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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1995)
A pril . 5, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver P age B2 A BASEBALL LEGEND RECOUNTS Racial Threats Forced Hank Aaron To Hire Security When He Challenged Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record BRIEFS "1 had to have security for the last two or three years o f my career,’ commented Hank Aaron, who was the object of racial taunts and threats when he challenged Babe Ruth's home run record o f 714. Aaron told Parade Contributing Editor James Brady, who interviewed him for this Sunday's issue o f the magazine, that even a w’hite star, such as Mickey Mantle, would have been resented had he topped Ruth's record. "They would have question his ability ," he said. “There was with me the question o f ability and also of race.” Aaron, who retired in 1976 with 755 home runs, was asked if he thinks any one will ever break his record. “ I think any one can break any record,” he replied. “ But I played 23 years in the majors. 1 don't know if any o f them (today's stars) want to play 23 years." BASKETBALL U-Conn Caps Perfect Season: C a p p in g a p e r f e c t y e a r U n iv ersity o fC o n n e c tic u t won its first NCAA ch a m p io n sh ip and c o m p leted an u n d e fe a te d seaso n . In ju s t its se c o n d v isit T he W o m en ’s fin al four U. C onn cam e w ith ch am p io n sh ip N o ts in c e 1986 had a team gone u n d e fe a te d , w hen T ex as w ent 34-0. T he H uskies did them one b e tte r by p o stin g a 3 5-0 reco rd . FOOTBALL Cornerback Convicted Continued from front ▲ “Our whole plan o f attack was to receive the ball and attack the pres sure, because they don’t want you to run from set plays and that's fine with us. W e’re the kind o f team, if you open the court, w e'll make you pay,” Harrick said. The Bruins (31 -2) cashed in all night. Dollar had eight assists. Charles O 'Bannon had 6 and freshman Toby Bailey collected 26 points. UCLA shot 53.1 percent in the second half. And the Bruin defense played a pivotal role in the their success Monday night. A rkansas (3 2 -7 ) rode into S e attle w ith an in sid e -o u t attack . T hat being 6 foot 7 inch, 245 pound C o rliss W illiam so n sc o r ing from the in sid e and S cotty T hurm an b o m b in g aw ay from three p o int range. H ow ever, a g a in st U C L A , Williamson want up against 7 foot G eorge Zidek who w eights 250 pounds. Z idek was able to n e u tra liz e W illiam son w ith his h eig h t and bulk and by m oving his feet so W illiam son c o u ld n 't sh o o t over or around him. A lso w hen ev er W illiam son touched the ball the B ruins w ould co lla p se on him and they w ere still quick enough to re c o v e r to th e p e r im e te r a n d h a m p e r T hurm an. “ I got caught in the physical play, try ing to go inside,” Williamson Walker Signs Free ag en t ru n n in g b ack J T e rs h e l W a lk e r w h o w a s w a iv e d by th e P h ila d e lp h ia E ag les, has re ach ed a te n ta tiv e a g reem en t to sign w ith the New Y ork G ian ts. T erm s w ere not d isc lo se d . • . * ♦ * ** i • 1 . ■I ’ ■ ’•x . •* Ss ■ » - • ' { * s • 3 > / § £ $ K' /A *♦’ r- ' '• ; • • ■ *7 -7¿ * • >« V A* . ’■ ' r ’ 9 . * '• ' ’ ,F* . by Hank Aaron, a 23 year veteran of baseball, now retired. UCLA WEARS NCAA CROWN K an sas C ity C h ie f C o rn e rb a c k D ale C a rte r was found g u ilty on a m u n icip al ch arg e o f a ssa u lt in a Fight at hotel n e a r A rro w h ead stadium . He w as c o n v ic te d o f th e M ay 21 in c id e n t and given 180 days su sp e n d e d , tw o y ears p ro b a tio n , and 40 h o u rs o f co m m u nity se rv ic e . *• V Strike settled YACHTING The lone man on the Mighty Mary erred and consequently cost the team a victory it sorely needed to advance to the next round o f competition. It was a welcome break for Dennis Conner, a three time Amer ica's Cup winner who had lost three straight races and whose vic tory over the Mighty Mary was annulled, because o f a mid-round keel change. Sunday was the vessel o f the annulled race and after the botched start it allowed the Stars and Strips to pull into a 3-3 tie. The M ighty Mary needed only one victory to eliminate the Conner team. said. “ He was bumping and I wanted to go in . I guess bump back and shoot over him.” W illiamson who had been aver- aging22 points w as held to 12 points. He was 3 for 16 and had 6 points from the foul line. Thurman was limited to 2 for 9 and five points. The Razorbacks shot 35.1 per cent in the second half and 43.1 per cent for the game. “ 1 was getting good looks the whole gam e,” Thurman said. “ I just w asn’t making the shots.” Early on the Bruins looked like they were in for a long night. Harrick thought that the level of competition and adrenalin might see Edney through, so he started him. But it quickly becam e e v i den t th a t E dney co u ld not d rib ble or sh o o t w ith his right hand. This n ec e ssita te d callin g D o lla r’s num ber to play. Arkansas shot out in front 12-5 after Clint McDaniel, who paced the Razorbacks with 16 points, picked D ollar’s pocket and roared in for a lay-up at the 17:16 mark to cap a 10- 0 run. UCLA couldn’t regain the lead until Ed O 'B annon took a pass from his brother Charles and slammed it to put the Bruins ahead, 17-16. UCLA led by as m any as eight d u rin g the first half. But A rk an sas w o u ld n ’t q u it u n der the p re s sure and k ep t it close. T he score at in te rm issio n w as 4 0 -3 9 . Bru- ins. In the seco n d half, UCLA BLAZERS CONTINUE DOWNWARD SPIRAL by E ric N oon like him now. I', just going to play these last 14 games, and that's it.” This is a huge statement by Strickland who usually keeps his frus trations to himself. For him to come out publicly with statements like these and one last week in which The Blaz ers point guard jum ped back at fans in say ing they can “just go home, if they don't like it”, that’s how low The Blazers have fallen. Sure it's easy to second guess but the hiring o f a college coach like Carlisimo. might have been the move that sent the tail spinning out o f con trol. Carlisimo. who never played in The N B A, m ight not have toned dow n h is act enough as The Blazers haven't responded to his coaching techniques. Always off the record before, The Blazers are not happy with the inconsistent and sometime overbear ing sty le o f the first year coach With your floor general and most valuable player in Strickland standing up to the coach, some big questions are now on the management docket I he players o f the 90 's in the NBA are a different strain than the players o f old. and Carlisim o's con It seems to be time to hold on, grab your seat cushion, put away those peanuts, and hope the down ward spiral o f The Portland Trail blazers pulls up just short o f impact. Not on Iv have The B lazers seem to hit decade low for the franchise on the court, now o ff the court The Blazers problems to be on the same flight headed for new and ever- changing rock bottoms. The Blazers have been play ing with no heart at times. And for fans who remember the overachiever o f not many years ago. this one hard plane to follow. Not only is The Blazers record spinning towards the lottery, the losing has infected the team moral and focus between the play ers and coaches. Last week Rod Strickland voiced his frustration over the status o f The Blazers and his attitude toward head coach P.J Carlisimo. “ I d o n 't like him-and you can w rite that." Strickland told Jeff Bak er. Blazer beat writer I didn't like him in the beginninn. and I don't r, * trolling style doesn’t go far with players like Strickland who in the past has proved flourished with loose reigns by his coach. Carlisimo, who eat and breaths basketball, might have good inten tions, but his intensity for the game might turn out to be his downfall Strickland is not the only unhappy Blazer, he's just the one who spoke up and y elled out the window as The Blazers rebuilding efforts keep fall ing. We have to give The Blazers the benefit they w ill pull out ofthere rut and rally together around there veterans, but to be realistic this team is going nowhere quick and the lot tery might be the best for the future at this point. For The Blazers to move for ward, they need to do it on the court, its amazing what winning can do for a team with no identity. "Each and every oneofus needs to look into the mirror and figure out what we can do make this team better." Said new comer and mem ber o f last years NBA Champion ship team, Otis Thorpe. turned up the heat and led by 10 on a b a se b a ll pass to B ailey from Ed O ’B annon. B ailey finished the play by re v e rse d u n k in g the ball. Try as they might, the Razor backs couldn’t make up the differ ence. “N o rm ally w hen w e ’re b e hind in the gam e, we feel c o n fi d ent, re g a rd le ss o f how m uch tim e is on the clo ck or how far dow n we a re ,” W illiam so n said. “ N o rm ally we get a run. T o n ig h t, for som e reaso n we c o u ld n ’t get a chance to get th at ru n .” Indicative o f that was how the Razorbacks were out-rebounded, 50- 31. W illiamson’s free throws with 4:31 left, closed Arkansas to within 69-65, but that was as close as the Razorbacks could get. B a ile y 's fly in g tip o f Ed O ’B annon m issed shot sta rte d a 8-0 run. B ailey clo sed the run w hen he to o k a pass from C h arles O ’ B a n n o n an d m ad e a s h o rt ju m p e r, w ith 3:15 re m a in in g in the gam e. From th ere it was all acad em ic and UCLA w as on its w ay to its 1 1th n atio n al title . D anny B ell Well, the baseball strike is over as o f Sunday. It was the longest and costliest work stoppage in the histo ry o f professional sports. It ended when the owners voted not to lock out the players, after the players agreed to return to the ball field without a renewed contract, and play under the old contract guide lines. The season which was sched ule to start Sunday April 2nd with replacement players was canceled and moved to April 26. In the short ened season each team will play 144 games, 18 fewer than a regular season. A cting com m issioner Bud Selig was quoted “anyone who has gone through this eight month ex perience will let it serve as a poi gnant reminder that we have a re sponsibility to make sure it will never happen again certainly not in our life time.” Those were his sentiments how ever the players did not pledge that they would not strike again in the future. Players may voluntarily start reporting to training camps in Flor ida and Arizona on Wednesday. Although some are expected to start trickling in on Monday . The man datory reporting date is Friday. The strike took a toll o f 52 days off the 1994 season canceling 669 games. The World series and play offs were canceled for the first time since 1904. It also knocked out the first 252 games o f this season mak ing a total 921 games lost. “It was not a surrender. The players were on strike” Selig said “They made an unconditional offer to come back, and we accepted it. Albeit, without a pledge not to strike any talk o f a salary cap the precursor to this whole episode may well provoke the players to strike again. “ I think its clearly a step in the right direction" union head Donald Fehr, said. “ If they had voted for a lock-out, it would have been an indication they didn't want peace at any price”. Ask why didn't the players give a pledge not to strike. Fehr respond ed that to do so would raise legal complications for both sides. President Clinton who put to a failed effort two months ago to re solve the strike, commented, "T o‘ day’s decision is good news for the game o f baseball, its fans and local economies o f the cities where base ball is played. While I am heartened to know this season will start with major league players, there are a number ofunderlining issues which still need to get resolved." To that extent the two sides must work toward a new agreement to replace the old one which expire Dec 31-1993. The players walked out Aug 12, and ended the strike Friday, after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor found in the play ers favor, issuing an injunction forc ing the owners to continue the work rules o f the expired agreement. Baseball's eight month work stoppage since 1972 was cause by the owners demand for salary' cap. They tried impose it on Dec 22 but rescinded it Feb 6 when National Labor Relations Board threaten le gal action. When the teams refused to re store the old rules, the NLRB filed a complaint March 15, and then obtained the injunction. SAFETY TIPS FOR LITTLE LEAGUE bn D anny B ell Last Saturday play started for 60,000 Oregon children and 4,000 Little League teams. What most fail to realize is that there is a real potential for injury in the course o f participating in this popular past-time. Kids o f course, always have scraped knees, twisted ankles, and even a lost tooth or two while playing baseball. But recent studies that have ex amine everything from pitchers' over use injuries to incidents in which children have died have prompted such groups as the American Acade my o f Pediatrics and the Institute for Preventive Sports Medicine to push for new safety standards and better equipment for youth baseball and softball programs. In discussions with pediatricians, sport medicine specialist and physical therapist one gets a clear message, that is children are not little adults. They have bones that are still growing, cartilage not fully devel oped and baseball skills that have yet to be refined. But somewhere amid the enjoy ment. the excitement o f play, and thrill o f competition a simple mes sage gets lost: play it safe. I he result o f inattentiveness is that 107.000 visit to the emergency room occur as a result game related injuries. I Incounted numbers more never make it to the doctor's oltice, instead being treated with simple remedies like ice bags on the ball field and a healing kiss at home. Tendinitis, stress fractures, torn ligaments are some of the maladies AEROBICS CHILD CARE that young pitchers may encounter when they don't know when to quit. Injuries such as these can hamper per formance and make for a painful sea son. At Lloyd Athletic Club all you have to sweat -is the workout! STRENGTH TRAINING LOWFAT LIVING PLAN YOGA Whether you are coming from home or the office, convenience is part of the service. STEAM R e d e e m this ad for ! SAUNA one guest pass and WHIRLPOOL two hours of child care F R E E ! RACQUETBALL MESSAGE THERAPY SQUASH R eservatio n s R eq u ired . Lloyd Athletic Club Your place... Your pace. WEIGHT TRAINING TREADMILLS llo > d A TH LE TIC 'C L U B TAI CHI CYCLING AND MORE! A, 815 N.E. Halsey - 287 - 4594 just opposite the Lloyd Center Mall Expires April 30, 1995 A
