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Oregon Daily Emerald Thursday, May 19, 2005 “I’ve always been competitive. I've always been in sports. I couldn't see myself not being the biggest dope man. Former Dallas Cowboy Nate Newton after serving two and a half years for drug-running charges ■ In my opinion CLAYTON JONES SEVENTH INNING STRETCH Interleague play will be plagued by lame games Major League Baseball’s Interleague play be gins Saturday with the kick-off of “rivalry week end,” marking the creation’s eighth year of try ing to get people into stands as baseball’s popularity fades. But hasn’t the novelty worn off? Sure, New York’s Subway Series is always a hot one, bur do fans really care about their team play ing a “rival” from another league? In Chicago, Cub fans have a lot more to worry about than facing their cross-town rival (i.e. Can their starting pitching stay healthy?). I bet White Sox fans are eager to beat the Cubs and try to move out from under their shadow in order to remind Chicago that they have been the better team this year. The other matchup that may actually mean something is between the Los Angeles teams. The Dodgers and the Angels have both started the season strong, and this year will be the first that these teams face off with the city of Los An geles represented in both of their names. After that, nothing. Most of these matchups either don’t have any significance because the teams are playing bad baseball or because the so-called “rivals” are not rivals at all. In the Bay Area series, both the A’s and the Giants have been disappointing. As a Cincinnati fan, it pains me to say that the battle for Ohio really isn’t a battle at all. Houston versus Texas? The state has two teams in the NBA playoffs, so I don’t think baseball will really be that impor tant to them. In the sunshine state, Tampa Bay plays Florida. I mentioned Tampa Bay, so this series doesn’t matter. St. Louis plays Kansas City ... who knew that the Royals were still a major league team? Milwaukee travels to play Minnesota, ooh yah, eh? While they won’t be playing on ice up there, the teams will be battling inside the dome. In a matchup of old versus new, Atlanta and Boston square off. Now situated in Atlanta, the Braves played in Boston way back in the day. This would seem interesting if the Red Sox weren’t already involved in arguably the best ri valry in sports with the Yankees. Philadelphia visits Baltimore, but the big ques tion is: Why aren’t the Orioles facing their new neighbors, the Washington Nationals? Is it be cause the Nationals, formerly the Montreal Ex pos, are facing Toronto? I’m sure Canadians are eager to welcome home the team that left them. Seattle will host San Diego. I don’t know why; I guess it’s because they are on the West Coast. And in the there-is-nobody-close-and-you have-no-rival contest, Arizona plays Detroit. Well, at least they are playing somebody from the other league; Colorado and Pittsburgh are the leftovers in the National League and get to play each other. So, Major League Baseball, I beg you: Please go back to the old style; National League should only face the American League in the World Series. The novelty is gone. claytonjones® dailyememld.com ■ Women's track and field Zane Rrn | Photographer Oregon freshman Kasey Harwood, left, and senior Kayla Mellott will compete in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA West Regional meet May 27-28. Hurdlers study science of strides With an impulsive adjustment in her footwork, senior Kayla Mellott set a new personal record BY STEPHEN MILLER SPORTS REPORTER Covering 400 meters of ground and clearing intermittently placed obstacles in about one minute re sembles a graceful art form from the stands, but is treated as a sci ence on the track. Like all other events within the track and field sport, running a 400-hurdles race requires preci sion and extensive practice. Hurdlers such as Oregon senior Kayla Mellott have to calculate how many strides they are going to take in between hurdles and which leg they are going to leap from on each approach. “Generally, you figure out what your stride pattern is going to be, and then you practice it and use it in every race,” Mellott said. “I’ve used the same stride pattern for the last two years.” Last weekend, Mellott adjusted her stride pattern in between the preliminaries and Sunday’s final race at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships. “It’s kind of a different idea to switch it up at the last minute,” Mellott said. “I’d been thinking for a while that I needed to change it a little bit, so I just fig ured, ‘It’s the Pac-lOs, why not?”’ Teammate Kasey Harwood, who ran a season-worst 1:02.69 in the preliminaries, thought it was a daring but impressive move. “It’s unusual for someone this late in the season and this late in their career to be changing things like that,” said Harwood, who still holds a regional qualifying mark, “but it was a bold move on her part, and I admire her for that.” Mellott’s time of 1:00.24 in Sat urday’s preliminary race was not bad. It was .09 seconds slower than a personal record she set a week earlier at the Oregon Invitational. “We noticed on her video in the preliminaries that she was adding too many strides," Oregon assis tant coach Rock Light said. Mellott said she presented the idea of changing her stride pattern to Light shortly before the final race. Light said it made sense but that "it’s hard to maintain the same stride pattern throughout the race. ” Right before the gun went off, Mellott made her final decision. “It’s kind of like breaking a habit,” she said. “It’s definitely breaking away from what you’re used to in a race, which is usually not recommended.” The move paid off as Mellott finished fourth and scored five HURDLERS, page 16 ■ Men’s golf Ducks aim for NCAA bid at Regionals Oregon, seeded No. 21, starts play today against 26 teams, including Pac-10 champ Washington BY SCOITJ. ADAMS DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER The Oregon men’s golf team tees off today in the first round of the NCAA West Regional in Palo Alto, Calif. The stakes are high for the No. 21-seeded Ducks as they and 26 other squads will compete at the par-71 Stanford Golf Course for bids to the NCAA Champi onships in June. The top 10 finish ing teams will be awarded spots. The Ducks are primed for a strong showing at the Regional and should have a good shot at qualifying for the Champi onships if they play as success fully as they have been playing. Oregon lias been one of the hottest teams in the Pacific-10 Conference this spring, finishing no worse than seventh in five straight tournaments. So far, the highlight this season for the Ducks has been their first-place finish in March at the rain shortened Western Invitational. Following their fifth-place umsn ai me eac-iu cmampi onships in April, Oregon head coach Steve Nosier credited the Ducks’ turnaround in spring to his players’ attitudes on the golf course. “The boys have a very competi tive nature,” Nosier said. “They play hard, and they never settle for anything.” Leading the Ducks into the three-round tournament will like ly be the same five golfers that Nosier has used nearly all this season: sophomores Matt Ma and Jay Snyder, and juniors Gregg LaVoie, Justin St. Clair and Chris Dukeminier. Ma has found his way into the numher one spot on Oregon s ros ter thanks to his recent top-15 fin ishes in the last five tournaments. Ma currently leads the team with an average score of 72.6. Should the Ducks’ season come to an end at the Regional, Ma may very well grab one of the two invites to the Championships awarded to the top two golfers playing from non qualifying teams. LaVoie is the lone Duck who has previous experience in Re gional play. LaVoie was a part of Oregon’s 2003 squad that ad vanced to the NCAA Champi onships. The Ducks failed to GOLF, page 16
