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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2005)
“Batting first, seventh, eighth or ninth, Tony Womack just wants to play. I don’t have an ego problem. ” Tony Womack | Yankees’ new second baseman ■ In my opinion CLAYTON JONES SEVENTH INNING STRETCH 'Twas the season for Yankee receiving Well, break is over, and I hope everyone had a great escape from academia. I hope everyone gave and raked in some great gifts over the holiday break. Myself, I gave my dad the second “Blue Col lar Comedy Tour” DVD, so he should be con tent with some hillbilly laughs. One of my fa vorite gifts has to be either the “Happy Gilmore” or the “Major League II” DVD. It’s hard to choose between watching Bob Barker kicking the crap out of Adam Sandler or Tanaka talking about marbles. In the world of baseball, there was a lot of giving and receiving during the break as well, resulting in the rich getting richer in New York. In a deal with the devil, the Arizona Dia mondbacks traded Randy Johnson to the New York Yankees for Javier Vazquez, a couple of minor leaguers and a lot of cash (nearly $9 mil lion) . This deal pushes the Yankees’ payroll over $200 million for next season, and the taxes they pay alone are more than some teams’ total salaries. Ana tney still want more. They are the leading candidates to get Carlos Beltran, who is asking upward of $100 million over seven years. With the pick-up of Johnson, the Yankees add the top-notch pitcher to a starting rotation that already includes Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. That will put New York’s starting rotation salaries at $64 million, which is higher than what 13 other professional teams pay their en tire roster. The Yankees are able to pull in so much mon ey because of their contract with the YES Net work and Adidas (they have a $1 billion deal with each). If this isn’t the demise of baseball, I don’t know what is. How can baseball and its fans survive when half the teams in the game don’t stand a chance even before spring training starts? There is no equality among teams, and a lack of a salary cap will continue to hurt the game. I don’t blame the Yankees for this, though. They continue to play by the rules and spend what they got. I would do the exact same thing if I were in George Steinbrenner’s (very expen sive) shoes. But when a team’s lineup looks like an all star roster, I think something in the game needs to be changed. Teams like Tampa Bay might play well in stretches with their good, young talent, but they don’t have the horses to keep up with teams like the Yankees or the Red Sox, and they can’t afford to re-sign their players when their con tracts run out. Granted, teams like the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland A’s have used small markets to be successful, but neither team has won a World Series in more than 15 years. Yet the amount of money spent doesn’t equal an automatic championship. The Yankees JONES, page 12 ■ Men's basketball Danielle Hickey | Photo editor UCLA’s Arron Afflalo turns an offensive rebound into two of his 12 points in the Bruins’ 70-62 victory over the Ducks Sunday at McArthur Court. Men falter on offense in loss to the Bruins The Ducks drop their second game of the season, 70-62, due to a lack of offensive rhythm BY CLAYTON JONES SPORTS EDITOR The Jekyll-and-Hyde Oregon offense reared its ugly head Monday night as the Ducks scored a season low in their 70-62 loss to UCLA at McArthur Court. Led by a strong defensive effort, the Bru ins (7-3 overall, 1-1 Pacific-10 Conference) held the second-best shooting team in the Pac-10 to 37.0 percent in the first half, giving UCLA a 35-26 advantage at the break. “The game got away from us in the first half,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “There were multiple offensive and defen sive plays we did not take advantage of. We took too quick of shots and did not force UCLA to play defense for more than one or two passes. ” Oregon’s (9-2, 1-1) offense was kept afloat in the first half only because of center Mitch Platt. The Henderson, Nev., native went 5 of 5 from the field in the first half and finished the game with a career- and team-high 15 points. But UCLA’s defensive pressure on Oregon MEN, page 13 GAME TIME Tues., Jan. 4 Women's basketball: Oregon @ UCLA, 7 p.m. Fri., Jan. 7 Wrestling: @ Oregon Classic, all day Sat., Jan. 8 Women's Basketball: Oregon @ Oregon State 2 p.m. Men's Basketball: Oregon vs. Oregon State, 8 p.m. OREGON SCORES Fri., Dec. 31 Men’s basketball: Oregon 90, USC 83 UO: Brooks 34 pts. USC: Stewart 25 pts. Sun., Jan. 2 Women’s Basketball: USC 77, Oregon 72 UO: Wagner 21 pts. USC: Hagiya 14 pts., 5 asst. Men’s basketball: UCLA 70, Oregon 62 UO: Platt 15 pts., 5 reb. UCLA: Morrison 15 pts. Wrestling: Oregon 21, Fresno State 19 Cal State Bakersfield 26, Oregon 19 ■ Women's basketball Deficit buries women at USC Oregon unable to deliver a successful comeback in its 77-72 loss in Los Angeles BY BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTER The Oregon women’s basketball team suffered its first Pacific-10 Conference loss of the 2004-05 sea son on Sunday. The Ducks were never able to over come their seven-point halftime deficit and eventually fell 77-72 to Southern California in front of 1,357 fans at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. The loss dropped Oregon to 9-3 over all and 2-1 in the Pac-10, while USC im proved to 7-4 and 1-1. The Ducks were plagued by sloppy play in their first game since upsetting No. 5 Stanford 62-58 Wednesday at McArthur Court. Oregon committed 20 turnovers in the game against the Women of ILoy, 13 of them coming in the first half. Against the Cardinal, Oregon com mitted only eight. “I think that we were flat,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith told 1320 The Score’s Ray Martin. “We turned the ball over too much, and that put us on our heels. We just didn’t have the energy defensively.” Junior guard Chelsea Wagner tied a career-high in points with 21 in the los ing effort, connecting on 5 of 11 three pointers from beyond the arc. Oregon dominated the game inside, scoring 42 points inside the paint, but Danielle Hickey | Photo editor Oregon junior guard Chelsea Wagner tied her career-high of 21 points. a lackluster defensive effort erased any advantage the Ducks were given. Senior Andrea Bills, who received Pac-10 Player of the Week honors last week, added 19 points on 9 of 15 shooting. Bills also grabbed seven boards and handed out two assists. For the game, the Ducks outre bounded the Women of TYoy 44-28, in cluding an 18-8 advantage on the offen sive glass. Senior Cathrine Kraayeveld had 18 rebounds for the Ducks, nearly outre bounding the entire USC team. However, the Ducks’ 13 first-half turnovers gave the Women of TYoy a number of easy opportunities and al lowed them to erase a six-point Oregon lead en route to a 19-6 run by USC to close out the half. For the game, the Tlojans scored 24 points off Duck turnovers. Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa led the Ducks in assists with eight, but also led the Ducks in turnovers with five. Early in the second half, the Ducks closed to within 41-40 behind a Kaela Chapdelaine three-pointer, but were answered a bit later by the Women of TYoy after they scored five straight to push the lead back to 49-42. For the game, USC shot 50 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the three-point line. “I think the big thing is that we al lowed 77 points,” Smith told Martin. “We didn’t get out to their shooters and if we don’t play defense, we are going to have a hard time winning. ” The 77 points scored by the Women of TYoy was the highest point total by a Duck opponent this year. USC received balanced scoring from the entire team. Sophomore point guard Jamie Hagiya led with 14 points and also contributed five assists. Fresh man guard Camille LeNoir added 10 points off the bench. Oregon continued to struggle from the free-throw line, shooting 8 of 16, in cluding 5 of 12 in the second half. Freshman Gabrielle Richards added another solid performance for the Ducks off the bench. In 18 minutes of play, Richards scored eight points and collected six rebounds. briansmith@dailyemerald.com REGIONAL & NATIONAL SCORES NFL Scores: Seattle 28, Atlanta 26 Jacksonville 13, Oakland 6 Baltimore 30, Miami 23 Pittsburgh 29, Buffalo 24 New Orleans 21, Carolina 18 Green Bay 31, Chicago 14 Cleveland 22, Houston 14 New England 21, S.F. 7 Cincinnati 38, Philadelphia 10 St. Louis 32, N Y. Jets 29 Tennessee 24, Detroit 19 Washington 21, Minnesota 18 Arizona 12, Tampa Bay 7 Denver 33, Indianapolis 14 San Diego 24, Kansas City 17 N.Y. Giants 28, Dallas 24 NBA Scores: Phoenix 117, Portland 98 Pho: Stoudemire 50 pts. Washington 104, Atlanta 101 Wash. Hughes 26 pts. L.A. Clippers 89, Phila. 83 Phi: Iverson 35 pts. Detroit 100, Boston 88 Det: R. Wallace 23 pts. Dallas 123, Milwaukee 104 Dal: Nowitzki 39 Houston 99, Utah 80 Hou: McGrady 25 pts. Sac. 86, San Antonio 81 Stojakavic: 28 pts. L.A. Lakers 99, Denver 91 L.A.: Bryant 42 pts.
