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