Sports
Oregon Daily Emerald
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
“You can’t use being nervous
as an excuse any more. ”
Oregon’s Maarty Leunen on the Ducks’ 25 of 26
shooting from the free-throw line Monday night.
■ In my opinion
SCOTTI. ADAMS
INTENTIONAL GROUNDING
Stewart's
turnaround
shows new
maturity
What a difference the second half of the racing
season has made for Tony Stewart.
The grizzly orange crusher of Joe Gibbs Rac
ing clinched his second Nextel Cup title with a
15th-place finish at Sunday’s Ford 400 to the de
light of his fans at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Despite his mid-season trio of finishes outside of
the top 20, his plunge to 14th in the cup stand
ings and his reputation as the short-fused bad boy
of NASCAR, Stewart hoisted the cup trophy and
took his career to new heights.
“Once you win more than one, it definitely
puts you into an elite group and you are going to
be looked upon differently,” fellow multiple-cup
winner Jeff Gordon told reporters after the race.
“You win one, you are looked at differently. Win
two and it takes you to another level.”
Stewart’s roller-coaster ride through seven sea
sons in NASCAR has seen his driving success be
occluded by his off-the-track antics. They were in
full-force heading into the 2002 season. Stewart’s
eye-for-an-eye attitude behind the wheel and his
assaults on the media landed him on probation.
Many still saw him as one of the top drivers in the
circuit, but his image was taking a toll on him. It’s
hard for anyone to draw sympathy from critics af
ter batting a tape recorder out of a reporter’s hand
or clocking a photographer, just ask No. 20.
I became a fan of Stewart early in his career fol
lowing his rookie season in 1999. His driving
caught my eye, but for all of the wrong reasons.
For starters, he makes orange look good. Second
ly, he drives a Chevy. Lastly is his style of driving
—- an echo of the late Dale Earnhardt. Stewart
gives any driver ground only after giving him or
her a handful of grief and trading paint along the
way. I never cared for his hot temper, however.
This season, I’ve admired seeing his maturity
accompany his driving to higher ground. His
trademark persistence helped rekindle cama
raderie between him and his teammates as made
evident by their Coca-Cola showering of Stewart
at the podium Sunday. His crew-chief Greg
Zipadelli, who Stewart had the class to recognize
on ESPN two days before the race, popped the
first bottle.
“This one I want to win for Greg Zipadelli
more than the rest of the competition can possi
bly imagine,” Stewart said. “It doesn’t mean
we’re going to win it, but if they’re going to win
it, they’re going to have to take it from me.”
Aside from giving homage to his team, Stew
art has improved his image with the media and
fans. Following the Ford 400, he took time to
cheer with his audience and spoke with tact to re
porters. It was one of the many times he has cho
sen his words for the media this season. It was
nice to see him still thinking about his team at the
press conference.
“Let’s get this over with as quick as possible so
I can go drink a beer with my team,” Stewart
said. “That’s what I want to do more than
anything right now. ”
Congrats on the win Tony, and your place
among the sports’ greatest. You’ve earned it.
sadams@dailyemerald. com
Oregon guard Brandon Lincoln guides the offense Monday night during an 80-55 victory over Bowie State.
Lincoln scored 12 points, including seven of eight from the free-throw line.
■ Men's basketball
Division II
Bulldogs
no match
for Oregon
The Ducks shot a near-perfect
25 of 26 from the free-throw
line to heat Bowie State 80-55
BY LUKE ANDREWS
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon Ducks met a challenge Monday
night but still improved to 2-0 on the season with
an 80-55 win over Division II Bowie State in front
of 8,211 at McArthur Court.
One night after a season-opening 83-23 win
against Savannah State — the third largest mar
gin of victory in school history — the Ducks were
tested early and often by the Bulldogs, who fin
ished last season ranked third in the Division II
national poll.
Maarty Leunen had a career-high 15 points, in
cluding 13 in the second half, and Oregon shot 25
of 26 from the free-throw line to claim the victory
in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
“We came out pretty slow and didn’t shoot the
ball particularly well in the first half,” Leunen
said. “It’s not the way we planned it to be, but we
got the ‘W.’”
Oregon was cold from the field in the begin
ning and finished the first half shooting 1 of 8
from three-point range and 14 of 27 from the
field. But the Ducks compensated with an 18-10
rebounding advantage and 8 for 8 shooting from
the free-throw line.
After a layup by Ivan Johnson gave Oregon a
BASKETBALL, page 6
■ Duck volleyball
Ducks can't grab win in Washington
Oregon could not close out WSU after a 38-36
game-four victory, falling 15-6 in the final game
BY JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon volleyball team’s
season moved closer to its
conclusion after losing two
matches on its final road trip of
the season.
A short trip that began with a
flight to Pullman, Wash., Thurs
day morning and a match
against Washington State that
night, which ended with a bus
ride to face No. 3 Washington
on Friday night.
Succinct travel plans didn’t
match Oregon’s play with the
Ducks (12-16 overall, 1-15 Pacif
ic-10 Conference) losing to
Washington State (9-21,2-15) in
five games and the following
night to No. 3 Washington
in three.
The Washington State loss
marked Oregon’s third consecu
tive match lost in the fifth game
after previous home defeats
against Oregon State and UCLA.
“It’s the first time since the
’80s that we’d either won or
went five (games) with three
straight Pac-10 teams, so there’s
some good that can come out of
that,” Oregon coach Jim Moore
said. “It’s just really frustrating
when not a single one of them
was a win.”
The progress Oregon had
hoped for was a .500 record and
more Pac-10 wins than in the
past, but that goal has been al
tered. The team now uses chal
lenging Pac-10 teams rather
than winning as the current
measuring stick.
“The hard part is you have to
measure it by wins and losses,”
Moore said. “But the reality is it
comes down to a pride thing on
how you play and how you
perform and it becomes an
internal thing.”
Oregon started Pac-10 play
with high hopes for possibly an
NCAA Tournament berth,
which disappeared as optimism
changed to frustration. Oregon
lost its first two road matches at
Arizona State and Arizona with
out an injured Jaclyn Jones.
Oregon earned its lone confer
ence win against Washington
State in October and had
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Senior Kelly
Russell goes
for the block
against
Oregon
State’s Abby
Winded as
libera Katie
Swoboda
looks on.
Oregon lost
two matches
last week
against
Washington
State and
Washington.
looked forward to playing the
Cougars again.
Instead, Oregon fell behind
early as it lost two of the first
three games. Oregon tied the
match at two games apiece with
a 38-36 game four win in the
Ducks longest game of the
season. Washington State won
with a 15-6 game five and
prevented Oregon from earning
its first sweep of a Pac-10 team
since 1996.
Oregon freshman Mira Djuric
had a team-high 20 kills. Senior
Kelly Russell contributed 18 kills
and 10 digs, and freshman Erika
Bartruff had a career-high 12 digs
VOLLEYBALL, page 6