Oregon daily emerald., April 19, 2005, Image 5

Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, April 19, 2005
“Enough is enough... I expect Joe Torre,
his complete coaching staff and
the team to turn this around. ”
Yankee owner George Steinbrenner on the Yankees’ 4-8 start
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Numskull
fans: Keep
your seats
in the stands
Really? More stupid fans?
In case you haven’t heard, an idiot in
Boston took a swipe at Yankees outfielder
Gary Sheffield as he was fielding a ball into
the right-field corner, and another moron
dumped a beer on him during a game Thurs
day night at Fenway Park.
Sheffield said he was struck in the face by
fan Chris House, then pushed him away and
threw the ball back into the infield. He then
turned back to House but restrained himself
as a Fenway Park security guard got in be
tween the two men.
The sports world hasn’t moved far past the De
troit/Indiana melee that had players jumping into
the stands and fans pouring onto the court.
Fans just don’t seem to understand that they
aren’t part of the game.
Buying a ticket doesn’t give a fan the right to
have any effect on the outcome of a game.
So fans: Buy a ticket, shove down a sausage
dog, chug a beer, boo, cheer — and keep your ass
in the stands.
Don t get a high-and-mighty complex because
you think you pay the athlete’s salary and that
gives you the right to say and do what you want
to them.
A fan can still yell about someone’s mama
(though it isn’t very tasteful), tell them how
much they stink and how they couldn’t hit water
if they fell out of a boat.
Just stay out of the way of the game.
Tfust me, I bet Cub fan Steve Bartman (who al
most had to go into the witness protection pro
gram) wishes he had never stuck his glove in
front of Moises Alou in foul ground during that
fateful October night in the 2003 playoffs.
I mean, what’s going to happen next?
I can see it now... in Boston.
“Jorge Posada chases a pop-up toward the
stands and, oh! He catches a clothesline from a
fan and now has a hot dog stuffed down his
throat and peanut shells tossed on him.”
Or how about this... in New York.
“Manny Ramirez runs back for a fly ball to
deep left and, oh! A bucket of popcorn is dumped
on his head, and he is being whipped by Yankee
fans with red rope licorice. ”
Now that might be a little extreme, but you get
the point.
But what (or who) is to blame for this incident?
I’ve heard every excuse from alcohol sales to the
proximity of seats to the field.
There is only one thing to blame in these inci
dents — the fan.
The Red Sox did a great job of disciplining
the fans in this ordeal by revoking House’s
season tickets and prohibiting the fan that
dumped beer on Sheffield from buying tickets
for the rest of the season.
I also would like to applaud the quick reaction
of that security guard. It could’ve gotten ugly.
My only hope now is that crowd I.Q. increases,
and fans understand they pay to watch a game
— not to become part of it.
claytonjones@ dailyemerald, com
■ Men's tennis
Ducks fail to defeat Washington
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Senior Sven Swinnen played his final home match Saturday and was defeated by
Washington's Alex Vlaski in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
B -ry* ••
™.
Seniors Sven Swinnen and Manuel Kost played
the final home game of their collegiate careers
BY ALEX TAM
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
Washington associate head
coach Chris Russell arrived in Eu
gene on Saturday for the first time
since vacating the Oregon men’s
tennis team’s head coach posi
tion last September — a month
before fall season began — a
decision that shocked many of
his players.
Russell, who coached the
Ducks for nine seasons, main
tains it was the right decision for
him and his family. However,
he added that it was still difficult
to leave behind a team he took
to the NCAA Championships
last season.
“It’s a good situation for my
family,” Russell said. “That’s
what the whole move was all
about. With my wife’s family
up there, it was the right thing
to do.”
After Saturday’s match, in
which the llth-ranked Huskies
defeated Oregon, 6-1, Russell
walked over to each of his former
players to hug them and wish
them well. For two Ducks,
seniors Sven Swinnen and
Manuel Kost, the match was the
last they would play at home in
their college careers.
“You ask people around the
country about Oregon tennis, and
they know Sven and Manu at this
point,” Russell said. “As far as
what they’ve meant to the pro
gram, to the success of the pro
gram, they have been the founda
tion. Without those two guys, we
wouldn’t have been able to re
cruit the other guys. It’ll be tough
to see them go.”
Swinnen, 24, has had his finest
season at Oregon, ranked No. 14
in the nation with a 16-4 dual
singles record. Kost has also
been a staple of the men’s pro
gram with 54 career singles victo
ries that ranks him seventh in
Oregon history.
However, Swinnen and Kost
endured defeats in each of their
singles matches. Swinnen fell to
the Huskies’ Alex Vlaski in three
sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Kost then lost
his match to the nations 57th
ranked player Christoph Palman
shofer in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
Swinnen nearly pulled out a
victory after taking his match to a
third set, but two break points by
Vlaski in the final frame sealed
the win.
“It was a close match, but I had
a little bit of a slow start in the
first set, then I came back strong
in the second,” Swinnen said.
“Then in the third set, he broke
me, and he served it out.”
While Swinnen was upset with
the loss in his final home game,
he emphasized overall enjoyment
throughout his career at Oregon.
“It’s been a great four years
here, and there was an awesome
crowd here,” he said. “We played
great doubles, but it was too bad
we couldn’t win in singles.”
The Ducks took the doubles
point to take an early 1-0 lead,
but the Huskies came back to win
all six singles matches.
Oregon head coach Kevin
Kowalik said he was proud of
the way his team competed,
despite struggling through the
season with an 8-15 overall
record and 1-6 in Pacific-10
Conference play.
“They were just better than
us; that was the bottom line,”
Kowalik said. “We came out with
a lot of energy and won the
doubles point, which is what
we always need. For us to be this
close and push them to this limit,
it’s good for us even though
we lost.”
Saturday’s contest was also the
most heavily attended of the
season by fans for both teams. It
helped create a “hostile” and
“loud” environment, Russell said.
“Our guys did a very good job
of staying focused,” Russell said
of his Huskies. “It was a tough
environment. It was hostile, and
you could feel the energy, and I
thought we responded well.”
When asked about the future
of the program he helped build
for nearly a decade, Russell said
he has nothing but positive
feelings for the Ducks and
their coach.
“As tough as it was to leave
here and to leave these guys,
they’re in good hands,” he said.
“The program is going in the
right direction.”
The Oregon men now prepare
for the Pac-10 Championships,
which begin Thursday in
Ojai, Calif.
■ Men's golf
Oregon ties for seventh with Arizona
Sophomore Matt Ma led the Ducks with a score of 71 in the final
round and 209 overall, putting him in a tie for second place
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The Oregon men’s golf team ended its regu
lar season with a finish equal to Pacific-10
Conference foe No. 24 Arizona last weekend
at the U.S. Intercollegiate in Palo Alto, Calif.
Both teams carded a combined team score
of 878 at the par 70, 6,742-yard Stanford Golf
Course, giving Oregon its second consecutive
seventh-place finish in tournament play.
Sophomore Matt Ma led the charge for the
Ducks, shooting a final round 71 on Sunday
that placed him in a three-way tie for second
place with Rob Grube of Stanford and Taylor
Wood of No. 19 Southern California. Ma has
finished in the top three in two of the past
three tournaments, and his continued success
has not gone unnoticed.
“Matt has been in a real solid groove for the
last four tournaments,” Oregon head coach
Steve Nosier said. “It’s really exciting seeing
him get into that zone.”
Ma’s final score of 209 matched his best
finish since donning the green and yellow
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