Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
" There's an old saying, 'Beware of the
ailing golfer,’ and whenever he's
complaining, we know we're in trouble."
Phil Mickelson about Tiger Woods’ lead in the Grand Slam of golf despite illness
■ In my opinion
JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
THREE TO WIN
Journalists
need to ask
appropriate
questions
This just in: Lumps in Barry Bonds’ oatmeal
are causing his mean disposition. Wait, it’s also
being reported that extra doses of Flintstones
multivitamins are causing his massive growth,
not steroids.
Whoa, now doesn’t everyone feel better?
I know I don’t. The trend of reporters
sticking close to superstar athletes raises the
question of bias.
ESPN’s Pedro Gomez reported on San
Francisco Giants’ slugger Bonds throughout all of
last season as BALCO news and a knee injury
dominated headlines.
NBC field reporter Jim Gray tagged behind
Kobe Bryant two years ago and continues to on
Los Angeles Lakers’ national broadcasts. Gray
played a large role in the squabbles between
Bryant and All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal.
The goal of journalism is to be unbiased
and produce fair and balanced content.
This ideal collides with Gray and Gomez’s
approach. From this viewer’s standpoint,
the pair plays nice or goes overboard.
Balanced reporting requires asking hard
questions in difficult situations as well as
being understanding.
Bonds and Bryant are difficult subjects for
the media to cover as it is. Maybe this is a new
approach to reporting: Be friendly and you can
get the scoop.
Then again, how newsworthy is the informa
tion if it’s coming from the athlete’s point of view?
Gray has already found himself on question
able ground with his interview of Pete Rose at the
World Series in 1999. Rose, in Atlanta as part of
baseball’s All-Century team, made his first sanc
tioned appearance since being banned in 1989 for
betting on America’s pastime.
Known for his tough questions, Gray ham
mered Rose about the ban. After answering the
first question, it was apparent Rose didn’t want
to address the subject.
“I’m surprised you’re bombarding me like
this,” Rose said at one point. “I’m doing an inter
view with you on a great night, a great occasion,
a great ovation. Everybody seems to be in a good
mood, and you’re bringing up something that
happened 10 years ago. ... This is a prosecutor’s
brief. It’s not an interview.”
Gray has covered both ends of the spectrum
from too nice to not nice enough. Gomez provid
ed every inane Bonds detail until everyone was
gasping, ‘Enough already! ’
Prospective journalists need quality, hard-work
ing examples in today’s society of tabloid journal
ism and public skepticism. I’ve had the opportuni
ty through a newspaper internship to see
countless examples of fair, unbiased reporting.
Impressionable students who constantly see
reporters focus too much on high-profile athletes
feed this cycle of headline-focused reporting.
It’s time for reporters to provide the full story
and leave out the useless details. Give me a
balanced story and relevant information and
then move on.
jdransfeldt@dailyemerald. com
■ Men's basketball
Ducks surge past Pacific Tigers 84-62
Malik Hairston scores 17 points as the Ducks record
their third straight game scoring 80 or more points
BY SHAWN MILLER
SPORTS EDITOR
The game wasn’t nearly
as close as the score indicated
Tbesday night at McArthur
Court, where a crowd of 8,331
watched Oregon (3-0) defeat
Pacific (3-1) 84-62.
It quickly turned into a rout,
surprising not only the crowd
but both teams. Oregon players
said coach Ernie Kent hyped
them up beforehand, while Kent
said he was solely challenging
the team.
“We kind of thought we were
playing against Illinois tonight,”
said Oregon’s Malik Hairston, who
scored a game-high 17 points.
Hustle on defense led to an
edge in rebounds, turnovers and
overall shooting — the Ducks
shot better than 55 percent from
the floor and the Tigers struggled
to make barely more than 36
percent. The hustle, intensity
and victory against a quality
opponent pleased Kent.
“The thing I did was challenge
them,” Kent said. “In terms
of hyping it, it was a challenge
for us to up our mental, to play
a tougher opponent, and 1
thought they did a great job of
doing that.”
Pacific, which won the Big West
Conference with an 18-0 record,
advanced to the second round of
the NCAA Tournament last season.
The Tigers also posted a 27-4 over
all record, numbers that caught the
Ducks’ eyes.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s first two
opponents were unable to score
more than 80 combined points,
something Oregon has done in
every game this season. So it
was set up as the marquee game,
but that only lasted for the first
minute and a half — the only
time Oregon trailed as a
three-pointer by Mike Webb
gave Pacific a 5-3 lead. The
Ducks then went on an 18-3 run
over the next six minutes to
build a double-digit lead that
they never relinquished.
“The biggest thing is, I think
transition-wise we were able to
get going,” Kent said. “When we
can get out and run, it just puts
us into such a great rhythm be
cause we have so many weapons
on this team.”
Perhaps the most impact of
the game was on the defensive
end, where the Ducks’ held
Christian Maraker, Pacific’s lead
ing scorer and rebounder, to 16
points and two rebounds.
Oregon’s Maarty Leunen, who
was named tournament MVP af
ter recording his first career dou
ble-double (14 points, 10 re
bounds), had the job of guarding
Maraker early.
“We just had to play physical
with him, full-front, make it
tough for him to get the ball,”
Leunen said. “Most of their of
fense is run to get him the ball,
or through him ... so coach put it
upon me to shut him down.”
Maraker didn’t score for the
first 11 minutes of the game and
shot only 10 times from the field.
He was perfect from the
free-throw line in eight attempts.
“1 don’t think they did a lot to
stop Christian,” Pacific coach
Bob Thomason said. “I think
Christian did a lot to stop him
self. I mean he could have went
out and got 24, 25 (points), but
he wasn’t aggressive tonight.
That’s something that we’ve
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Oregon’s Ivan Johnson scored 14 points Tuesday night as the Ducks defeated
Pacific 84-62. Johnson made six of 10 shots and was perfect on both free throws.
constantly worked on with him.”
Bryce Taylor scored 16 points
and Ivan Johnson added 14 for
the Ducks.
Taylor and Hairston joined Le
unen on the All-tournament
team. Pacific’s Johnny Gray and
Maraker were also voted to the
team along with Bowie State’s
Derick Payne.
The Ducks host Rice on Satur
day at 2 p.m. before Oregon’s
first road game of the season at
Vanderbilt on Nov. 30.
smiller@dailyemerald.com
■ Duck volleyball
Duck seniors end careers this weekend
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Senior Kelly Russell slams a kill against the block of
Oregon State. Russell had 18 kills and Oregon’s
other senior Jaclyn Jones had 14 in the Ducks
five-game loss to Washington State last week.
Oregon tries for its second Pac-10 win over the weekend against
either the Arizona Wildcats or the Arizona State Sun Devils
BY JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
SPORTS REPORTER
The final chance to earn a second confer
ence win for the Oregon volleyball team comes
this weekend as seniors Kelly Russell and
Jaclyn Jones’ Oregon careers come to a close.
“It hasn’t hit,” Jones said. “It’ll hit the very
last game for sure.”
With Arizona visiting Friday at 8 p.m.
and Arizona State on Saturday at 7 p.m.,
Oregon (12-16 overall, 1-15 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) faces its first two opponents from the
start of conference play. Friday’s match is the
second Duck game in Mac Court that night,
with the women’s basketball team playing
Arkansas at 5 p.m.
Every sport has its senior finales — the last
time athletes appear in an Oregon uniform and
try for a winning finish. Jones and Russell
spent four seasons with an Oregon volleyball
program that has struggled in conference play.
Oregon coach Jim Moore, who joined in
January, has spent his first year on staff
striving to turn the Ducks into contenders, and
the seniors helped jump start Oregon’s
progress, Moore said.
“We got going in the right direction,”
Moore said. “We think we’re doing some
good things, but we got a lot more work to
do.” Jones agrees and is proud of her time as a
Duck athlete.
“I’m glad I got to be a part of the beginning
of the change,” Jones said. “It’s going to be
neat to watch in the future.”
For Russell, progress came with the little
things, such as Oregon’s competitiveness and
three straight five-game matches.
“There is improvements being made it’s just
not on paper yet,” Russell said.
The pair remained when others left the pro
gram in recent seasons, including Sarah Mason
(Hawaii) and Dariam Acevedo (Texas). Jones
and Russell also dealt with a new coach after
working with Carl Ferreira for three years.
“I really love Oregon. ... I have a very good
life outside volleyball,” Russell said. “So even
when volleyball was not going as I wanted I
had other things to lean on.”
This season, Oregon started 10-1 before
Jones suffered a stress fracture in her leg
prior to a tournament at Portland State. Oregon
went 3-1 in the five-team field, but lost
in sweeps when it faced Arizona State and
VOLLEYBALL page 10