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Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, March 31, 2005
“Somebody wants to do a pay-per-view race
between me and (Tom) Brady; sign me up. ”
New Dallas QB Drew Bledsoe acknowledging his lack of speed as well as his competitors’
■ In my opinion
BRIAN SMITH
LEFTY SPECIALIST
A tribute to
imaginative
inventors in
sports world
As kids, most of us who played sports
either played football, baseball, basketball or
soccer, right?
How come nobody wanted to play
Gaelic football?
Lawn bowling? Curling? Cricket?
Hockey? (Kidding. Well, no. Not really.)
Some of the sports have rules that are set in
stone, some are more flexible.
Some of them were games in which we partici
pated during eighth grade gym class for two
weeks, sandwiched somewhere between coun
try line dancing and dodgeball.
Remember those?
The ones that are just slight variations of popu
lar sports, only with more obscure rules in an ef
fort to be deemed “original. ”
Remember those?
Most of the time, people (including me) get so
focused on the big three or four sports that the re
sults of, for example, the World Paddleball Cham
pionships, go unnoticed.
Even though paddleball may not make the
highlights on ESPN, it is just one of hundreds of
thousands of “sports” that exist worldwide.
tor example:
Korfball, anyone?
It’s basketball minus the dribbling and mi
nus a player, created by a Dutch school
teacher in 1895. Players are not allowed to
shoot if they are being defended.
(Insert Portland Trail Blazers joke here.)
One of the more interesting sports is hashing.
(Insert second Portland Trail Blazers joke here.)
Hashing combines the athleticism and skill of
running with the athleticism and skill of drinking
a beer after running a predetermined distance,
namely to the next bar.
It is said that hashing was created in 1938 by a
group of British company men, who started a
hares and hounds running group. After they fin
ished, the men would indulge in a bit of ale to cap
off the evening.
Naturally.
According to the original charter, the goals of
the group were: to promote physical fitness
among members, to get rid of weekend hang
overs, to acquire a good thirst and satisfy it with
beer and to convince the older members that they
are not as old as they feel.
Clearly, this has to become one of the next
Olympic sports! Who needs diving?
I would be riveted to see a harrier four miles
and four pints into the race, trying to complete
the stretch run without using the fan-provided
vomit bag.
Is running and drinking really a sport? I guess.
Why not?
The broader point here is that there is no con
crete definition as to what a sport is, so if you en
joy running and drinking and decide to call it a
sport, fine. Enjoy and have fun.
Just to let you know, there is less than a year
until the next International Rutabaga Curling
Championships in Ithaca, New York.
If that’s the kind of thing that floats your boat.
Just don’t expect to see it on ESPN any
time soon.
briansmith@dailyememld.com
■ Women's basketball
Ducks set standard for future teams
Oregon caps off its 21-10 season
with a trip to the NCAA tourney
and a No. 2 finish in the Pac-10
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon women's basketball team
achieved most, if not all, of the realistic goals it
set at the beginning of the season.
The Ducks finished the regular season tied
for second place in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Several players were recognized for indi
vidual accomplishments.
And they made an appearance in the
women’s NCAA tournament for the first time
since 1999.
The squad also saw a few of its most re
lied-upon, beloved players finish their col
legiate careers.
After starting the season at 7-0, Oregon suf
fered its only loss at McArthur Court to then
ranked No. 10 Ohio State. Bev Smith’s veteran
team went on to a 9-2 start and opened the
Pac-10 season with a pair of wins at home
against California and former No. 5 Stanford,
who reached the Elite Eight and earned a
No. 1 ranking in the nation to end the season.
The Ducks finished with a 12-6 Pac-10
record and went undefeated at home against
conference opponents.
Oregon’s win over Stanford earned it the
No. 2 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament in San
Jose, Calif., where the Ducks defeated Wash
ington in the first game before losing to Ari
zona State in the semifinals.
Nevertheless, tough play, a strong regular
season finish and noticeable resilience caught
enough of the NCAA selection committee’s at
tention for it to award Oregon with a No. 10
seed in the Seattle Regional of the Big Dance.
It was a lower seed than the Ducks expect
ed, and they showed the committee that they
may have deserved a higher seed with a
minor upset of seventh-seeded Texas Christian
in the first round.
However, Oregon hit a brick wall in the
second round when it faced No. 2-seeded
Baylor. The Lady Bears defeated the Ducks
by a 23-point margin and have since reached
the Final Four.
Though they were without a win in their fi
nal game, the Ducks expressed an overall
sense of accomplishment in their play.
“I think we had an awesome season,” said
point guard Corrie Mizusawa, whose team fin
ished 21-10 overall. “Everyone marked us as
not going to the NCAA Tournament and not
finishing high in the conference, but we ac
complished those goals. It was a phenomenal
job of fighting through adversity.
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Oregon’s Brandi Davis, left, and Cathrine Kraayeveld celebrate after the Ducks knocked off then-No. 5 Stanford,
62-58, at McArthur Court on Dec. 29. It was the only loss that the Cardinal suffered in Pac-10 play.
“I’m disappointed that we lost, but we had a
championship season. We played hard and
worked hard,” she said.
Of course, what’s a true season without the
unfortunate inclusion of injuries as a result of
hard work?
Junior guard Chelsea Wagner tore the anterior
cruciate ligament in her right knee against Wash
ington on Jan. 13 at Mac Court.
“Losing Chelsea this year was tough for us be
cause she was a really tough player for us both
offensively and defensively,” Smith said. “To lose
her and to battle back into the postseason says a
lot about this team.”
Eventually, junior Brandi Davis filled the
shooting guard position and provided big offen
sive numbers in a string of crucial games down
the stretch.
Seniors Cathrine Kraayeveld and Mizusawa
also dealt with minor injuries and illnesses. Eerily
enough, everything happened against the
Huskies. In the same game that the Ducks lost
Wagner for the season, Mizusawa sat out with
flu-like symptoms.
In the next meeting between the Ducks and
Huskies, Kraayeveld developed a virally infected
left elbow, limiting her shooting ability. Those
BASKETBALL, page 14
■ Women's lacrosse
Oregon battles veteran North Carolina
Nine of the Tar Heels' 12 starters from last season are on this
year's fifth-ranked squad, including seven of the top eight scorers
BY STEFANIE LOH
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The Oregon women’s lacrosse team (2-8)
travels to North Carolina to face the Tar Heels on
Friday and Davidson on Saturday.
North Carolina is ranked fifth in the nation
and boasts an 8-2 record. Yet Oregon’s head
coach Jen Larsen seems unfazed.
“We’re just going to play our hearts out, play
60 minutes of intense lacrosse and play better
than we played in our previous game,” she said.
Larsen said she doesn’t approach games with
the win-loss columns in mind.
“I like to take things one half at a time. 1 don’t
talk about wins. If we win but didn’t play well,
then that’s not an accomplishment,” she said.
The Tar Heels’ only two losses this season
and games against tough teams like North Car
olina right now could lead to more wins in
coming years.
Until then, Larsen is willing to be patient and
watch her team grow.
“At times, 1 do wish we had some upperclass
men. But at the same time, I’m really happy
with the group we have, because this is by far
the most motivated group of girls whom I’ve
ever worked with,” she said.
After facing North Carolina, the Ducks will
face an opponent on more equal footing in
Davidson. The Wildcats have started this season
3-5 after finishing the 2004 season with a disap
pointing 4-13 record.
“What I want to focus on this weekend is
countering our opponents’ scoring, not hav
ing dry spells of our own and finishing strong.
Regardless of what happens, I want us to play
a full game and just keep pushing forward,”
said Larsen.
have come at the hands of top-ranked North
western and defending NCAA Division i cham
pion Virginia.
North Carolina narrowly missed out on a bid
to the 2004 NCAA Tournament, posting a
9-7 record overall. The Tar Heels retained nine
of the 12 players from their starting lineup last
year, as well as seven of their top eight scorers.
North Carolina’s experience could prove over
whelming for the Ducks, who are by all stan
dards a young team. Fully aware of her team’s
youth, Larsen said she doesn’t feel any pressure
to produce wins right now.
“Since it’s our very first year, we’re all new to
the program, and everyone is just trying to learn
and improve together,” she said.
The Ducks are building a team of the future,