Sports Editor:
Alex Tam
alextam @dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
2004 World Series of Poker
9 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN
Oregon trio heads to Olympic Trials
Starting Friday, three track
and field members take aim
at Olympic dreams
ALEX TAM
SPORTS EDITOR
Three members of Oregon's track and field
team have the chance to gain national fame and
move on to compete on the world's greatest
athletic stage.
Oregon's Tommy Skipper, Sarah Malone
and Eric Mitchum will compete at the 2004
U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Sacramento start
ing Friday.
The top three finishers from each event earn an
a spot on the U.S. Olympic team that will com
pete in this summer's Olympic Games in Athens
beginning August 13. Each top-three finisher has
to meet Olympic 'A' qualifying standards.
Skipper, who just completed his freshman year
at Oregon, will take part in the men's pole vault
qualifying round at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Mis en
trance is based on his personal best of 18 feet, 10
1/4 inches from the NCAA West Regional in May.
The mark meets the Olympic 'A' qualifying stan
dard of 18-8 1/4.
Skipper said he is grateful for the chance to
compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team,
but his first priority is to fulfill his goals at the
collegiate level.
"That's everybody's goal — to be a part of the
U.S. team," said Skipper, who is the reigning Pa
cific-10 Conference champion in the pole vault
and the decathlon. "I'd be honored to be able to
do that, but you have to take baby steps. I'm just
going to do the best that 1 can on that day."
The Sandy native competed against the na
tion's top pole vaulters at the Prefontaine Classic
two weeks ago. Skipper finished eighth after
clearing 18-4 1/2.
Despite finishing next to last in the
event, Skipper said he was "happy" with his per
formance and learned a lot from his competi
tors, but hopes to be a little more rested for the
Olympic Trials.
"1 think that was a little too soon to jump
again," Skipper said. "1 needed to take a little bit
of time and just relax and rest, but it gave me
Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor
Oregon freshman Tommy Skipper will compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Sacramento in the pole vault.
Skipper holds a personal best of 18 feet, 10 1/4 inches, which is an Olympic ‘A’ qualifying mark.
good experience jumping with those guys. I feel
pretty confident going into Trials."
That confidence heading into his first
Olympic Trials will help him believe in himself,
said Skipper.
"I'm going to take it just like any other meet,"
Skipper said. "There's nothing different about the
Trials from NCAAs or a meet here at home. It's
the same runway, same pit and same holes,
liverything is the same."
Malone, another Oregon hopeful, will com
pete in the javelin throw competition at 7:15
p.m. on Friday.
Please see TRIA1.S, page 8
Eugene Emeralds step up their game
Outfielder Craig
Johnson has a
.290 batting
average through
18 games so far
this season.
Jared Paben
Editor in Chief
The Ems hope to build
on recent hitting and
pitching successes
STEVE A PEL
FREELANCE REPORTER
The Eugene Emeralds may
finally be turning the corner after
their first series victory of the
season.
After dropping both games
in a double header in Boise this
past Wednesday, Eugene won
three of its next five games
against Salem-Keizer and also
five of its last 10 overall.
After a slow start, the Emeralds
have crept out of the basement in
the West Division of the
Northwest League. Eugene still
sits in the bottom half of the di
vision with a 7-11 record after
Monday's 10-3 loss to Salem
Keizer in front of 2,555 fans at
Volcanoes Stadium.
Eugene's series victory against
visiting Salem-Keizer this past
weekend was its first of the sea
son. Eugene followed it up with a
stellar 9-0 shutout on Sunday in
Salem-Keizer. The Ems had four
pitchers combine for a three-hitter
and catcher Colt Morton added a
home run — his fifth in his last
four games.
The team is beginning to show
its potential when the offense gets
behind steady pitching.
" The biggest problem has been
making contact from one night to
the next," Eugene manager Roy
1 lowell said. " They are young and
one night they'll do great and the
next they'll do completely differ
ent. "In the Ems' last three losses,
they have combined for a total of
three runs.
Ihe question is whether the
Ems are providing only a brief
glimpse of hope or whether the
ship is beginning to turn around.
The defining point came Satur
day when a power outage knocked
out the lights on the roof at Civic
Stadium. The Ems gave up a late 4
3 lead in the eighth inning to
Salem-Keizer.
After a 30-minute delay, Eu
gene rallied in its last at-bat for a
5-4 win in front of a sold out
crowd of 7,126.
The pitching has continued to
be solid for the Emeralds.
Behind solid outings such as
those from Danny I)e La O in last
Please see EMS, page 6
ALEX TAM
HOLDING COURT
The right
decision
was made
The world of professional sports is what
all athletes and coaches aspire to be a part
of during their career.
It is many people's dream to make mil
lions of dollars for simply playing or
coaching a sport they love.
Many of those dreams were fulfilled this
summer as professional basketball teams
reloaded their rosters with the best avail
able talent from college and high school at
the NBA Draft.
I lowever, there is one jump to the pro
fessional ranks that has seen more failures
than successes.
That jump is a college basketball head
coach moving on to the NBA.
On Monday, arguably, one of college
basketball's greatest head coaches of all
time, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, declined an
offer to become the head coach of, ar
guably, one of the greatest professional
sports franchises of all-time, the los Ange
les Lakers, according to www.HSPN.com.
The Web site reported that the l akers of
fered Krzyzewski a five-year, $40 million
contract — exactly $8 million per year for
a coach who has continually succeeded at
the college level, but has not proved him
self at the professional level.
Krzyzewski, who has led three NCAA
championships at Duke, hasa 621-181 all
time record at Duke and 10 Final Four ap
pearances and 10 Atlantic Coast Confer
ence regular season championships.
If there was ever a college sports head
coach who deserved a chance to take the
helm of a professional sports franchise,
Krzyzewski would be the one.
1 lowever, the jump from college to the
NBA has continually proven to be
unsuccessful.
Remember successful college head
coaches such as Ion Kruger, Tim Floyd and
Leonard I lamilton, who were hired by
NBA teams because of their winning
records in college?
Those three failed to translate what
made them winners at the college level to
the pro level.
Kruger, who owned a 318-233 record in
18 seasons prior to coming to the NBA, had
a putrid 69-122 record as head coach of the
NBA's Atlanta Hawks from 2000 to 2003.
l loyd, who posted an 81 -49 record at
Iowa State, joined the NBAs Chicago Bulls
in 1998 after the team had won six league
championships. However, in his First two
seasons as head coach, he led Chicago to
a 30-102 record.
Hamilton, who led the University of Mi
ami to three straight NCAA Tournament ap
pearances from 1998 to 2000 for the First J
time in school history, was hired by the
NBA's Washington Wizards the next year.
Hamilton lasted only one season,
which ended with a 19-63 record for
Washington and a call for his immediate
resignation.
It's possible that the trend of failures
from college to the NBA was a huge reason '
for Krzyzewski to decline the Los Angeles
offer and remain at Duke.
Or it could be that the egos and money
that surround the professional game was
Please see TAM, page 8