the Spurs won the NBA
championship in 1999, one team in
sider said it was the worst thing that
could happen to the franchise. He said
coach Gregg Popovich would now be
lieve his throw-it-to-Tim Duncan-and
stand-around offense was good.
But those old guards — Terry
Porter, Avery Johnson, Mario Elie —
got older. So the Spurs came up with
Tony Parker from France and Manu
Ginobili from Argentina. Popovich is
not quite sure what they’re doing, but
it seems to work.
Which brings us back to Robinson.
His knee is bad, but so is his back. He’s
not exactly stopping O’Neal, who is av
eraging 25.5 points and 15.5 rebounds
in 35 minutes per game, but he has
stationed himself between the basket
and O’Neal, and hasn’t budged.
“For me, this last stretch, playing
against the best teams, that’s the way
you want it,” Robinson said. This is
the last stretch.
He has had a great career, Olympic
gold medals, an MVP award, a cham
pionship, a scoring title, rookie of the
year, defensive player of the year, 10
All-Star teams. And the nation doesn’t
seem worried about what he’ll do next.
He built a school. Robinson spent $9
million of his own money to found and
finance the Carver Academy, a small
private school serving inner-city San
Antonio. He’ll go to work there raising
more money and helping finish the
school. Named for George Washington
Carver, the school opened Sept. 17,
2001, with 60 pre-kindergarten
through 2nd-grade children. A 3rd
grade class was added in 2002.
Once fully operational, the school
will accommodate up to 290 students
through 8th grade. The students from
Carver Academy, from the city’s poor
est neighborhoods, scored above the
national mean on the Stanford
Achievement Test in 2001-2002.
Robinson, 37, won this year’s citi
zenship award from the media, and
the league named its sportsmanship
trophy for him. He has represented
more of what people want in a profes
sional athlete than perhaps anyone in
the history of the NBA. Call him “the
Admirable,” though it no doubt will be
a quiet exit after these playoffs.
“You spend the whole year getting
ready for this time,” he said. “Now
I’m ready.”
The Spurs appear to be as well.
And it would be a heck of a way for a
deserving player to go out.
© 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
014008
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Softball
continued from page 9A
boost from its final road trip of the
season. The Ducks narrowly
missed a win over No. 2 UCLA on
Friday, 4-3, but traveled to Seattle
and picked up two 6-5 wins over
then-No. 4 Washington. The wins
in Seattle were Oregon’s first
since 1998.
Saturday’s game went into the
eighth inning before Poore hit a solo
home run for the win. The Ducks
scored four runs in Sunday’s first in
ning. Right fielder Beth Boskovich
and outfielder Janell Bergstrom
each added an RBI single to help
Oregon earn the victory.
“Tremendous credit (for the sea
son) goes to the seniors for being
good leaders and good role models,”
Arendsen said. “They’ve been a very
special group of people.”
Saturday’s doubleheader will be
Senior Day for the Ducks, as the sec
ond game is the last home game in
the college careers of five seniors.
Laux was named to the 2003 Veri
zon Academic All-District VIII Soft
ball Team on Friday. Laux, Andrea
Vidlund and Amber Hutchison are
four-year starters for the Ducks. Vid
lund has split her time between
pitching, first base and left field,
while Laux played three seasons at
second base before making the
switch to first. Hutchison starts in
both the left fielder and designated
player roles.
Bergstrom played only a small
amount in the 2000 season before
starting frequently beginning in
2001, mostly in the outfield. Lynsey
Haij has started all but four games in
her collegiate career. Haij trans
Pac-10 softball
standings
). Arizona (48-4 overall, 17-1
Pac-10 Conference)
2. UCLA (4 3-5,15-3)
3. California (40-16,9-9)
4. Oregon (30-16,8-10)
5. Washington (40-13,7*11)
6. Arizona State (30-20, 7-11)
7. Stanford (36-23, 5-13)
8. Oregon State (31 -27, 4-14)
ferred from Texas Tech after the
2000 season and has played at
shortstop and third base, where she
has spent this season.
“With the diversity and everything
else that’s gone on throughout the
years, I think our senior class is just
really close,” Vidlund said. “We’ve
stuck together through all the hard
times. We get along really well — we
hang out on and off the field — and I
think that’s contributed a lot to our
team chemistry.”
Oregon has not sent a team to the
NCAA Regionals since 2000, making
Laux, Vidlund, Hutchison and
Bergstrom the only Ducks with post
season experience.
After their last homestand, the
Ducks await Sunday’s announce
ment of the 64 teams selected for a
trip to the regional tournament. The
selection show begins at 7 p.m. on
ESPNEWS.
The team is hosting a viewing of
the selection show that is open to
the general public in the Pittman
Room at the Casanova Center.
Contact the sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemerald.com.
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