Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, October 6, 2005
“If I ever need a brain transplant, I
want one from a sportswriter, because
I’ll know it’s never been used. ”
Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, who has been
criticized in the media for staying too long in the coaching ranks.
■ In my opinion
JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
THREE TO WIN
Finding
'real' person
challenges
reporters
The voice on the other end of the phone in
terview was calm and collected. His answers to
questions were concise and clear.
Who would have known I was talking to
Rafer Alston, the trouble-making, coach-punch
ing, girlfriend-beating point guard? At least
that’s how he appears after years of media re
ports. It makes it hard at times to sift out facts
from fiction.
Tuesday’s news story announcing Alston’s
trade to the Houston Rockets listed him as tem
peramental in the headline.
Alston, a former point guard at a nearby
community college in my hometown of Camar
illo, Calif., hasn’t been afraid to make headlines
in his six-year NBA career. The New York na
tive, who played at Ventura Community Col
lege, later transferred to Fresno State and made
a roundabout trip to the NBA.
More people know the New York streetball
legend by his nickname “Skip to My Lou.” He’s
been featured numerous times on AND1 videos
filled with dribbling, dunking and you-name-it
highlights. Sure, Alston was talented, but crit
ics said he didn’t have NBA game or the ability
to lead an offense, instead relying on flash and
little substance.
His NbA career started stow witn tnree years
in Milwaukee under then-coach George Karl.
Alston averaged only 38 games per year over
that period and played less than 14 minutes
per game.
Alston’s break came with Toronto in 2002-03.
It was a 47-game stint, but it did enough to
show NBA personnel his potential. He hooked
up with Dwayne Wade and Lamar Odom with
the Miami Heat in 2003-04. Alston had his op
portunity and he flourished, playing all 82
games — starting in 28 — and averaged 10.2
points per game. He consistently splashed 3
pointers, averaging two per game at a
37-percent clip.
Happy ending right? Not exactly.
Miami lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Con
ference Semifinals with Alston hoisting a last
second prayer in the series clincher.
Miami revamped its roster, shipping Caron
Butler, Odom and Brian Grant to the Los Ange
les Lakers for superstar Shaquille (insert clever
nickname here) O’Neal. Alston had an offer to
stay in Miami, but instead chose a more lucra
tive offer from his old team in Toronto.
Still think happy ending? Basketball player
earns big bucks after rough start. Should we
cue the music and start the credits?
Again, not quite.
Toronto’s rebuilding gave Alston a platform
to shine, and he did for a while, averaging ca
reer highs of 14.2 points and 6.4 assists in 80
games last season.
Success couldn’t hide Alston’s troubled rela
tionship with coach Sam Mitchell, a talented
role-player during his 13-year career.
The acrimony between the pair culminated
DRANSFELDT, page 14
■ Club Sports
Running, soccer kick off seasons
The running club started strong at the Willamette
Invitational; men's soccer opens Sunday in Bend
BY WILL SEYMOUR
AND JACOB MAY
FREELANCE REPORTERS
The University of Oregon Run
ning Club began its season with a
fast start at the Willamette Invita
tional on Saturday; both the men’s
and women’s teams placed in the
top six, and the day saw a
few Ducks produce impressive
individual performances.
Rain was in the air in Salem, and
the course at Bush Park sported a
sheen of mud, but die adverse con
ditions rolled like water off the
Ducks’ backs. The women’s team
took fifth-place honors in the open
division, with an average time,
which is taken from the top five fin
ishers on the team, of 20 minutes,
7 seconds over the five-kilometer
course. Crossing the line first for the
Ducks was graduate student
Tiffany Beechy with a time of
17:59, a performance that earned
her third place overall.
“The beginning of the course
was sloppy and we were the last
team to run, but the conditions
were ideal for me,” Beechy said.
Sarah Piazza rounded out the
top 20 in the women’s competi
tion, clocking in at 19:29 despite
just returning from a trip
to France.
The men’s team also acquitted
themselves well, conquering the
eight-kilometer course in an aver
age time of 26:47. Another gradu
ate student garnered the top indi
vidual time on the team: Brandon
Michael completed the course in
25:53, placing him 35th out of 164
competitors. Freshman David
Reid stopped the clock at 26:38, a
very strong showing for his first
eight-kilometer race.
“(Reid) is freaking fast,”
Beechy said.
This encouraging showing by
Oregon bodes well for the rest of
the season.
“It was a good early season run,”
senior Kevin Sully said.
Coach Tom Heinonen returns for
his third year in charge of the club,
and brings with him enthusiasm
for the sport.
“With Tom, everyone enjoys
(running) and gets excited,”
Beechy said.
The Ducks running club also
boasts a wealth of youth and expe
rience, which will serve them well
both this year and in the future.
“We have a good mix of people,
from grad students to freshmen,”
Sully said.
Interest in the club is also on
the rise.
“We have 40 members now and
30 others showed interest at the re
cent Club Sports open house,” run
ning club coordinator Justin
Samudio said.
Another sure indicator of the
success that the club has had in re
cent years is that it has seen mem
bers move on to more prestigious
squads and competitions, including
the Oregon intercollegiate track and
field team.
“We’ve had some losses to pri
vate clubs and the intercollegiate
team, and that has sapped us a lit
tle bit,” Beechy said.
The Ducks travel to Estacada for
a meet next week, and then race in
the OSU Beaver Classic in Corvallis
on Oct. 22 and the Pre’s Trail Open
in Eugene on Nov. 6.
Club soccer
With 11 returning players and a
6-1 record that won the Cascade
Collegiate Soccer League last year,
the men’s club soccer team has
high aspirations for this season.
Soccer coordinator Patrick Drake
believes the team has a chance to
win the national title if it can to play
to its ability.
“We need more solid attacking
and finishing” Drake said. “If we
could finish on the opportunities
(last year) we could have had
some blowouts.”
The regular season mostly con
sists of nearby small community
and private colleges, where win
ning is not a difficult task. The
main challenge during the regular
season comes from Oregon State,
Kristen Wheeler, left, Rosie Sweetman, center, and Devlin Timony-Balyeat warm
up before running-club practice Wednesday afternoon.
which gave the men’s team its only
loss last year. The team is looking
forward a chance to repay the favor
to the Beavers.
Drake suggested that the team
lower its intensity while playing
against smaller schools to keep
from embarrassing its opponents.
He believes the team should “focus
on a lot of possession play. Keep
(the ball) controlled 70 percent of
the game.”
This year the team is looking for
senior defensive midfielder Chris
Platt and senior center forward
Brian Mikolaitas to help carry
the load.
The first game this season is
Sunday against Central Oregon
Community College in Bend.
The game will be the first test in
what is expected to be an easy ride
to the collegiate national tourna
ment that will take place Nov. 17
19 in Tliscaloosa, Ala.
Until then, the team will try to
meld and strengthen itself against
teams that are unlikely to pose
much of a challenge. The team
hopes it will be able to play at a
more intense pace once it reaches
higher quality opponents in
the tournament.
After the fall season, the club
soccer team will continue to play
through the winter in an indoor
league and will play another sea
son of soccer in the spring.
TAKING THE DIVE
Junior
setter
Heather
Madison
dives for a
ball against
Stanford on
Sept. 30.
Oregon
travels to
Los Angeles
to face
UCLA on
Friday and
USC on
Saturday.
IN BRIEF
Men's golf takes on Big
Ten, Pac-10 Challenge
The Oregon men’s golf team
finished 13th at the Big Ten/Pa
cific-10 Challenge in Glenview,
111., Tliesday.
The Ducks (905) improved their
score each day and finished 20
strokes behind Illinois for a
top-10 placing.
Gregg LaVoie shot consecutive
par rounds of 72 to finish tied for
18th. He began the final day in
41st but climbed into the top 20.
LaVoie has four top-25 finishes
in his last five tournaments dating
back to last season. The only
blemish on that record is a 44th
place finish at last month’s North
west Collegiate Classic in Corval
lis in which he finished eight
strokes out of the top 10.
LaVoie was one of three Ducks
that qualified for the U.S. Amateur
last August. Ted Whitney and
Derek Sipe also earned the honor.
LaVoie also earned All-America
honors last season.
Oregon’s Matt Ma tied for 46th
with 226 strokes, followed by
teammates Joey Benedetti (tied for
53rd with 228), Sipe (tied for 60th
with 233) and Jay Snyder (67th
with 237).
Northwestern (860) defeated
Minnesota, by three strokes to
earn first place.
The Big Ten won its first in the
series over the Pac-10 by 51
strokes. The top six team scores
were added by each conference to
determine the winner.
Other Pac-10 schools were Ari
zona State in third (865), UCLA
fourth (868), Washington fifth
(874), Arizona tied for seventh
(885), USC 12th (899) and
California 14th (920).
— Shawn Miller