Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2002)
Sports Saints don’t have a prayer against CCC WedNEsdAy^^lARch 6, 2002 rldE CÍAckAMAS P r ÍNT NICK BARRON Business Manager The men’s basketball team put he wrapping on the 2001-2002 egular season, with a 95-80 shel- acking of the Mount Hood Saints jnFeb. 27. The Cougar men face the North pt Athletic Association of Com- nunity College’s Championship Tournament, on Mar. 8-11 in Kennewick, Wash, where Clackamas looks to capture the first-place crown. Michael Kuebler, Clackamas’ leading scorer, put up a stellar per formance against the Saints. The guard finished the night with 31 points, eight rebounds and six as sists. Three players, Lawson Struve, Marvin Noble and Matt Tabisz each scored 16 points. Cougar coach Clif Wegner was satisfied with his team’s perfor mance against Mount Hood. “We were aggressive on offense. We took the ball hard to the hole, and we shot pretty well,” Wegner said. The end of the regular season brings accolades to those players and coaches who illustrated their talent throughout the year. Kuebler captured the Most Valuable Player award for the Southern Division, while he and Noble both were named as first- team all-stars for the league. Struve was voted to the second-team, with Tabisz and Mat Tondreau gar nering honorable mentions. For the freshman, Evan Kieling is a member of the all freshman team in the Southern Division, and Russ Schneider received an honorable mention. Those who re ceived the most votes, Striive, Noble and Kuebler, will play in the All-Star’s Sopho more game on Mar. 17 in Seattle. Tabisz is a first alternate and will be the first one chosen to replacte a player who is unable to make the trip. The Southern Di vision All-Stars will be coached by Clif Wegner, Clackamas’ head basketball coach. Along with the honors comes the final NWAACC Coaches’ Poll, which has the Cougars sitting in , fourth place, the low est they have been in the poll all season. Clackamas debuted in the poll at number one in early January, but slipped recently due to dropping three out of four games during a stretch in February. Two out of the three squads that are ranked before Clackamas have fallen to the Cougars this year. Big Bend, resting SALENA DE LA CRUZ I Clackamas Print Left: Lawson Struve skies toward the basket against Mt. Hood on Feb. 27. Struve scored 16 points in the Cougars' victory over the Saints. Above: Clackamas'Jon Rylaarsdam looks to pass the ball to a teammate against Mt. Hood. at number one, lost to Clackamas. Fellow league member Southwest ern Oregon holds the number three spot, and split their season series with the Cougars at a game apiece. The only unknown club is the Tacoma Titans, which fell from the number one rung to number two. Clackamas has yet to play the Ti tans this year. Tacoma holds a 26- 3 record, with only one loss in their division. Clackamas should have the en ergy to compete in the tournament, as Wegner granted his team three days rest after their defeat of Mount Hood. “I always feel like fresh legs tromps everything else, so We want to be fresh,” an excited Wegner said. Practices for the Cougars have not been changed to accommo date the tournament, with the team focusing on defensive communi cation, rebounding and offensive execution. Along with condition ing, the coaching staff has been prepping the players with scout ing reports of their first round op ponent, Clark. The Penguins of Clark College are holding a 14-4 season record and will be riding into the champi onships fresh off their upset of Tacoma. Clark has only nine play ers on its roster, eight of them freshmen. In offense, the Penguins are av eraging just 82.2 points per game, while allowing 82.6. Clackamas slaughtered Clark last November by a margin of 26 points in the Red Devil Classic, a tournament the Cougars went on to win. Regard less of what the stat sheets say, the calendar does read March, and that can be a powerful thing for an underdog in college basketball. The Cougars will take on Clark Mar. 8 at 8 a.m. This weekend’s tournament could turn out to be a large cherry on top of a fantastic season, or it could become a worm which Clackamas will have to live with until next year. To reach Nick Barron e-mail barronoru@hotmail.com or drop by B-104. Raise the piano, break the curse, wait By Nick Barron ______________________ _____________ ______________ «_______________ ______________ —_____ —______________________ —_____________________________ A curse haunts the Red Sox of Bos ton, Mass. This isn’t a spell thatjust “poor Irish drunks from Southie believe in,” as Russell TeeBrazil, a good friend of mine from the Boston borough of Chelsea puts it Itis aplagueof Biblical propor tions that has lasted for nearly a cen tury and kept the Red Sox from suc cess at every turn. This “Curse of the Bambino,” as it is known, begins with a Mr. Herman Ruth. Everyone has a favorite sports team, whether it be college or professional. We root for them when they win or I lose, and we do not appreciate exter championship, and the year Babe Ruth was sold from the Red Sox to the New York Yankees. Legend has it that Ruth so despised being pawned to the hated rivals that he cursed his former team. “The Bambino’s vengeance was unleashed on the Red Sox organiza tion,” Brazil says, and it is hard to ar gue with the evidence given to sup port his claim. Boston and the St Louis Cardinals are tied at three games apiece going into Game 7 of the 1946 World Series. St Louis is batting, with a runner on second and one out. The hitter bats into a double play, with the runner scor nal forces messing with our teams. If a new player is traded to one of our fa vorite organizations, and he or she does more harm than good to our team, ing. Although the inning ends with the double play, umpires rule that Boston second baseman Johnny Pesky holds onto the ball too long before throwing it allowing St Louis to score before his throw made it to first base. St Louis wins the game, capturing the World Series. we do not appreciate that Imagine what the people of Boston have had to deal with for nearly a century. The birth of the curse occurred in 1919, a year after Boston won its last Ranked as one of the best in his tory, the World Series of 1975 serves as a menacing reminder of the Bambino’s curse. In Game 3, umpires fail to call interference on a Cincinnati runner on a pop-up, which allows the Reds to score and eventually win that game. Then one of the most memo rable home runs in baseball occurs in Game 6 of this fall classic. Carlton Fisk smacks a shot off the foul pole in Fenway Park’s left field, winning that game for Boston and sending the Series to a seventh game. The Red Sox lose, but Bos ton knows that if the Game 3 inter ference had been called, Fisk, with his Game 6 heroics, would have won them their first Championship since 1918. Boston doesn’t make it to a World Series until 1986, facing the New York Mets. The Red Sox hold a 3-2 game lead over the Mets going into Game 6, and in the tenth inning they reign with a 5-3 lead and two outs. The Shea Stadium scoreboard is al ready flashing its congratulations to the “World Champion Boston Red Sox.” Then three Met singles push New York one run behind Boston. The Red Sox replace their pitcher with Bob Stanley, who throws a wild pitch to New York’s Kevin Mitchell, allowing the tying run to score from third. Next up for the Mets is Mookie Wilson, who dribbles the ball to wards an awaiting Bill Buckner, down the right field line. The Red Sox first baseman crouches on his haunches, eyeing the white ball as it lazily makes its way towards him, his glove dropping down to scoop it up. Instead, the baseball slithers underneath Buckner’s leather mitt, venturing into right field and allow ing the go-ahead run to score for New York. The Mets go on to win Game 7, and the Red Sox haven’t been back to the Series since. Some Bostonians believe the curse can be broken, according to Brazil, by salvaging a piano from a New England pond and refinishing it. Rumors swirl that Ruth tossed the piano into the pond after the 1918 World Series. Most feel, though, that the “Curse of the Bambino” will lin ger for exactly 100 years, and until then the Red Sox are out of luck. So I’m making hotel reservations for Boston in October of 2019. I could be a little crazy, maybe jump ing the gun a bit, but I have spoken with Russell Tee Brazil, and he has made me a believer. The Red Sox won’t win this year or the next, but in 2019, Ruth will finally lose his grip on Boston. To reach Nick Barron e-mail barronoru@hotmail.com or drop by B-104.
