Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1981)
Split season has future ^^^2L22X.. POSSlDllty Hd Coyne—Staff photo by Jay Graham. I Riding the West Ireland ■oast Coyne rode through ■onnemarra, Connaught and fcalway then cut through mid Beland and took a ferry back to ■Vales, biked to England and ■ode around there for two Bnore weeks. Coyne said, “I met a lot of ■cots in Southern England and in every campground I met Borne friendly people.” “I’d just Bull out a map and look lost. ■ hey were always willing to Be Ip,” he said. Coyne said the main thing Be found on his trip was, ■many people had misconcep- Bons about Americans.” He Baid he went into one village where all the children wanted to see an American. “They had ■ever seen Americans before,” Baid Coyne. “They had only Beard about them. That was an unusual feeling.” While Coyne was aware of the problems in Ireland he said, ■I didn’t find any trouble in ■eland. The problems were ■nostly in the South.” Coyne ■avelled in the Eastern and ■entral parts of the country. Riding a place to sleep was ■ever a problem for Coyne7 throughout his trip. “I slept on people’s farms,” he said»* “If you ask permission, they’ll ■ever turn you down.” Coyne felt safe there, & sleeping out wasn’t a barrier to be overcome. “I felt safe there, I liked it and the people were friendly,” he said. As for food, Coyne carried backpackers food; macaroni and cheese, chicken and rice, and spaghetti. “I’d eat on a loaf of bread all day,” said Coyne, “then stop at a pub for a couple of pints of beer.” He ate a lot of breakfasts though. “They serve tea and all the bread you can eat over there,” he said, “and they serve large breakfasts.” Coyne allowed himself $7 a day for food. Coyne said “$15 a day would be perfect to live easily, but under '$10, you’re pushing it” The food given him by people'he met helped his budget. “Some days I only had to spend $1,” he said. When Coyne left Oregon, he had less than $500. “I spent about $100 on trains and ferry rides,” he said, “so in reality I had about $400.” Coyne said he started out travelling about 20-30 miles a day. “I gradually built up to about 70 miles a day,” he said, “That was comfortable. I slept really good.” On the whole trip Coyne met only three Americans. “One was a couple and the other was a girl Ifom Michigan who was riding alone,” he said. Coyne spent about $400 on gear prior to die trip in cluding new tires and an over haul, but when he returned he spent another $85 replacing both rims and, tires. Coyne said, “This trip opened up a whole new world for me.” For a city boy it was fun.” He said, “I miss it now, I’d like to be back again.” And Coyne will do just that. He’s currently looking for ward to a trip next summer either through France or across the United States via the Bicentennial route. He said, “I’m looking forward to Europe. I wouldn’t mind doing this as a job. This was just a cannon ball for me. I’d like to see every country.” Coyne said that for being an amateur he was surprised at how the trip went. “I went by Murphy’s law that everything would go wrong,” he said. And now since all went well, Coyne said, “It’s the only way I’d ever go back.” Intramurals to begin next week ■ * Looking for something to ■Jo during your Tuesday and ■1 hursday lunch hours? Sign up yow for Intramural flag football ■ in downstairs Randall Hall and ■in the Student Center. Intramural sports serve as Ba means of meeting new peo- Bple, according to Intramural ■coordinator, Loren Swivel. “If ■people want to participate in an ■organized sport, they can,” An old adage exists that no one watches baseball until the World Series Starts. If that were true for anyone, it would be for me - that is, until this season. Naturally, the mid season strike brought negative publicity (but publicity never the less). Many of the baseball fans I have talked to thought nothing good came from the strike. They say the season, for whaL it’s worth, is meaningless because of the lengthy break. The next time contracts' are discussed, the players, like the writers, directors, arid/actors, will ask for a cut in the cable pie. As for the splitseason, the fans are thankful it is only for one year. I disagree. Despite /the ideal that something/ good can be discovered or come from any uninspiring occurrence, something new and beneficial came from the baseball strike. It is being looked at as something negative now, but in the long 4un, uie »pun could only benefit from the discovery that has made this season unique and, perhaps, more exciting than all others combined. That is, the split season. Evidence can be found on the second page of the sports section of any newspaper. The standings display that, at the time of this writing, not one team in either league had a lead over the second place j team by more than a game and a half. Never have the races been so close as the ones this year. What is even more ex citing is witnessing the teams that nave a strong possibility to go to the playoffs. When was the last time Detroit, Milwaukee, Montreal, or St. Louis have come this close to baseball’s second season? Quite a while. Yes, the Yankees,' the Dodgers, the Royals, and the A’s, along with the Phillies, are in the play-offs too. They’re there every year. In short, the theory is the season is just too long and by the time the play-offs arrive, the players are tired, and I’m sick of hearing of the sport. The same problems appear with By Thomas A. Rhodes Of the Print basketball. Not only is the season too long, but if a team is below 500, or in last place mid way through the season, kiss the year good-bye and pray for good picks at the draft. That is where the split season would benefit die leagues. In essense, it is giving teams a second chance; giving players a one week lay-off. But, 154 games is just too long as the season trudges on. By the time the World Series rolls along, the football, hockey, and basketball seasons have already started. More or less, baseball hasn’t evolved since Abner Doubleday invented the game. The only major technical ad vance made in the sport, has been the Astrodome in Houston. Even then, the game never changed strategy-wise. It’s not that every game needs to change or have a major technical achievement in its life time, but nothing, not even the style of uniforms have chang ed. Some will argue the game isn’t one that needs changes. Granted, as it remains one of the more popular sports in America, the sport has been floating on the same lightbulb for more than a century. However, if any change can or should be made, it should be made in the seasonal structure. This gives teams unlucky in the first half, hope for revival. Win ners of the second half would get the home field advantage in the first round, thus giving an incentive to the first half winner to go for the second half as well. If they win both, they get a bye through the first round. The split season would shorten the season to say 45 games for each half, which would, in turn, get players to work harder because they have less games and the races would be closer. Baseball isn’t a game gasp ing for changes, but if the se cond season is any indication of. how exciting (for once) baseball can be, this theory should be taken into considera tion, if not applied. SPORTS ACTION: Women’s Volleyball vs. Chemeketa C.C. Oct. 7*7 p.m. * Home said Swivel. “And if an in Participants in the In Women’s cross country - Oct. 10 dividual wants to get involved tramural program are required and doesn’t know of a team, to be full-time students or Willamette Invitational1 - Salem * Noon : we. can place them on one.” emloyees of CCC. “The program is well run,” said Student Program Men’s Cross country - Oct. 10 Specialist, Dave Buckley. “It Willamette Invitational * Salem * Noon provides a change for the staff, faculty and students to interm ingle. It’s competition, but not Women’s Volleyball * Oct. 9/10 real high key, and that’s what Lower Columbia Invitational - Longview > TBA makes it enjoyable.” ■Wednesday Oct. 7, 1981 Page 11 SN: OL0055