Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, October 13, 2005
“If winning isn’t everything, why do
they keep score?’’
Legendary former NFL head coach Vince Lombardi.
■ In my opinion
JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
THREE TO WIN
Saints and
Hornets
should not
return home
The New Orleans Saints and NBA’s Hornets
will never permanently return to Louisiana.
It’s a powerful statement, but it’s a possibil
ity people have ignored since Hurricane
Katrina ravaged the area and left hundreds of
thousands homeless and more than a
thousand dead. The hurricane flooded the re
gion and the Saints’ home arena, the Super
dome, became an emergency home to the
suddenly homeless.
The Saints have become an inspirational
story, moving to San Antonio and having their
first “home game” in New York against the Gi
ants. Both Saints and Hornets officials have
been positive, saying they will return to New
Orleans. Saying is one thing, but consistently
putting forth this idea when a permanent
return is unlikely is unconscionable.
To maintain its New Orleans ties this sea
son, the Saints are playing four games in Ba
ton Rouge at Louisiana State University.
New Orleans will take months, more likely
years, to regain any sense of normalcy. City
officials and citizens are more focused on liv
ing conditions and rebuilding the city. Profes
sional sports are secondary and rightfully so.
The Hornets, New Orleans’ other profes
sional sports franchise, decided early to move.
New Orleans Arena, where the Hornets
regularly play, is damaged and could take
months to repair. They settled on Oklahoma
City with six home games scheduled to be
played at LSU. San Diego, Calif., Anaheim,
Calif., Tampa, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn., were
also considered.
Temporary situations, both the baints and
Hornets say, but everyone has seemingly for
gotten newspaper headlines from just before
Katrina hit.
The Saints have long been rumored to be
moving after years of disagreement between
owner Tom Benson and city officials over a
new stadium to replace the Superdome. In
May, attorney Stanley Rosenberg said Benson
was considering moving the Saints via an out
clause in the contract with the Superdome
after the 2005 season.
The article said that Benson would be
responsible for $81 million owed to the
city for subsidies he has received since 2001.
The interested cities included Albuquerque,
N.M., Los Angeles and — surprise, surprise
— San Antonio.
On Oct. 7, it was reported that a clause in
the Saints’ contract with the Superdome may
allow them to leave without compensation.
Damage to the Superdome could allow Ben
son to take advantage of a 90-day window
where he could void all contractual obliga
tions with the state of Louisiana; he could
then move his team by declaring “force ma
jeure.” The opening extends from Aug. 29,
when Katrina hit, to Nov. 28.
I won’t be surprised if after this season the
Saints decided to stay leave New Orleans
HURRICANE, page 14
■ Duck cross country
Harriers ready for pre-NCAA, meet
The Ducks will use the meet
at Indiana State University
to work on team strategy
BY KIM GAV1GLIO
FREELANCE REPORTER
The time has come to see what the Ducks
are made of as they begin the crucial second
half of the cross country season.
This weekend Oregon’s cross country
team travels east to Terre Haute, Ind., to join
77 men’s teams and 80 women’s
teams for the Pre-NCAA Invite at Indiana
State University.
This meet will be one of the most impor
tant meets for the Ducks this season. The
best teams in the nation will be showcasing
their newly recruited talent and gauging the
competition. The pre-NCAA meet also allows
many of the under-the-radar teams to sur
prise a few people.
As the season continues to progress, so do
the Ducks. They have maintained focus, and
it is definitely paying off for the men and
women of Oregon.
For the first time in five years, the women’s
team has earned a national ranking, coming in
at No. 30 under new head coach Vin Lananna.
Lananna might be new to Oregon, but he is by
no means a novice to the world of running.
Lananna worked as the director of athletics
and physical education at Oberlin College in
Ohio for two years. However, he is mostly
known for serving 11 seasons as the director
of track and field and cross country at Stanford
University during which time his teams won
five national championships and had 36 top
10 finishes.
“I’ve never focused too much on the rank
ings,” Lananna said. “They are a good tool for
promoting the sport of cross country, but they
really don’t have an impact on what we do on
a daily basis.
“We will continue to emphasize both the Pac
10 and NCAA West Regional Championship as a
focus of our season. There is tremendous parity
Geoff Thurner | Oregon Media Services
The Oregon women’s cross country team ranked No. 30 in the recent U.S. Cross Country Coaches Association
poll. It is the team’s first ranking since the 2000 season.
in the conference and the region, so both teams
will need perfect races in order to get to the
NCAA Championship. ”
To help the Ducks accomplish their goal of
qualifying for the NCAA Championship, the
men and women have focused on team strate
gies as well as their individual running per
formances. With more than 300 runners on
the field per heat, striving to close the gap be
tween Oregon’s first and seventh runner will
not be an easy task.
“The men’s team will strive to maintain a
close pack from our second through seventh
runners,” Lananna explained. “Obviously,
Galen Rupp is a solid front runner, but there
are numerous combinations for which athletes
on the men’s team could fill the other spots.
They are all training very well right now.
“The women’s team has a solid pack
through six runners, and we won’t plan to rely
on just one person to compete well. It will be a
true team effort,” Lananna said.
Traveling to Terre Haute will give the Ducks
a taste of the level of competition they will be
facing over the next month and a half. The
men’s race features 18 of the top 25 teams in
the country, and the women’s race will have 9
of the top 10 and 19 of the top 25. Because of
it’s size, Saturday’s meet will be divided into
two separate races for each the men and
women. The men will run an 8K and the
women will run a 6K.
Tentatively, the Ducks competing are
Michael McGrath, Galen Rupp, Jon Thomas,
Scott Wall, Patrick Werhane, Chris Winter and
J.K. Withers. Women competitors likely will
include Dana Buchanan, Katie Leary, Emily
Mathis, Amber McGown, Zoe Nelson, Sarah
Pearson and Sara Schaaf.
“We are concentrating on one meet at a
time,” Lananna said. “We have some tough
races in the next five weeks, and we don’t
want to get too far ahead of ourselves. The en
thusiasm on this team is outstanding, and if
the coaches and athletes can continue that
positive attitude for the rest of the season, I’m
confident that we will achieve success as indi
viduals and as a team.”
■ Men's basketball
Johnson brings strength to front court
The junior college transfer will give the Ducks an intimidating
presence inside to go along with their sharpshooters outside
BY LUKE ANDREWS
SPORTS REPORTER
Fans will have their first chance to meet
Oregon basketball’s newest member, Ivan
Johnson, at Friday’s Midnight Madness at
McArthur Court.
Johnson, a 6-foot-8-inch, 255-pound trans
fer from Los Angeles Southwest College, is
looking to bring a new powerful presence to
the Oregon lineup. With 6-foot-10-inch, 275
pound Mitch Platt redshirting after his second
foot surgery, Oregon head coach Ernie Kent is
hoping Johnson will fill a void for the Ducks.
“Once he grasps the system, he’s going to
be a very good player,” Kent said. “He’s big.
He’s strong. He’s powerful. He gives us what
everybody else has, and maybe what they
don’t have, in terms of his physical presence.
He’s a tough basketball player.”
The San Antonio native averaged 22.3 points,
12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game as a
sophomore at Los Angeles Southwest College.
He earned California Junior College all-state
honors after leading all leagues in rebounding
and ranking eighth in scoring.
Johnson will join an Oregon team with a
crop of talented guards. Sophomores Bryce
Taylor and Malik Hairston — members of the
Pacific-10 Conference’s All-Freshman team —
and All-Pac-10 guard Aaron Brooks compose
one of the Pac-lO’s most explosive backcourts.
The three led the Ducks in scoring last season,
each averaging more than 11 points per game.
Hairston is looking forward to his chance to
run the floor with Johnson, who is described
as an athlete and a physical presence.
“Ivan’s a beast. He brings toughness that
we’ve never had,” Hairston said. “He doesn’t
have any fear. He’ll be a presence on offense
and defense.”
Johnson will add depth to Oregon’s front
court that includes sophomores Maarty Le
unen (6-9, 215) and Ray Schafer (7-0, 235),
junior Adam Zahn (6-8, 225) and one of the
team’s two seniors, Matt Short (7-0,235).
“(The frontcourt) get me better, and I am
getting them better,” Johnson said.
Churchill Odia, though he will redshirt this
season in accordance with NCAA rules, is an
other transfer for the Ducks. The Nigerian na
tive played a limited role at Xavier, averaging
8.8 minutes in 25 games, but will add addi
tional support for Oregon’s run-and-gun of
fense in the future. The backcourt, in addition
to Taylor, Hairston and Brooks, consists of
senior Brandon Lincoln, junior Kenny Love,
sophomore Chamberlain Oguchi, junior Jor
dan Kent and junior Adrian Stelly.
“We have a veteran basketball team with
enough guys that have played enough
minutes,” Kent said. “It’s just a different
mentality. That’s experience. You cannot
substitute that.”
A challenging schedule
The Ducks begin the pre-season Nov. 9 at
home against Southern Oregon with hopes of »
improving upon last season’s disappointing
14-13 overall record and 6-12 Pac-10 record.
Oregon will be tested early with non-league
games against Rice, Vanderbilt, Georgetown
and Illinois in consecutive weeks.
“This schedule’s got a lot of big games on
there,” Kent said. “We’ve got a stretch there,
those are all tough ball games. Illinois is an
opportunity to get them back out here
in Oregon.”
The Ducks open the Pac-10 portion of their
schedule at home on Dec. 31 with the Civil
War against Oregon State.
Revised Pac-10 Tournament
One of the disappointing factors for Oregon
last season was its failure to qualify for the
Pac-10 Tournament at the end of last season.
This season Pac-10 officials have decided to
include all 10 of the conference’s teams into
the tournament, which is played at the Staples
Center in Los Angeles from March 8-11.