Oregon Daily Emerald
Tkesday, March 29, 2005
“I ain’t no GM. Ask Kobe.
He’s the GM. It’s his team. ”
Lakers guard Chucky Atkins when asked what moves he
would make to improve the team during the offseason.
■ In my opinion
CLACTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Pro baseball
steroid usage
has tarnished
sport, players
So, who’s getting JUICED for baseball season?
1 know I’m PUMPED for it.
My eagerness is SWELLING as opening day
approaches when the defending champion
Boston Red Sox take on their bitter rivals, the
New York Yankees, on Sunday.
Baseball season always INJECTS happiness
into my spring and summer, and I’m going to
have to really FLEX MY MUSCLES — my intellec
tual ones — to get through the term with the
many distractions that the grand ole game brings.
We can only hope for another great season,
and hopefully we don’t get RIPPED off.
It’s unCLEAR who THE CREAM of the crop
will be this season, but it will be interesting
to watch.
No way, JOSE. I can’t lie to you.
The game of professional baseball is in crisis,
and steroids are the problem.
Whether they admit it or not, the size of play
ers, statistics and player testimony seem to point
toward the opinion that some baseball players
have been using steroids for a long time.
Players were called to testify before the House
Government Reform Committee, who is investi
gating penalty procedures that baseball has for
those who test positive for steroids.
At the hearings, Mark McGwire pleaded the
fifth and looked all but guilty in the court of
public opinion. The former single-season home
run leader not only refused to deny any of the
allegations, he refused to talk about anything in
the past —- at all.
This from the supposed savior of baseball
after the strike in 1994 that made the hearts
of baseball fans sink.
But he did make room to jab at Jose
Canseco, who said that he had injected
McGwire with steroids while they were team
mates on the Oakland A’s. He said prosecu
tors could depend on Canseco’s testimony if
they wanted to use information from
“convicted criminals who would do or say
anything to solve their own problems.”
But Canseco did say one thing during the tes
timony that I did agree with: Baseball can’t be
relied on to police itself in this situation.
How can a professional baseball league that
has more than enough money to get the top
drug-testing supplies available not have caught
the problem?
Test these guys and clean up baseball for
goodness sake.
Steroids have tainted the game, and as a
baseball fan who came out of the womb watch
ing the sport, it really is a sad time.
To think that players I watched and emulated
while I was growing up are cheaters makes me
absolutely sick.
Professional baseball has been played for
well over 100 years, and it’s amazing that some
players nowadays have the nerve to drag the
game’s integrity through the dirt.
So with the season just around the corner,
baseball is down to its last strike to rectify the
game that I and millions of others have loved
their entire lives.
claytonjones@ daily emerald, com
SKIPPER UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY
Erik R. Bishoff I Photographer
Oregon sophomore pole vaulter Tommy Skipper will be sidelined for an estimated 4-6 weeks during the
outdoor track and field season after undergoing successful knee surgery last week. The Sandy native
underwent an arthoscopic procedure March 21 to repair a small tear in the medial meniscus in his left
knee. According to doctors, the procedure went well. The injury occurred in mid-February, though Skipper
opted to compete in three meets afterward, capturing two titles and a second place finish in the process.
The two-time NCAA champion hopes to return to competition by early May.
■ Duck golf
Women,
men place
in top five
at tourney
The Oregon men placed fifth as
the women were edged out for
first by one stroke by California
BYSCOTTJ. ADAMS
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The Oregon men and women defended their
home turf well last week. Both teams earned
top-five finishes in their respective fields at the
Oregon Duck Invitational. For the men, valu
able ground was gained toward earning an
NCAA Regional spot. The Ducks finished ahead
of nine other teams in their region competing
at the tournament.
The Oregon women played well en route to
recording a team total score of 909. However, it
was one stroke too many as California edged
out the Ducks with a final round of 302 that
gave the Golden Bears the team title. It was Ore
gon's second consecutive second place finish at
the Oregon Duck Invitational.
Johnna Nealy and Kim McCready of Oregon
continued their successful ways as both carded
a final round 76. Their teammate Erin Andrews
also delivered a strong performance. The jun
ior from Las Vegas tied for 15th place at 231 —
her best finish of the season.
The individual title proved as close a race as
the team title. Three-time defending individual
champion Kim Welch of Washington State ap
peared on track to win her fourth Oregon Duck
Invitational title until she faltered in the final
round. Welch bogeyed on hole No. 16 and set
tled for a score of 76. It would not be enough to
hold off a late rally by Kay Hoey of Long Beach
State. The 49er kicked down the door to first
GOLF, page 10
Big Ten answers ridicule,
sends two to Final Four
BY NANCY ARMOUR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Excuse the Big Ten if it gloats a
bit these days.
Dissed and dismissed all year as being
weaker than the other power conferences,
the Big Ten is showing its mettle when it
counts. After putting three teams in the re
gional finals of the NCAA tournament, the
Big Ten is sending Illinois and Michigan
State to the Final Four this weekend.
For those keeping score, that’s one more Fi
nal Four team than the vaunted ACC. And two
more than either the Big East or the Big 12.
“We’re proud of our teams and our players,”
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said Monday.
“You don’t take it too seriously. You’d like peo
ple to say nice things instead of nof-so-nice
things. But I think the criticism, to the extent
there was some, I don’t think it was justified.”
But knocking the Big Ten has become the
thing to do in recent years. Critics say it isn’t as
strong as it once was, with an RPI this year that
was sixth-best among the elite conferences and
only three teams in the final Top 25. Others say
it can’t compare with the ACC.
After Illinois lost for the first time this season,
it kept its No. 1 ranking, but 22 voters went for
North Carolina, a team with three losses.
Delany disputes all that and can rattle off the
numbers to back it up. The Big Ten had seven
teams in the top 50 and beat 32 of the top 50
ranked teams. Big Ten teams also won 70 per
cent of their 110 nonconference games.
Those who claim the Big Ten is too plodding?
Delany said the ACC averaged 71 points a game,
a mere three points ahead of the Big Ten.
And when it comes time for the NCAA tour
nament, few conferences match the Big Ten. It
has the most appearances of any conference
and trails only the ACC in victories (309-278).
This is the third time since 1999 the conference
had two teams in the Final Four, and the sev
enth time since 1976.
Since 1997, more than half of the conference
— six teams — has made at least one Final Four
appearance. Michigan State, who will play
North Carolina on Friday night, is playing in its
fourth Final Four since 1997.
“When they put it on the TV screen, the con
ferences and the records, we’re on top right
now, so it’s a good feeling,” Illinois coach Bruce
Weber said. “I know our coaches in the league
have been upset about it really since last spring.
... Our image is being hurt, because it mainly
affects recruiting.
“So it’s got to be a positive to have two
teams, to have them win in overtime, us
win in an unbelievable fashion,” Weber
added. “Hopefully it will give us some good
publicity nationwide.”
IN BRIEF
Bree Fuqua passes mark
on Oregon's shot put record
Senior Bree Fuqua, a member of the Ore
gon women’s track and field team, set a
personal record and broke the school shot
put record last week in her home state at
the Montana Open.
The Poison, Mont., native put the shot
53 feet and nine inches to finish first in the
event and take the Oregon record previous
ly held by Quenna Beasley, who set the last
mark of 53-1 1/2 in 1983.
The 5-foot-9 thrower, who has been a
Duck hurler for two years, also recorded a
personal-best in discus, winning that event
with a 165-4 heave.
Fuqua’s new shotput record is more
than one foot better than her former per
sonal record of 52-8 3/4, which was set last
year at the NCAA West Regional. With
that, she qualified for the collegiate finale
but came up short, finishing 24th with a
49-5 put.
In the 2004 indoor season, Fuqua set a
new indoor shotput school record with a
season-best 51-3 1/2 toss.
Prior to joining Oregon’s track and field
squad, Fuqua competed for three seasons
at Wisconsin where she set — and still
holds — the school’s indoor (51-3) and
outdoor (51-5 1/2) shotput records.
— Stephen Miller